NWT NWT Species 2011-2015 Species NWT 2011-2015 | General Status Ranks of Wild Species in the Northwest Territories General Status Ranks of Wild Species in the Northwest Territories In collaboration with: Library and Archives Canada Cataloguing in Publication Working Group on General Status of NWT Species NWT species 2011-2015 : general status ranks of wild species in the Northwest Territories. Includes bibliographical references. ISBN 978-0-7708-0193-9 1. Wildlife monitoring-Northwest Territories. 2. Biodiversity conservation-Northwest Territories. 3. Endangered species-Northwest Territories. 4. Animals-Northwest Territories. 5. Plants-Northwest Territories. I. Northwest Territories. Dept. of Environment and Natural Resources II. Title. III. Title: General status ranks of wild species in the Northwest Territories. QH106.2 N67 N87 2010 333.95'22097193 C2010-909899-4 Suggested citation: Working Group on General Status of NWT Species. 2011. NWT Species 2011-2015 – General Status Ranks of Wild Species in the Northwest Territories, Department of Environment and Natural Resources, Government of the Northwest Territories, Yellowknife, NT. 172pp. Copyright © 2011 by Government of the Northwest Territories, Department of Environment and Natural Resources. All rights reserved. Portions of this report may be reproduced for educational purposes, provided credit is given to the Government of the Northwest Territories. This document is also available at www.enr.gov.nt.ca. Ce document est aussi disponible sur demande en français. This document was edited and published by the Working Group on General Status of NWT Species: Department of Environment and Natural Resources, GNWT in collaboration with Government of Canada, Environment Canada, Canadian Wildlife Service, Fisheries and Oceans Canada, Sahtu Renewable Resources Board, Gwich'in Renewable Resources Board, Wildlife Management Advisory Council (NWT), Fisheries Joint Management Committee, and Wekeezhii Renewable Resources Board Design and layout by Inkit Ltd., Yellowknife, Northwest Territories, Canada. NWT SPECIES 2011-2015 General Status Ranks of Wild Species in the Northwest Territories Working Group on General Status of NWT Species In collaboration with: 4. Data Sources and Methods – How did we rank species? Polar Bear Photo Credit: P Nicklen/National Geographic Stock 2 NWT Species 2011-2015 Executive Summary ......................................................................... ii Preface – Building on our knowledge of NWT species ............................. 1 1. Background – Why rank the general status of all wild species? ............ 2 2. Goals – What are we trying to achieve? ........................................... 3 3. Scope – What did we look at? ........................................................ 4 4. Data Sources and Methods – How did we rank species? ...................... 6 5. Results – What did we learn? ...................................................... 12 6. Ranked Species Lists – What are the details? ................................. 17 6.1 Terrestrial Mammals .............................................................. 18 6.2 Marine Mammals ................................................................... 24 6.3 Birds .................................................................................. 26 6.4 Fishes ................................................................................. 38 6.5 Freshwater Mussels ............................................................... 44 6.6 Amphibians and Reptiles ........................................................ 46 6.7 Selected Beetles ................................................................... 48 6.8 Bumblebees ......................................................................... 62 6.9 Butterflies ........................................................................... 64 6.10 Selected Macromoths ........................................................... 70 6.11 Dragonflies and Damselflies .................................................. 74 6.12 Selected Biting Insects ........................................................ 78 6.13 Grasshoppers and Katydid ..................................................... 84 6.14 Spiders .............................................................................. 88 6.15 Vascular Plants ................................................................... 98 6.16 Mosses ............................................................................ 136 6.17 Macro-lichens .................................................................... 152 7. Challenges and Opportunities – What are the next steps? .............. 164 8. Further Your Knowledge – How to learn more? ............................. 166 9. Acknowledgments – Who participated in this program? ................. 170 10. Monitoring Infosheet ............................................................ 171 General Status Ranks of Wild Species in the Northwest Territories i Executive Summary The NWT is home to a diverse group of plants and animals. At least 30,000 species are estimated to occur here. An important first step in providing effective protection to biodiversity is to prevent species from ever becoming at risk. Monitoring the status of species is important to detect changes before they become critical and to determine which species need a more detailed assessment or closer monitoring. This report on the general status of wild species in the NWT was produced collaboratively with other agencies and wildlife co-management boards, and with the input from knowledgeable people from the NWT and elsewhere. The NWT Species 2011-2015 is the third report of the NWT General Status Ranking Program. The reports are issued every five years. The present report provides ranks for more than 3400 species of mammals, fishes, birds, amphibians, reptiles, vascular plants, macro-lichens, mosses, spiders and some insect groups like butterflies, large moths, bumblebees, dragonflies, damselflies, ground beetles, lady beetles, predaceous diving beetles, grasshoppers, and biting insects. Key findings of the program are provided. Overall, there are few changes in ranks of species covered in previous reports. Only 5% of changes can be attributed to an increase in threats to species. These threats are linked to declines in migratory bird populations and to a new disease, the white-nose syndrome, which can affect our bats in the next few years. More species of insects are found in the NWT than recorded 20 years ago, mostly due to a changing climate. New alien plant species, some of which could have negative impacts on native species, have been recorded in the NWT in the past five years. There is not enough information to rank the general status of some insects, spiders and mosses. Enthusiasm for biodiversity is great in the North. More people are sharing information on species than ever. This is facilitated by the increased availability of the internet and high-quality digital cameras. The next report in 2016 will include additional species groups and will review the ranks of all species included in the present report. Peregrine Falcon Photo Credit: G Court ii NWT Species 2011-2015 Preface – Building on our knowledge of NWT species The NWT Species 2011-2015 report is the third in a series • Provide a reference tool to be used by wildlife management of reports to be published every five years. The previous agencies, co-management boards, impact assessment reports on the general status ranks of species in the agencies, industry, governments, and all northerners Northwest Territories were published in 2000 and 2006. when making decisions related to wildlife. The NWT Species 2011-2015 report presents the general The NWT Species General Status Ranking Program status ranks of 3,429 species known or expected to be continues to be a valuable tool to exchange ideas, reach present in the Northwest Territories (NWT). common understandings, and build on our collective Since 2000, we have collected information on additional knowledge to manage human activities in an ecologically species. Monitoring of the general status of species was sustainable manner. performed every year. We updated, corrected, and added As of 2010, the program now has an official role as its new information to our catalogue of referenced information, results are providing information to the new Species at the "NWT Species Monitoring Infobase", searchable on the Risk Committee, formed under the Species At Risk (NWT) Act, Internet at www.enr.gov.nt.ca. As of 2011, we have updated for their deliberations on which species should be assessed the general status ranks for the 1,700 species ranked in 2006 in detail to determine if they are endangered, threatened, and added new ranks for more than 1,700 additional species. or of special concern in the NWT. In 2000, only about 400 species were ranked. The ranking system used by the program is shared by all Number of species ranked in each report jurisdictions in Canada, and is similar to systems used by 4,000 other countries. This tool helps us set conservation priorities 3,500 territorially, nationally, and internationally – especially across 3,000 the circumpolar regions of the world. 2,500 2,000 1,500 1,000 500 0 2000 2006 2011 We would like to thank all knowledgeable persons from the NWT, or visiting and studying in the North, who have contributed a vast amount of information on NWT species. Working Group on General Status of NWT Species For more information, please contact: General Status