Research Projects
Project Title: Johnston’s frankenia (Frankenia johnstonii) population status: year one in the post-delisting environment
TPWD Number: 495083
Project Description and Justification
The recent post-delisting monitoring (PDM) plan published for Johnston’s frankenia (Frankenia johnstonii) (U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service 2016) outlines the need for monitoring the population status of this species based on 1) remote sensing and 2) on-site assessment within a subset of populations. Remote sensing will be used to predict the potential landscape-level impacts on the habitat of Johnston’s frankenia while on-site assessments are needed in order to evaluate the potential residual impacts that landscape modifications might have on the populations (e.g., population declines). After a species is delisted, USFWS typically requires 5 years of PDM efforts. However, the Johnston’s frankenia PDM is planned for 9 years in order to provide more time for the monitoring of residual impacts that could impact the habitat of this species and that could be associated with landscape modifications (e.g., road construction). The post-delisting document for this species stated that the on-site monitoring should be developed in a 9 population subset from Zapata, Webb and Starr counties. Two of these populations have been already monitored by Anna Strong. Thus, in this project we will develop the on-site assessment of the remaining 7 population subset from Zapata, Webb and Starr counties, TX in order to: 1. survey known areas of plant occurrence and map population perimeters 2. estimate population size 3. document overall site conditions associated with populations including habitat disturbances.
We are already developing the surveys and had the opportunity to engage the community on the importance of the Conservation License Plates support for our project.
