Jacob+Rosenfield+Wake+Audobon+society+meeting+3-13

Wake Audubon Society Monthly Meeting 3-13

This months topic was on Crayfish of The Carolinas presented by Tyler Black an employee for The North Carolina Wildlife Resources Commission.  The Crayfish are a little known but very important invertebrate that is critical to many animals diets (2 species of snake eat almost exclusively Crayfish) and ecosystems in North Carolina. 8 Crayfish species live in Wake County alone and they live in various habitats such as caves, in the water, and in burrows. Unfortunately the Crayfish is not immune from conservation threats that affect other species such as disease, restricted range, and habitat loss. Today 2% of Crayfish species are extinct while 32% are threatened or endangered.

This talk directly relates to topics we studied earlier this year such as biodiversity conservation and food webs. In that these Crayfish and their habitats need to be protected because these vitally important invertebrate form the backbone of many ecosystems serving as an important food source as well as cleaning the environment by serving as a detritus feeder.

I took this outside the meeting on the top floor of the science museum.