Jersey Village

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From Dr. Pennings This is a nice study looking
at the incidence of Chinese Tallow tree in
different neighborhoods.
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Invasive Tree The Chinese Tallow

• Fall 2006

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Chinese Tallow

• Family Euphorbiaceae (Spurge Family)
• It can grow up to 60 ft tall and 3 ft in
  diameter.
• It has heart shape leaves.
• Tiny yellow flower cluster can be seen during the
  spring.
• Cluster of seed will form in the fall.

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Chinese Tallow
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History

• The Chinese tallow is native to China and Japan.
• The Chinese tallow was first introduced to the
  U.S in 1776 by Ben Franklin.
• In the 1900s, the U.S. Department of Labor
  promoted planting of the tallow in the Gulf Coast
  region to establish a local soap industry.
• The tallow is now planted for its ornamental
  qualities.

Seeds
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Distribution in Texas

• The City of Houston is suspected of having
  200,000-300,000 tallow trees that are planted for
  its attractive features.

Harris County
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• The Chinese tallow tree has been turning
  Gulf Coast grasslands into single-species
  forestsThe incredible diversity of native plants
  in the coastal prairies is gone within 30 years
  after the Chinese tallow tree invades the area.
• Evan Siemann, Rice University Ecologist.

Prairie invaded by the tallow in GA
Chinese Tallow
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Ecological Effects

• Can be found in all southern states and
  California.
• Extremely high reproductive potential.
• Matures in as little as 3 yrs.
• Can remain reproductively active for 100 yrs.
• Can flower within the first year in greenhouse
  experiment.
• Annually can produce 100,000 seeds that can be
  spread by birds and water.

• The tallow made the Nature Conservancy's list of
  Americas Least Wanted-The Dirty Dozen
• Once established, virtually impossible to
  eliminate because the stump can re-sprout and the
  roots and develop new shoots.
• Leaves have allelopathic capabilities.
• It is so invasive that it is illegal in some
  states such as Florida.

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Ecological Effects

• Cause larger scale ecosystem modification by
  reducing native species.
• In Texas, the tallow produced large scale
  conversion of much of the upper coastal prairie
  into woodlands.
• Adverse effects could also be seen in coastal
  wetlands.
• This have driven the Attwaters prairie chicken
  to near extinction due to habitat loss, as well
  as, many other bird species that reside in
  prairie grassland.

Attwater Prairie Chicken
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Management

• Burning during the dormant season (December),
  followed by burning or mowing during the growing
  season (July-August) may be effective.
• Triclopyr has been effective as a cut-stump
  treatment, or as a basal bark paint.
• 11 triclopyr in oil controls trees up to 15 cm,
  taller trees require a 20 solution.
• Apply herbicides during the spring to minimize
  seed spread.
• Mechanical control methods are not effective.
  Stump can grow into a new tree if it is not
  treated with a herbicide.

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Purpose

• To determine whether there is a difference in
  tallow count from homes that were built in the
  first part of the century and the latter part.
• To determine whether there is a difference in the
  number of tallow based on the ethnicity of the
  neighborhood.

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Methodology

• Neighborhood of interest include
• Jersey Village (latter part of the century-1970s)
• The Montrose area (earlier part of the
  century-1920s)
• Hedwig Village and Piney Point Village
• (Largest Asian communities in Houston)
• The homes in these neighborhood were randomly
  picked.
• Around 200-250 homes were recorded at each
  location.

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Hypotheses

• Non-ethnic vs. Ethic
• Ho There are no differences between the
  non-ethnic and ethnic neighborhood.
• HA There are differences in the two
  neighborhood.

• New vs. Old Community
• Ho The average of the new and old neighborhoods
  are equal.
• HA The average of the two neighborhood are not
  equal.

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Jersey Village

• The houses that were observed were built in the
  1970s or later.
• 198 homes were inspected.
• Only 5 had at least one tallow tree.

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Montrose Area

• Homes were constructed in the 1920s.
• Total of 242 homes inspected.
• 17 homes had at least one tallow on the property.

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Piney Point and Hedwig Village

• These two neighborhoods consist of 8-12 Asian
  population.
• 238 homes were inspected.
• 11 homes were growing the tallow on their
  property.

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Incident Rate
Total Tallow per Neighborhood
Average number of Tallow per Neighborhood
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Biostatistics

• New vs. Old Community
• t-distribution 2.94
• t-critical 1.645
• 2.94 1.645
• Do not reject the null hypotheses. The mean value
  between the two groups are equal.

• Non-Ethnic vs. Ethnic
• (Jersey Village vs. Piney Point and Hedwig)
• t-distribution 1.140
• t-critical 1.645
• 1.140
• Reject the null hypothesis that the two means are
  the same.

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Discussion

• There was a difference in the numbers of tallow
  in the new and old neighborhood.
• Also, there were more properties with the Chinese
  tallow in the Asian neighborhood.
• The biostatics calculations supports the ethnic
  hypothesis but it did not support the old vs. new
  hypothesis.

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Limitations

• Human errors in collecting the data.
• Calculation errors for the biostatical results.
• Collection data
• trees that were in the backyard of these home
  were not included due to the inaccessibility to
  them.
• Some home had multiple trees on their yard making
  it harder identify or caused the tree not to be
  counted.

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References

• Collection Data
• See Excel Document- Collection Data
• Article Chinese Tallow Tree Invades Texas
  Prairies
• http//www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2002/02/02022
  5084502.htm
• USDA National Agriculture Library
• http//www.invasivespeciesinfo.gov/plants/chintall
  ow.shtml
• Neighborhood Information
• www.zillow.com
• Background Information
• http//www.invasive.org/eastern/srs/T_PT.html
• Picture of prairie chicken
• http//www.fws.gov/southwest/refuges/texas/attwate
  r/index.html