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...
STARKVILLE, Miss. - 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 b...
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...
The National Deer Association is pleased to announce Dr. Steve Demarais from Mississippi State University's Department of Wildlife, Fisheries and Aquaculture as the 2022 Joe Hamilton Lifetime Achievement Award winner. This award is presented to a person who has dedicated their life and/or career to wildlife management in general, and deer management in particular. The recipient must also have made a significant impact in deer management, deer ...
While the U.S. and Canada have lost approximately a quarter of bird life—or 2.9 billion breeding adult birds—since 1970, Mississippi State researchers are finding ways to improve working forests for avian conservation.
Two-thirds of Mississippi, or approximately 19.2 million acres, is forestland. The state's working forests support a $13.8 billion forestry and forest products industry. A new partnership, the Tombigbee Forest ...
A Mississippi State College of Forest Resources graduate student has taken advantage of a recent opportunity to study feral swine as a fellow for a leading conservation agency, and his work has focused on developing a prioritization tool for feral swine control across the Southeast's 108 national wildlife refuges.
Tyler Evans, a wildlife, fisheries and aquaculture doctoral student, was selected as a U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Dir...
A Mississippi State doctoral student in the Department of Wildlife, Fisheries, and Aquaculture is being honored with an award from the nation's oldest and most selective collegiate honor society.
Rebecca Bracken, who soon will defend her dissertation, is one of 200 Phi Kappa Phi members nationally to receive its annual Love of Learning Award, a $500 post-baccalaureate professional development grant. Bracken was first inducted into P...
Freshmen entering their first year of college may sometimes feel like a deer caught in headlights. That wasn't the case for Nathan Cowley, who enrolled at Mississippi State with a laser-sharp focus.
Cowley, a rising sophomore wildlife, fisheries and aquaculture major, has always set his sights on ambitious personal and career goals. When deciding on a career path, he knew he wanted to foster his passion for hunting and fishing. When ...
Taylor Gibson, currently pursuing a master's degree in the Department of Wildlife, Fisheries and Aquaculture, was raised with curiosity and respect for wildlife and fishing. As a child, he dreamed of becoming a marine biologist, but as he grew older, he realized his true passion is waterfowl.
After graduating from Mississippi State with a wildlife, fisheries and aquaculture bachelor's degree, Gibson went to work. He worked with Ducks...
As the State Land Mammal of Mississippi, white-tailed deer is the South's most significant wildlife species. The important economic and cultural resource contributes to Mississippi's $1.14 billion-dollar hunting industry, with an estimated 280,000 deer harvested each year. FWRC researchers seek to determine how weather and disease impact deer populations so the Mississippi Department of Wildlife, Fisheries, and Parks, or MDWFP, can make inform...
For Coahoma County native Troy Lindsey, life on the water is both a pastime and a career. Growing up fishing and hunting in the Mississippi Delta—the birthplace of America's catfish industry—little did he know his hobby would parlay into a profession. Lindsey grew up in various towns that dot the Mississippi Delta, including Roam and Tutwiler, where he graduated from West Tallahatchie High School. He went on to Coahoma Community Co...
Mississippi State University is accepting a national award for its partnership in a large-scale sustainability project.
Kristine Evans, assistant professor in MSU's Department of Wildlife, Fisheries, and Aquaculture, has been leading a team of MSU faculty and partnering agencies in a multiyear Cooperative Ecosystem Studies Units project titled "Strategic Conservation Assessment of Gulf Coast Landscapes." The work is this year's winne...
It's been a dozen years since the "Hudson Bay Miracle" made history with an emergency landing of a passenger plane after it collided with a flock of Canada geese during takeoff. To prevent such hazardous incidents, airport biologists strive to mitigate aircraft-wildlife strikes. Knowing what is inhabiting the landscape and monitoring that wildlife in a common way among airports is essential for informing mitigation efforts.
Traditional...
A Mississippi State faculty member with more than a decade of research and service in wildlife, fisheries, aquaculture and land conservation is adding an administrative role to her responsibilities.
Kristine Evans, associate professor in the College of Forest Resources, is now serving as the associate director for MSU's Geosystems Research Institute.
"Kristine has built important relationships with favorable leadership cap...
Whether in Japan or Turkey or Germany, Namia Stevenson has always felt at home abroad.
Stevenson's parents were in the U.S. Air Force, and she spent much of her childhood outside the U.S. She considers Bitburg, Germany, her hometown because that's where she spent the most time growing up.
The wildlife, fisheries and aquaculture master's student studies frogs and toads in MSU's Conservation Physiology Lab. Her interest was p...
A cohort of graduate scholars from around the country have converged at Mississippi State for several weeks to gain high-performance computing skills through a summer research experience program.
MSU and the U.S. Department of Agriculture created the MSU/USDA Graduate Summer Research Experience Program for scholars to apply high-performance computing resources to a variety of research projects across multiple agricultural disciplines...
A new book by a Mississippi State wildlife, fisheries and aquaculture professor emeritus recollects hunting and fishing in the South.
Donald Jackson's "A Sportsman's Journey," published by the University Press of Mississippi, is his fourth book and explores the connections between man and his environment.
Jackson, who continues teaching Principles of Fisheries Management in the College of Forest Resources, said he hopes rea...
For the last three years, Mississippi Power, Mississippi State University and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service have partnered on a banding project to help track eaglets that hatch at the Mississippi Sandhill Crane Refuge in Gautier.
Back in early March, the project entered a new phase when a transmitter with GPS tracking was placed on an eagle. This allowed researchers to track the birds wherever they fly, teaching invaluable lesso...
Mississippi State Professor of Wildlife Ecology and Management Steve Demarais is being honored as the university's 2022 Southeastern Conference Faculty Achievement Award recipient.
Demarais, the Taylor Chair in Applied Big Game Research and Instruction in MSU's Department of Wildlife, Fisheries and Aquaculture, also is co-director of the MSU Deer Ecology and Management Laboratory. He is one of 14 faculty members from SEC universities...
For Morgan Alexander and Makayla Brister, recent CFR alumni and proud creators of Instagram's "Culture and Conservation" account, the conversation about conservation is one that infiltrates their whole lives. However, the aim of "Culture and Conservation" is to create an all-inclusive space that engages its followers with the natural world and demonstrates how we're all impacted by conservation.
Alexander and Brister, two Black women wh...
Whether it's nutrition, genetics, habitat or population health—or even disease—scientists in Mississippi State University's Deer Lab not only research best management practices, but also work to make informed recommendations to hunters.
CWD, or chronic wasting disease, was first detected in the state in February 2018. Mississippi now has two CWD management zones across 14 of Mississippi's 82 counties. In early fall of thi...
Steve Demarais, MSU Deer Lab co-director and the Taylor Chair in Applied Big Game Research and Instruction, has been fascinated with white-tailed deer since high school.
"I've been an enthusiastic deer hunter since my teens and harvested my first deer while in college," he said.
The Attleboro, Massachusetts, native developed a love of wildlife at a young age.
"I grew up enjoying hunting and fishing and also enjoyed bi...
A Mississippi State researcher is part of a historic scientific consortium presenting its findings on the Amazon River Basin at the 26th United Nations Climate Change Conference, or COP26, in Glasgow, United Kingdom.
Assistant Professor Sandra B. Correa in the College of Forest Resources' Department of Wildlife, Fisheries and Aquaculture, is part of the Science Panel for the Amazon, or SPA, a group of over 200 prominent scientists wh...
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