1. Native Habitat Restoration in the Lower Rio Grande Valley, Texas Tony Falk 1, Dr. Timothy E. Fulbright 1, Forrest S. Smith 2, Dr. Alfonso Ortega-Santos 1, &Steve Benn 3 1.Caesar Kleberg Wildlife Research Institute, Texas A&M Kingsville, Kingsville, TX 78363 2.South Texas Natives, Kingsville, TX 78363 3.Texas Parks and Wildlife, Weslaco, TX 78596

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

3. 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)

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

6. 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

7. Red = Prepared treatments Yellow = Prepared and seeded Green = Control

8. Treatments Control – Nothing done

10. Treatments Control – Nothing done Prepared – trees removed, mowed, disked, moldboard plowed, disked, leveled

12. 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

14. Seed mix Seed mix made up of 31 locally adapted – Seeded according to NRCS rangeland guidelines 8:2 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

16. Statistical Analysis Analyzed using repeated measures analysis SAS 9.1 α ≤0.05 Independent variable – Treatment Dependent variable – Cover

17. 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

21. 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)

23. 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)

26. 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

27. 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

28. 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

29. 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.

30. Questions?