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Full-Text Articles in Forest Sciences
Effect Of Artificial Flooding On The Vegetation And Avifauna Of Riparian Woodlands At Santa Ana National Wildlife Refuge, Hidalgo County, Texas, Charles David Castillo
Effect Of Artificial Flooding On The Vegetation And Avifauna Of Riparian Woodlands At Santa Ana National Wildlife Refuge, Hidalgo County, Texas, Charles David Castillo
Theses and Dissertations - UTB/UTPA
Riparian habitats along the Rio Grande at Santa Ana National Wildlife Refuge have dramatically decreased since the construction of Falcon Dam in 1953. Riparian habitats are dependent on annual or periodic flooding to maintain their biological integrity. Lack of seasonal flooding has contributed to changes in vegetative composition from riparian forests to thornscrub. Effects of artificial flooding on vegetation and avifauna of riparian woodlands were evaluated from 1995-1997 at the Santa Ana National Wildlife Refuge. Floodwaters caused the destruction of all existing herbaceous species along study transects and the regeneration of new and native seedlings. Avian abundance and diversity dramatically …
The Red-Cockaded Woodpecker's Role In The Southern Pine Ecosystem, Population Trends And Relationships With Southern Pine Beetles, Richard N. Conner, D. Craig Rudolph, Daniel Saenz, Robert N. Coulson
The Red-Cockaded Woodpecker's Role In The Southern Pine Ecosystem, Population Trends And Relationships With Southern Pine Beetles, Richard N. Conner, D. Craig Rudolph, Daniel Saenz, Robert N. Coulson
Faculty Publications
This study reviews the overall ecological role of the Red-cockaded Woodpecker (Picoides borealis)in the southern pine ecosystem. It is the only North American woodpecker species to become well adapted to a landscape that was relatively devoid of the substrate typically used by woodpeckers for cavity excavation (i.e. snags and decayed, living hardwoods). Its adaptation to use living pines for cavity excavation has expanded the use of this fire-disclimax ecosystem for numerous other cavity-using species. As such, the Red-cockaded Woodpecker represents an important keystone species of fire-disclimax pine ecosystems of the South. Historically, populations of this woodpecker and other cavity dependent …