Soil Carbon Study of Remnant and Restored Prairies

Tuesday, February 6, 2024, 2:30 p.m.

Presentation by Resource Environmental Solutions

Ever wonder how much carbon a native or restored Texas coastal prairie can hold?

Soil carbon data set: Szuter, M., R. Thompson, I. Welsh, H. Thompson, M. Stahman, and S.C. Pennings. 2024. University of Houston Coastal Center soil carbon stocks in 2022 ver 1. Environmental Data Initiative.

Thanks to the support of coastal prairie enthusiast Beth Robertson, the University of Houston Coastal Center was able to accept a proposal by Resource Environmental Solutions (RES) to undertake a soil carbon baseline study at its facility at La Marque in Galveston County. Soil cores and vegetation surveys were performed at 77 sampling sites at the 925-acre UHCC facility, with the undisturbed soils of the central Aumann Prairie serving as the reference prairie. The study also included following the same sampling protocols at 15 sites at the Lawther-Deer Park Prairie in Harris County as a comparison prairie.

UH Coastal Center hosted a presentation by RES on the results of its Soil Carbon Study of Remnant and Restored Prairies at the UH Coastal Center and the comparison to the Lawther-Deer Park Prairie managed by the Native Prairies Association of Texas. There was no charge for the event.

Program Agenda

Ry Thompson, Senior Ecologist with RES and Project Manager of the study, will open the presentation.
Ecologists Isaac Welsh and Hunter Thompson will present information on study protocols and sampling observations related to soils and vegetation, respectively.
Michael Szuter will discuss the results of soil carbon analysis and statistics.
The presentations will be followed by a Q&A session.

Location

Resource Environmental Solutions
6575 West Loop South, Suite 300 (3rd Floor)
Bellaire, TX 77401

Questions

Contact Evelyn L. Merz, UHCC Program Director, at elmerz@central.uh.edu.