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Natural Communities
Natural
communities are assemblages of species that occur together in space
and time. These groups of plants and animals are found in recurring
patterns that can be classified and described by their dominant physical
and biological features: Red Maple swamp and Pitch Pine/Scrub Oak communities
are two examples. Natural communities are not discrete units with neat
boundaries; there is overlap among and between communities in their
composition, structure, and physical characteristics. Large animals
often make use of multiple communities.
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Natural communities may be restricted or widespread in their distribution across the state. Conservation priority should be given to: natural communities with limited distribution across ecoregions within the state, those with restricted global distribution, and those common types for which the best documented examples occur in Massachusetts.
The Massachusetts Natural Heritage Program actively inventories and tracks the distribution and status of uncommon and exemplary natural communities across the state. In 2000, NHESP produced a draft classification of natural communities, which we use to better understand, map, and track them.
In April 2006 the Manomet Center for Conservation Sciences and the Massachusetts Natural Heritage and Endangered Species Program held a symposium on the natural communities of Massachusetts and surrounding states. Some of the presentations are available through Manomet's conservation mapper website. The NHESP presentation, entitled "Classifying Massachusetts Natural Communities: Where We Are Today, and Where We Might Go" presented background information on the Classification of the Natural Communities of Massachusetts, including assumptions made about classifying natural communities for conservation purposes.