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Tamaulipan Brushland of the Lower Rio Grande Valley of South Texas

其他書名	Description, Human Impacts, and Management Options
出版	U.S. Department of the Interior, Fish and Wildlife Service, 1988
URL	http://books.google.com.hk/books?id=JVCNHTDVmd8C&hl=&source=gbs_api

註釋The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) recognizes Tamaulipan brushland as a unique ecosystem that is found only in the Lower Rio Grande Valley (LRGV) of south Texas in the United States and northeastern Mexico. The LRGV is not really a valley but a delta, or a fertile plain, that slopes away from the Rio Grande (Johnston 1963; Rio Grande Valley Chamber of Commerce 1983; Lonard et al. 1988). The combination of climate, vegetation, and associated wildlife is unlike that in any other region of the United States. The vegetation is influenced by edaphic factors, and plant distribution can be correlated with geologic formations (Clover 1937). Characteristic vegetation of Tamaulipan brushland is dense and thorny. The most luxuriant brush is found on alluvial soil of the Rio Grande floodplain (Blair 1950), and large cedar elms (Ulmus crassifolla) dominate in some mesic areas. Vegetation in the xeric upland areas is mostly spiny shrubs and stunted trees (Clover 1937). A few characteristic plant species comprise the bulk of the brush vegetation. At present, some of the ubiquitous woody plant species are (Blair 1950): Texas ebony (Pithecello)- bium flexicaule); retama (Parkinsonia aculeata); granj eno (Celtis pallida); huisache (Acacia srnallii); prickly pear (Opuntia lindheimeri); and mesquite (Prosopis glaiidulosa) - although prevalence of one mesquite may be due to human land abuse (Archer et al. 1988).