Ecoregions of Texas

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Ecoregions of Texas

• Houston Museum of Natural Science
• ExxonMobil Teacher Tuesdays

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What is an ecoregion?

• A relatively large unit of land or water that is
  characterized by a distinctive climate,
  ecological features and plant and animal
  communities (Source National Geographics
  Strange Days on Planet Earth

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Regions of Texas

• 1 High and Rolling Plains
• 2 Oak Woods and Prairies and Blackland Prairies
  
• 3 Pineywoods
• 4 Gulf Coast Prairies and Marshes and Coastal
  Sand Plains
• 5 - South Texas Brush Country
• 6 Edwards Plateau and Llano Uplift
• 7 Trans Pecos

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High and Rolling Plains

• Mostly flat and grassy
• Mostly treeless
• On a high, flat plateau
• The eastern portion is not as flat and is brushy
• Western and Eastern portions is divided by deep
  canyons carved by rivers
• Average regional rainfall 15-28 inches a year

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Wildlife

• Roadrunner
• Swift fox
• Badger
• Great horned owl
• Burrowing owl
• Pronghorn Antelope
• Plains hognose snake
• Prairie dog
• Western diamondback rattlesnake
• Swainsons hawk
• Black footed ferret
• Pal Duro mouse
• Texas kangaroo rat
• Concho water snake

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Western Diamondback Rattlesnake

• The western diamondback rattlesnake is the most
  widespread venomous snake in the state of Texas
• Although its' venom is quite potent few deaths
  are reported
• Because of their value as rodent destroyers,
  rattlesnakes should not be killed

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Black Footed Ferret

• Ferrets rely on prairie dogs for food and
  shelter.
• Predators such as owls, eagles, hawks, Coyotes,
  badgers, foxes, and Bobcats are the main cause of
  death for wild ferrets.
• Black-footed Ferrets are endangered because much
  of the shortgrass prairie habitat on which the
  ferrets depend has been plowed for crops

8
Concho Water Snake

• The Concho water snake is a small snake that
  grows up to 3 feet in length. It has large dark
  reddish brown bands covering its body.
• Habitat loss has been the reason for the snake's
  decline
• The snakes have colonized artificial riffles that
  have been built to offset loss of natural
  habitat.

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Swift Fox

• The Swift Fox is about the size of a house cat
  and is the smallest of the American foxes
• Swift Foxes are not very suspicious of humans, so
  that they are easily trapped or poisoned
• Swift Foxes typically live in the open desert or
  grasslands

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Oak Woods Prairies and Blackland Prairies

• Transition between plains of the West Texas
  Panhandle and the Pineywoods of East Texas
• Patches of woodland running in a north/south
  direction sprinkled throughout a grassland
  prairie
• Gently rolling to hilly
• Rich, fertile and black soil
• Average regional rainfall 26-40 inches per year

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Wildlife

• Plains pocket gopher
• Raccoon
• Hispid cotton rat
• Green winged teal
• Red shouldered hawk
• White-tailed deer
• Texas horned lizard
• Ornate box turtle
• Brazilian free-tailed bat
• Nine banded armadillo
• Houston toad
• Texas kangaroo rat

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Green Winged Teal - Drake

• migrate through Northcentral Texas
• Ducks feed in shallow water on aquatic
  vegetation, seeds and crustaceans in ponds and
  lakes
• Popular bird for duck hunters

13
Red shouldered hawk

• Red-shouldered hawks are medium-sized raptors
  with sharp eyes, broad strong wings and long legs
  
• Effective hunters, helping to maintain a balance
  of predators and prey in woodland and grassland
  areas
• Red-shouldered hawks prefer moist woodlands, such
  a bottomland hardwood forests or deciduous or
  mixed forests bordering lakes, streams or other
  wetlands.
• habitat loss remains the biggest threat to
  red-shouldered hawks

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Texas horned lizard

• AKA - Horny Toad
• They can be found in arid and semiarid habitats
  in open areas with sparse plant cover
• Texas horned lizards range from the south-central
  United States to northern Mexico, throughout much
  of Texas, Oklahoma, Kansas and New Mexico
• The Texas horned lizard currently is listed as a
  threatened species in Texas (federal category
  C2).

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Houston toad

• Endangered, Listed 10/13/1970
• The Houston toad lives primarily on land. The
  toads burrow into the sand for protection from
  cold weather in the winter (hibernation) and hot,
  dry conditions in the summer (aestivation).
• Land owners are being taught toad friendly
  practices

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Pineywoods

• Primarily thick pine forest
• Larger forest extents into Louisiana, Arkansas,
  and Oklahoma
• Rolling terrain with wet bottomlands
• Swamps are common especially in the Big Thicket
• Average regional rainfall 40-52 inches per year

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Wildlife

• Southern short-tailed shrew
• Rafinesques big-eared bat
• Common gray fox
• Bobcat
• Eastern flying squirrel
• Eastern cottontail
• Bull frog
• River otter
• Red-cockaded woodpecker
• Bald Eagle (breeding)

18
Common gray fox

• Gray foxes range throughout Texas, overlapping
  their more familiar red cousins in the eastern
  and central parts of the state and into the
  panhandle
• Unlike any of its relatives they gray fox can
  climb trees
• With its legendary cleverness and adaptability,
  the gray fox is a highly successful species

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Eastern flying squirrel

• common in the eastern part of the state, it is
  nocturnal (active at night) and seldom seen
  during the day
• the flying squirrel is quite timid and, if
  cornered, may become paralyzed with fear and die
  of shock
• it cannot fly however, it does glide
• it may cover as much as 150 feet during a single
  glide
• Adult weigh about 3 ounces

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Bobcat

• The Bobcat is a medium-sized, reddish brown or
  grayish cat
• Their diet consists mainly of small mammals and
  birds
• Bobcats live in a variety of habitats, but they
  favor rocky canyons or outcrops when they are
  available
• Not threatened

21
Bald Eagle

• Listed as threatened in Texas
• They feed primarily on fish, but also eat a
  variety of waterfowl and other birds, small
  mammals, and turtles
• In Texas, Bald Eagles nest from October to July
• Nests are often very large, measuring up to 6
  feet in width and weighing hundreds of pounds
• Breeding populations occur primarily in the
  eastern half of the state and along coastal
  counties from Rockport to Houston
• Non-breeding or wintering populations are located
  primarily in the Panhandle, Central, and East
  Texas,

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Gulf Coast Prairies and Marshes and Coastal Sand
Plains

• Marshes
• Barrier islands
• Estuaries (salt and fresh water meet)
• Bays
• Prairies and grasslands as you travel west
• Houston is a part of this ecoreigon
• Average regional rainfall 40-60 inches per year

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Wildlife

• Muskrat
• River otter
• Alligator
• Bull frog
• Terns
• Coyote
• Mink
• Bottlenose dolphin
• Gulls
• Attwaters prairie chicken
• Eastern brown pelican
• Whooping crane
• Kemps Ridley sea turtle

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Muskrat

• A large, brownish, aquatic, scaly-tailed rodent
• Occurs only in suitable aquatic habitats in
  northern, southeastern, and southwestern parts of
  the state
• principally marsh inhabitants creeks, rivers,
  lakes, drainage ditches, and canals
• Muskrats were, at one time, the most economically
  important furbearing mammal in eastern Texas

25
Alligator

• Alligators are not an endangered species. They
  were taken off the endangered species list in
  1978
• They are protected
• In Texas, the alligator ranges from the Sabine
  River of East Texas
• to the Gulf of Mexico and across the coastal
  marshes to the Rio
• Grande
• With the human population in Texas continuing to
  expand, increased contact between people and
  alligators can be expected
• No human fatality attributed to alligators has
  been recorded in Texas

26
Coyote

• The Coyote is very similar in size to a small
  German Shepherd
• Coyotes will eat just about anything
• The adaptability of the Coyote and its acute
  sense of survival make it difficult to identify
  preferred habitat, although they most typically
  are associated with open plains in the West and
  brushy areas in the East
• They have slowly filled the void left by the
  declining population of wolves

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Attwaters prairie chicken

• AKA - Greater Prairie Chicken
• Endangered
• Attwater's prairie chickens are found only on the
  coastal prairies of Texas.
• Prairie chickens are endangered because the
  tallgrass prairie has been plowed for farmland
  and covered by cities
• Habitat has also been lost because of heavy
  grazing by cattle
• By 1996, only 42 of these rare birds were left.

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Kemps Ridley sea turtle
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South Texas Brush Country

• Runs from edges of the Hill Country into the
  subtropical regions of the Lower Rio Grande
  Valley
• Mostly dry and covered with grasses and thorny
  brush such as mesquite and prickly pear cacti
• Average regional rainfall 20-32 inches per year

30
Wildlife

• Ferruginous pygmy owl
• Elf owl
• Indigo snake
• Mexican burrowing toad
• Texas tortoise
• Ocelot

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Ferruginous pygmy owl

• essentially a Mexican species that barely enters
  the U.S. in far south Texas and sometimes in
  Arizona
• This species is much sought after by U.S. birders
  
• In Texas it is now mostly confined to remaining
  patches of mesquite, ebony, and cane along the
  lower Rio Grande
• Endangered in Arizona and rare in Texas. It is
  still quite common in Mexico

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Texas tortoise

• They feed heavily on the fruit of the common
  prickly pear and on other mostly succulent plants
  available to them
• A low reproductive rate, historic heavy
  exploitation by pet suppliers, and other factors
  have led to a severe population decline of the
  species
• It is a protected nongame (threatened) species

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Indigo snake

• North Americas largest non-venomous snake
• These snakes can grow up to 9 feet and eat the
  toughest rattlesnakes for breakfast
• It is found in scattered locations across South
  Texas and in a few locations in the Texas hill
  country and even few places in south west Texas.

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Edwards Plateau and Llano Uplift

• High flat land (plateau) eroded into hilly
  terrain
• Many springs and steep canyons
• Underground lakes in the Edwards Aquifer area
• Caves
• Average regional rainfall 15-34 inches per year
• The Hill Country
• Karst Topography

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Wildlife

• Rio Grande turkey
• Javelina
• Tarantula
• Grebes
• Brazilian free-tail bat
• Salamander
• Gulf Coast toads
• Blue heron
• Golden-cheeked warbler

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Rio Grande turkey

• Rio Grande turkey are distributed throughout the
  central portion of Texas from the northern high
  plains to the southern gulf coastal prairies
• Popular game bird for hunters
• Doing well thanks to hunters

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Brazilian free-tailed bats

• widely regarded as one of the most abundant
  mammals in North America
• However, its proclivity towards roosting in large
  numbers in relatively few roosts makes it
  especially vulnerable to human disturbance and
  habitat destruction
• This bat is a known carrier of rabies. Although
  the proportion of rabies cases caused by
  Brazilian Free-tailed Bats is minuscule when
  compared to the size of their population as a
  whole, caution should be exercised when one of
  these bats is encountered, or any species of bat
  for that matter

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Golden-cheeked warbler

• Endangered
• Golden-cheeked warblers nest only in central
  Texas mixed Ashe-juniper and oak woodlands in
  ravines and canyons
• They come to Texas in March to nest and raise
  their young
• In Texas, golden-cheeked warblers are found in
  the Edwards Plateau and locally north to Palo
  Pinto County
• Golden-cheeked warblers are endangered because
  many tall juniper and oak woodlands have been
  cleared to build houses, roads, and stores. Some
  habitat was cleared to grow crops or grass for
  livestock. Other habitat areas were flooded when
  large lakes were built.

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Trans Pecos

• Region of extremes
• Home of Big Bend
• Hot dry desert that is cool at night
• Mountains occasionally snows in winter
• Forests grow on slopes
• Rio Grande River runs through forming a border
  between Texas and Mexico
• Average regional rainfall 8-20 inches per year

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Wildlife

• Pronghorn antelope
• Hooded skunk
• Cactus mouse
• Western diamondback rattlesnake
• Desert bighorn sheep
• Mountain lion
• Collared lizard
• Black bear
• Mexican spotted owl

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Pronghorn antelope

• Pronghorns live primarily in grasslands but also
  in brushland and deserts. In Texas the antelope
  live primarily in the North and West Texas areas.
  They eat cacti, grasses, forbs, and browse
  plants.
• Its speed is surpassed only by that of the
  cheetah

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Mountain lion

• The Mountain Lion is a large, slender cat with a
  smallish head and noticeably long tail
• Are also called cougars
• Mountain Lions are relatively uncommon,
  secretive animals
• In Texas, the Mountain Lion is found throughout
  the Trans-Pecos, as well as the brushlands of
  south Texas and portions of the Hill Country

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Cactus mouse

• Trans-Pecos Texas, mainly in lowland desert
  areas, westward along the Rio Grande to Webb
  County
• Restricted almost entirely to a desert habitat,
  especially where rocky outcrops or cliffs offer
  retreats and den sites
• In captivity, they relish water but in the wild
  they probably supply this need by feeding on
  succulent vegetation since they occur in areas
  that are waterless except for infrequent rains

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Desert bighorn sheep

• Texas has seven herds of free-ranging desert
  bighorn sheep, the result of restocking efforts
  begun in 1954 and continuing to the present time
• 2008 Observed Population 1,193 Sheep