Riparian vegetation of the lower Rio Grande

The riparian vegetation of the lower reach of the Rio Grande was studied at 7 locations using 3 line intercepts at each location. There were no trees at the mouth of the river and the vegetation was similar to that found along the Laguna Madre shore of barrier islands. Mesquite (Prosopis glandulosa) was the dominant tree near the coast and in the western section of the river near Falcon Dam. Sugar hackberry (Celtis laevigata) was the dominant tree species at all other sites except at Santa Ana National Wildlife Refuge, where cedar elm (Ulmus crassifolia) and anacua (Ehretia anacua) were the dominant trees. Granjeno (Celtis pallida) was a dominant shrub throughout the riparian corridor. The dominant trees and shrubs appeared to be replacing themselves. Species similarity in the tree, shrub, and ground layers was greater among transects at a given site than between sites. The introduced Guinea grass (Panicum maximum) and buffel grass (Pennisetum ciliare) were the dominant species in the ground cover, displacing native species.