Evaluation of Methods for Establishing Native Aquatic Vegetation in Seven Texas Reservoirs

Mark Webb
Texas Parks and Wildlife Department - Inland Fisheries 1004 East 26th Street, Bryan, TX 77803

Michael Smart
USAE Waterways Experiment Station Lewisville Aquatic Ecosystem Research Facility RR 3 Box 446 Lewisville, TX 75056

Vic Dicenzo, Spencer Dumont, Clell Guest, Richard Ott, Kevin Storey, and John Findeisen
Texas Parks and Wildlife Department - Inland Fisheries 4200 Smith School Road Austin, TX 78744

Key words: aquatic plants, aquatic vegetation, native vegetation, habitat, herbivory

Because many Texas reservoirs are either sparsely vegetated or contain an overabundance of non-native species such as hydrilla (Hydrilla verticillata), the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department, Inland Fisheries Division began a new initiative to develop procedures for establishing diverse native aquatic plant communities. The objective of the first phase of the initiative was to determine survival of introduced native aquatic vegetation planted in different exclosure types (to protect against herbivory) in 7 reservoirs representing a variety of ecological conditions. One-year survival for plants protected by two levels of exclosures (small-scale exclosures within cove or shoreline fences) was 15% for submersed species, 48% for floating-leaved species and 56% for emergent species. Survival was considerably lower without protection from herbivory: 1% for submersed species, 14% for floating-leaved species, and 36% for emergent species.