07 October 2015

Population Growth in Texas with Emphasis on South Texas

Population Growth in Texas with Emphasis on South Texas
            Throughout the world, an ever-increasing population has shown to become a concern regarding space and resources.  With resources already limited, there has been interest to implement more sustainable methods of harvesting resources and methods of usage.  There have been multiple estimates done to show how the population will increase in the future. Here we will show how the population in Texas is predicted to increase with a focus on south Texas.








Figure 1. Projected Population in Texas from 2010 to 20501


              In a population projection compiled by the Office of the State Demographer and the Texas State Data Center, three different migration scenarios were considered.  As shown in Figure 1, there is a scenario with zero migration, one with migration patterns observed in Texas between 2000-2010 (scenario 1.0) and another with half the migration of 2000-2010 (scenario 0.5)1.   These three trends show significantly different population outcomes. The 1.0 migration scenario produces almost triple the population of the zero migration option. Growth in Texas will be greatest in four areas- Dallas, Houston, Austin and the Rio Grande Valley (Fig. 2). One of the notable features of south Texas that will be affected by population growth is high biodiversity (lots of species of plants and animals). As with humans, these organisms need space and resources which will become less common.


Figure 2. Counties along the southern border and select counties in the Panhandle are expected to experience rapid growth now to 2050. Source: http://osd.state.tx.us/Publications/2014-11_ProjectionBrief.pdf

With the inevitable increase in population, people must consider the availability of resources. Such resources would include water, agricultural products, mining products and even space.  The Texas Water Development Board released a report for south Texas called Region M (Table 1) with the expected population increase from 2020 to 2070. As can be seen, the population of south Texas is expected to roughly triple in the next 50 years. With this increase in population life in the LRGV will change; there will be great increase in the development of land, a greater  need for already limited water, a greater demand of a variety of resources, decrease in air quality, etc.  This increase in population will not only effect people, but will also spread to other animals. The development of land for human use reduces the land available for native plants and animals, which can endanger their populations and even further endanger already sensitive populations.

Table 1 Projected Population for Counties in the LRGV2
Examining the range of impacts a larger human population can have on the surrounding environment should be considered such as habitat loss and/or degradation. A population (human or animal) must be able to survive with the resources available and to do so resources must be managed in a sustainable manner.To sustain any human or animal population, the availability of resources must be done in a sustainable manner to maintain adequate yields for present and future populations.  People might also consider the effect that the increase of human population will have on the other living creatures.  Animals also need space to populate and food sources (like plants) to be readily available.  Many animals are already suffering from the presence of humans, especially animals that require large roam areas, such as deer, bison, moose, and elephants.

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