Biodiversity

DELAWARE’S BIODIVERSITY

Delaware is in the middle of the Mid-Atlantic region and has a generally mild temperate climate. The hilly northern area of our state is within the physiographic province called the Piedmont – the foothills of the Appalachian Mountains. The natural areas of the Piedmont include several diverse habitats including rivers, their spring-fed tributaries, non-tidal wetlands, deciduous forests, and open fields.

The rest of the state is within the Atlantic Coastal Plain physiographic province. This flat, often sandy, area stretches from the Piedmont south to (and beyond) our southern border. Habitats on the Coastal Plain include: deciduous and coniferous woodlands, maritime woodlands, coastal dunes, slow-moving tidal and non-tidal streams, freshwater and saltwater marshes, and Delmarva Bays and other ephemeral wetlands. Each of these habitats contains hundreds of species of animals, plants, fungi, and other living organisms that are adapted to the physical and biological conditions of the habitat and dependent on the habitat for food, shelter, and procreation.

Most of Delaware’s biodiversity has not been documented as very few surveys have been conducted on bacteria, fungi, and most insect groups. Only the plant, vertebrate (fish, amphibians, reptiles, birds, and mammals), butterfly, damselfly, and dragonfly groups are fairly well known. Even in these groups, species new to Delaware are still being found.

There are many amazing natural phenomena that feature Delaware’s biodiversity to witness throughout the year. Some examples are: the spring blooming of wildflowers in our deciduous woodlands; the synchronized spawning of the horseshoe crab and northward migration of several species of shorebirds; the early summer breeding of frogs in Delaware Bays; the migration of shad and other androgynous fish into our rivers and streams; the migration and stopover of neotropical songbirds though our woodlands in spring and fall; the fall migration of hawks and other birds of prey; and the winter gathering of Snow Geese and other waterfowl along the Delaware Bayshore.