Sparsely Settled Mixed Habitats
The 2015 North Carolina Wildlife Action Plan defines 41 priority habitats for the state. More information about this habitat can be found in Section 4.4.18.
Contents
Habitat Priorities
Surveys
- Conduct surveys for species for which current distribution information is already available or for species that are considered common or invasive (e.g., Gray Fox, Raccoon, Coyote). (Surveys Priority)
- Develop long-term monitoring strategies to document population trends, from which conservation strategies can be specifically designed to target those species (e.g., Coyote). (Surveys Priority)
Monitoring
Research
- Research and identify important wildlife crossing areas; evaluate connectivity issues between intact and fragmented habitats used by priority species; work with partners to improve crossing and connectivity.
Management Practices
- Maintain and restore connections between habitat blocks, not only to allow adjustments in range in response to climate change, but to maintain genetic connectivity, population resilience and adaptability more generally.
- Transportation facilities that utilize longer bridges at streams and wetlands not only minimize impacts (and thereby reduce mitigation requirements) but also provide crossing options for wildlife that often travel riparian corridors. Wildlife underpasses should be constructed for all new highway projects, as these reduce wildlife-vehicle collisions, conserve important travel corridors, and provide linkages for bear populations and many other wildlife species.
- Limit the development of roads or other infrastructure within large unfragmented blocks, as this would promote the development of denser human settlement or create connectivity barriers through fragmentation.
Conservation Programs and Partnerships
Description
This community type represents large tracts of open land that have not been developed and may have only periodic encroachment from human activities. It may contain a mixture of community types, where vegetation may be natural or a mixture of planted and natural species. Their lack of habitat specificity makes it difficult to assign these communities to any one ecosystem group, all of which represent distinguishable habitat categories. These landscapes often serve as movement corridors for wide-ranging animal species, particularly carnivores near the top of the food web. These species often use a wide variety of habitat types in their pursuit of food, mates, and other resources.
Location of Habitat
Sparsely settled mixed habitats occur statewide but are more characteristic of the lower Coastal Plain and the Mountains, particularly in areas which have relatively low human populations. Within the lower Coastal Plain, the largest blocks are on the Albemarle–Pamlico Peninsula, and in the Mountains within national forests.
Problems Affecting Habitats
Development and inundation can be expected to reduce availability of large blocks of undisturbed or unfragmented habitat. This trend will continue so long as the human population continues to grow and new ways are found to exploit even the most marginal of lands for human uses.
Sea level rise is likely to affect large areas of the easternmost (outer) Coastal Plain where many important wildlife refuges are located. Inundation of wildlife refuges will result in dispersal inland to Piedmont areas. Movement inland can be expected, but there are far fewer potential refuge areas in the inner Coastal Plain and Piedmont to support viable populations of large predators or venomous snakes than there currently are in portions of the outer Coastal Plain. Movement corridors that allow inland migration away from inundating areas along the sounds and seacoast are critical.
Increased temperatures are likely to have only a minimal effect on this group overall, although a northward shift in range can be expected for the Least Weasel, a primarily boreal species, perhaps leading to its extirpation from the Mountains of North Carolina.
Climate Change Compared to Other Threats
Climate change will contribute to the loss of the large blocks of habitat or fragmentation that creates barriers between blocks that are critical for the survival of species in this group. Development of habitat has become the limiting factor for priority species utilizing this habitat. Across the state more generally, increased exploitation of wild or semi-wild lands for energy production is likely to be the most important indirect effect of climate change on this group.
Impacts to Wildlife
Predatory species utilizing this habitat play an important ecological role in all the ecosystems they occupy by regulating the abundance of species lower down in the food chain, particularly herbivorous mammals. Many of these high-level predators are generalists that have declined in both abundance and range due to conflicts with humans, with the majority now considered to be of conservation concern. Although all of the species included within this guild are highly adaptable and make use of a wide range of habitat types, the majority are considered rare or threatened in North Carolina. These include the Red Wolf, Least Weasel, Eastern Diamondback Rattlesnake, Timber Rattlesnake, and Pigmy Rattlesnake.
Others, like the Black Bear and White-tailed Deer, are currently expanding their range across the state and are currently not considered to be of conservation concern. The status of the Long-tailed Weasel is unknown and based on harvest trends, may be declining. Bobcats are common and their populations appear to be stable.
Sea level rise may lead to inundation of large parts of the Coastal Plain, including the Albemarle–Pamlico Peninsula where large reserves have been set aside for Red Wolves, Black Bears, and other wildlife. It is likely several large wildlife refuges clustered around the sounds will be inundated, including Alligator River, Pocosin Lakes, Lake Mattumuskeet, Swanquarter, Cedar Island, and Mackay’s Island National Wildlife Refuges, and the North River, Gull Rock, and Goose Creek Game Lands. Loss or even moderate reduction of these refuges is likely to strongly affect the survival of the pack of Red Wolves that has been restored on Albemarle–Pamlico Peninsula, as well as the largest population of Black Bears along the North Carolina coast.
While some movement inland can be expected, there are far fewer potential refuge areas in the Inner Coastal Plain and Piedmont to support viable populations of large predators or venomous snakes than there currently are in portions of the Outer Coastal Plain. Drought and wildfire may cause animals to range further away from more protected areas as they search for food, water, and cover. This can bring them into conflict with people and roads with high-volume traffic that are common conditions in the Piedmont. Residents in the central Piedmont have expressed safety concerns when Black Bears are sighted, and bears have been killed when attempting to cross busy roads and highways, or directly by local law enforcement officials that are not knowledgeable of normal bear behavior.
Black Bears are tied to forested areas, and in the southeastern United States, forest distribution matches the distribution of bears very closely. In many parts of the region, bears are dependent on oak trees for their energy-rich acorns and on a diversity of soft mast species (e.g., blueberries, blackberries). Where oaks are not the dominant species, diversity in forest types and ages can provide mast-producing hardwoods and shrubs. Bears are opportunistic omnivores, but low food supplies and an increase in fragmented habitat may result in increased bear movement into developed areas and leading to human-caused mortalities (e.g., vehicle, depredation).
Increased temperatures may cause some latitudinal shifts in the ranges occupied by members of this group, but the effects are likely to be mixed. Least Weasels are probably the only species likely to shift its range as a consequence of increased warming. In the Mountains, they may retreat toward the north, becoming less common or even potentially extirpated from the state. In the Coastal Plain, Eastern Diamond-backed Rattlesnakes are currently at the very northern edge of their range and very rare in the state. With warming temperatures there is the potential they will increase in abundance. However, that potential could very well be offset by increased development and fragmentation, as well as persecution.