A Biologically Diverse Massachusetts

Biodiversity is all around us. 

Across a pond, you see a Great Blue Heron slowly creep through the water, eventually lunging down to capture a frog. Under the surface, tadpoles scour the pond, grazing on algae. 

What happens if one thread of this basic food web disappears? 

Interspecies relationships, shaped over hundreds of thousands of years or more, keep our environment running. Losing even one can lead to a cascade of changes, weakening ecosystem health over time. 

Biodiversity 101

What Is It & Why Is It Important? 

Biodiversity is all around us. From a pollen spore to a black bear, biodiversity (short for biological diversity) is the variety of all living things. 

This richness is vital for fostering healthy habitats, providing essential ecosystem services, and our collective well-being. The more complex, abundant, and variable the life and resources in an ecosystem are, the more likely it is to be resilient and better withstand the stressors of pressing threats like climate change. 

Fostering Healthy Ecosystems 

Forest, wetland, and coastal communities all perform various ecosystem services, such as:

• Purifying water
• Building and stabilizing soil
• Regulating floods
• Storing and sequestering carbon
• Moderating the effects of climate change

In Massachusetts, thousands of resident and migratory animals live and interact within the mosaic of our ecosystems for food and water, reproduction, shelter, and migratory pathways. 

Biodiversity also supports ecosystem resilience. Environmental stressors such as excessive rain, drought, and disease don’t affect every species in the same way, but in a diverse ecosystem, some members are better adapted to meet and respond to different challenges.  

All organisms have an intrinsic value regardless of their benefit to people. At the same time, biodiversity and ecosystem health are critical to humanity. We rely on foods, fuels, fibers, and more drawn from the biosphere every day. Biodiversity supports our food sources, housing, air and water quality, cultural heritages, aesthetic and spiritual values, and all the ways we love to experience nature.  

Threats to Biodiversity 

The health of an ecosystem—its ability to recover from challenges—hinges on its varied species, resources, and relationships between organisms and their environment. The more biodiverse an area, the more likely those relationships are to persist through challenges. 

More than 450 species of plants and animals are officially endangered in Massachusetts, and hundreds more are at risk. Broadly, factors threatening these species include habitat loss, habitat fragmentation, overuse of resources, invasive species, pollution, and climate change. 

An assortment of producers, predators, prey, foragers, decomposers, and pollinators ensures the ecosystem can stay up and running. However, without action, we will see them disappear. 

A Changing Climate 

As climate change threatens our native biodiversity, loss of native biodiversity can in turn amplify the effects of climate change. Our local ecosystems have continuously adapted over the millennia, but now they cannot adapt fast enough. Unprecedentedly warmer winters, drought, flood, heat waves, and sea level rise all put stress on our ecosystems. 

Studies have shown that restoring and fostering biodiversity helps combat the effects of climate change by building resiliency and stability. Protecting biodiversity is more important now than ever. 

Mass Audubon's Commitment to Preserving Biodiversity

Across Mass Audubon’s 41,000 acres of protected land, our conservation work is guided with biodiversity in mind.  

On Our Coasts 

On the coast, we protect salt marshes, coastal uplands, bird breeding islands, and beaches that provide resources for animals and humans. At sanctuaries like Allens Pond in South Dartmouth and Westport, we actively work to enhance salt marsh resilience to maintain ecosystem services such as carbon capture and storage, coastline protection, and breeding grounds for fish, invertebrates, and birds. In the process, we’ve seen a sharp increase in populations of Saltmarsh Sparrows, a species declining dramatically since the 1990s. 

In Our Forests 

Our work in Massachusetts’ forests aims to prevent development, protect large blocks of forest, manage young forest habitats, and enhance the structural diversity of our maturing forests. Mass Audubon protects 25,000 acres of forests and works actively to ensure this land continues to provide the benefits of biodiversity and remain resilient in the face of threats like climate change through thoughtful forest management. 

Across Our Grasslands 

Grassland habitats are becoming rarer as fields are developed or farmed more extensively. Birds that rely on these habitats, such as Bobolinks, Savannah Sparrows, and Eastern Meadowlarks, are losing nesting habitats and have experienced population declines for more than 50 years. Our research and monitoring projects, along with partnerships, are aimed at helping landowners and managers develop sustainable, bird-friendly management practices to preserve these species and maintain native biodiversity.  

Aligning with Massachusetts’s State Targets 

The state is developing biodiversity targets in response to Executive Order No. 618, which names the intertwined crises of climate change and biodiversity loss as existential threats to the Commonwealth and calls for swift, ambitious action. Mass Audubon is committed to helping achieve these goals for the health of Massachusetts’ environment and people.  

Our 30x30 Catalyst Fund is structured to inspire philanthropic investment and leverage public capital, ensuring swift actions to reach the state’s targets. Biodiversity is in the balance, and time is ticking before species are lost for good. 

We need to act now. 

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