Life Sciences Commons^™

Restoration Strategies To Migrate Shrub Encroachment Into Coastal Prairies, Erick Mark Verderber

Theses and Dissertations - UTB/UTPA

Shrub encroachment into grasslands is a phenomenon facilitated by fire suppression, climate warming, and overgrazing of grasses by cattle, and if left unmanaged, can alter ecosystem structure and function. In this study, I compare the effectiveness and cost/benefit of various restoration strategies (prescribed fire, mechanical, and chemical) used singly and in different combinations at decreasing two shrubs, honey mesquite (Prosopis glandulosa Torr.) and huisache (Acacia farnesiana (L.) Willd.), and promoting growth and survival of gulf cordgrass (Spartina spartinae (Trin.) Merr. ex Hitchc.), the dominant coastal prairie grass within the Laguna Atascosa National Wildlife Refuge-Bahia Grande Unit in deep south Texas. …