Evaluation of Methods for
Establishing Native Aquatic Vegetation in Seven Texas Reservoirs
Mark Webb, Texas Parks and Wildlife Department, Inland
Fisheries Division, 1004 East 26th Street, Bryan, Texas 77803; 409/822-5067; bryanif@mail.myriad.net
Michael Smart, USAE Waterways Experiment Station,
Lewisville Aquatic Ecosystem Research Facility, RR 3 Box 446, Lewisville, Texas 75056
Vic Dicenzo, Spencer Dumont, Clell Guest, Richard Ott,
Steve Poarch, and Mike Reed, Texas Parks and Wildlife Department, Inland Fisheries
Division, 4200 Smith School Road, Austin, Texas 78744
Keywords: 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 plant
communities in Texas reservoirs. The objective of the first phase of the initiative is to
determine survival and growth of 21 species of native aquatic vegetation planted in 11
different exclosure types (to protect against herbivory) in 7 reservoirs representing a
variety of ecological conditions. Two-month survival for emergent species protected by two
levels of exclosures (individual tomato cages within cove or shoreline fences) was 90%,
followed by 76% for floating-leaved species and 69% for submersed species. Survival was
considerably lower without protection from herbivory: 67% for emergent species, 35% for
floating-leaved species, and 19% for submersed species.
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