Florida is home to an incredible 15,000 plus invertebrates, including 31 federally listed and 3 state listed species. Invertebrates such as insects, crayfish, shellfish and coral offer profound benefits to the state’s ecology and economy. Corals are the keystone of some of the most biodiverse marine habitats in the world while many shellfish support fisheries of significant economic importance in the state.

As diverse as they are in numbers, so are the threats invertebrate species face in a changing climate. Many marine invertebrates including coral are highly vulnerable to warming and acidifying ocean waters. Florida’s population of terrestrial invertebrates includes a number of rare insect pollinators that are incredibly vulnerable to declining habitat quality and fragmentation, which is likely to accelerate in a changing climate.