Interactions of gulf cordgrass, Spartina spartinae (Trin.) Merr. ex Hitchc., habitat with ixodids on the South Texas coastal plain

Environmental Systems Research

Table 2 Vegetation and estimated ground cover by each in cordgrass habitat and mixed low-salinity mesquite-thorn scrub habitat sampling habitats, Cameron and Willacy counties, Lower Rio Grande Valley, Texas, 26 Feb – 1 Mar 2018

Habitat	Plants^a	Percentage species^b
		Port Mansfield area sites		Holly Beach area sites
		1	2	1	2	3	4
Cordgrass	Spartina spartinae (Trin.) Merr. ex Hitchc. Gulf cordgrass	85	90	99	100	100	80
	Prosopis glandulosa Torr. Honey mesquite	5	5				5
	Borrichia frutescens (L.) DC Sea ox eye	5					5
	Mimosa pigra L. Zarza		5	1			5
	Ziziphus obtusfolia (W. Hooker ex J. Torrey & A. Gray) A. Gray Lote bush	5					5
Percentage ground cover^b		80	90	100	100	100	90
Mixed vegetation^c	Grasses^d	75	55	60	70	70	90
	Mimosa pigra L. Zarza	5	10	5		5
	Baccharis texana (Torrey and A. Gray) A. Gray False prairie willow	15	10	10	20	10	5
	Ziziphus obtusfolia (W. Hooker ex J. Torrey & A. Gray) A. Gray Lote bush	5	5
	Opuntia engelmannii Salm- Dyck ex Engelm. Texas prickly pear					5	5
	Solanum elaeagnifolium Cav. Silverleaf nightshade		5
	Salix sp. Willow			15	10
	Leucophyllum frutescens (J. Berlandier) I.M. Johnston Purple sage		5	5		5
	Larrea tridentate (M. Sessé y Lacasta & J. Mociño ex A.P. de Candolle) F. Coville Creosote		5			10
	Karwinskia humboldtiana (J.A. Schultes) J. Zuccarini Coyotillo		5
Percentage ground cover^b		90	80	85	85	80	85

^aOther plant species occurred but in negligible (< 0.5%) abundances
^bPercentage of total plant ground cover
^cTypical of low salinity soil
^dMostly hairy crabgrass, Digitaria sanguinalis; Vasey’s grass, Paspalum urvillei Steud.; dallis grass, P. dilatatum Poir.; and little bluestem, Schizachyrium scoparium (Michx.) Nash