Biodiversity

The rich tapestry of genes, species, ecosystems, and their interactions are collectively referred to as biological diversity, shortened to biodiversity. 

Several studies of the biodiversity of Yorktown have been done.

• 2003 - A group from Cortlandt and Yorktown participated in the Hudsonia Biodiversity Study program.
• 2004 - The Metropolitan Conservation Alliance (A program of the Wildlife Conservation Society) produced a technical paper (#7) on the Croton-to-Highlands Biodiversity Plan which covers the towns of Cortlandt, New Castle, Putnam Valley and Yorktown.
• 2010 - Sterns and Weler did a study of the whole town.

The ACOS considers the biodiversity of properties (and their neighbors) to be an important consideration in ranking properties for inclusion on priority lists for acquisition. Those areas which have been studied and found to be significant by the experts are given a maximum biodiversity score. Others might gather some recognition for smaller features that are not landscape scale, such as a small population of a single important species or adjacency to one of the recognized areas that were not covered because of access issues for study.

A similar map from the much smaller Hudsonia study will appear here.

The MCA and Hudsonai use different methodologies. MCA uses field biologists to observe and count indicator species. Hudsonia uses aerial photography, soil maps, wetland maps and other remotely collected information to postulate probably species and then does spot checks by a field biologist to confirm those findings.