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Introduction

The South has an impressive diversity of terrestrial communities and species associations. These communities range from mountain spruce-fir forests to tropical hardwoods, and from coastal dunes to prairies. Centuries of settlement and land use change have brought a number of threats and pressures. The majority of the landscape has been modified considerably, resulting in the disappearance, degradation, and endangerment of native communities.

This Chapter assesses the historical and present status of terrestrial species across the South. It is organized into six major sections:

(1) An overview of southern historical conditions affecting terrestrial vertebrate species;




(2) A review of populations, harvests, and the conservation status of species occurring in the South;




(3) A review of selected sensitive communities in the region and the common threats to these communities;




(4) An overview of vertebrate species that consume hard and soft mast. This section also lists several mast-producing species that occur in the South;




(5) An evaluation of the significance of public and other land for maintaining species and their habitats; and




(6) A review of the literature on fragmentation and its influence on landscapes and the species supported by those landscapes.

Several species are included that, at one stage or another of their lives, return to land to reproduce or spend a part of their lives there. The focus is on vertebrates because information on the regional biogeography of many terrestrial invertebrate groups is lacking (Echternacht and Harris 1993). Scientific names are provided in the Chapter tables and the master Species List in the Assessment appendix; therefore, common names will be used in the text. (Note: Additional information on the status and habitat relationships of vertebrate resources across the South is provided in Chapter AQUA-5 and Chapter TERRA-5, which include discussions of threatened and endangered species).