Western Gulf coastal grasslands

The Western Gulf coastal grasslands ( es, Pastizales costeros del Golfo Occidental) are a subtropical grassland ecoregion of the southern United States and northeastern Mexico. It is known in Louisiana as the "Cajun Prairie", Texas as "Coastal Prairie," and as the Tamaulipan pastizal ( es, Pastizal Tamaulipeco) in Mexico.

Setting

The ecoregion covers an area of , extending along the shore of the Gulf of Mexico from southeastern Louisiana (west of the Mississippi Delta) through Texas and into the Mexican state of Tamaulipas as far as the Laguna Madre. Specific areas include a number of barrier islands, and the '' resacas'' or natural levees of the Laguna Madre. The coast is vulnerable to tropical storms that can seriously damage habitats.

This ecosystem is edaphic in origin; the soils in this region are of a heavy clay that contributed to difficulty for woody species to establish, allowing grasses and herbaceous species to be more competitive. The grassy areas are broken up by many pockets/groves of forest, usually along water courses, or isolated silt/sand pockets among the substrate (where the soil is more permissive for tree growth).

Climate

From Louisiana west to the Upper Texas coast, the climate of the region is wet humid subtropical, featuring high annual rainfall. The climate becomes more arid going down the Texas coast, and into Northeastern Mexico, though precipitation totals still remain high enough for humid subtropical classification.

Flora

The natural habitat of the area is a mix of tallgrass prairie similar to those found in inland Texas, with Indiangrass ('' Sorghastrum nutans''), big bluestem (''Andropogon gerardi''), little bluestem ('' Schizachyrium scoparium''), and switchgrass ('' Panicum virgatum'') the primary tallgrass species that are typical of the coastal prairie, with several other shorter grasses and many herbaceous and woody species.

In addition, the region has bottomland forests lining the floodplains of the many waterways in the region. In the wetter regions along the upper Texas coast and Louisiana, the tree species include many of those seen in forest of the Southern United States, such as the southern live oak, bald cypress, magnolia, loblolly pine, post oak, and southern hackberry.

The southern third of the Texas stretch and all of the Tamaulipan portion contains shrubby areas of honey mesquite ('' Prosopis glandulosa''), huisache ( ''Vachellia farnesiana'' var. ''farnesiana''), lime prickly-ash (''Zanthoxylum fagara''), and Texas persimmon (''Diospyros texana'').

Fauna

This coast is rich in wildlife, and 700 species of birds, animals and reptiles have been counted here, although many are now threatened or endangered. This coast is a critical habitat for the Attwater's prairie chickens (''Tympanuchus cupido attwateri''), over one million of which inhabited the prairie in Texas and Louisiana in the 19th century, but extreme reduction of their habitat put them on the U.S. endangered species list in 1967. Another endangered bird of the coast is the whooping crane (''Grus americana''). Many species of wading birds, shorebirds, and other waterbirds are abundant. Birds in the Mexican part of the region include Morelet’s seedeater (''Sporophila morelleti''), red-billed pigeon (''Columba flavirostris''), brown jay (''Cyanocorax morio''), Neotropic cormorant, white-winged dove (''Leptotila verrequxi'') and Audubon's oriole (''Icterus graduacauda'').

Mammals of the area include bobcats, collared peccary, white-tailed deer, eastern cottontails, with ocelot (''Leopardus pardalis''), Gulf Coast jaguarundi (''Puma yagouaroundi cacomitli''), southern yellow bat (''Lasiurus ega''), and Mexican spiny pocket mouse (''Liomys irroratus'') more abundant in Mexico. Rancho Nuevo beach in Tamaulipas and along the Texas coast are the only nesting sites in the world for the Kemp's ridley sea turtle (''Lepidochelys kempii'') while other herpetofauna of the southern part of the ecoregion include Río Grande chirping frog (''Eleutherodactylus cystignathoides'') and Mexican white-lipped frog ('' Leptodactylus fragilis'').

Threats and preservation

Less than 1% of the ecoregion remains in pristine condition, almost entirely in Texas, while most of the coast has been converted to farmland, including rice paddies, grazing land, or urban areas including Houston, Texas. Estuaries and other coastal wetlands are better preserved than the prairie and indeed the protected areas of the coast are mainly sanctuaries for waterbirds.

Gallery

File:McFaddin National Wildlife Refuge, Jefferson County, Texas, USA (30 April 2010).jpg, McFaddin National Wildlife Refuge, Jefferson County, Texas, USA (30 April 2010).
File:Marysee Prairie Preserve, County Road 2077, Liberty County, Texas, USA (22 May 2020).jpg, Marysee Prairie Preserve, County Road 2077, Liberty County, Texas, USA (22 May 2020).
File:Anahuac National Wildlife Refuge (5A) Chambers Co. TX; 1 Dec 2018.jpg, Anahuac National Wildlife Refuge, Chambers County, Texas, USA (1 December 2018).
File:Texas bluebonnets (Lupinus texensis), Attwater Prairie Chicken National Wildlife Refuge, Colorado County, Texas, USA (29 March 2019).jpg, Texas bluebonnets (''Lupinus texensis''), Attwater Prairie Chicken National Wildlife Refuge, Colorado County, Texas, USA (29 March 2019).
File:Texas bullnettle & plains coreopsis, Attwater Prairie Chicken National Wildlife Refuge, Colorado Co., TX, USA (3 May 2018).jpg, Texas bullnettle & plains coreopsis, Attwater Prairie Chicken National Wildlife Refuge, Colorado Co., TX, USA (3 May 2018).
File:Northern crested caracara (Caracara cheriway), Attwater Prairie Chicken National Wildlife Refuge, Colorado County, Texas, USA (24 May 2014).jpg, crested caracara (''Caracara plancus'') Attwater Prairie Chicken National Wildlife Refuge, Colorado County, Texas, USA (24 May 2014).
File:Attwater Prairie Chicken National Wildlife Refuge, Colorado County, Texas, USA (11 November 2017).jpg, Attwater Prairie Chicken National Wildlife Refuge, Colorado County, Texas, USA (11 November 2017).
File:Brazos Bend State Park, Fort Bend County, Texas, USA (8 December 2010).jpg, Brazos Bend State Park, Fort Bend County, Texas, USA (8 December 2010).
File:Saltmarsh fleabane (Pluchea odorata), Brazoria National Wildlife Refuge, Brazoria County, Texas, USA (24 August 2013).jpg, Saltmarsh fleabane ('' Pluchea odorata''), Brazoria National Wildlife Refuge, Brazoria County, Texas, USA (24 August 2013).
File:San Bernard National Wildlife Refuge, Brazoria County, Texas, USA (12 December 2016).jpg, San Bernard National Wildlife Refuge, Brazoria County, Texas, USA (12 December 2016).
File:Aransas National Wildlife Refuge, Aransas County, Texas, USA (27 November 2011).jpg, Aransas National Wildlife Refuge, Aransas County, Texas, USA (27 November 2011).
File:Padre Island National Seashore, Kleberg County, Texas, USA (26 November 2011).jpg, Padre Island National Seashore, Kleberg County, Texas, USA (26 November 2011).
File:Spanish Dagger (Yucca treculeana), Laguna Atascosa National Wildlife Refuge, Cameron County, Texas, USA (12 April 2016).jpg, Spanish Dagger (''Yucca treculeana''), Laguna Atascosa National Wildlife Refuge, Cameron County, Texas, USA (12 April 2016).
File:Harris's Hawk (Parabuteo unicinctus) on the road to Mezquital, Municipality of Matamoros, Tamaulipas, Mexico (18 March 2009).jpg, Harris's Hawk ('' Parabuteo unicinctus'') on the road to Mezquital, Municipality of Matamoros, Tamaulipas, Mexico (18 March 2009).
File:Grassland habitat on the road to Mezquital, Municipality of Matamoros, Tamaulipas, Mexico (18 March 2009).jpg, Grassland habitat on the road to Mezquital, Municipality of Matamoros, Tamaulipas, Mexico (18 March 2009).

See also

* List of ecoregions in Mexico
* List of ecoregions in the United States (WWF)

References

{{Reflist

Gulf Coast of Mexico
Gulf Coast of the United States
Tropical and subtropical grasslands, savannas, and shrublands
Ecoregions of Mexico
Tropical and subtropical grasslands, savannas, and shrublands of the United States
Ecoregions of the United States
Grasslands of Mexico
Grasslands of the United States
Grasslands of Texas



Natural history of Louisiana
Natural history of Tamaulipas
Natural history of Texas
Nearctic ecoregions