New England Case Study

The average temperature in New England is predicted to increase by 2-4 degrees Fahrenheit, which seems small, but this could have drastic effects on the biodiversity of the ecosystems. Due to this potential, threatening change, the Lloyd Center for the Environment was put in charge of the Southcoast All Taxa Biodiversity Initiative, which is an initiative created to address the conservation concerns in New England’s future. First the Center established monitoring stations on the Slocums River and the Westport River, this region includes the only bioreserve in Massachusetts. Collection of data on the biodiversity of the region is key at these watersheds, since it encompasses most of the diverse species in the region. In total, there are 18 long-term monitoring
It shoes the changes in biodiversity of regions unaffected by human development and the monitoring stations are permanent. Support is also form the public and the government, not a private corporation, therefore the results of the studies are less likely to be biased to support the corporation. The most accessible data is about piping plovers, winter waterfowl, and, Nantucket Lepidoptera, although there is more data on the website. The piping plovers had about 30 pairs on the studied areas, and despite efforts, the population decreased slightly, but have rebounded slightly toward the carrying capacity of 30 pairs. Conservation efforts include fencing in the area where they lay their eggs on the beach and trying to help them during the oil spills that affected the area. Winter waterfowl are surveyed and the data is processed comparing the number of waterfowls to the ice coverage in the different months. The conservation effort is limited for the waterfowls, due to the limited amount the Center can do about ice in the area, which is a limiting factor of the waterfowl population. The Nantucket Lepidoptera has been monitored due to the amount of endangered sub-species it