Conservation Botany at FWBG|BRIT

Of the 5000+ species of native plants in Texas 400+ are considered vulnerable or imperiled.

As the resident Conservation Research Botanist at FWBG|BRIT I have been tasked with developing a comprehensive research program to help address the future of native plant communities in Texas. Our main objectives include:

  • Protect: Safeguard Texas’s plant diversity through seed banking and genetic resources

  • Predict: Measure and model threats to Texas’s native plant communities

  • Conserve: Develop strategic collaborations to conserve critical plant communities in Texas

  • Restore: Identify potential restoration work and community engagement opportunities

In collaboration with the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department, US Fish and Wildlife Services, and several conservation and research organizations across the state, we are developing several lines of basic and applied research inquiry to address these pressing issues in our rapidly urabizing state.

Images from a recent plant salvage expedition to transplant milkweed from a prairie remnant that was scheduled for development near Flowermound, TX: