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Wide Ecological Amplitude of a Diversity-Reducing Invasive Grass

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Abstract

The goals of this study were to identify habitats occupied by the Eurasian grass Bothriochloa ischaemum (King Ranch bluestem) on the eastern Edwards Plateau of central Texas, USA, and to measure the effects of this invasive species on plant diversity. A set of descriptive field studies were conducted to determine the relationships between habitat characteristics (woody cover, slope, presence of roads and trails, history of prescribed burning, and presence of grazing) and the presence and abundance of this species. Species richness and diversity of perennial herbaceous species were compared between plots in which B. ischaemum was absent and plots that it dominated.

The only habitat in which B. ischaemum was never found was under the canopies of woody plants. B. ischaemum grew in plots of all inclinations (flat sites to steep hillsides), with little evidence of habitat preference. B. ischaemum was more often, although not exclusively, found in plots near roads, probably because roads facilitate seed dispersal. There was no significant relationship between either grazing or fire history and the distribution of this species. B. ischaemum-dominated plots had lower species diversity and species richness than plots in which no B. ischaemum was found. The results of this study confirm that B. ischaemum is very common on the eastern Edwards Plateau and suggest that it will continue to spread throughout this region and to reduce native herbaceous plant diversity there.

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Acknowledgments

We thank Margaret Batchelor and Martha Maas for help with the fieldwork and Don Levin, Randy Linder, Marcy Litvak, anonymous reviewers, and Margaret Batchelor for helpful comments on this paper. The staff of the BCNWR, Pedernales Falls State Park, Freeman Ranch, and Shield Ranch were helpful in many ways; we thank them all. Tom Wendt, Monique Read, Dale Kruse, and Amanda Neill provided assistance with herbarium records. We thank the owners of Shield Ranch for access to their ranch, the US Fish and Wildlife Service for access to Balcones Canyonlands National Wildlife Refuge, Texas Parks and Wildlife Department for access to Pedernales Falls State Park, and Texas State University for access to Freeman Ranch. Funding was provided by USDA-CSREES, grant 2000-00978.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Section of Integrative Biology, University of Texas, Austin, TX, 78712, USA

    Bethany L. Gabbard & Norma L. Fowler

Authors
  1. Bethany L. Gabbard
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  2. Norma L. Fowler
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Norma L. Fowler.

Appendices

Appendix A: Herbarium records from the 1930’s of B. ischaemum in Texas

Year

Herbarium

County

Collector

Other information on label (verbatim)

Comment

1931

TEX 00313354

Brazoria

W.A. Silveus 450

Experiment Station, Angleton, TX

1931: earliest herbarium record

1934

TAES 9356

Brazoria

H.B. Parks & V.L. Cory 11456

3.5 miles east of Angleton

 

1935

LL 00313331

Bexar

W.A. Silveus 140

Government Experiment Station, San Antonio

 

1938

TEX 00329621

Bexar

B.C. Tharp & W. Dain Higdon s.n.

San Antonio, TX

 

1939

TEX 00329620

Bexar

W. Dain Higdon H-367

SCS Nursery, TEX-N-1, San Antonio

 

1940

TAES 26896

Brazos

R.G. Reeves 265a

Hensel’s Grass Nursery—cultivated

 

1942

TAES 33352

Brazos

R.G. Reeves 1983

Probably grown under cultivation

 

1944

TEX

Brazos

V.L. Cory 48013

Grass nursery, College Station

 

1945

TEX 00313353

Brazoria

V.L. Cory 51077

Escaped from cultivation & frequent on grounds of Experiment Station, Substation No. 3, Angleton

 

1948

TAMU 7324

Brazos

Chester M. Rowell Jr 7324

Along highway between College Station and Bryan, 2 mi N of college (Texas A&M)

 

1949

TEX 00329627

Kleberg

Robert Runyon 4295

Burney Ranch

1949: first records not associated with a nursery or experiment station

1949

TEX 00329624

Kleberg

Tharp & York 51-65

Along roadside 2.8 mi south of Bishop near King Ranch loading siding

 

1949

TEX 00329629

Kleberg

C.L. Lundell 15002

Off highway 141, west of Kingsville, along roadside

 

1949

TEX 00329626

Kleberg

C.L. Lundell 14991

King Ranch bluestem; along roadside near entrance to headquarters of Santa Gertrudis Division, King Ranch

1949: first use of ‘King Ranch bluestem’ as a common name

1949

TEX 00329631

Travis

W.V. Brown F-17

University of Texas Grass Garden, from cultivation

 
  1. LL, Lundell Herbarium, Plant Resources Center, University of Texas, Austin, TX
  2. TAES, S.M. Tracy Herbarium, Department of Rangeland Ecology and Management, Texas A&M University, College Station, TX
  3. TAMU, Department of Biology Herbarium, Texas A&M University, College Station, TX
  4. TEX, University of Texas Herbarium, Plant Resources Center, University of Texas, Austin, TX

Appendix B: Descriptions of sites surveyed in this study. BCNWR, Balcones Canyonlands National Wildlife Refuge. Burned areas were included only in the fire survey, not in the other surveys

Site

County

Size (ha)

Yrs since last grazed

Fire history

Surveys conducted in that site

Balcones Canyonlands National Wildlife Refuge 30°34′ N, 98°2′ W

Doeskin

Burnet

18.9

9 yrs

3 cool-season prescribed burns

General survey, diversity survey

Eckhardt

Burnet

21.2

9 yrs

Prescribed burns

General survey, fire survey, diversity survey

Nagel

Burnet

11.0

9 yrs

Prescribed burns

General survey

Simons

Burnet

29.3

9 yrs

3 cool season burns in most areas

General survey, fire survey, diversity survey

Victoria

Travis

19.3

8 yrs

No prescribed burns

General survey

Freeman Ranch 29°57′ N, 98°00′ W

Hays

1701.0

(grazed during study)

No prescribed burns

Grazing survey

Pedernales Falls State Park 30°19′ N, 98°15′ W

Blanco

2109.2

30 + yrs

Prescribed burns in previous 5 yrs in some areas

General survey, fire survey, disturbance survey, diversity survey

Shield Ranch 30°16′ N, 97°59′ W

Travis

2711.5

(grazed during study)

No prescribed burns

Grazing survey

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Gabbard, B.L., Fowler, N.L. Wide Ecological Amplitude of a Diversity-Reducing Invasive Grass. Biol Invasions 9, 149–160 (2007). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10530-006-9012-x

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