More than 35 student-led research projects were featured Friday (Apr. 21) during Texas Tech University's Department of Natural Resources Management's second annual Research Day at the Texas Tech Dairy Barn.

Warren Conway, chair of the Department of Natural Resources Management, added that the program also featured seven three-minute thesis presentations as part of a luncheon program. Following that was plenary speaker Kerry Griffis-Kyle, an associate professor and director of NRM's Professional Science Master's Track. Her discussion was titled: “Water and Wildlife in the Sonoran Desert.”

Graduate Poster Presentation

•  Lauren Soliz (1st Place) Effects of invasive Giant Reed on the stream food web of San Felipe Creek, Texas.
• Derek Malone (2nd Place) Avian community response to coastal prairie restoration using herbicide and prescribed fire on the Welder Wildlife Refuge over a seven-year time frame
• Sean Sutor (3rd Place) Using movement models to identify opportunities to manage landscape connectivity for the Sonoran Desert Tortoise

Undergraduate Poster Presentation

• Seth Hawke (1st Place) Coyote food habits in the Mojave Desert region
• Billy Huyhn (2nd Place) Enhancing urban tree canopy estimation from remote sensing using LIDAR and texture metrics
• Charles Sabin(3rd Place) Playa vegetation mapping at the NRM rangeland using UAV imagery and machine learning

3MT Poster Presentation

• Kaitlin Plate (1st Place / Graduate) Environmental influences on particle size distribution of Dreissena polymorpha environmental DNA in a Texas reservoir
• Danielle Deming (2nd Place / Graduate) Coyote population dynamics and food habits in the Mojave Desert region
• Ariana Rivera (3rd Place / Graduate) Habitat restoration of pynion-juniper woodlands and its impact on avian communities

In addition to being recognized during a late afternoon awards ceremony, the top finalists received $1,000 for first place, $500 for second place, and $250 for third place.

Among other NRM students presenting research posters or presentations were:

Poster Session I

• Alex Pearson (Graduate) A Comparative Analysis of White-tailed Deer Winter Supplementation Regimes for the Southern Cross Timbers and Prairies Region of Texas
• Annie Braack (Undergraduate) An evaluation of small mammal diversity, population demography, occupancy, and gnawing damage among three row crop irrigation systems on the Southern High Plains
• Charles Hoitt (Graduate) Diet of Sambar Deer (Rusa unicolor) on the Powderhorn WMA, Calhoun County, Texas
• David Creamer (Graduate) Zebra Mussel Invasion: Identifying lakes critical to the spread and establishment of an aquatic invasive species
• Diego Aviles (Graduate) Evaluation of herd instinct tags on cattle behavior in the Trans-Pecos Region of Texas
• Karen Hondrick (Graduate) Eastern Black Rail and mottled duck habitat selection response to various prescribed fire and grazing regimes on the Texas Coast
• Mila Milner (Undergraduate) Social behavior of introduced antelope species in Concho County, Texas
• Raini Bulaclac (Graduate) Non-bee arthropod site use during native grassland rehabilitation in the Texas Southern & High Plains
• Shakir Booker (Undergraduate) Point frame analysis of sambar deer rumen in coastal plains of Texas

Poster Session II

• Angela Grogan (Graduate) Molecular evolution of the prion protein gene (prnp) in pronghorn (antilocapra americana)
• Annie Braack (Undergraduate) An analysis of cotton residue as a potential feed source in the Texas Panhandle
• Collin Norvell (Undergraduate) Using an additional composite burn index (cbi) rating to represent high severity wildfires through comparison of satellite imagery in Northern Colorado
• Conner Green (Undergraduate) How does variance in natural factors affect the hunting patterns of Mississippi kites in urban spaces?
• Emma Sanchez (Graduate) Influence of structural characteristics on the use of culverts by bats as day-roosts in East Texas
• Julien Washington (Graduate) Development of an improved survey method for the Texas Kangaroo Rat (Dipodomys elator)
• Kalin Bayes (Graduate) Assessing habitat quality through amphibian development and habitat selection
• Ryan Thomas (Undergraduate) Invasive species mapping at the NRM rangeland using UAV imagery and machine learning
• Sadie Roth (Graduate) Constructed Sonoran Desert wildlife waters do not support amphibian breeding during drought
• Sahel Azizkhani Shadisheh (Graduate) Contingent economic valuation of green urban landscape
• Samantha Lehker (Graduate) Associations of the carbonate system and nutrient levels on growth of Prymnesium Parvum
• Thomas Springer (Undergraduate) Encroachment of live oak on coastal tallgrass prairie on the Powderhorn ranch and wildlife management area
• Wade Wilson (Graduate) Assessing the feeding habits of an imperiled prairie stream fish assemblage
• Obumneke Ohieari (Graduate) Temporal dynamics of net ecosystem exchange over the Marvin Klemme range grassland ecosystems vegetation measured by the eddy-covariance technique

3MT Presentations

• David Creamer (Graduate) Zebra mussel invasion risk: Estimating the likelihood of spread and establishment of an aquatic invasive species
• Lily Evans (Graduate) An assessment of grazing for Lesser-Prairie Chickens on beef herd health and productivity
• Charles Hoitt (Graduate) Deer of the Powderhorn, a story of three species
• Jacob Arey (Graduate) Herbicidal treatment of huisache (Acacia farnesiana) effect on understory forage elements and soil dynamics

CONTACT: Warren Conway, Chair, Department of Natural Resources Management, Davis College of Agricultural Sciences and Natural Resources, Texas Tech University at (806) 834-6579 or warren.conway@ttu.edu

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