Virginia's Biological Diversity Ranks in Top Quarter, But Eight Percent of State's Plant and Animal Species at Risk of Extinction

Nature Conservancy Report Examines Condition of Plants and Animals in all 50 States

Date: 04/22/02

CHARLOTTESVILLE, VA-While Virginia ranks in the top quarter of states in the diversity of plant and animal species it harbors, eight percent of those species are considered at risk of extinction, according to a new study released today by The Nature Conservancy.

The study, States of the Union: Ranking America's Biodiversity, ranked Virginia at 12th in the nation for the overall number of different plant and animal species found in the state (3,803). Specifically, the Conservancy-commissioned report found that Virginia ranks third in the number of amphibian species it harbors (74) and eighth in species of freshwater fishes (202). Virginia ranked sixth overall for invertebrate species, including second in dragonflies (124 species) and fifth in mussels (83 species). Additionally, Virginia ranked in the top 20 in diversity of other key species groups, including vascular plants (#13, 2,580 species), reptiles (#16, 60 species), and birds (# 18, 322 species). Virginia also hosts 21 endemics-species found nowhere else in the world.

Unfortunately, this biological richness is also seriously threatened. Twenty Virginia species already are extinct, ranking this state as eighth in the number of species lost.

"This study paints both a hopeful and disturbing portrait," said Michael Lipford, Virginia executive director of The Nature Conservancy. "Virginians have long recognized the tremendous biological diversity of our commonwealth, from the freshwater mussels and fishes in the Clinch Valley to the migratory birds along the Eastern Shore. At the same time, the large number of our species that are in peril serves as a stark reminder that we must significantly increase our conservation efforts to protect this richness of life for future generations."

Virginia ranks highly in diversity, in part, because of its varied geography. Occupying a central position along the nation's Atlantic Coast and the Appalachian Mountains, this state overlaps several major ecological regions, such as the Chesapeake Bay Lowlands and the humid Mid-Atlantic Coastal Plain, the mountainous Southern Blue Ridge and Central Appalachian Forest, and, at the state's southwestern tip, the Cumberlands and Southern Ridge & Valley province. As a result, many species reach distributional limits in Virginia, and an unusual blend of northern and southern species commingle within the state. Another factor in Virginia's high diversity ranking is its extraordinary freshwater systems that host numerous rare and endemic aquatic species.

According to Steve McCormick, president of The Nature Conservancy, protecting the nation's ecological richness will require a broad range of efforts at the ecosystem level. "We must protect large landscapes and work collaboratively with a wide array of interests," McCormick said. "That means working with federal, state and local governments as well as private property owners so that land is managed in a manner that helps, not hurts, biodiversity."

In Virginia, the Conservancy has established community-based landscape-scale programs to foster partnerships and undertake conservation efforts for the Eastern Shore, Clinch Valley, Green Sea (southeastern Virginia), Piedmont, and Chesapeake Rivers. With the recent acquisition at Warm Springs Mountain in Bath County, the Conservancy next will launch a conservation program in the Alleghany Highlands. Using these sites as platforms, the Conservancy hopes to build public and private alliances to protect significant land and water resources statewide.

Based on an analysis of more than 21,000 species, the States of the Union report was prepared for The Nature Conservancy by NatureServe, a non-profit organization that is the leading source of scientific information about rare and endangered species and threatened ecosystems. Drawing on ongoing species inventories conducted by state natural heritage programs, including the Division of Natural Heritage within Virginia's Department of Conservation and Recreation, the report ranks all 50 states and the District of Columbia on several key biological characteristics including diversity of species, distinctiveness of the flora and fauna (endemism), levels of rarity and risk, and species already lost to extinction.

The complete report is available online at http://nature.org

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The Nature Conservancy is a private, international, non-profit organization that preserves plants, animals and natural communities representing the diversity of life on Earth by protecting the lands and waters they need to survive. To date, the Conservancy and its more than one million members have been responsible for the protection of more than 12 million acres in the United States. The Conservancy also has helped preserve more than 80 million acres in Latin America, the Caribbean, Asia and the Pacific. It has 36,000 Virginia members and has helped protect more than 235,000 acres in the commonwealth, where it owns more than 30 preserves. The Conservancy's worldwide headquarters are in Arlington. On the web at nature.org.