Species Lists

Species Lists for Northeast Temperate Network Parks

A red fox sits for a moment on a winter's day.

Ed Sharron

The core of the Species Lists inventory is NPSpecies, which is part of the Intergated Resource Management Applications (IRMA) system. NPSpecies is a compilation of existing species lists and evidence records (vouchers, scientific documents, and observation records) that support the species occurrence for vertebrates and vascular plants in more than 270 parks with significant natural resources.

The species lists and supporting evidence records in NPSpecies support NPS staff and collaborators at the park, network, regional, and national levels by managing basic, park-level species information, and making this information available to other applications and databases for more specialized analyses.

Certification

The species lists generated with the tool below have gone through a certification process that involves evaluation and review of the species information by subject matter experts and park staff. However, the lists are works in progress and absence of a species from the list does not necessarily indicate its absence from the park, since it is possible that formal census techniques targeting rare, unique, cryptic or seasonally present species were not used. Species on the list are recorded using park-accepted scientific names that have been quality-checked and certified by subject-matter experts. In the Full List with Details, the Occurrence, Abundance, and Nativeness fields have also been reviewed and certified by experts. Common names are based on the park's preferred common names list if available, or else from ITIS (Integrated Taxonomic Information System).

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Species Attribute Definitions

Definitions

Occurrence

Occurrence values are defined below. One or more Occurrence Tags may be associated with each Occurrence value.

Present: Species occurs in park; current, reliable evidence available.

Probably Present: High confidence species occurs in park but current, verified evidence needed.

Unconfirmed: Species is attributed to park but evidence is weak or absent.

Not In Park: Species is not known to occur in park.

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Occurrence Tags

Adjacent: Species is known to occur in areas near to or contiguous with park boundaries.

False Report: Species was reported to occur within the park, but current evidence indicates the report was based on misidentification, a taxonomic concept no longer accepted, or other similar problem of error or interpretation.

Historical: Species' historical occurrence in park is documented. Assigned based on judgment as opposed to determination based on age of the most recent evidence.

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Abundance

Abundant:

• Animals: May be seen daily, in suitable habitat and season, and counted in relatively large numbers.
• Plants: Large number of individuals; wide ecological amplitude or occurring in habitats covering a large portion of the park.

Common:

• Animals: May be seen daily, in suitable habitat and season, but not in large numbers.
• Plants: Large numbers of individuals predictably occurring in commonly encountered habitats but not those covering a large portion of the park.

Uncommon:

• Animals: Likely to be seen monthly in appropriate habitat and season. May be locally common.
• Plants: Few to moderate numbers of individuals; occurring either sporadically in commonly encountered habitats or in uncommon habitats.

Rare:

• Animals: Present, but usually seen only a few times each year.
• Plants: Few individuals, usually restricted to small areas of rare habitat.

Occasional:

• Animals: Occurs in the park at least once every few years, varying in numbers, but not necessarily every year.
• Plants: Abundance variable from year to year (e.g., desert plants).

Unknown: Abundance unknown

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Nativeness

Native: Species naturally occurs in park or region.

Non-native: Species occurs on park lands as a result of deliberate or accidental human activities.

Unknown: Nativeness status is unknown or ambiguous.

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List Differences

The Checklist contains only those species that are designated as "present" or "probably present" in the park.

The Full List includes all the checklist species in addition to species that are unconfirmed, historically detected, or incorrectly reported as being found in the park. The full list also contains species that are "in review" because their status in the park hasn't been fully determined. Additional details about the status of each species is included in the full list.

The checklist will almost always contain fewer species than the full list.

Select a Park:

Acadia National Park Appalachian National Scenic Trail Boston Harbor Islands National Recreation Area Eleanor Roosevelt National Historic Site Home Of Franklin D Roosevelt National Historic Site Marsh - Billings - Rockefeller National Historical Park Minute Man National Historical Park Morristown National Historical Park Saint-Gaudens National Historical Park Saratoga National Historical Park Saugus Iron Works National Historic Site Vanderbilt Mansion National Historic Site Weir Farm National Historical Park

Select a Species Category (optional):

All Amphibians Birds Fish Mammals Reptiles Vascular Plants

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Species attribute definitions

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Visit NPSpecies for more comprehensive information and advanced search capability. Have a suggestion or comment on this list? Let us know.