Texas drought will harm wildlife habitat for years

In a muddy pile of sand where a pond once flowed in the Texas Panhandle, dead fish, their flesh already decayed and feasted on by maggots, lie with their mouths open. Nearby, deer munch on the equivalent of vegetative junk food and wild turkeys nibble on red harvester ants—certainly not their first choice for lunch. As the state struggles with the worst one-year drought in its history, entire ecosystems, from the smallest insects to the largest predators, are struggling for survival. The foundations of their habitats—rivers, springs, creeks, streams and lakes—have turned into dry sand, wet mud, trickling springs or, in the best case, large puddles. "It has a compound effect on a multitude of species and organisms and habitat types because of the way that it's chained and linked together," said Jeff Bonner, a wildlife biologist with the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department. Of the state's 3,700 streams, 15 major rivers and more than 200 reservoirs are effectively empty and more than half of the streams and rivers are at below normal flow rates. Without water, animals struggle with thirst. Few plants grow. Without plants, there are fewer insects. No insects result in low seed production. The animals that rely on seeds and plants for nutrition—from birds to deer and antelope—have low reproduction. Predators that rely on those animals as a food source remain hungry as well, and they reproduce less...more