Tuesday, February 6, 2024, 2:30 p.m.
Presentation by Resource Environmental Solutions

Download Soil Carbon Study Final Report (PDF)

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

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 University of Houston Coastal Center 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.

University of Houston Coastal Center hosted a presentation by Resource Environmental Solutions on the results of its Soil Carbon Study of Remnant and Restored Prairies at the University of Houston 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.

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.

Program Session

• Ry Thompson, Senior Ecologist with RES and Project Manager of the study, opened the presentation.
• Ecologists Isaac Welsh and Hunter Thompson presented information on study protocols and sampling observations related to soils and vegetation, respectively.
• Michael Szuter discussed the results of soil carbon analysis and statistics.

Questions

Contact Evelyn L. Merz, University of Houston Coastal Center Program Director, at elmerz@central.uh.edu.