Andrew Shamaskin, a Ph.D. candidate studying land conservation at Mississippi State University, has been selected as a finalist for the Sea Grant John A. Knauss Marine Policy Fellowship. A panel of professionals selected him to serve as one of 74 fellows through a highly competitive process.
He will spend one year in Washington, D.C., gaining experience with the policy-making process in agencies and committees that deal with marine a...
According to a Mississippi State research study, feral pigs cause $66 million in property damage in the Magnolia State each year. With the wild hog population increases and damage estimates constantly changing, it's now easier to report and assess impacts with a newly designed MSU app.
The "Feral Pig Damage" app makes it easy for users to report the location of wild hog sightings and the damage they cause. Users can pinpoint or dra...
Vultures and airplanes have difficulty sharing air space. Now the predominantly black bird of prey may be sporting a bright orange wing tag, designed to help researchers study its flight path.
Scientists at Mississippi State are asking for citizen scientists to report sightings to help determine, among other things, the flight pattern of the mammoth bird.
Scott Rush, an associate professor in the wildlife, fisheries and aqu...
The American beaver, once prized for its pelt, is now frequently considered a nuisance for the extensive damage they can cause to crops, timber, and roadways. There is limited economic data on the damage caused by beavers, however, estimates for southern states reach millions of dollars.
Since beavers are a species of management concern across the U.S. and especially in the South, MSU researchers are investigating beaver ecology to help...
The hundreds of floodplain lakes that dot the landscape of the Mississippi Alluvial Plain between Cairo, Illinois and Baton Rouge, Louisiana tell a story that spans the ages. These lakes were created by the meandering of prehistoric river systems, the Mississippi River, and other contemporary rivers that flow through the valley to join the Mississippi River. While rich in legacy, lakes also serve as a water source for Delta farmers. Forest and...
Unmanned aerial vehicles are taking flight to aid Mississippi State researchers in a quest to improve grassland bird conservation, safeguarding the storied feathered vertebrates that are nationally in decline.
UAVs are assisting MSU researchers in the university's Forest and Wildlife Research Center in detecting quail coveys. The new method for estimating bird population also provides a faster, more accurate and less disruptive way t...
A Mississippi State University partnership with the Fort Worth Zoo has hatched the first of more than 30 metamorphosed toadlets produced through in vitro fertilization.
A Puerto Rican crested toad named Olaf, hatched at the Fort Worth Zoo this year, is what one might call a work of art. ART, or assisted reproductive technologies, developed by scientists in the university's Mississippi Agricultural and Forestry Experiment Station and the ...
The College of Forest Resources at Mississippi State University is honoring a wildlife, fisheries and aquaculture faculty member with the esteemed Sharp Professorship.
"We congratulate Dr. Kevin Hunt on this great honor," said George Hopper, dean of the College of Forest Resources and director of the Forest and Wildlife Research Center. "For nearly 20 years, Dr. Hunt's research in human dimensions as it pertains to wildlife has helpe...
Mississippi State University scientists are receiving a five-year, $3.9 million grant from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's RESTORE Science Program to increase understanding of how birds use the Gulf of Mexico, helping resource managers improve habitat for coastal species.
The MSU-led group is one of only four teams of researchers and resource managers from across 20 institutions including universities, federal and s...
Mississippi State University researchers are shifting commonly held ideas about the diet of grey wolves in a newly published article gaining national attention.
Published in the scientific journal "Ecology," MSU assistant professor Brandon Barton's Sept. 18 article "Grasshopper consumption by grey wolves and implications for ecosystems" details the unexpected effects of wolf reintroduction into the western region of the U.S.
MSU ...
A century ago, the bobwhite quail, named for its distinctive whistle, was common throughout the Southeast. In 1966, however, scientists began tracking a drastic population drop. Over the next fifty years, the species declined by 85 percent. Forest and Wildlife Research Center scientists are doing their part in restoration efforts of this granivore, whose storied legacy is steeped in tradition.
Not only was the bobwhite's song once ubiq...
An aquaculture scientist in Mississippi State's Forest and Wildlife Research Center is the newest university faculty member to receive the prestigious Fulbright grant to conduct research abroad as part of the U.S. Department of State's flagship exchange program.
The associate professor in the MSU Department of Wildlife, Fisheries and Aquaculture in the College of Forest Resources is spending the next six months conducting research at...
Have you ever considered all of the wildlife that live hidden around your neighborhood, tucked in small patches of woods? Where does the raccoon that riffles through the garbage bin or the deer that eats your mother's azaleas go once the sun rises at dawn?
Researchers from Mississippi State University are teaming up with the Urban Wildlife Information Network (UWIN) to discove...
I heard a local story of a man who, in his excitement to kill a rattlesnake, used the only thing he had available&emdash;his thermos bottle. The next scene in this drama has the man in the hospital receiving anti-venom to treat a snake bite.
Encounters with wildlife are becoming more common in towns and neighborhoods as urbanization increases, and people often do not know what to do in these situations. Many species of urban wildlife, s...
A longtime Mississippi State faculty member has been named the Taylor Chair in Applied Big Game Research and Instruction in the College of Forest Resources.
Steve Demarais, a Dale H. Arner Professor of Wildlife Ecology and Management in the Department of Wildlife, Fisheries and Aquaculture, is a leading white-tailed deer researcher who has been with the university for more than 20 years. In that time, Demarais has published more than...
For wildlife, fisheries and aquaculture senior Ethan Woodyard, the best part about his major and research opportunities in the College of Forest Resources is doing hands-on work.
"We're out in the field all of the time, and I really like that about the major," said Woodyard, who now has had two first-author manuscripts published on his parasitology research.
As a student worker with the MSU College of Veterinary Medicine's...
A year ago, Keanna Rush was preparing to enroll at Mississippi State University after taking time off from school to go through basic training and join the Mississippi Army National Guard and its 155th Armored Brigade Combat Team (ABCT). Shortly before the 2017 fall semester began, Rush learned her education would once again be placed on hold as her unit would be deploying to the Middle East in support of Operation Spartan Shield.
A Phil...
If the forests of South America are the world's lungs, their rivers and wetlands must be its veins and arteries. This is the most diverse continent when it comes to plant life, and it's thanks in part to the fish swimming through its waterways.
Freshwater fishes consume about 600 neotropical plant species. The largest of fruit-eating fish in Brazil''s Pantanal—a 70,000 square-mile floodplain the size of Washington state with as muc...
Faculty and students in Mississippi State University's College of Forest Resources took top honors at the recent 41st annual meeting of the Southeastern Deer Study Group, marking the first time in the conference's four-decade history that one school has swept the competition.
MSU graduate students in MSU's Department of Wildlife, Fisheries and Aquaculture took first, second and third place in the annual student oral presentation comp...
Turkey season opens on March 15, and hunters will take to the field in search of the elusive gobbler. Most likely, they will find less of the popular game species than in previous years due to changing landscapes.
For this reason, Mississippi State University scientists and student researchers in the College of Forest Resources, in collaboration with biologists in the Mississippi Department of Wildlife, Fisheries and Parks, are trac...
A new Mississippi State research project will study a wetland restoration approach along the Gulf of Mexico, and findings will help improve future environmental restoration efforts.
The National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine and the organization's Gulf Research Program recently announced that the MSU project is among five newly funded projects focused on enhancing environmental restoration outcomes, along with two ...
It has long been a mystery why white-tailed deer devour the sprouts from recently cut tree stumps. A Mississippi State assistant professor in the Department of Wildlife, Fisheries and Aquaculture has figured out why&emdash;and developed a simple, cost-effective management technique to help support white-tailed deer during seasons of poor forage.
Marcus Lashley said the tree species that populate southeastern forests are notoriously n...
A longtime Mississippi State faculty member has been named the St. John Family Endowed Professor of Wildlife Management in the College of Forest Resources.
Bronson Strickland, a wildlife, fisheries and aquaculture extension professor, has led a wide-ranging educational program in applied wildlife science since his arrival at MSU in 2006. In the last five years, he has participated in more than 70 workshops, assisting landowners with ...
Ecological research by faculty members in Mississippi State University's Forest and Wildlife Research Center and Department of Biological Sciences is featured in a recent article by National Geographic.
Titled "How a 3-Ton Mess of Dead Pigs Transformed This Landscape," the article discusses a mass mortality experiment led by Marcus Lashley, assistant professor of wildlife, fisheries and aquaculture at MSU's College of Forest Resource...
A much-honored Mississippi State faculty member is receiving yet another recognition for significant contributions to quail science.
Loren W. "Wes" Burger is among three selections for a 2017 National Quail Symposium Award of Excellence, a career tribute from the Tennessee-based National Bobwhite Conservation Initiative and Bobwhite Technical Committee.
Associate director of the university's Forest and Wildlife Research Cent...
Mississippi State University alumni Drew and Kathy St. John of Madison are contributing two new gifts to their alma mater, creating an endowed professorship in the College of Forest Resources and furthering support for the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences' Department of Landscape Architecture.
The St. John Family Endowed Professorship in Wildlife Management will provide support for a professor in the Department of Wildlife, Fishe...
The conclusion of the school year does not mean learning must end, too.
The Mississippi State University Extension Service and the MSU College of Forest Resources are offering three summer youth camps in June. These Conservation Camps are designed to engage and excite young people in natural science and nature-based outdoor recreation. Hands-on learning, outdoor activity, and new friends and experiences are central to all three camps...
Mississippi State served as the 2017 host recently for the Southeastern Wildlife Conclave, which annually provides college students with valuable hands-on training in wildlife management and conservation.
Activities included a range of team field competitions, quiz bowl, art and photography contests, guest speakers and opportunities for professional development.
Pictured, MSU senior wildlife, fisheries and aquaculture major...
A U.S. Geological Survey fisheries research biologist who also teaches at Mississippi State is receiving a major international recognition.
Hal Schramm recently was designated a Fellow of the American Fisheries Society in tribute to his four decades of service. Specifically, he was cited for excellence in leadership, research, mentoring, resource management and public outreach.
In addition to leading USGS's Mississippi Coop...
Hunters throughout Mississippi hope to find a big buck this Saturday [Nov. 19], the start of deer season. It is well understood by hunters and biologists alike that deer vary in body and antler size across the state. Larger deer are thought to be the descendants of the Northern deer that were released in the state during restoration efforts in the 1900s.
Mississippi State University scientists are using genetics to determine the true...
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