In February, 33 undergraduate and graduate students attended the annual Texas Chapter of The Wildlife Society in Houston, TX with Drs. Heather Mathewson and Adam Mitchell. Undergraduate researchers, Ty Cosper and Lark Trainer presented an oral presentation, and Zach Bellows, Hunter Jacobson, and Collin Tucker presented posters. Graduate students Doreen Mata, Tiffany Leitner, Josef Leachman, and Lindsey Chiesl gave oral presentations and Addison Singleton and Isabella Szebelledy presented posters. Ty Cosper was awarded the Tarleton Outstanding Graduate Student award and Lindsey Chiesl won the Dan Boone Memorial Scholarship, one of the three TCTWS scholarships for graduate students. Lark Trainer, Hunter Jacobson, Trace Lopez, Emily Vincik, and Tyler Teeter competed in the Wildlife Quiz Bowl Competition. Our Plant Identification team consisted of Hunter Jacobson, Tristian Saxon, Chloe Delahoussaye, and Hannah Atkinson. Emily Vincik served as a panel speaker for a workshop on student internships. All the students volunteered to set up and clean up the meeting, at the registration desk, or during various other events. Attending these meetings allows students to learn about research, engage in policy discussion, network with professionals, and form lasting friendships with other students. We thank the College of Agriculture and Natural Resources, the Department of Wildlife and Natural Resources, and the Tarleton Student Chapter of The Wildlife Society for providing support to the students.
Presentations:
Zach, Bellows, H. A. Mathewson, and J. L. Leachman. Pre-restoration water bird surveys at natural and man-made water sources.
Lindsey Chiesl, H. A. Mathewson, G. Names, and B. J. Heidinger. Parental attentiveness of a songbird across varying temperature gradients.
Ty Cosper, H. A. Mathewson, A. Mitchell, M. Koeck, and D. Beard. Effects of grazing by bison on arthropod and vegetation communities.
Hunter Jacobson, H. A. Mathewson, H. Kafley, and D. Beard. Drought conditions associated with available habitat for bison at Caprock Canyons State Park, TX.
Josef Leachman, D. Murray, A. B. Mitchell, and H. A. Mathewson. Effect of juniper removal on ground-dwelling arthropod biodiversity.
Tiffany Nash, J. Brady, D. R. Erxleben, D. M. Mata, H. A. Mathewson, and T. W. Schwertner. Quantifying degradation rates of environmental DNA (eDNA) of ringtails in naturally occurring waters.
Addison Singleton, A. B. Mitchell, D. Harp, and H. A. Mathewson. Plant DRIPS – Plant Drought Response and Insect Pollinator Studies: Plant-pollinator interactions across flowering perennials in North-Central Texas.
Isabella Szebelledy and A. B. Mitchell. Examining the implications of arbuscular mychorrhizal fungi on plant-pollinator interactions associated with Texas grasslands.
Lark Trainer and A. B. Mitchell. Assessing ground-dwelling arthropod biodiversity in rangelands under different grazing strategies in Erath County.
Collin Tucker, J. Sanchez, K. Brown, D. Johnston, and H. Kafley. Distribution of Texas tortoise in Cameron County, Texas.