Sul Ross faculty member presents papers at biologists' conference

ALPINE Steven G. Platt, Sul Ross State University assistant professor of biology, presented two papers at the annual conference of the Association of Southeastern Biologists, April 17-18 in Spartanburg, S.C.

Platt, C.G. Brantley and T.R. Rainwater presented the papers on cane (Arundinaria spp). Cane is the common name applied to three species of bamboo native to the Southeast.

Presented were "Native American Ethnobotany of Cane (Arundinaria spp.) in the Southeastern United States: a Review" and "Historic Descriptions of Pre-settlement Canebrakes in the Southeastern United States."

At one time two of these species formed dense monotypic stands known as "canebrakes" that covered hundreds of thousands of hectares in the southeastern United States. Canebrakes disappeared rapidly following settlement due to a combination of overgrazing by livestock, altered burning regimes, and large-scale clearance for agriculture, particularly cotton.

Today, cane persists as an understory plant in many areas, but the large canebrakes described in historic accounts are virtually non-existent.

Canebrakes are now regarded as "critically endangered ecosystems" because this ecosystem has been reduced to less than one percent of its former extent.

Canebrakes were important habitat for at least 50 species of wildlife, including some species that were obligate canebrake inhabitants such as Bachman's warbler.

Platt, Brantley and Rainwater, have a long-standing interest in canebrakes and have published several other papers on cane and canebrakes dating back to 1997.