GCU's All Taxa Biodiversity Inventory

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Welcome to the Georgian Court University Biology Programs' All Taxa Biodiversity Inventory!  This web page was launched in September, 1999.  The goal of this site is to create a list of the species that live or spend substantial amounts of time on our 152 acre campus, which will increase awareness and appreciation of the diversity of lifeforms that coexist with the Homo sapiens members of the GC community.  For the most part, this listing excludes species found indoors.  This fun, informal project will never be complete, as it has been said that no one has ever identified all the life forms living in as small of an area as that occupied by a gram of soil!  Contributions to this site by any member of the college community are welcomed, and may be sent by an e-mail message to Dr. Michael Gross that includes the name of the species seen, when, and where.  Our campus is located in the New Jersey Pinelands (Pine Barrens).  However, because the Gould family brought in topsoil and exotic plants from many areas of the world, we have both native New Jersey Pine Barrens species, and introduced species.

So what are those organisms on the top of this page?   Well, next to the animated hummingbird are some tent caterpillars, a praying mantid, and the fungus (identification courtesy of Rod Tulloss) Amanita flavorubens .

Obviously, one of the factors determining which organisms we have on campus is our climate.  For federal government climate classification purposes, we are in southern New Jersey, along with the rest of the New Jersey Pinelands.  Here's a summary of recent temperature and precipitation data for southern New Jersey.

Many thanks to the following members of Dr. Wootton's Fall 1999 Zoology course for their numerous contributions to our data set:  Jennifer Monteleone, Lisa Grubby, Sophie Chai, Rosemary Long, Summer Giles, Heather Reck, Courtney Hurley, Jan Devaney, Elena Pappas, Jen Kester, Cherie Griffith, and Leslie McPherson.

Thanks also to botanist Linda Kelly, who located our eastern population of Spiranthes tuberosa (little ladies' tresses orchid), a species with an S3 designation on the State of New Jersey's List of Endangered Plant Species and Plant Species of Concern.

Numbers listed in parentheses are the approximate number of taxa that have been identified to date.

Domain Eukarya

Kingdom Animalia

Phylum Chordata (46)

Phylum Echinodermata

Phylum Arthropoda
    Class Insecta (74)
    Members of Other Classes (18)

Phylum Annelida (4)

Phylum Mollusca (11)

Phylum Brachiopoda

Phylum Ectoprocta

Phylum Entoprocta

Phylum Aschelminthes

Phylum Platyhelminthes

Phylum Coelenterata

Phylum Porifera

Kingdom Plantae

Phylum Anthophyta, Flowering Plants

Woody (165)

Nonwoody (165)

Phylum Coniferophyta, Conifers (although not flowering plants, these are included in Woody total above)

Phylum Ginkgophyta, Ginkgo (although not flowering plants, these are included in Woody total above)

Phylum Cycadophyta, Cycads

Phylum Pterophyta, Ferns (6)

Phylum Sphenophyta, Horsetails (1)

Phylum Lycophyta, Lycophytes

Phylum Psilotophyta, Psilotophytes

Phylum Bryophyta, Mosses

Phylum Anthocerophyta, Hornworts

Phylum Hepatophyta, Liverworts

Kingdom Fungi

Phylum Basidiomycotina (2)

Phylum Ascomycotina (1)

Phylum Zygomycotina

Phylum Deuteromycotina

Kingdom Protoctista

Phylum Oomycota

Phylum Chytridiomycota

Phylum Acrasiomycota

Phylum Myxomycota

Phylum Chlorophyta

Phylum Phaeophyta

Phylum Rhodophyta

Phylum Chrysophyta

Phylum Euglenophyta

Phylum Pyrrhophyta

Phylum Cryptophyta

Phylum Zoomastigina

Phylum Sarcodina

Phylum Sporozoa

Phylum Ciliophora

Domain Archaea

Domain Bacteria

Other ATBI and biodiversity sites of interest:

Great Smoky Mountains National Park's ATBI

Natural, Social and Historic Resources of Roosevelt, New Jersey

Peabody Park Biological Survey

Species2000