The term biodiversity refers to the variety of organisms, communities, and genes within an ecosystem. It is not simply an assesment of the number of species in a particular area, but rather describes the level of variation in structure, function, and organization which exists between different individuals, populations, species, and communities. Ecosystems with high biodiversity tend to be more resillient and better able to recover from disturbances. They sometimes incorporate a degree of functional redundancy, so that the loss of a particular species does may not severely affect the entire system. Conversely, highly degraded or human-dominated ecosystems tend to have less biodiversity, as a few human-friendly invasive species move in and displace the native communities. Evaluating the biodiversity of the San Miguel basin is a critical first step in establishing an overall conservation strategy. The reports posted here will serve as the basis for this evaluation; new reports will be posted as they become available.

Please note: these reports have been posted in Adobe PDF format. If you do not own a copy of Acrobat Reader, you may download it free from Adobe.

Preliminary Report on the Invertebrate Biodiversity of the Telluride Area - September, 2000
Erwin, T., Anderson, R., Cushing, P., Pouge, M., Roughly, R., and Wilkerson, R.
     A biological team consisting of seven entomological experts and two assistants spent one week (September 5-11) surveying the San Miguel Valley floor and several headwaters streams for beetles, weevils, mosquitos, lepidopterans, and spiders. Although conducted out of season, the surveys produced some encouraging results: 1) Over 200 distinct species were collected. This represents only a small portion of the valley floor's overall arthropod diversity. 2) Among terrestrial beetles, a 100% species turnover occured between sites, suggesting that each habitat has a different assemblage of beetles. 3) Species collected from the valley floor differed from those collected in the Ilium Valley of the South Fork San Miguel. 4) Species belonging to the Staphlinidae, which frequently inhabit extremely restricted ranges, were collected during the survey. 5) A Pierid butterfly of the species Pontia occidentalis (Reakirt) was collected; this is the first time a member of this species has been found in San Miguel county. 6)Weevils showed no unexpected species or distributions.
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    Includes supplemental species lists for Coleoptera, Lepodoptera, Diptera, and Araneae