The NC Biodiversity Project is a private, nonprofit organization whose mission is to promote public interest in the state’s native species and ecosystems. Working in partnership with the NC Division of Parks and Recreation, our efforts focus on creating interactive websites that provide the public with both an accessible source of information on the state’s biodiversity as well as the opportunity to contribute new information of scientific and conservation value.
Information compiled by these websites will help fill in our knowledge of the distributions, life histories, habitats, and other ecological associations of species, particularly as they exist in our state. We are especially interested in using these data to help guide efforts to conserve the state’s biodiversity. In order for those efforts to succeed, accurate and detailed knowledge of species’ conservation statuses within the state is required, as well as a broad base of public support for their preservation. Addressing these two needs are the most important goals of our project.
UPDATES:
(2022-05-07): A checklist for the Reptiles of North Carolina is now online. It lists the 74 species that have been documented to occur in North Carolina.
(2022-04-22): Gary Perlmutter, NCBP member and author of the Lichens of NC website, recently published a paper entitled Lichens and Allied Fungi of Mitchell Mill State Natural Area, North Carolina, USA. Abstract: One hundred five species of lichenized and allied fungi are reported from recent and historical collections made in the Mitchell Mill State Natural Area in northeastern Wake County, North Carolina, USA. Mitchell Mill is unique among granitic flatrock communities in the southeastern United States by having riparian elements from the Little River, which flows directly over the flatrock, supporting semi-aquatic lichen communities along creek edges represented by species in Dermatocarpon, Verrucaria, and Lichinales. Recently described or renamed species Cladonia ignatii, Lecanora provertula, and Phyllopsora isidiosa were found in recent collections. Compared to historical records, 38 taxa including five of six species of large cyanolichen were not found in recent visits, indicating a loss of diversity over the past 100 years, likely due to human activities.
(2022-04-13): NC Biodiversity Project Newsletter - Spring 2022 
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(2022-04-08): The Mammals of North Carolina website now has a new PDF Approximation (Third) of all of the mammal species accounts and maps. The last approximation was in 2017. There are now 124 mammal species known from the state.
(03/27/2022): The Amphibians of North Carolina website has just been added to the NCBP, covering 94 species and 5 lesser taxa of our Frogs and Salamanders. As in all of our websites, it provides a detailed account of the distribution, habitat requirements, life history, ecology, and conservation biology of each species that occurs in our state.
(03/16/2022): The NCBP is now conducting a biodiversity survey of the bottomlands along New Hope Creek in Durham County. This project is being funded by a grant provided by Burt’s Bees to the Durham Open Space Program. Our mission is to document the presence of species belonging to all of the taxa covered by the NCBP websites, which will help guide preservation and management efforts by the County and local conservation organizations. We have set up a website that describes this project and tracks its progress. It can be accessed at: New Hope Creek Biodiversity Survey 2021 - 2022
(08/28/2021): Kyle Kittleberger, NCBP member and author of the Hoppers of NC website, recently published a paper entitled The Value of Citizen Science in Increasing Our Knowledge of Under-Sampled Biodiversity: An Overview of Public Documentation of Auchenorrhyncha and the Hoppers of North Carolina. In this paper, the authors focused on the value of citizen science in increasing our knowledge of hoppers (noting important records of hoppers in North America and North Carolina that were first detected by the public, comparing citizen science contributions with specimen collections, and looking to see what has been reported in the literature), how we can approach citizen science going forward, with a particular focus on the NC Hopper Site.
(9/13/2020): NC Biodiversity Project Educational Posters 
On-going: NCBP Educational Workshops 
