Bald Eagle, Photograph by Debbie Burton, Flickr

Introduction

Madison New Jersey is a small suburban town with many different types of biodiversity. Madison’s diverse ecosystems offer a haven for a wide array of endangered plants and animals, and provide us with invaluable opportunities to learn, appreciate, and contribute to conserving these imperiled species. Through the work of  U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service, the Endangered Species Act provides protection and information about these species and ways to secure their future.

Data

It is important to understand these areas of richness of imperiled species, because it allows us to find new ways to contribute to conservation efforts, preservation of biodiversity, and even ethical responsibilities. The data layer shown here, displays areas where endangered or threatened species could be located in order to help spread awareness and find solutions to the problem.

Results

Although the data layer spans across the lower 48 United States that are protected by the Endangered Species Act, our concerns are primarily in Madison, New Jersey. The map shown has different areas of color saturation. The lighter areas are areas where higher numbers of endangered or threatened species are, and the darker areas are less. The lowest number in Madison is 3 and the highest is 6. The species we are looking at are a combination of Vertebrates (309 species in total), Freshwater invertebrates (228), Pollinators (43) and Vascular plants (1636), which were all monitored and studied by NatureServe.

Conclusion

It is vital to understand the importance of spreading awareness about endangered species, because studying endangered species and their habitats can provide insight into the ecological problems our societies might be creating. Seeing the ever growing number of species continue to rise throughout the years should start to evoke change within our ways of operation, and instead focus our efforts and attention on combating the decline of these species. New Jersey in general is home to more than 700 endangered species and you can learn more about each individual plant and animal here.

About the Data

The data layer that was used to create this map, was made available by NatureServe. This data looks at 2,216 of the most imperiled species throughout the nation. This data layer is part of a bigger project called “The Map of Biodiversity Importance data collection, which is a series of maps that identify areas of high importance for protecting species from extinction in the contiguous United States.”