D3528: Initial survey of the wetland invertebrates of the Katy Prairie, a threatened prairie ecosystem

The existing coastal prairie of the Texas and Louisiana coasts represents a small fraction of its former extent; estimated at just 1% of the original 6+ million acres. The Coastal Prairie Conservancy is a non-profit organization that was established to protect, conserve and restore coastal prairie along the Texas Gulf Coast. Originally established to conserve the Katy Prairie in Waller and Harris Counties, it protects rare plants (e.g. Texas prairie dawn, Hymenoxys texana, Asterales: Asteraceae), birds (e.g. Sandhill Crane, Antigone canadensis, Gruiformes: Gruidae), insects (e.g. Eunota houstoniana, Coleoptera: Cicindelidae) and provides habitat to a multitude of insects that thrive in the ephemeral prairie wetlands. Relatively little is known about the aquatic invertebrates that occupy the Katy Prairie and how their populations will be affected by the ever-encroaching suburban sprawl surrounding the prairie. Wetland invertebrates are being sampled in four different ephemeral prairie wetlands, comprising both man-made/managed and naturally occurring depressions. Sampling is being conducted via a combination of mosquito dip sampling, funnel trapping and aquatic dip net. Basic water quality parameters (temperature, dissolved oxygen, pH and conductivity) are also being collected. Results so far indicate a wide variety of Coleoptera (10+ families), Diptera (10+ families) and Hemiptera (6+ families) groups across a range of water quality conditions among the sampled wetlands.