Cooperative Fish and Wildlife Research Units Program: North Carolina
Education, Research and Technical Assistance for Managing Our Natural Resources

The threats posed by climate change, urbanization, and invasive species, underscore the need for proactive management. However, conservation planning at regional and national extents continues to be limited by the lack of consistent, detailed and current data on biological resources. The goal of this proposal is to provide data, synthesis, and analyses to increase our understanding of the status of biodiversity and drivers of change. We will emphasize factors affecting national trust resources. To meet the project’s goal, we will: 1) analyze trends in biodiversity, investigating drivers of change and potential implications for future changes in diversity; 2) synthesize data and update species-habitat distribution maps to determine the current status of biodiversity in the nation; and 3) assist in building a National Biogeographic Map and a central tool for disseminating the synthesis of information.