What is an ecoregion?

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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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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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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)

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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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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

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Wildlife

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

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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

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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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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