At their annual conference held in Augusta, Georgia December 9-13, 2024, the Southeastern Association of Fish and Wildlife Agencies (SEAFWA) recognized Dr. W. Daryl Jones, Extension Professor of Wildlife Sciences at Mississippi State University, as the recipient of their most prestigious award, the C. W. Watson Award.
The C.W. Watson Award is presented to the individual who, in the opinion of the C.W. Watson Award Selection Committee, ha...
A Mississippi State University Extension professor of wildlife sciences has earned the top individual honor for excellence in Extension.
Daryl Jones has been named the recipient of the 2024 National Excellence in Extension Award for an Individual. The award is given annually by the Cooperative Extension System's Extension Committee on Organization and Policy, or ECOP, and the U.S. Department of Agriculture National Institute of Food ...
Wes Burger, director of Mississippi State's Forest and Wildlife Research Center, has been honored with an induction into the Hall of Fame of the National Bobwhite and Grassland Initiative. This prestigious recognition is in tribute to his lifelong dedication and significant contributions to the conservation of one of the South's most significant gamebirds.
Burger, who is also dean of the university's College of Forest Resources, has ...
A Mississippi State University researcher is studying a distinct population of coyotes along the Gulf Coast in hopes of untapping hidden red wolf genetic reservoirs for furthering conservation of disappearing species.
Dana Morin, assistant professor in the Department of Wildlife, Fisheries and Aquaculture and scientist in the university's Forest and Wildlife Research Center, is partnering on a $2.1 million grant from the U.S. National ...
From leading soldiers in combat to managing wildlife damage nationally, Dr. Jimmy Taylor, '92 Bachelor of Science in forest management, '96 Master of Science in wildlife and fisheries, and '01 Doctor of Philosophy in forest resources, has spent a lifetime protecting and serving.
The three-time CFR graduate and U.S. veteran was deployed during Operation Desert Storm and Operation Iraqi Freedom and retired from the U.S. Army as lieutenan...
A Mississippi State University Extension Service fisheries specialist is being inducted as a fellow of the American Fisheries Society.
Wes Neal, also a MSU Forest and Wildlife Research Center research professor in the Department of Wildlife, Fisheries and Aquaculture, will be among several newly elected Fellows of the Society recognized at the AFS annual meeting in Honolulu, Hawaii, in September.
The designation is reserved...
From some 8,000 miles away, Mississippi State scientist Manuel Ruiz-Aravena in the university's Forest and Wildlife Research Center is studying flying foxes, or fruit bats, in Australia to determine the likely causes of viral spillover from animal to human.
The assistant professor in wildlife, fisheries and aquaculture watches thousands of signatures streak across his computer screen as a cauldron of flying foxes leave their roost ne...
Many Mississippi landowners and hunters are receiving black bear surveys this week in their mailboxes from Mississippi State University researchers studying how the public feels about the carnivore in the Magnolia State.
Sharp Professor of Human Dimensions Kevin Hunt in the MSU Forest and Wildlife Research Center—in collaboration with the Mississippi Department of Wildlife, Fisheries and Parks, or MDWFP—is conducting the su...
On a clear spring morning along the Mississippi coast, Scott Rush, a scientist in Mississippi State University's Forest and Wildlife Research Center, ascends over an open savannah in a specialized utility bucket truck designed to climb nearly 10 stories high. When he nears the top of the towering pine tree, where a sizable eagle's nest rests securely in a forked branch, Rush extends a dip net and carefully scoops up one eaglet, then the next, ...
Mississippi State scientists and leading experts in deer and prion research are weighing in on recent news about deer diseases and potential risk to human health.
A recent brief published in the journal Neurology stated that in 2022, two hunters from the same hunting lodge were afflicted with sporadic Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease, or CJD. Steve Demar...
Mississippi State is announcing a junior wildlife, fisheries and aquaculture major from Southaven as the university's latest Udall Scholar.
Lily Langstaff is the university's fifth recipient of the prestigious national award given annually to approximately 55 students across the country interested in conservation and environmental issues, and Native American learners working toward careers in Tribal policy and health care.
As a...
Deep in the difficult terrain of the Gulf Coast high marsh lives a tiny, dark and white-speckled bird called the black rail. These elusive birds that make their homes near muddy waters and among sharp-bladed grasses are easier to hear than see. Yet to catch their distinct sound "kick-ee-kerr" is a rare experience.
Black rails, along with high marsh-dwelling yellow rails and mottled ducks, are at the heart of the National Oceanic and At...
A Mississippi State junior will spend this summer in Germany as part of a prestigious undergraduate research program.
Surabhi Gupta, a wildlife, fisheries and aquaculture major from Jaipur, India, is the university's latest winner of the Deutscher Akademischer Austausch Dienst-Research Internships in Science and Engineering, or DAAD-RISE. DAAD, the German academic exchange service, and the RISE program provide research opportunities th...
Two Mississippi State juniors hoping to shape public policy in the future will spend this summer in a prestigious and intensive national fellowship program that will prepare them for graduate-level studies.
Judy and Bobby Shackouls Honors College members Alijah Jones, a political science major from Greenwood, and Lily Langstaff, a wildlife, fisheries and aquaculture major from Southaven, recently were named fellows in the Public Policy...
Birds migrating from north to south are a given but migrating from the southwest to the southeast is a little rarer. A burrowing owl is overwintering on a Tennessee River peninsula near New Johnsonville, Tennessee, marking the first sighting of the species in the state, and a Mississippi State wildlife ecologist is researching the fascinating oddity.
As the burrowing owl made its first home on a former Tennessee Valley Authority fossil...
;Ray Iglay, an assistant professor in Mississippi State's Department of Wildlife, Fisheries and Aquaculture, is among a handful of wildlife professionals throughout the U.S. and Canada newly recognized as a fellow of The Wildlife Society.
The Wildlife Society was founded in 1937 and includes more than 11,000 leaders in wildlife science, management and conservation across North America. TWS Fellows are wildlife professionals engaged wit...
As wildlife researchers continue studying the spread of chronic wasting disease, a fatal infectious disease threatening North America's deer populations, scientists in Mississippi State University's Deer Lab are sharing how certain management practices, including supplemental feeding of deer, can impact disease transmission rates.
Steve Demarais, MSU Deer Lab co-director, said minimizing direct contact by eliminating opportunities for ...
Mississippi State University researchers are pioneering a new way to detect the local presence of chronic wasting disease (CWD), a fatal disease threatening the nation's deer populations.
Steve Demarais, Taylor Chair in Applied Big Game Research and Instruction in MSU's Forest and Wildlife Research Center, leads a team studying how scrapes left by deer could be a game changer in detecting CWD before noticeable physical symptoms surface...
Approximately 10,000 years ago, the last glaciers retreated, helping form the northern prairies in North America. Among dozens of waterfowl species, mallards and black ducks settled in what are now Canada and the United States. These species share many common traits, but they remained geographically partitioned until recent history.
"When the glaciers melted, mallards settled in the prairie wetland systems of southern Canada and midcon...
Three Mississippi State University undergraduate students have received the national Phi Kappa Phi Pioneer Award, a $1,000 prize recognizing exceptional research, engagement and leadership skills.
Grant Peterson, a senior wildlife, fisheries and aquaculture major from Starkville; Annamarie Thompson, a senior biomedical engineering major from Trussville, Alabama; and Maria Timberlake, a senior natural resource and environmental conserva...
In the U.S., deer/vehicle collisions cause 1.5 million motor vehicle accidents each year, resulting in 200 fatalities and over a billion dollars in property damage. With 1.75 million deer in Mississippi, deer/vehicle collisions are cause for concern. That's why an FWRC scientist, with lead collaborators from participating agencies, sought to better understand how deer respond to approaching vehicles before a collision occurs.
Dr. Ray Igl...
Lacy Dolan has traversed the country studying mammals. Her latest stop is Mississippi State University, where she studies the state's black bears.
Growing up, the Dwight, Illinois, native said cats were the first animals to pique her curiosity.
"My parents both grew up on farms, so we had outdoor cats, which I loved. I remember learning about different animals and being fascinated by how they adapted to various environments," s...
A Mississippi State University-developed tool is helping land conservation leaders make informed and effective investments in the Gulf Coast region. Now, the team behind the software is being recognized by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.
The web-based software uses 26 data sets to help stakeholders determine the best areas along the Gulf Coast for land conservation, based on the environmental and socioeconomic benefits of the propo...
The Department of Wildlife, Fisheries and Aquaculture at Mississippi State University, under the College of Forest Resources (CFR), recently recognized its exceptional students at the annual spring Student Awards Ceremony. This department is unique in the state, focusing on educating and cultivating future leaders in wildlife and fisheries management.
Graduates from the department go on to vital roles in private companies, nonprofit or...
The leader of Mississippi State’s Department of Wildlife, Fisheries and Aquaculture is being honored with the national Seven Seals Award by the Employer Support of the Guard and Reserve.
Department Head Andrew Kouba, a Dale Arner Distinguished Professor of Wildlife Ecology and director for MSU’s Center for Human-Wildlife Conflicts, has been selected for his “meritorious leadership and initiative in support of the me...
A renowned freshwater ecologist and Mississippi State scientist is lending her expertise to a historic international report, respected as the world’s most comprehensive account of environmental crises of climate change, biodiversity loss and pollution.
Sandra Correa, assistant professor and researcher in MSU’s Department of Wildlife, Fisheries and Aquaculture, has been invited by the U.N. Environment Programme for members...
OVER 62% OF MISSISSIPPI'S LAND BASE is forested giving the Magnolia State a $13.8 billion dollar forestry and forest products enterprise. While green covers the map, the residents that enjoy the forested landscape are why Forest and Wildlife Research Center scientists are part of the Tombigbee Forest Bird Partnership (TFBP), an effort aimed at celebrating and enhancing avian conservation in the Southeast's working forests. Emily Jo "EJ" Willia...
Polar bears. Giant pandas. Mountain gorillas. In the last several decades, these endangered animals have attracted attention-deservedly so-but what about the smaller, less conspicuous amphibians that are on the brink of extinction? Mississippi State researchers are focused on saving them, too.
Scientists in the MSU Forest and Wildlife Research Center and the Mississippi Agricultural and Forestry Experiment Station are leading a conso...
For hunters in Mississippi, the call of a wild turkey heralds the official start of spring as much as the emerging daffodils and unmistakable coating of pollen.
With a three-decade trend of declining turkey populations in some regions of the state, an accurate assessment of turkey population is critical to proper management of the birds’ habitats, seasonal hunting regulations and hunt success. State agencies rely h...
Three Mississippi State faculty are representing the university in LEAD21, a national program that develops leaders in the fields of agricultural, environmental and human sciences at land-grant institutions.
Beth Baker, associate extension professor in the Department of Wildlife, Fisheries and Aquaculture; Jay McCurdy, associate professor in the Department of Plant and Soil Sciences; and Florencia Meyer, associate professor in the De...
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