Texas Tech University Department of Natural Resources Management

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🚨New publication alert!🚨

Dr. Scott Collins and colleagues recently published in Management of Biological Invasions in which they summarized the diverse capture strategies for controlling invasive bigheaded carp populations. According to Dr. Collins, "This was a great project that we have been working on for over 2 years. Working on the management and control of invasive carp populations has been a strong focus of my research over the past several years."

The picture below is of Dr. Collins holding a bigheaded carp!

For this week's graduate student highlight, meet Alex Pearson, a master's student with Dr. Aaron Norris. Alex is from Cypress, TX and graduate from Texas Tech in 2023 with a bachelor's in Animal Science Production. After working with The Wildlife Society at Texas Tech and becoming an undergraduate research technician, she found a passion for working with nutrition and different ruminant species. Her studies will encompass white-tailed deer diets and how different available supplements may alter or enhance their natural diet. When she's not working, Alex enjoys hiking, leather working and painting.

🚨New Publication Alert! 🚨
Dr. Gad Perry and Dr. Robert Cox recently published in Diversity in which they explored the practical aspects of reconsidering the conservation value of urban ecosystems and urban green spaces!

Read it open access here 👀: https://www.mdpi.com/1424-2818/16/3/131

Our graduate students absolutely crushed it at Texas Chapter of the Wildlife Society two weeks ago! Apologies for not posting this sooner as we were waiting on some photos!

To start, Ph.D. student Angela Patrick placed 3rd in the Clarence Cottam Awards! According to Dr. Boal, chair of the Clarence Cottam Awards committee, less than a point separated 1st, 2nd, and 3rd in the competition!

Master's Student Joe Richards was awarded several awards: 3rd Place in the Graduate Student Poster Competition, the NWTF/Bowman Graduate Student Scholarship and Outstanding Publication: Popular Article for his article entitled: Javelinas: Status of a Texas Native!

Adam Cupito and Sarah Fonville gave oral presentations. Haley Ditzenberger, Derek Malone, Alex Pearson, Shaelyn Rainey, Amaris Shamaa, Lauren Spjut, and Will Stewart all presented posters.

Texas Tech had great representation by these graduate students!

This Wednesday, March 6th 2024, The Wildlife Society at Texas Tech has their 3rd meeting of the semester with guest speakers Thomas Janke (State Coordinator), Tavin Dotson, Garrett Rushing, Josh Michna and Dustin McNabb from Pheasants Forever and Quail Forever!

Meeting will take place in AgEd116, circled in the red box on the map!

A huge congratulations to Dr. Barnes and The Environmental DNA Ecology Lab for a wildly successful conference at Texas Academy of Science held at the University of Texas-Permian Basin in Odessa, TX!

Dr. Barnes presided over the conference as President of Texas Academy of Science and was named a Texas Academy of Science Fellow! Read more about this honor here 👀 : https://www.depts.ttu.edu/agriculturalsciences/news/posts/2024/02/nrm-barnes-named-tas-fellow.php?fbclid=IwAR3iXMpC3J7HX4PKg7qGmf6QGWYG6RIuoXnnuDfHNJfePiOayhVkVQ1JiHw

Ph.D. student Hayden Hays won the Graduate Student Oral Competition with his talk entitled "The Effects of Invasive Feral Hogs on Channel Conditions and Benthic Macroinvertebrate Communities in the South Llano River.

Ph.D. student Sadie Roth placed second in the Research Proposal Competition and received and award

Undergrad Emerald King won Best Poster for the Freshwater section

Ph.D student Madelyn Knauss was named Chair of the Marine Science section for a 3rd term!

Graduate students Sadie Roth, Adam Cupito and Madelyn Knauss all gave presentations. Undergraduate students Emeral King, Julianne Bullock, Emily Tucker, Vera Ye, and Mackenzie Hall presented posters and Sarah Riney gave a presentation!

Huge congratulations to Dr. Kerry Griffis-Kyle on her promotion to Professor! Read more about Dr. Griffis-Kyle below!

Dr. Kerry Griffis-Kyle is a distinguished wildlife ecologist dedicated to addressing critical natural resource management challenges, with a particular focus on water resources and enhancing habitat quality and connectivity for wildlife.

Dr. Griffis-Kyle joined Texas Tech in 2008 after serving as a postdoctoral fellow and adjunct faculty at New Mexico State University, where she designed and funded her research with a successful USDA NRI grant addressing rangeland ecology and amphibian conservation.

She holds a Ph.D. from Syracuse University in New York, an M.S. in Forest Ecology and Management from Northern Arizona University, and a B.S. from the University of Florida, reflecting her interdisciplinary approach to ecological research.

A trailblazer in her field, Dr. Griffis-Kyle made history as the first woman to attain tenure and later, as the inaugural woman to reach the esteemed rank of full professor within the Department of Natural Resources Management.

Through her pioneering research and commitment to advancing environmental stewardship, Dr. Kerry Griffis-Kyle continues to inspire and lead in the realm of wildlife ecology and conservation.

🐸All animal handling occurred with the proper permits, safe animal care protocols and for research purposes only

Happy from the Department of Natural Resources Management! Across our department we are engaged in research that contributes to the knowledge and conservation of our wildlife.

This bobwhite chick received a band to aid in research for chick survival and movement . Northern Bobwhite, known for their "bob-white!" call, are endemic to all of Texas (and much of the central and Eastern United States. Dr. Dabbert and Texas Tech Quail extensively study these birds and the impacts various management activities may have on them. Good habitat for bobwhite is good habitat for all wildlife. Go give them a follow!

Pronghorn are the only living member of their family and are the fastest mammal in North America. They have faced population declines due to habitat loss, diseases and anthropological barriers to movement like fences, roads and agriculture. Much of our research on these iconic mammals has focused upon fawn survival, habitat use and disease.

Lesser prairie chickens are now listed as Endangered under the Endangered Species Act. They are endemic to the southern and central High Plains in short grass prairies with shinnery oak, sand sagebrush and bluestem grasses. They are most known for the cackling and booming sounds displaying males will make on the leks to attract mates! Our research has focused upon habitat use and connectivity, nest microclimate and nest ecology!



Texas Tech Davis College of Agricultural Sciences & Natural Resources

🚨 New Publication Alert! 🚨

Ph.D. Student John Stuhler, along with Drs. Carlos Portillo-Quintero and Richard Stevens recently published in The Wildlife Society Bulletin in which they evaluated remote sensing approaches for detecting and mapping burrows created by a rare rodent species in Texas!

Read it open access here 👀: https://wildlife.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/wsb.1510?fbclid=IwAR238Bwl9V9Eat1b40LthMfBH-oxAYuXt_21yGwT99TEKvxaQKAwZYykL_Y

Every Friday, look forward to highlights from our graduate students and their research!

To start, we have Kalin Bayes, an M.S. student in the Dr. Kerry Griffis-Kyle lab here in NRM! Kalin is from Flint, Michigan and is studying breeding and natal habitat quality of natural and man-made waters in the Sonoran Desert for the red-spotted toad. Her research involves going to remote water locations to collect physical and chemical attributes of the sites, as well as to perform tadpole dipnet surveys. She also conducts night surveys to age individual male red-spotted toads via toe clips. Here are some pictures from the field of the red-spotted toad, some of her water sites, Kalin and her lab partner (Sadie Roth), and the beautiful landscape of the Sonoran Desert!

🐸All animal handling occurred with the proper permits, safe animal care protocols and for research purposes only

We'd like to highlight the success of our undergrads from The Wildlife Society at Texas Tech from Texas Chapter of the Wildlife Society !

First, they brought 25 members to the conference to present research, network with peers and compete in Plant ID and Quiz Bowl!

Our Quiz Bowl team placed 2nd! Way to go y'all, some of those questions were really difficult!

In the Undergraduate Poster Competition, senior Seth Hawke won second place with his poster entitled "Endoparasite occurence in sympatric bighorn sheep and aoudad in the Trans-Pecos region of Texas"! Congrats and ! Mackenzie Hall and Gavin Saenz also presented posters and Audrey Crawford gave an amazing talk too!

Now for the scholarship awards! Senior Madeleine Rawlings ( 's fearless President) won the TTU Outstanding Wildlife Student award. Vice President Jake Burke was awarded the Charly McTee Memorial Scholarship, Social Media Chair Sarah Smith won second place in the Texas Wildlife, Plants, and Scenery category of the Photo and art competition.

Finally, a big congrats and to Grace Newcomb, who was awarded the Colin Caruthers Memorial Scholarship. This scholarship is awarded to the top wildlife undergraduate student in the state Texas and Grace is the FIFTH woman in a row from Texas Tech to be awarded this prestigious award!

Thank you all for representing us so well!

Please join us on April 24, 2024 for the third Annual Research Day in the Texas Tech Dairy Barn! All current NRM students and faculty are encouraged to participate and show their research! The deadline for abstract submissions is March 31st, 2024 as a Word doc via email to Dr. Carlos Portillo at [email protected]

Our hearts go out to all those who have been affected by the unprecedented fires in the Texas Panhandle. Colleagues, friends, stakeholders, NRM alumni, ranchers, landowners, first responders, front line firefighters and the families impacted are experiencing the largest wildfire in Texas history. Several reports are now estimating the Smokehouse Fire to have exceeded 1 million acres; greater than the East Amarillo Complex fire in 2006. To keep up with the current situations, keep an eye on the following incident webpages.

Txtxs Smokehouse Creek Fire Information | InciWeb
https://inciweb.nwcg.gov/incident-information/txtxs-smokehouse-creek-fire

Wildfires and Disasters | Current Situation TFS
https://tfsweb.tamu.edu/CurrentSituation/

| InciWeb Incidents Page of for the Inciweb site.

Last week, graduate students and members of the Texas Tech Subunit of the American Fisheries Society attended the Texas Chapter of the American Fisheries Society Annual Meeting held in Nacogdoches, TX!

Our students participated in a river cleanup, networked with professionals, and learned about the profession!

Graduate students Cienna Hanson, Owen George and Wade Wilson all gave amazing talks on their research! Congratulations to Owen for being awarded the Guadalupe River Trout Unlimited Foundation Scholarship!! 🐠

Texas Tech Davis College of Agricultural Sciences & Natural Resources

Congratulations to Dr. Blake Grisham on completing his successful term as the 58th President of Texas Chapter of the Wildlife Society Last week, he presided over the 60th Annual Meeting in Houston, Texas, with nearly 660 attendees comprised of undergraduate and graduate students; academics; agency biologists; scientists; and non-governmental organization staff from throughout the state, with ~40 Texas Tech NRM Students in attendance as well. With > 100 professional oral and poster presentations, the theme of the annual meeting was ‘Thinking like a Draba’, to emphasize the lesser known and poorly recognized fauna of our state. Under his guidance, the Texas Chapter of The Wildlife Society was recognized for the second consecutive year as the national Chapter of the Year at the national conference of The Wildlife Society in Louisville, in October 2023. Although several past Texas Chapter TWS Presidents are NRM Alumni, Dr. Grisham is the first sitting NRM Faculty member to serve as President since 1995 when Dr. Steve Demarais hosted the meeting in Kerrville, and only the second NRM Faculty member since 1984-1985, when Dr. Fred Bryant hosted the annual meeting in San Angelo. Dr. Grisham has been active in the Texas Chapter for more than a decade – first as a student, and then recognized as Educator of the Year in 2018, served as Committee Chairs for Program; Finance; and then was elected into the Executive Board as Vice-President; President-Elect; and now will serve as Immediate Past President. Congratulations to Dr. Grisham on his service to the Texas Chapter of The Wildlife Society!

Texas Tech Davis College of Agricultural Sciences & Natural Resources

We had a very successful conference at the Texas Chapter of the Wildlife Society at the Omni Houston last week! To start off, we congratulate and honor Dr. Mark Wallace, professor emeritus. Dr. Wallace received the Honorary Life Membership Award, presented by Dr. Clint Boal.

Here are some quotes from Dr. Boal's nomination letter: "Virtually every senior member of the Texas Chapter of the Wildlife Society knows Dr. Wallace through his long engagement in wildlife research and over his 26-year membership in the Chapter. Dr. Wallace has been a member of The Wildlife Society since 1978, the College and University Working Group since 1993 and the Urban Wildlife Working group since 1994. He has served in several positions at both the regional and state levels, notably as the President of the Southwest Section.

Dr. Wallace joined the Department of Natural Resources Management in 1996 and served on the Institutional Care and Use Committee, served as Chair of the Department from 2011-2019, and retired in December 2020. Dr. Wallace is now Emeritus Professor in NRM, and has made significant contributions to the wildlife conservation and management professions. During the banquet, Dr. Wallace received a well-deserved enthusiastic ovation from ~650 attendees

As part of honoring Dr. Wallace's long and impactful career, we invite former students, friends, followers, and colleagues to share a memory; a story; and/or a picture here on our NRM page!

Texas Tech Davis College of Agricultural Sciences & Natural Resources

Texas Chapter Day 2!

Clarence Cottam Awards at 8:00 am in Constellation Ballroom ✅ Ph.D. Student Angela Patrick will be presenting research from her master's thesis

Plenary Session at 10:30 am in Constellation Ballroom ✅ Dr. Blake Grisham, Alumna Olivia Kost, and Dr. Scott Longing will be speaking

Research talks begin at 2:00 pm ✅ Go view talks by Trey Johnson, Dr. Clint Boal, Adam Cupito, Alumna Madeleine Thornley Barnham, Sarah Fonville, Audrey Crawford, Matt Hewitt, and Julien Washington!

At 6:00 pm, join us for the awards banquet in the Constellation Ballroom, where we'll get the results of the student poster competition, the Cottam Awards, and scholarship awards. Additionally, help us congratulate Dr. Blake Grisham, current president of Texas Chapter of the Wildlife Society, on a term well-served! We're grateful for your leadership throughout the last year and look forward to your continued service as past president!
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Today at Texas Chapter of the Wildlife Society:
Plant ID Competition at 1:00pm✅

Quiz Bowl Competition in the Constellation Ballroom at 3:00 pm✅

Student Poster Competition in The Landing at 5:00 pm ✅ Student posters by Gavin Saenz, MacKenzie Hall, Charles Pouland, Kaden Kerbow, Seth Hawke, Alex Pearson, Amaris Shamaa, Derek Malone, Joe Richards, Will Stewart, Haley Ditzenberger, Lauren Spjut, and Shaelyn Rainey.

This week, we will be at Texas Chapter of the Wildlife Society at Omni Houston! Come see our booth, watch our students compete in Plant ID, Quiz Bowl, and the Clarence Cottam Awards! You can also view research talks and posters! Texas Tech Student Chapter of the Wildlife Society will also be defending their title as Student Chapter of the Year!

While on the hunt for the Sonoran desert tortoise, we stumbled upon some super interesting fauna of the Sonoran Desert. Pictures include: a desert scene, Coral snake (Micruroides euryxanthus), Longnose Snake (Rhinocheilus lecontei), Western Diamondback Rattlesnake (Crotalus atrox), Sidewinder (Crotalus cerastes), Rosy Boa (Lichanura trivirgata), Regal Horned Lizard (Phrynosoma solare), and a Tiger Rattlesnake (Crotalus tigris).

My name is Amelia Richardson & I work with Sonoran desert tortoises. My research involves hiking the valleys and mountains of the Sonoran Desert to find sign of tortoises (s**t, carcass, or individual). Here are some pictures from the field, of tortoises, a predated tortoise carcass (most likely from a mountain lion), & my lab and project partner Sean Sutor.

Monday work blues got you down? Looking for an exciting career and enchanting office views? We have several hands-on jobs that will take you to some beautiful places all while making a difference for New Mexico's wildlife!

Applications close soon so head on over to the NM State Personnel website and review all our current openings. Come work with us!
https://www.spo.state.nm.us/

The Professional Science Master's in Environmental Sustainability and Natural Resources Management is an interdisciplinary degree that prepares students for careers in consulting, government, nonprofit, and other sectors. This degree is fully online, delivered through asynchronous and synchronous classes. Students can choose to focus on Natural Resources Management advised by Dr. Kerry Griffis-Kyle ([email protected]) or on Environmental Sustainability advised by Dr. Deborah Carr ([email protected]). Please contact us if you have questions.

Texas Tech University
Davis College
Natural Resources Management

Texas Tech University
Graduate School

The faculty at NRM is ready to make the Fall Semester great! You can reach out to NRM staff with any questions you may have at [email protected]. GUNS UP!😁