The Verified Tally
The Taxa Tally documents species diversity identified and verified by researchers for public sharing and for listing in a national database. The verified tally is the current public record of species evidence that has passed the Thicket of Diversity’s verification expectations.
View the current TOD Taxa Tally PDF
The Historical Tally
The historical tally gives context for older records, surveys, and legacy evidence that inform the inventory. These records remain important to the story of Big Thicket biodiversity, even when they were gathered under different standards or cannot be verified in the same way as current ToD research records.
View the historical TOD Taxa Tally PDF
Why the Tally Matters
After Hurricane Rita, environmental stewards were asked what species had been lost. The information was not available because the last broad inventory of flora and fauna had been conducted in 1936 in A Biological Survey of the East Texas Big Thicket Area by V. L. Cory and H. B. Parks. That survey was significant but outdated. It also provided critical scientific evidence that helped launch the conservation movement to preserve the area and ultimately contributed to the creation of the Big Thicket National Preserve.
The work of Dr. Daniel H. Janzen in Costa Rica helped model new approaches to biodiversity inventory. Great Smoky Mountains National Park was the first to implement an All Taxa Biodiversity Inventory through its Discover Life in America project, and the effort was later replicated in national parks across the country.
In 2006, the Thicket of Diversity was established in partnership with the Big Thicket National Preserve of the National Park Service. The data collected established baselines, and subsequent inventory work has helped show changes in ecological systems and the impacts of climate change.
A variety of funding sources supported the growth of ToD’s research and outreach. In 2012, a Supplemental Environmental Project was approved between the Big Thicket Association and the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality. This allowed the use of mitigation funds for research. These funds now help sustain the Thicket of Diversity’s work.