WATER-BUDGET FOR SOUTH TEXAS RANGELANDS

Understanding hydrologic processes is essential to determine if water yield augmentation is possible through vegetation manipulation. Nine l arge non-weighing lysimeters, each 35 m2, were installed on the La Cop ita Research Area, 20 km south of Alice, in the eastern Rio Grande Pla in of Texas. The non-weighing lysimeters were used to test the hypothe sis that honey mesquite (Prosopis glandulosa var glandulosa Torr.) shr ub clusters have greater evapotranspiration rates than grass interspac es. Annual evapotranspiration rates of shrub clusters and grass inters paces were found to be similar, and both were significantly greater th an evaporative losses from bare soil. Surface runoff and deep drainage of water (> 2 m) from the bare soil were significantly greater than f rom the grass interspaces and shrub clusters. There was no drainage of water below 2 m from the shrub clusters. A total of 22 mm of water pe rcolated below 2 m from the grass interspace during the 18 month study period. These results indicate that no net change in the water budget would occur if shrub clusters were replaced with grasses in years wit h below average or normal rainfall. Increasing water yield from conver ting shrub-dominated rangelands to grass-dominated rangelands in south Texas is marginal in this area and limited to years when winter and s pring rainfall exceeds potential evapotranspiration. There is little e vidence to suggest that the minimal (non-significant difference) incre ase in percolation and surface runoff from the grass interspaces could be reliably captured and dependably made available off-site.