Watershed Conservation Plan - Destination Erie

6 NATURAL RESOURCES
6.1 Animal Life
6.1.1 The Pennsylvania Natural Heritage Program
The Pennsylvania Natural Heritage Program, or PNHP (PADCNR et al. 2006), serves as a primary
source of information regarding the status of important ecological resources (i.e., plants, vertebrates,
invertebrates, and natural communities) known to occur within the study area. Much of the PNHP database
was developed using the site-specific findings of the Erie County Natural Heritage Inventory (Western
Pennsylvania Conservancy [WPC] 1993), which identifies locations in Erie County where plant and animal
species of special concern (not specifically named) were known to occur in the early 1990s. Unfortunately,
the WPC (1993) inventory did not include the significant portions of the study area found in Crawford
County. A search of PNHP records for the watershed was conducted in November 2006, resulting in the list
of animals shown in Table 6.1. The habitats of each of the 38 species of animals identified in PNHP records
were investigated by J. M. Campbell and classified in the last column of Table 6.1, which allowed a graphical
analysis of the primary habitats of the watershed's animal species of special concern (Figure 6.1).
All but one (i.e., eastern hognose snake) of the 38 listed "special concern" animal species are associated
with aquatic habitats, defined to include wetlands and beach/coastal habitats. Campbell reviewed natural
resource information besides the PHNP database, including collection records in unpublished "authoritative"
reports conducted by regional scientists and environmental agencies. This review produced evidence that
there are several animal species found in the larger state PNHP database not listed in Table 6.1 that may occur
in the study area. These potential omissions of the PNHP will be described in the following, and indicate the
need for comprehensive aquatic animal species inventories to update the PHNP data set for the Pennsylvania
Lake Erie watershed.
Table 6.1 Vertebrate and Invertebrate Animal Species Listed in the Pennsylvania Natural Heritage
Inventory Database for the Pennsylvania Lake Erie Watershed, Updated November 2006
Rank
Status
Taxon
Common Name
Global
State
Current State
Proposed State
Federal
Habitat
Vertebrate Species
Acipenser fulvescens lake sturgeon G3G4 S1 PE PE — aquatic
Amia calva bowfin G5 S2S3 PC CR — aquatic
littoral
Ammocrypta pellucida eastern sand darter G3 S1 PE PE — aquatic
littoral
Botaurus lentiginosus american bittern G4 S1B PE PE — em wet
Charadrius melodus piping plover G3 SX — PX LE, LT em wet sand
Chlidonias niger black tern G4 S1B PE PE — em wet
Cistothorus platensis sedge wren G5 S1B PE PE — em wet
Coregonus artedi cisco G5 SNR PE PE — aquatic
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