Wildlife for Lunch - Ecosystem function in the Texas Rice Belt - August 2016

Extending across almost 16 thousand square miles from Victoria to Orange, the "Texas Rice Belt" provides wintering habitat for up to four million ducks and geese that, at times, can include 20 percent of the U.S. dabbling duck population. However, due to a unique combination of landscape and growing season, those ecosystem functions extend benefits to other wildlife that include 56 species of water and other birds. As part of other rice-production landscape features, e.g. irrigation canals, ecosystem functions deliver habitat benefits to an array of wildlife including those to migrating pollinators.