AT: Water, Wind and Fire: How Texas Became Texas

This talk will focus on how non-living factors and geologic time have interacted to influence the vegetation communities observed in Southeastern Texas. Specific emphasis will be placed on prairies, savannas, and bottomland hardwoods and how specific abiotic and biotic patterns mediate biodiversity, community composition, and prevalence on the landscape.

Andy Newman is an restoration ecologist. He worked as project manager for Resource Environmental Solutions (RES) in Houston and before that, for the Harris County Flood Control District. In both jobs, his work involved wetland and stream restoration projects. Andy has experience with wetland ecology, bird biology, identification of sedges and grasses, aquatic insects, and vegetation community classification.

Due to his broad experience, Andy is also an iNaturalist contributor extraordinaire and is in part responsible for Houston’s placing at or near the top in the number of species recorded in the City Nature Challenge for the past few years.