Native Habitat Restoration in the Lower Rio Grande Valley, Texas Tony Falk1, Dr. Timothy E. Fulbright1, Forrest S. Smith2, Dr. Alfonso Ortega-Santos1,

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Native Habitat Restoration in the Lower Rio
Grande Valley, Texas Tony Falk1, Dr. Timothy E.
Fulbright1, Forrest S. Smith2, Dr. Alfonso
Ortega-Santos1, Steve Benn3

• Caesar Kleberg Wildlife Research Institute, Texas
  AM Kingsville, Kingsville, TX 78363
• South Texas Natives, Kingsville, TX 78363
• Texas Parks and Wildlife, Weslaco, TX 78596

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Introduction

• Less than 1 of the native prairie left (McGraw,
  J. B. 1987)
• Restoration has been going on since the early
  1900s
• Means of restoration
• Allowing to go fallow
• Addition of seed
• Little work done in the Lower Rio Grande Valley,
  Texas

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Introduction

• 3 reasons restoration has been unsuccessful in
  the Lower Rio Grande Valley, Texas
• No Native seed bank (Holl, K. D. et al. 2000)
• Changes in disturbance regimes
• Agricultural production
• No locally adapted native seed (McGraw, J. B.
  1987)
• Many different Non-native Species to compete with
  (Masters, R. A. et al. 1996)

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Goals

• Establish a diverse native prairie that would be
  resistant to invasion from non-native species
• Increase the species diversity of the area

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Site Description

• Temperature averages 23 C
• 65 cm rain annually however highly variable
• Harlingen Clay
• South Texas Plains ecoregion
• Previously managed for White wing dove and
  Bobwhite quail

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Red Prepared treatments Yellow Prepared and
seeded Green Control
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Treatments

• Control
• Nothing done

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Treatments

• Control
• Nothing done
• Prepared
• trees removed, mowed, disked, moldboard plowed,
  disked, leveled

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Treatments

• Control
• Nothing done
• Prepared
• trees removed, mowed, disked, moldboard plowed,
  disked, leveled
• Prepared and seeded
• trees removed, mowed, disked, moldboard plowed,
  disked, leveled, seeded with a Truax seed drill
  and a tube spreader

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Seed mix

• Seed mix made up of 31 locally adapted
• Seeded according to NRCS rangeland guidelines
• 82 ratio of grasses to forbs
• Even distribution of succesional groups
• Developed to completely repopulate seed bank
• All land preparation and seeding was completed in
  March 2008

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Statistical Analysis

• Analyzed using repeated measures analysis SAS 9.1
• a 0.05
• Independent variable
• Treatment
• Dependent variable
• Cover

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Results

• Establishment of 83 planted species
• Several species have increased
• Slender Grama (Bouteloua repens)
• Plain Bristle Grass (Setaria spp.)
• Establishment of several species that were 1 of
  the seed mix

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discussion

• Without seed any disturbance will end up as a
  non-native community
• Little native seed bank (Smith Forrest 2009)
• Nothing left to fill the void
• Can not compete
• Creates simplified plant community (Randall, J.
  M. 1996)

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Discussion

• Planting a diverse mix of native species prevents
  non-native species from establishing (Blumenthal,
  et al. 2003)
• A diverse mix competes with non-natives
• Provides good early competition
• Provides year round competition
• Potentially fills all available niches (Bakker,
  J. and S. Wilson 2004)

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Conclusion

• Are able to establish natives
• Increase the species diversity of an area through
  seeding
• Able to reduce the spread of non-natives through
  the addition of seed
• This project fits into NRCS programs
• WHIP, CRP, GRP

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For The Future

• Continued monitoring of this project (Fulbright,
  T. et al. 2006)
• Adding management (Wilson, S. D. and M. Pärtel
  2003)
• Herbicide
• Grazing
• Burning

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Acknowledgements

• Texas Parks and Wildlife
• South Texas Natives
• Caesar Kleberg Wildlife Research Center
• South Texas Chapter Quail Unlimited
• Coauthors and committee members
• Everyone that helped with data collection

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Works Citied

1. Bakker, J. and S. Wilson (2004). "Using
   ecological restoration to constrain biological
   invasion." Journal of applied Ecology.
2. Blumenthal, D., N. Jordan, et al. (2003). "Weed
   control as a rationale for restoration the
   example of tallgrass prairie." Conservation
   Ecology 7(1) 6.
3. Fulbright, T. E., J. A. Ortega-Santos, et al.
   (2006). "Establishing Vegetation on Migrating
   Inland Sand Dunes in Texas." Rangeland Ecology
   Management 59(5) 549-556.
4. Haase, R. (1990). "Community Composition and Soil
   Properties in Northern Bolivian Savanna
   Vegetation." Journal of Vegetation Science 1(3)
   345-352.
5. Holl, K. D., H. N. Steele, et al. (2000). "Seed
   Banks of Maritime Chaparral and Abandoned Roads
   Potential for Vegetation Recovery." Journal of
   the Torrey Botanical Society 127(3) 207-220.
6. Masters, R. A., S. J. Nissen, et al. (1996).
   "Imidazolinone Herbicides Improve Restoration of
   Great Plains Grasslands." Weed Technology 10(2)
   392-403.
7. McGraw, J. B. (1987). "Experimental Ecology of
   Dryas octopetala Ecotypes. IV. Fitness Response
   to Reciprocal Transplanting in Ecotypes with
   Differing Plasticity." Oecologia 73(3) 465-468.
8. Simmons, M. T., S. Windhager, et al. (2007).
   "Selective and Non-Selective Control of Invasive
   Plants The Short-Term Effects of Growing-Season
   Prescribed Fire, Herbicide, and Mowing in Two
   Texas Prairies." Restoration Ecology 15(4)
   662-669.
9. Smith, Forrest. Coordinator South Texas Natives.
   Personal communication 6/2009.
10. Randall, J. M. (1996). "Weed Control for the
    Preservation of Biological Diversity." Weed
    Science Society of America 10 370-383.
11. Wilson, S. D. and M. Pärtel (2003). "Extirpation
    or Coexistence? Management of a Persistent
    Introduced Grass in a Prairie Restoration."
    Restoration Ecology 11(4) 410.

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Questions?