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Plants, Wildlife, and Habitats
Plants and Wildlife
The Conservation Center is home to a wide variety of wildlife and plants. Our staff, faculty, and students conduct various surveys and monitoring projects to understand how different species use the property.
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- Sugar maple (Acer saccharum)
- Red maple (Acer rubrum)
- White oak (Quercus alba)
- Northern red oak (Quercus rubra)
- Black oak (Quercus velutina)
- Shagbark hickory (Carya ovata)
- American beech (Fagus grandifolia)
- Black birch (Betula lenta)
- Tulip tree (Liriodendron tulipifera)
- Eastern white pine (Pinus strobus)
- Eastern hemlock (Tsuga canadensis)
- Musclewood (Carpinus caroliniana)
- Black cherry (Prunus serotina)
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- Japanese barberry* (Berberis thunbergii)
- Winged euonymus* (Euonymus alatus)
- Witch hazel (Hamamelis virginiana)
- Northern spicebush (Lindera benzoin)
- Multiflora rose* (Rosa multiflora)
- Winterberry (Ilex verticillata)
Find the Flora
Join the iNaturalist community to document the flora around the area.
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Ferns
- Christmas fern (Polystichum acrostichoides)
- Cinnamon fern (Osmunda cinnamomea)
- Sensitive fern (Onoclea sensibilis)
- New York fern (Thelypteris noveboracensis)
- Eastern hay-scented fern (Dennstaedtia punctilobula)
- Lady fern (Athyrium filix-femina)
Forbs/Gramminoids
- Garlic mustard* (Alliaria petiolata)
- Japanese stiltgrass* (Microstegium viminium)
- Jewelweed (Impatiens capensis)
- Common reed* (Phragmites australis)
- Common mugwort* (Artemisia vulgaris)
- White wood aster (Eurybia divaricata)
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- Oriental bittersweet* (Celastrus orbiculatus)
- Wild grape (Vitis spp.)
- Poison ivy (Toxicodendron radicans)
- Virginia creeper (Parthenocissus quinquefolia)
- Porcelainberry* (Ampelopsis glandulosa var. brevipedunculata)
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- American Crow (Corvus brachyrhynchos)
- American Goldfinch (Spinus tristis)
- American Robin (Turdus migratorius)
- Baltimore Oriole (Icterus galbula)
- Barn Swallow (Hirundo rustica)
- Belted Kingfisher (Megaceryle alcyon)
- Black Vulture (Coragyps atratus)
- Black-capped Chickadee** (Poecile atricapillus)
- Blue Jay (Cyanocitta cristata)
- Brown-headed Cowbird (Molothrus ater)
- Canada Goose (Branta canadensis)
- Chimney Swift (Chaetura pelagica)
- Chipping Sparrow (Spizella passerina)
- Common Grackle (Quiscalus quiscula)
- Dark-eyed Junco (Junco hyemalis)
- Downy Woodpecker (Picoides pubescens)
- Eastern Bluebird** (Sialia sialis)
- Eastern Wood-Pewee (Contopus virens)
- European Starling* (Sturnus vulgaris)
- Fish Crow (Corvus ossifragus)
- Gray Catbird (Dumetella carolinensis)
- House Finch (Haemorhous mexicanus)
- House Sparrow* (Passer domesticus)
- House Wren** (Troglodytes aedon)
- Merlin (Falco columbarius)
- Mourning Dove (Zenaida macroura)
- Northern Cardinal (Cardinalis cardinalis)
- Northern Flicker (Colaptes auratus)
- Northern Mockingbird (Mimus polyglottos)
- Northern Rough-winged Swallow (Stelgidopteryx serripennis)
- Piliated Woodpecker (Dryocopus pileatus)
- Red-bellied Woodpecker (Melanerpes carolinus)
- Red-tailed Hawk (Buteo jamaicensis)
- Red-winged Blackbird (Agelaius phoeniceus)
- Sharp-shinned Hawk (Accipiter striatus)
- Song Sparrow (Melospiza melodia)
- Tree Swallow** (Tachycineta bicolor)
- Tufted Titmouse (Baeolophus bicolor)
- Turkey Vulture (Cathartes aura)
- Warbling Vireo (Vireo gilvus)
- White-breasted Nuthatch (Sitta carolinensis)
- White-throated Sparrow (Zonotrichia albicollis)
- Winter Wren (Troglodytes hiemalis)
- Yellow Warbler (Setophaga petechia)
NestWatch
Discover how the Conservation Center is helping monitor local bird populations through NestWatch, a community science program from the Cornell Lab of Ornithology.
Reptiles
Common Snapping Turtle (Chelydra serpentina)
Eastern Box Turtle (Terrapene carolina)
Eastern Garter Snake (Thamnophis sirtalis sirtalis)
Painted Turtle (Chrysemys picta)
Red-eared Slider* (Trachemys scripta elegans)
Amphibians
American Bullfrog (Lithobates catesbeianus)
American Toad (Anaxyrus americanus)
Green Frog (Lithobates clamitans)
Gray Treefrog (Dryophytes versicolor)
Red-backed salamander (Plethodon cinereus)
Wood Frog (Lithobates sylvaticus)
Bobcat (Lynx rufus)
Eastern Chipmunk (Tamias striatus)
Eastern Cottontail (Sylvilagus floridanus)
Eastern Coyote (Canis latrans)
Eastern Gray Squirrel (Sciurus carolinensis)
Groundhog (Marmota monax)
Northern Raccoon (Procyon lotor)
Red Fox (Vulpes vulpes)
Virginia Opossum (Didelphis virginiana)
White-tailed deer (Odocoileus virginianus)
Habitats
Discover the diverse habitats that make the Suburban Biodiversity Conservation Center a living showcase of local nature. From ponds and wetlands to gardens and forests, explore the places where plants, animals, and ecosystems thrive.
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This pond was originally constructed to manage runoff from the Conservation Center but over time, it has transformed into a thriving ecosystem full of life. This pond is an example of a freshwater ecosystem on which different living organisms depend on their survival.
The pond now serves as a valuable outdoor classroom where students conduct hands-on lab studies. A wide variety of plant and animal species live in and around the pond, offering students a chance to explore ecology and observe environmental processes up-close. This pond is home to a diverse group of fish, amphibians, and invertebrates. Birds also visit to feed off the fish and insects.
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Wetlands are important because they protect and improve water quality, provide fish and wildlife habitats, store floodwaters and maintain surface water flow during dry periods. This wetland is a swamp which is a forested wetland. Amphibians and reptiles rely on swamps to help them survive and grow their populations. On this trail, you’ll find various plants and animal species including salamanders, frogs, and snakes. Educational signage offers information about wetlands.
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Vernal Pools are seasonal wetlands that exist only for a brief but critical time, filling with shallow water in the spring, before eventually drying up in the summer. These pools are critical breeding habitats for amphibians such as frogs and salamanders who spend a majority of their life in nearby wetlands but migrate to breed or feed in productive vernal pools.
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Explore
Pocantico River Watershed
Journey through diverse habitats, native wildlife, recreation, and the more in this ecosystem.
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Pace University is an official Bee Campus, awarded by the Xerces Society for Invertebrate Conservation, with gardens that support a variety of flowering plants, providing valuable food sources for insects and birds. Butterflies, moths, wasps, flies, beetles, hummingbirds, and bees are all pollinators that need a variety of native plants to provide nectar as food. They also need specific native host plants to provide food and shelter for their young. Worldwide, pollinators are necessary for the reproduction of over 85% of the earth’s flowering plants, including more than 2/3 of the world’s food crop species.
Pollinator gardens can provide this food and shelter, helping these heroes do the job of pollinating plants. That means more fruits, flowers, and healthy ecosystems!
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The meadow, being developed through Pace’s Native Plant Propagation Project is an educational resource for the Pace community and the public to learn about native grassland and pollinator plants. The plants, which were donated to the Center by the Xerces Society for Invertebrate Conservation’s Pollinator Habitat Project and by Hilltop Hanover Farm’s Native Plant Program, are used in environmental coursework, labs, and research projects.
What’s growing in the Pollinator Meadow?
- Narrow Leaf Mountainmint
- Foxglove Beardtongue
- New England Aster
- Purple Coneflower
- Black Eyed Susan
- Swamp Milkweed
- Blue Aster
- Goldenrod
- Golden Zizia
- Dense Blazingstar
- Great Blue Lobelia