The Lower Rio Grande Valley National Wildlife Refuge is a National Wildlife Refuge located in the

Lower Rio Grande Valley The Lower Rio Grande Valley ( es, Valle del Río Grande), commonly known as the Rio Grande Valley or locally as the Valley or RGV, is a region spanning the border of Texas and Mexico located in a floodplain of the Rio Grande near its mouth. The ...

region of southern

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 ...

. It is along the northern banks and reaches of the Lower Rio Grande, north of the Mexico—United States international border.

Ecology

Only 5% of the native

riparian A riparian zone or riparian area is the interface between land and a river or stream. Riparian is also the proper nomenclature for one of the terrestrial biomes of the Earth. Plant habitats and communities along the river margins and banks a ...

floodplain A floodplain or flood plain or bottomlands is an area of land adjacent to a river which stretches from the banks of its channel to the base of the enclosing valley walls, and which experiences flooding during periods of high discharge.Goudi ...

, and

wetland A wetland is a distinct ecosystem that is flooded or saturated by water, either permanently (for years or decades) or seasonally (for weeks or months). Flooding results in oxygen-free (anoxic) processes prevailing, especially in the soils. The p ...

habitat In ecology, the term habitat summarises the array of resources, physical and biotic factors that are present in an area, such as to support the survival and reproduction of a particular species. A species habitat can be seen as the physical ...

s remain along the lower Rio Grande and its local tributaries, but the diversity within these fragments adds up to a significant 1,200 species of

native plant In biogeography, a native species is indigenous to a given region or ecosystem if its presence in that region is the result of only local natural evolution (though often popularised as "with no human intervention") during history. The term is equ ...

s, 700 species of

vertebrate Vertebrates () comprise all animal taxa within the subphylum Vertebrata () (chordates with backbones), including all mammals, birds, reptiles, amphibians, and fish. Vertebrates represent the overwhelming majority of the phylum Chordata, with c ...

s (including nearly 500 bird species), and 300 species of butterflies. Eleven different biological communities exist on the National Wildlife Refuge, from the

Chihuahuan Desert The Chihuahuan Desert ( es, Desierto de Chihuahua, ) is a desert ecoregion designation covering parts of northern Mexico and the southwestern United States. It occupies much of far West Texas, the middle to lower Rio Grande Valley and the lo ...

thorn forest to tidal

s. Wildlife includes the rare ocelot,

crested caracara The crested caracara (''Caracara plancus'') is a bird of prey in the family Falconidae. It is found from the southern United States through Central and South America to Tierra del Fuego. It was formerly placed in the genus ''Polyborus''. Descri ...

, Mexican bluewing butterfly,

great kiskadee The great kiskadee (''Pitangus sulphuratus''), called ''bem-te-vi'' in Brazil and ''benteveo'' in Argentina, is a passerine bird in the tyrant flycatcher family Tyrannidae. It is the only member of the genus ''Pitangus''. It breeds in open woodl ...

red-billed pigeon The red-billed pigeon (''Patagioenas flavirostris'') is a relatively large, robust species of pigeon. It's breeding range extends from southern Texas, United States, to Costa Rica. It's primarily found throughout coastal and lowland areas of Mex ...

, Altamira oriole, ringed kingfisher, and

green jay The green jay (''Cyanocorax luxuosus'') is a species of the New World jays, and is found in Central America. Adults are about long and variable in colour across their range; they usually have blue and black heads, green wings and mantle, bluish ...

. The refuge is designated as part of the Great Texas Coastal Birding Trail, a network of wildlife-viewing sites throughout the Texas coastal regions.

References

External links

Southwest.fws.gov: Official Lower Rio Grande Valley National Wildlife Refuge website
National Wildlife Refuges in Texas Lower Rio Grande Valley Wetlands of Texas Protected areas of Zapata County, Texas Protected areas of Starr County, Texas Protected areas of Hidalgo County, Texas Protected areas of Cameron County, Texas Landforms of Zapata County, Texas Landforms of Starr County, Texas Landforms of Hidalgo County, Texas Landforms of Cameron County, Texas Protected areas established in 1979 1979 establishments in Texas {{Texas-protected-area-stub

Ecology

See also

References

External links