Texas Refuge Research Focuses on Aggressive Deeprooted Sedge Weed

	Deeprooted sedge. Click on photo to enlarge.

Deeprooted sedge is an invasive, non-native weed species that could become one of the worst plant threats to the wet coastal grasslands and coastal prairies of Texas and Louisiana. Research this summer at Texas’ Anahuac National Wildlife Refuge is exploring ways to keep the weed under control.

First reported in the United States in 1990, deeprooted sedge is a native weed of South America that reaches its highest densities in roadside ditches, pastures, and edges of rice fields. A typical plant produces 250,000 seeds per year. Because the weed can spread rapidly and has such high seed production, “this species has the potential to be a serious threat to native ecosystems,” according to Matt Whitbeck, wildlife biologist at the Anahuac National Wildlife Refuge.

Refuge biologists this summer have started research to quantify the weed’s response to fire, herbicides, and mowing; to study the seed’s characteristics; and to focus on ways to control the plants. The research project is a partnership of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Stephen F. Austin State University, Galveston Bay Estuary Program, and The Nature Conservancy. Work is also being done at the Attwater Prairie Chicken National Wildlife Refuge in Eagle Lake, TX.

For more information, contact Matt Whitbeck, Anahuac National Wildlife Refuge, (409) 267-3337.