Vertebrate Fauna of North Carolina Coastal Islands II. Shackleford Banks

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Abstract
Shackleford Banks is an off-shore bar, submarine in origin, hence its fauna and flora were acquired, subsequent to its emergence, through over-water invasion. It is a typical barrier-beach island but it has suffered drastic changes in its vegetational cover and in its form, in the past half-century. Due largely to naturally initiated erosin of the outer beach, to hurricane floods, and to drifting sand, the woodland has been reduced to approx. 180 acres, about 15% of its original area. It has disappeared entirely from the eastward half of the island, where it has been replaced by grassland; some of the salt marsh has also been converted into a dry grassland through the deposition of wind-borne sand from the outer beach. In Sept., 1933, a hurricane flood cut a new inlet across its eastern end, separating Shackleford Banks from Core Banks and Cape Lookout. Tropical storms of hurricane intensity hit in upon, or pass close by, the N. Carolina coast with an avg. frequency of 1 every 4 yrs. At least 34, and probably not more than 40, spp. of land vertebrates[long dash]exclusive of shore- and aquatic-birds[long dash]occur on this island, as against about 186 spp. on the adjacent mainland. Only about 15% of the amphibians of the mainland occur on the island, not more than 20% of the land birds (perhaps only 15%), and about 25% of the reptiles and mammals. Some of the depauperation of the vertebrate fauna almost certainly is due to lack of diversity of habitat, but this factor alone does not account for all absentees. Destruction of woodland probably affected primarily the avian fauna[long dash]about 3 times as many birds occur on nearby, relatively heavily wooded Harkers Island. Some of the larger mammals[long dash]deer, bear, fox[long dash]probably originally occurred on the island, as well as the red bat. Amphibians, lizards and turtles were probably not materially reduced in numbers of spp. by the almost total disappearance of the woodland. Replacement of woodland by grassland probably did not add more than one sp. (meadowlark) to the fauna. Two of the 5 amphibians 2 of the 4 lizards, and one of the snakes most likely reached the island within partly decayed logs carried by flood waters.

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