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Vitality: The Art and Science of an Ornithology Collection

This Thursday, September 19th, will be the opening reception for Vitality: The Art and Science of an Ornithology Collection. This collection is a collaboration between the SEAD Gallery & Bookshop and the Texas A&M University Biodiversity Research and Teaching Collections (BRTC). With the ever-growing collection, the BRTC will showcase a portion of their specimens in this all new, interactive exhibit.

 

For more information on the collection, you can visit the SEAD Gallery & Bookshop’s event page.

 

Vitality: The Art and Science of an Ornithology Collection

Just two more days until our opening reception for Vitality: The Art and Science of an Ornithology Collection. This collection is a collaboration between the SEAD Gallery & Bookshop and the Texas A&M University Biodiversity Research and Teaching Collections. Please join us this Thursday, September 19th, at 6:30 pm for hors d’oeuvres and refreshments. Special thanks to Sterling Auto Group, Texas A&M Wildlife and Fisheries Sciences, Texas A&M AgriLife Extension Service, George Bush Presidential Library and Museum, The Board of the Texas Ornithological Society, Trevor Lancon, and Mike Cook.

Posted by SEAD Gallery and Bookshop on Tuesday, September 17, 2019

 

To see more about what the Biodiversity Research and Teaching Collections (BRTC) entails, head over to the BRTC Facility’s page. For information on how to Give to the Wildlife and Fisheries Sciences Department to support our research and opportunities, visit our Giving page.

Quail Translocation Success and Impacts Study

Drs. Nova Silvy (Department of Wildlife and Fisheries Sciences; WFSC) and Brian Pierce (Natural Resources Institute) at Texas A&M University received a grant from Reversing the Quail Decline in Texas Initiative and the Upland Game Bird Stamp, a collaborative effort between Texas Parks and Wildlife Department (TPWD) and Texas A&M University AgriLife Extension Service to study the success and impacts of translocation on northern bobwhite (Colinus virginianus).

The northern bobwhite has undergone extreme population declines throughout the state and has become expatriated or rare in many portions of its historic Relocation habitatrange.  The causes of this decline are many-fold, but biologists point to habitat loss and catastrophic weather events as major factors.  In many portions of their range land use patterns have changed, and large tracts of suitable habitat have become fragmented.  Quail isolated in these remaining patches are more vulnerable to local extinction compared to those found in large, contiguous patches of habitat.  Adverse weather events, such as flooding, droughts, and temperature extremes also have been shown to negatively impact quail by directly killing the birds (or destroying nests) or indirectly by impacting vegetation, delaying nesting, or slowing quail growth.

Using walk-in traps, quail were trapped at two sites, one near Aguilares, Texas and one near Carrizo Springs, Texas.  Quail were sexed, aged, weighed, fitted with radio transmitters, and banded.  In addition, a blood sample was taken from each quail.  Forty-six quail were moved to Gus Engeling Wildlife Management Area near Tennessee Colony, Texas while 17 Quail with Transmitterswere released in the same location they were trapped.  As part of this study, bobwhites are trapped in areas of the state with sustainable populations of quail and moved to areas where quail have historically been found (and habitat characteristics suggest quail should thrive), but are currently not present.  Quail are fitted with radio transmitters allowing researchers to track their movements, find nests, and calculate movements, ranges, habitat use, survival, and nesting success.  Although most trapped quail are moved to a new site, a portion are radio-tagged and re-released on the originally property in order to compare differences between the source population and the translocated population.

This study will determine the feasibility of translocating quail from their strongholds in south and west Texas to areas in east and north Texas where they have historically occurred, but have undergone steep population declines over the last 100 years.  This study Quail Nestalso hopes to identify factors that are more likely to result in a successful quail translocation to aid future projects.  This study is also providing training to a post-doctoral researcher, a graduate student, and two undergraduate students in the WFSC Texas A&M University.

We wish to thank TPWD for permits and providing some of the translocated quail.  We specifically wish to thank the staff at GEWMA for their assistance with monitoring translocated quail.  We also wish to thank the landowners who allowed us land access to trap quail and track the quail re-released at the trapping site.

For information on how to Give to the Wildlife and Fisheries Sciences Department to support our research and opportunities, visit our Giving page.

Light Lab Small Mammal Trapping

Members of the Light lab (Lacie LaMonica, Sarah Ardry, Stephen Fowler, and Sandy Martinez) traveled to Webb and Dimmit Counties in mid-May, where they spent 5 nights setting a total of 1,750 small mammal traps in search of the elusive Nelson’s pocket mouse (Chaetodipus nelsoni).

Although they did not catch any C. nelsoni, they caught some awesome sunrises, sunsets, and a variety of other rodent species. The team trapped a total of 133 rodents representing 9 different species, including 71 white-footed deer mice (Peromyscus leucopus), 21 northern grasshopper mice (Onychomys leucogaster), 15 Southern plains wood rats (Neotoma micropus), 12 hispid cotton rats (Sigmodon hispidus), 8 fulvous harvest mice (Reithrodontomys fulvescens), 2 kangaroo rats (Dipodomys sp.), 2 hispid pocket mice (Chaetodipus hispidus), 1 northern pygmy mouse (Baiomys taylori), and 1 Merriam’s pocket mouse (Perognathus merriami). All specimens were healthy, active and released. Great job, team!

This research is funded by Texas Parks and Wildlife.

See photos from the trapping trip below.

Fulvous harvest mouse

Fulvous harvest mouse

White-footed mouse

White-footed mouse

Kangaroo rat

Kangaroo rat

Identifying specimens

Identifying specimens

Counting traps

Counting traps

Light Lab Members

Light Lab Members

Dr. Kirk Winemiller Named 2019 University Distinguished Professor

Texas A&M University has awarded its highest faculty honor by bestowing Dr. Kirk Winemiller, Regents Professor in the Department of Wildlife and Fisheries Sciences, with the title of University Distinguished Professor. Dr. Winemiller will be formally inducted at a ceremony honoring all of the University’s Distinguished Professors on May 8, 2019.

Dr. Kirk Winemiller, Texas A&M AgriLife Research Scientist and Regents Professor.

The designation identifies faculty members who are preeminent in their fields and who have made at least one landmark contribution to their discipline. Their research and advancements are considered central to any narrative of the field. Past recipients of the lifetime title participate in the selection process, growing the ranks of Distinguished Professors by just a handful of scholars each year.

Dr. Winemiller has a distinguished record of contributions to ecology and fisheries science. In particular, his research on life history strategies and their relationships to population regulation, ecological dynamics, and fisheries management have significantly altered how the scientific community views population and community responses to environmental variations, and how this is influenced by species functional traits. These contributions have advanced both fundamental knowledge in ecology as well as approaches in fisheries management and biological conservation.

Dr. Winemiller has significantly advanced the field of food web ecology through empirical research demonstrating spatial and temporal variation in network properties as mediated by environmental factors and species functional traits. This work has been so fundamental to the field, that it has been featured in recent ecology textbooks.

Dr. Brad Pusey, Director of River Research Pty. Ltd., and Principal Research Fellow for the Northern Australia Environmental Resources Hub, University of Western Australia, said “the field of ecology is typically not one in which substantial intellectual leaps forward are made … that said, two of Kirk’s publications have indeed had a seminal transformative effect on our discipline … life history and … riverine food webs.”

Distinguished Professor James Brown, University of New Mexico, who is a National Academy Member, said Dr. Winemiller “is definitely in the top 2% of active researchers in his area of research: basic and applied ecology of fish” and his authored papers are “transformational” with “enormous influence.” Furthermore, Dr. Brown said Dr. Winemiller “is probably one of the two or three best, if not THE BEST, of the hundreds of scientists working on freshwater fish in the U.S. and around the world.”

Dr. Winemiller received a Ph.D. from the University of Texas at Austin in 1987 and joined the Department of Wildlife and Fisheries Sciences faculty at Texas A&M University and AgriLife Research in 1992. Dr. Winemiller has been recognized for his academic success and outstanding contributions in his field and to Texas A&M University and AgriLife Research with multiple awards and professional honors. In 2018 alone, he was elected Ecological Society of America Fellow, American Fisheries Society Fellow, Texas A&M AgriLife Research Senior Faculty Fellow, and received the American Fisheries Society Award of Excellence, the highest award for career research. He was awarded the Ecological Society of America Mercer Award for one of his early contributions in food web ecology, the U.S. Fulbright Fellowship twice, and has been recognized by Texas A&M University System with the Vice Chancellor’s Award for Graduate Teaching, Vice Chancellor’s Award for Undergraduate Teaching, Bush Excellence Award for International Teaching, President’s Award for Service to International Students, AgriLife Faculty Fellowship, and Regents Professorship.

Dr. Winemiller has an outstanding record of accomplishment and has achieved a level of seminal contribution that merits the title of University Distinguished Professor. Please join the Department of Wildlife and Fisheries Sciences in congratulating Dr. Kirk Winemiller on this highly prestigious award.

For more, visit http://dof.tamu.edu/Awards-and-Honors/University-Distinguished-Professor.

Texas A&M AgriLife’s Shippen, Winemiller named 2019 University Distinguished Professors

Media contact: Blair Fannin, 979-845-2259, b-fannin@tamu.edu

COLLEGE STATION – Texas A&M AgriLife’s Drs. Dorothy Shippen and Kirk Winemiller, College of Agriculture and Life Sciences faculty members at Texas A&M University, have been named 2019 University Distinguished Professors.

Dr. Dorothy Shippen, interim department head and professor in biochemistry and biophysics at Texas A&M University. (Texas A&M AgriLife)

Dr. Kirk Winemiller, Texas A&M AgriLife Research scientist and Regents Professor in the department of wildlife and fisheries sciences at Texas A&M University, College Station.

The distinguished university professor is the highest faculty honor and this year seven Texas A&M University scholars received the title. Shippen is an interim department head and professor in biochemistry and biophysics. Winemiller is a Regents Professor and Senior Faculty Fellow in the department of wildlife and fisheries sciences.

The designation identifies faculty members who are preeminent in their fields and who have made at least one landmark contribution to their discipline. Their research and advancements are considered central to any narrative of the field.

Past recipients of the lifetime title participate in the selection process, growing the ranks of distinguished professors by just a handful of scholars each year.

In addition to Shippen and Winemiller, the new University Distinguished Professors are:

  • Francois P. Gabbaï, Department of Chemistry, College of Science.
  • Roger E. Howe, Department of Teaching, Learning and Culture, College of Education and Human Development.
  • Valerie M. Hudson, Department of International Affairs, The Bush School of Government and Public Service..
  • Richard Miles, Department of Aerospace Engineering, College of Engineering.
  • Jörg M. Steiner, Department of Small Animal Clinical Sciences, Veterinary Medicine & Biomedical Sciences.

For more, visit http://dof.tamu.edu/Awards-and-Honors/University-Distinguished-Professor .

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Winemiller honored by the American Fisheries Society

Winemiller honored by the American Fisheries Society

Posted: 31 Aug 2018 06:00 AM PDT

Media contact: Blair Fannin, 979-845-2259, b-fannin@tamu.edu

COLLEGE STATION – Dr. Kirk Winemiller has received the American Fisheries Society Award of Excellence and was inducted as a Fellow at the society’s 2018 annual meeting in Atlantic City, New Jersey.

Dr. Kirk Winemiller, Texas A&M AgriLife Research scientist and Regents Professor in the department of wildlife and fisheries sciences at Texas A&M University, College Station, has received the Award of Excellence and was inducted as a Fellow of the American Fisheries Society. (Texas A&M AgriLife photo)

Winemiller is a Texas A&M AgriLife Research scientist and Regents Professor in the department of wildlife and fisheries sciences at Texas A&M University, College Station.

American Fisheries Society President Steve L. McMullin presented the award at the meeting’s plenary session.

The Award of Excellence is presented to a living person for original and outstanding contributions to fisheries and aquatic biology. It is the Society’s highest award for scientific achievement.

“We applaud the distinguished contributions of Dr. Winemiller and thank him for his continuous efforts to share the value of fisheries and aquatic biology,” McMullin said.

Winemiller’s research activities and interests focus on multiple areas, including ecology, evolution, systematics, biology, fisheries management, and biodiversity conservation. His publications in these fields have led to major advances in fisheries and aquatic ecosystem management.

Winemiller has published more than 250 peer-reviewed articles with his most cited papers concerning fish life history. Winemiller’s life-history model predicts how demographic tradeoffs influence fish population responses to environmental variation—particularly to altered flow regimes and harvest levels. He has also advanced the science of fish food-web ecology, fish functional traits and fish density dependence, according to the society.

Winemiller received the George Mercer Award in 1992 from the Ecological Society of America for an outstanding ecological research paper published by a researcher younger than 40 years old.

Winemiller has also been recognized as a Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, and a Fellow of the Ecological Society of America.

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Four named Faculty Fellows by Texas A&M AgriLife Research

Writer: Blair Fannin, 979-845-2259, b-fannin@tamu.edu

COLLEGE STATION – Texas A&M AgriLife Research named four Faculty Fellows during its awards ceremony Jan. 9 at the AgriLife Center on the Texas A&M University campus in College Station.

Dr. Kirk Winemiller of College Station has been named Senior Faculty Fellow, while Dr. Amir Ibrahim and Dr. Rhonda Miller, also from College Station, and Dr. Qingwu Xue of Amarillo have been named Faculty Fellows.

The Faculty Fellow title become part of the individual’s title. AgriLife Research established the Faculty Fellows Program in 1998 to acknowledge and reward exceptional research faculty within the agency.

“These four outstanding researchers have exhibited great contributions to sustainability in agriculture, which are critical as our population increases rapidly both in the U.S. and worldwide,” said Dr. Craig Nessler, AgriLife Research director in College Station.

Winemiller is an AgriLife Research fisheries scientist and Regents Professor in the department of wildlife and fisheries sciences. His research focuses on fish populations and community ecology, life history strategies and food web ecology with emphasis on rivers, streams and estuaries. According to the nomination, Winemiller is one of the most highly cited researchers within the Texas A&M University System and is globally recognized for his research on the ecology of fish and aquatic ecosystems and applications of ecological science to fisheries management and conservation. He has received more than $19 million in research grants, and 15 of his research papers have been cited in literature more than 100 times, according to the nomination. His 1992 publication on fish life history strategies and population regulation has been cited more than 1,000 times, has inspired similar research of fishes globally, and continues to serve as a model for understanding functional traits in species assemblages with applications to management.

Ecological Society of America names Texas A&M’s Dr. Kirk Winemiller a 2018 Fellow

Writer: Steve Byrns, 325-653-4576, s-byrns@tamu.edu

Contact: Dr. Kirk Winemiller, 979-862-4020, k-winemiller@tamu.edu

COLLEGE STATION – The Ecological Society of America recently announced its 2018 Fellows and among them was Dr. Kirk Winemiller, Texas A&M AgriLife Research scientist and Regents Professor in the department of wildlife and fisheries sciences at Texas A&M University, College Station.

Winemiller was among 28 Fellows and seven Early Career Fellows, and the only Texan to receive the honor, according to a news release distributed by the society.

“The society’s fellowship program recognizes the many ways in which its members contribute to ecological research and discovery, communication, education and pedagogy (deals with teaching theory or practice), and management and policy,” the release said.

“Fellows are members who have made outstanding contributions to a wide range of fields served by the Ecological Society of America, including, but not restricted to, those that advance or apply ecological knowledge in academics, government, non-profit organizations and the broader society,” and are elected for life, according to the release.

Winemiller was elected for his outstanding research on rivers, estuaries and fish ecology and evolution, involving field sites throughout the Americas, Africa and Asia and for his advice to agencies on freshwater resource science and policy.    

Winemiller earned his doctorate in zoology from the University of Texas, Austin, and master’s and bachelor’s degrees, also in zoology, from Miami University, Oxford, Ohio. He started his career with Texas A&M in 1992 as an assistant professor in the department of wildlife and fisheries, ultimately being named a full professor in 2002 and a Regents Professor in 2009.

He has earned many accolades during his tenure, among the more recent being named a Faculty Fellow by Texas A&M AgriLife Research; Dean’s Outstanding Achievement Award for International Impact, College of Agriculture and Life Sciences at Texas A&M; Distinguished Achievement Award for Research, Association of Former Students, Texas A&M; Special Recognition in Fisheries Work and Outstanding Fisheries Research Award, Texas Chapter American Fisheries Society; and Bush Excellence Award for Faculty International Teaching, Texas A&M. In 2007 he was elected Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science.

The Ecological Society of America is a professional organization of ecological scientists that established its Fellows program in 2012 “with the goal of honoring its members and supporting their competitiveness and advancement to leadership positions in the society, at their institutions and in broader society,” the press release reported.

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