The East Central Texas forests (33) is a small
temperate broadleaf and mixed forests
Temperate broadleaf and mixed forest is a temperate climate terrestrial habitat type defined by the World Wide Fund for Nature, with broadleaf tree ecoregions, and with conifer and broadleaf tree mixed coniferous forest ecoregions.
These f ...
ecoregion
An ecoregion (ecological region) or ecozone (ecological zone) is an ecologically and geographically defined area that is smaller than a bioregion, which in turn is smaller than a biogeographic realm. Ecoregions cover relatively large areas of ...
almost entirely within the state of
Texas
Texas (, ; Spanish: ''Texas'', ''Tejas'') is a state in the South Central region of the United States. At 268,596 square miles (695,662 km2), and with more than 29.1 million residents in 2020, it is the second-largest U.S. state by ...
,
United States
The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country Continental United States, primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 U.S. state, states, a Washington, D.C., ...
.
The northern forests perimeter is partially within the southeast
Oklahoma
Oklahoma (; Choctaw: ; chr, ᎣᎧᎳᎰᎹ, ''Okalahoma'' ) is a state in the South Central region of the United States, bordered by Texas on the south and west, Kansas on the north, Missouri on the northeast, Arkansas on the east, New ...
border.
Description
East Central Texas forests are distinguished from the adjacent
Texas blackland prairies and
Western Gulf coastal grasslands by their greater tree density. On the other hand, they are more open and have a greater concentration of
hardwood
Hardwood is wood from dicot trees. These are usually found in broad-leaved temperate and tropical forests. In temperate and boreal latitudes they are mostly deciduous, but in tropics and subtropics mostly evergreen. Hardwood (which comes from ...
s than the forests of the
Piney Woods.
The climate is hot and humid.
Subregions
Northern Post Oak Savanna
The landscapes of this ecoregion are generally more level and gently rolling compared to the more dissected and irregular topography of much of Southern Post Oak Savanna. It is underlain by mostly
Eocene
The Eocene ( ) Epoch is a geological epoch that lasted from about 56 to 33.9 million years ago (mya). It is the second epoch of the Paleogene Period in the modern Cenozoic Era. The name ''Eocene'' comes from the Ancient Greek (''ēṓs'', ...
and
Paleocene
The Paleocene, ( ) or Palaeocene, is a geological epoch that lasted from about 66 to 56 million years ago (mya). It is the first epoch of the Paleogene Period in the modern Cenozoic Era. The name is a combination of the Ancient Greek ''pala ...
-age formations with some
Cretaceous
The Cretaceous ( ) is a geological period that lasted from about 145 to 66 million years ago (Mya). It is the third and final period of the Mesozoic Era, as well as the longest. At around 79 million years, it is the longest geological period of ...
rocks to the north. The deciduous forest or woodland is composed mostly of
post oak,
blackjack oak
''Quercus marilandica'', the blackjack oak, is a small oak, one of the red oak group ''Quercus'' sect. ''Lobatae''. It is native to the eastern and central United States.
Description
''Quercus marilandica'' is a small deciduous tree growing to ...
,
eastern red cedar, and
black hickory. Prairie openings contained
little bluestem and other grasses and forbs. The land cover currently has more improved pasture and less post oak woods and forest than the Southern Post Oak Savanna. Some coniferous trees occur, especially on the transitional boundary with the Tertiary Uplands ecoregion.
Loblolly pine has been planted in several areas. Typical wildlife species include
white-tailed deer
The white-tailed deer (''Odocoileus virginianus''), also known as the whitetail or Virginia deer, is a medium-sized deer native to North America, Central America, and South America as far south as Peru and Bolivia. It has also been introduced t ...
,
eastern wild turkey,
northern bobwhite,
eastern fox squirrel
The fox squirrel (''Sciurus niger''), also known as the eastern fox squirrel or Bryant's fox squirrel, is the largest species of tree squirrel native to North America. Despite the differences in size and coloration, it is sometimes mistaken for A ...
, and
eastern gray squirrel
The eastern gray squirrel (''Sciurus carolinensis''), also known, particularly outside of North America, as simply the grey squirrel, is a tree squirrel in the genus ''Sciurus''. It is native to eastern North America, where it is the most prodi ...
.
Southern Post Oak Savanna
This ecoregion has more woods and forest than the adjacent prairie ecoregions, and consists of mostly hardwoods compared to the pines to the east in the South Central Plains. Historically a post oak
savanna
A savanna or savannah is a mixed woodland- grassland (i.e. grassy woodland) ecosystem characterised by the trees being sufficiently widely spaced so that the canopy does not close. The open canopy allows sufficient light to reach the ground ...
, current land cover is a mix of
post oak woods, improved pasture, and rangeland, with some invasive mesquite to the south. A thick understory of
yaupon and
eastern redcedar
''Juniperus virginiana'', also known as red cedar, eastern red cedar, Virginian juniper, eastern juniper, red juniper, and other local names, is a species of juniper native to eastern North America from southeastern Canada to the Gulf of Mexico a ...
occurs in some parts. The ecoregion is underlain by
Miocene
The Miocene ( ) is the first geological epoch of the Neogene Period and extends from about (Ma). The Miocene was named by Scottish geologist Charles Lyell; the name comes from the Greek words (', "less") and (', "new") and means "less recen ...
,
Oligocene
The Oligocene ( ) is a geologic epoch of the Paleogene Period and extends from about 33.9 million to 23 million years before the present ( to ). As with other older geologic periods, the rock beds that define the epoch are well identified but t ...
,
Eocene
The Eocene ( ) Epoch is a geological epoch that lasted from about 56 to 33.9 million years ago (mya). It is the second epoch of the Paleogene Period in the modern Cenozoic Era. The name ''Eocene'' comes from the Ancient Greek (''ēṓs'', ...
, and
Paleocene
The Paleocene, ( ) or Palaeocene, is a geological epoch that lasted from about 66 to 56 million years ago (mya). It is the first epoch of the Paleogene Period in the modern Cenozoic Era. The name is a combination of the Ancient Greek ''pala ...
sediments. Sand exposures within these Tertiary deposits have a distinctive sandyland flora, and in a few areas unique bogs occur. The endangered
Houston Toad is associated with the deep sandy soils of this ecoregion
[
]
San Antonio Prairie
This ecoregion is a narrow, 100-mile long region occurring primarily on the Eocene
The Eocene ( ) Epoch is a geological epoch that lasted from about 56 to 33.9 million years ago (mya). It is the second epoch of the Paleogene Period in the modern Cenozoic Era. The name ''Eocene'' comes from the Ancient Greek (''ēṓs'', ...
Cook Mountain Formation. Upland Alfisol prairies were dominated by little bluestem and yellow indiangrass and contained a different mix of grasses and forbs than the dark, clayey, more calcareous soils of the Northern Texas blackland prairies. Since the 1830s, settlement clustered along the Old San Antonio Road ( Texas State Highway 21 in the south, Old San Antonio Road in the north) within this narrow belt of prairie land. Currently, land cover is a mosaic of woodland, improved pasture, rangeland, and some cropland.[
]
Northern Prairie Outliers
The small, disjunct areas of this ecoregion have a blend of characteristics from the Texas blackland prairies and the East Central Texas forests. The northern two outliers, north of the Sulphur River
The Sulphur River is a river in northeast Texas and southwest Arkansas in the United States.
Geography
The Sulphur River begins at the confluence of its north and south forks forming (following earlier meanders) the northern and southern bounda ...
, occur on Cretaceous
The Cretaceous ( ) is a geological period that lasted from about 145 to 66 million years ago (Mya). It is the third and final period of the Mesozoic Era, as well as the longest. At around 79 million years, it is the longest geological period of ...
sediments, while south of the river, Paleocene
The Paleocene, ( ) or Palaeocene, is a geological epoch that lasted from about 66 to 56 million years ago (mya). It is the first epoch of the Paleogene Period in the modern Cenozoic Era. The name is a combination of the Ancient Greek ''pala ...
and Eocene
The Eocene ( ) Epoch is a geological epoch that lasted from about 56 to 33.9 million years ago (mya). It is the second epoch of the Paleogene Period in the modern Cenozoic Era. The name ''Eocene'' comes from the Ancient Greek (''ēṓs'', ...
formations predominate. A mosaic of forest and prairie occurred historically in this and adjacent regions. Burning
Combustion, or burning, is a high-temperature exothermic redox chemical reaction between a fuel (the reductant) and an oxidant, usually atmospheric oxygen, that produces oxidized, often gaseous products, in a mixture termed as smoke. Combustion ...
was important in maintaining grassy openings, and woody invasions have taken place in the absence of fire. The tallgrass prairies included little bluestem, big bluestem
''Andropogon gerardi'', commonly known as big bluestem, is a species of tall grass native to much of the Great Plains and grassland regions of central and eastern North America. It is also known as tall bluestem, bluejoint, and turkeyfoot.
Taxon ...
, yellow indiangrass, and tall dropseed. Current land cover is mostly pasture, with some cropland.[
]
Bastrop Lost Pines
This ecoregion is an outlier of relict loblolly pine- post oak upland forest occurring on some dissected hills. It is the westernmost tract of southern pine in the United States. The pines mostly occur on gravelly soils that formed in Pleistocene
The Pleistocene ( , often referred to as the ''Ice age'') is the geological Epoch (geology), epoch that lasted from about 2,580,000 to 11,700 years ago, spanning the Earth's most recent period of repeated glaciations. Before a change was fina ...
high gravel, fluvial
In geography and geology, fluvial processes are associated with rivers and streams and the deposits and landforms created by them. When the stream or rivers are associated with glaciers, ice sheets, or ice caps, the term glaciofluvial or fluviog ...
terrace deposits associated with the ancestral Colorado River
The Colorado River ( es, Río Colorado) is one of the principal rivers (along with the Rio Grande) in the Southwestern United States and northern Mexico. The river drains an expansive, arid watershed that encompasses parts of seven U.S. s ...
, and sandy soils that formed in Eocene
The Eocene ( ) Epoch is a geological epoch that lasted from about 56 to 33.9 million years ago (mya). It is the second epoch of the Paleogene Period in the modern Cenozoic Era. The name ''Eocene'' comes from the Ancient Greek (''ēṓs'', ...
sandstones
Sandstone is a clastic sedimentary rock composed mainly of sand-sized (0.0625 to 2 mm) silicate grains. Sandstones comprise about 20–25% of all sedimentary rocks.
Most sandstone is composed of quartz or feldspar (both silicates) ...
(such as the Weches Formation). The Lost Pines are about west of the Texas pine belt of the South Central Plains and occur in a drier environment with of average annual precipitation. In this area, the deep, acidic, sandy soils and the additional moisture provided by the Colorado River contribute to the occurrence of pines, which are thought to be a relict population predating the last glacial period. The largest population of the Houston Toad occurs in this ecoregion[
]
Floodplains and Low Terraces
This ecoregion contains floodplain and low terrace deposits downstream from the Texas blackland prairies and upstream from the Texas coastal plains. It includes only the wider floodplains of major streams, such as the Sulphur
Sulfur (or sulphur in British English) is a chemical element with the symbol S and atomic number 16. It is abundant, multivalent and nonmetallic. Under normal conditions, sulfur atoms form cyclic octatomic molecules with a chemical formula ...
, Trinity
The Christian doctrine of the Trinity (, from 'threefold') is the central dogma concerning the nature of God in most Christian churches, which defines one God existing in three coequal, coeternal, consubstantial divine persons: God th ...
, Brazos
The Brazos River ( , ), called the ''Río de los Brazos de Dios'' (translated as "The River of the Arms of God") by early Spanish explorers, is the 11th-longest river in the United States at from its headwater source at the head of Blackwater Dr ...
, and Colorado
Colorado (, other variants) is a state in the Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. It encompasses most of the Southern Rocky Mountains, as well as the northeastern portion of the Colorado Plateau and the western edge of the ...
rivers. In addition, it covers primarily Holocene
The Holocene ( ) is the current geological epoch. It began approximately 11,650 cal years Before Present (), after the Last Glacial Period, which concluded with the Holocene glacial retreat. The Holocene and the preceding Pleistocene togeth ...
deposits and not Pleistocene
The Pleistocene ( , often referred to as the ''Ice age'') is the geological Epoch (geology), epoch that lasted from about 2,580,000 to 11,700 years ago, spanning the Earth's most recent period of repeated glaciations. Before a change was fina ...
deposits on older, high terraces. The bottomland forests contain water oak, post oak, elms, green ash, pecan, willow oak to the east, and to the west some hackberry and eastern cottonwood
''Populus deltoides'', the eastern cottonwood or necklace poplar, is a cottonwood poplar native to North America, growing throughout the eastern, central, and southwestern United States as well as the southern Canadian prairies, the southern ...
s. The northern floodplains tend to have more forested land cover, while in the south the Brazos and Colorado River floodplains are characterized by more cropland and pasture.[
]
Fauna
The forests are home to a rich wildlife including Virginia opossum
The Virginia opossum (''Didelphis virginiana''), also known as the North American opossum, is the only opossum living north of Mexico, its range extending south into Central America. It is the northernmost marsupial in the world. In the United S ...
s (''Didelphis virginiana''), North American least shrew
The North American least shrew (''Cryptotis parvus'') is one of the smallest mammals, growing to be only up to 3 inches long. It has a long pointed snout and a tail never more than twice the length of its hind foot. The dense fur coat is ei ...
s (''Cryptotis parva''), North American beaver
The North American beaver (''Castor canadensis'') is one of two extant beaver species, along with the Eurasian beaver (''Castor fiber''). It is native to North America and introduced in South America ( Patagonia) and Europe (primarily Finland ...
s (''Castor canadensis'') and many species of butterflies and reptiles. Larger mammals that once lived here, including jaguar
The jaguar (''Panthera onca'') is a large cat species and the only living member of the genus ''Panthera'' native to the Americas. With a body length of up to and a weight of up to , it is the largest cat species in the Americas and the th ...
(''Panthera onca'') and Plains bison (''Bison bison bison''), have now disappeared from the region. Endangered fauna found in this ecoregion include the Houston toad (''Bufo houstonensis'') and Attwater's prairie chickens (''Tympanuchus cupido attwateri'').
Conservation
This environment has been heavily altered by cattle ranching and clearance for farmland with only a quarter of the original habitats remaining, in fragmented patches and not in large blocks. There are no national forests in the region.
East Central Texas forests gallery
File:Oaks trees (Quercus) and wildflowers, Nockenut Road, Guadalupe County, Texas, USA (6 October 2018).jpg, Oaks trees (''Quercus
An oak is a tree or shrub in the genus ''Quercus'' (; Latin "oak tree") of the beech family, Fagaceae. There are approximately 500 extant species of oaks. The common name "oak" also appears in the names of species in related genera, notably ...
'') and wildflowers, Nockenut Road, Guadalupe County, Texas, USA (6 October 2018).
File:Southern Post Oak Savannah habitat, Newberg Road, Austin County, Texas, USA (15 March 2014).jpg, Southern Post Oak Savannah habitat, Newberg Road, Austin County, Texas, USA (15 March 2014).
File:Wild Turkey (Meleagris gallopavo) Kuykend Road, Austin County, Texas, USA (30 January 2014).jpg, Wild Turkey (''Meleagris gallopavo
The wild turkey (''Meleagris gallopavo'') is an upland ground bird native to North America, one of two extant species of turkey and the heaviest member of the order Galliformes. It is the ancestor to the domestic turkey, which was originally de ...
'') Kuykend Road, Austin County, Texas, USA (30 January 2014).
File:Weishuhn Road (looking north), Colorado County, Texas, USA (30 January 2014).jpg, Southern Post Oak Savannah, Weishuhn Road (looking north), Colorado County, Texas, USA (30 January 2014).
File:Weishuhn Road (looking south), Colorado County, Texas, USA (30 January 2014).jpg, Southern Post Oak Savannah, Weishuhn Road (looking south), Colorado County, Texas, USA (30 January 2014).
File:Texas spiny lizard (Sceloporus olivaceus) basking on a fencepost, Highway 102, Colorado County, Texas, USA (26 March 2017).jpg, Texas spiny lizard ('' Sceloporus olivaceus'') on a fencepost, Highway. 102, Colorado County, Texas, USA (26 March 2017).
File:Lake Summerville State Park. Lee County, Texas, USA (11 May 2017).jpg, Lake Somerville State Park. Lee County, Texas, USA (11 May 2017).
File:Lake Summerville State Park, Flag Pond area, Lee County, Texas, USA (11 May 2017).jpg, Lake Somerville State Park, Flag Pond area, Lee County, Texas, USA (11 May 2017).
File:Lake Somerville State Park, Lee County, Texas, USA (3 May 2019).jpg, Lake Somerville State Park, Lee County, Texas, USA (3 May 2019).
File:Nails Creek, Somerville Public Hunting Lands, Lee County, Texas, USA (29 April 2017).jpg, Nails Creek, Somerville Public Hunting Lands, Lee County, Texas, USA (29 April 2017).
File:Northern Bobwhite (Colinus virginianus), male right, female left, Colorado County, Texas, USA (17 March 2017).jpg, Northern Bobwhite ('' Colinus virginianus''), male right, female left, Colorado County, Texas, USA (17 March 2017).
File:Road in Northern Post Oak Savanna, Gus Engeling Wildlife Management Area, Anderson County, Texas, USA (15 April 2017).jpg, Road in Northern Post Oak Savanna, Gus Engeling Wildlife Management Area, Anderson County, Texas, USA (15 April 2017).
File:Northern Post Oak Savanna, Gus Engeling Wildlife Management Area, Anderson County, Texas, USA (15 April 2017).jpg, Northern Post Oak Savanna, Gus Engeling Wildlife Management Area, Anderson County, Texas, USA (15 April 2017).
File:Little Bear Creek, private land near Buda, Hays County, Texas, USA. (21 October 2010).jpg, Little Bear Creek, private land near Buda, Hays County, Texas, USA. (21 October 2010).
File:Signs of beaver (Castor canadensis) activity, private land, Madison County, Texas, USA. (12 March 2010).jpg, Signs of beaver (''Castor canadensis
The North American beaver (''Castor canadensis'') is one of two extant beaver species, along with the Eurasian beaver (''Castor fiber''). It is native to North America and introduced in South America (Patagonia) and Europe (primarily Finland and ...
'') activity, gnawed tree trunk (lower left) and burrowing in stream bank. Private land, Madison County, Texas, USA. (12 March 2010).
See also
* History of Texas forests
* List of ecoregions in the United States (WWF)
The following is a list of ecoregions in the United States as identified by the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF). The United States is a megadiverse country with a high level of endemism across a wide variety of ecosystems.
Terrestrial ecoregi ...
References
{{Reflist
Temperate broadleaf and mixed forests in the United States
Ecoregions of the United States
Nearctic ecoregions