The Biota of the Gordon Natural Area - Home
Despite being an isolated forest fragment encircled by development, the GNA continues to support an impressive biotic diversity. Species lists and accompanying data have been compiled for ten ‘biotic groups’: amphibians and reptiles (aka ‘herptiles’), birds, bryophytes, fish, fungi, invertebrates, lichens, mammals, slime molds, and vascular plants. The checklist for one biotic group, the vascular plants, is considered to be close to comprehensive. Species list for the other biotic groups are far less complete, and in many cases likely represent only a small portion of the species in that group that are actually present at the GNA.
To date, 1,700 species in these ten groups have been identified in the GNA. In this section of the GNA webpages, we present species checklists for each group, along with observational and descriptive data and, for many taxa, photographs. Currently, 4,138 photos are included. Photos were taken primarily by GNA staff and student interns, augmented by photos from WCU faculty and visitors to the GNA. Close to two-thirds of the 1,700 species (1,021 species; 60.1%) are represented by photographs.
Click on the links below, to find out more about a particular group.
You can also find additional information on the biota of the Gordon in the 'Gordon Natural Area Collection' on DigitalCommons.