We would like to take the occasion of the 56th anniversary of Earth Day to announce the opening of the Habitats of North Carolina Website. The mission of the NCBP is to compile information about biodiversity in all of its forms and make it as widely available to the North Carolina public as we can. Biodiversity is more than just long lists of species: it includes all of their myriad interactions, both with one another and with the non-living parts of their environment. This website focuses on a key aspect of species’ ecology, their habitat. These are the places in which a species has evolved its relationships to the world and which are as much of a characteristic feature of their existence as their morphology, physiology, and behavior. In fact, all of those aspects have been strongly shaped by the interactions of the species with its habitat. Our new website highlights these connections but without losing sight of the species themselves. We hope to accomplish the same detailed appreciation for the high diversity of habitats we have here in North Carolina as we have accomplished for individual species through our taxonomic websites.
The Education/Outreach committee will meet at the Chapel Hill Public Library.