Vegetation and wildlife response to a native-grassland restoration

Non-native invasive species of both flora and fauna are profusely degrading community biodiversity. One such species that has a significant ecological impact is buffelgrass (Pennisetum ciliare). Buffelgrass was introduced from Africa to Texas in the early 1900’s for cattle forage. Since then, millions of hectares have been planted with or invaded by buffelgrass, creating near monocultures. These monocultures of non-native vegetation have been shown to reduce diversity of the herbaceous plant, bird, butterfly, and small mammal communities. Restorations may be able to mitigate challenges that non-native grasses create in ecosystems. My research involved documenting plant (grasses and forbs) and wildlife response (grassland breeding birds, grassland wintering birds, butterflies, and small mammals) to a grassland restoration (118 ha) in La Salle County, Texas during 2013–2019. A general trend from the 4 taxa (native plants, birds, butterflies, and small mammals) was the numerical increase in species richness, species evenness, and species diversity on the restoration site compared to a control. This information is critically needed to evaluate the effectiveness of large-scale restoration in areas invaded by non-native species such as buffelgrass on native plants and important wildlife communities. My results suggest native grassland restoration is possible in a landscape dominated by buffelgrass on cultivatable soils and can benefit several important taxa positively