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Invasive grasses in South Texas rangelands: historical perspectives and future directions
- Justin P. Wied, Humberto L. Perotto-Baldivieso, April A. T. Conkey, Leonard A. Brennan, José M. Mata
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- Journal:
- Invasive Plant Science and Management / Volume 13 / Issue 2 / June 2020
- Published online by Cambridge University Press:
- 13 April 2020, pp. 41-58
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South Texas is home to a high diversity of species due to its location at the confluence of subtropical, desert, and coastal ecoregions. Historical overgrazing of South Texas rangelands transformed the savanna and prairie to a landscape dominated by woody plants and shrubs interspersed with low seral grass species and bare ground. During the first half of the 20th century, exotic grass species, coupled with the application of industrial agricultural practices appeared to be the future of forage production in South Texas and elsewhere. Several of these exotic species, namely King Ranch bluestem [Bothriochloa ischaemum (L.) Keng], Kleberg bluestem [Dichanthium annulatum (Forssk.) Stapf], Angelton bluestem [Dichanthium aristatum (Poir.) C.E. Hubbard], buffelgrass [Pennisetum ciliare (L.) Link], guineagrass [Urochloa maxima (Jacq.) R. Webster], Lehmann lovegrass (Eragrostis lehmanniana Nees), and Bermudagrass [Cynodon dactylon (L.) Pers.], have escaped pasture cultivation. Additionally, the native grass tanglehead [Heteropogon contortus (L.) P. Beauv. ex Roem. & Schult.] has begun displaying invasive behaviors. The monoculture growth habit of these species simplifies vegetation structure, reduces biodiversity, and decreases habitat for many species of wildlife. These grasses also alter natural fire regimes and nutrient cycling. This landscape-level transformation of vegetation composition and structure requires monitoring to quantify and assess the spatial and temporal distributions of invasive species as a basis to inform management practices. Current advances in remote sensing technologies, such as very high spatial resolution coupled with daily satellite imagery and unmanned aerial vehicles, are providing tools for invasive vegetation monitoring. We provide a synthesis of the natural history of these grasses, including their introductions, an overview of remote sensing applications in South Texas, and recommendations for future management practices.
Impacts of Buffelgrass (Pennisetum ciliare) on a Forb Community in South Texas
- Joseph P. Sands, Leonard A. Brennan, Fidel Hernández, William P. Kuvlesky, Jr., James F. Gallagher, Donald C. Ruthven III, James E. Pittman III
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- Journal:
- Invasive Plant Science and Management / Volume 2 / Issue 2 / April 2009
- Published online by Cambridge University Press:
- 20 January 2017, pp. 130-140
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Since the 1950s, many south Texas rangelands have been seeded with buffelgrass, a perennial C4 bunchgrass native to Africa that is believed to contribute to reductions in biodiversity. Forb species represent a critical habitat component throughout the breeding period for many wildlife species as seed (summer to fall), as green vegetative material (spring to summer), and as habitat for arthropods (spring to summer). Reductions in richness and diversity of crucial ecosystem components such as forbs and arthropods have large implications for grassland birds and other wildlife. We sampled annual and perennial forbs within 1-m2 quadrats on 15 study plots (1 ha; n = 20 quadrats/plot) at Chaparral Wildlife Management Area, in LaSalle and Dimmit counties, Texas, during 2005 and 2006. Study plots were divided into five light-buffelgrass plots (0 to 5% buffelgrass canopy coverage), five moderate-buffelgrass plots (5 to 25% buffelgrass canopy coverage), and five heavy-buffelgrass plots (> 25% buffelgrass canopy coverage). Buffelgrass in study plots was composed of naturalized plants, and was not deliberately planted. During 2005 we observed that plots with > 25% buffelgrass had a 73% reduction in forb canopy of native species, a 64% reduction in native forb species richness, and a 77% reduction in native forb stem density compared to plots with 0 to 5% buffelgrass. These trends in native forb reduction (−79% native forb canopy, −65% forb species richness, −80% forb stem density) were nearly identical in 2006, even with greatly reduced rainfall. Simple linear regression revealed negative relationships between buffelgrass cover, total exotic grass cover (buffelgrass and Lehmann lovegrass), and total grass cover and the richness, coverage, and density of forbs/m2. Reductions in diversity may have larger implications regarding ecosystem function and available useable space and densities of desired bird species such as northern bobwhite.
Contributors
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- By Brittany L. Anderson-Montoya, Heather R. Bailey, Carryl L. Baldwin, Daphne Bavelier, Jameson D. Beach, Jeffrey S. Bedwell, Kevin B. Bennett, Richard A. Block, Deborah A. Boehm-Davis, Corey J. Bohil, David B. Boles, Avinoam Borowsky, Jessica Bramlett, Allison A. Brennan, J. Christopher Brill, Matthew S. Cain, Meredith Carroll, Roberto Champney, Kait Clark, Nancy J. Cooke, Lori M. Curtindale, Clare Davies, Patricia R. DeLucia, Andrew E. Deptula, Michael B. Dillard, Colin D. Drury, Christopher Edman, James T. Enns, Sara Irina Fabrikant, Victor S. Finomore, Arthur D. Fisk, John M. Flach, Matthew E. Funke, Andre Garcia, Adam Gazzaley, Douglas J. Gillan, Rebecca A. Grier, Simen Hagen, Kelly Hale, Diane F. Halpern, Peter A. Hancock, Deborah L. Harm, Mary Hegarty, Laurie M. Heller, Nicole D. Helton, William S. Helton, Robert R. Hoffman, Jerred Holt, Xiaogang Hu, Richard J. Jagacinski, Keith S. Jones, Astrid M. L. Kappers, Simon Kemp, Robert C. Kennedy, Robert S. Kennedy, Alan Kingstone, Ioana Koglbauer, Norman E. Lane, Robert D. Latzman, Cynthia Laurie-Rose, Patricia Lee, Richard Lowe, Valerie Lugo, Poornima Madhavan, Leonard S. Mark, Gerald Matthews, Jyoti Mishra, Stephen R. Mitroff, Tracy L. Mitzner, Alexander M. Morison, Taylor Murphy, Takamichi Nakamoto, John G. Neuhoff, Karl M. Newell, Tal Oron-Gilad, Raja Parasuraman, Tiffany A. Pempek, Robert W. Proctor, Katie A. Ragsdale, Anil K. Raj, Millard F. Reschke, Evan F. Risko, Matthew Rizzo, Wendy A. Rogers, Jesse Q. Sargent, Mark W. Scerbo, Natasha B. Schwartz, F. Jacob Seagull, Cory-Ann Smarr, L. James Smart, Kay Stanney, James Staszewski, Clayton L. Stephenson, Mary E. Stuart, Breanna E. Studenka, Joel Suss, Leedjia Svec, James L. Szalma, James Tanaka, James Thompson, Wouter M. Bergmann Tiest, Lauren A. Vassiliades, Michael A. Vidulich, Paul Ward, Joel S. Warm, David A. Washburn, Christopher D. Wickens, Scott J. Wood, David D. Woods, Motonori Yamaguchi, Lin Ye, Jeffrey M. Zacks
- Edited by Robert R. Hoffman, Peter A. Hancock, University of Central Florida, Mark W. Scerbo, Old Dominion University, Virginia, Raja Parasuraman, George Mason University, Virginia, James L. Szalma, University of Central Florida
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- Book:
- The Cambridge Handbook of Applied Perception Research
- Published online:
- 05 July 2015
- Print publication:
- 26 January 2015, pp xi-xiv
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