Forty-five student research projects were featured Wednesday (Apr. 24) during Texas Tech University's Department of Natural Resources Management's 3rd Annual Research Day at the Texas Tech Dairy Barn.

Warren Conway, chair of the Department of Natural Resources Management, noted that the program also featured three-minute thesis presentations following a luncheon program. The plenary speaker for the day’s event was Associate Professor Matthew Barnes. His discussion centered on: “Reflecting on a decade of eDNA at Texas Tech: Sky’s the Limit.”

Graduate Poster Finalists

• 1st Place: Wade Wilson (Graduate) Spatial and Interspecific Variation in The Feeding Habits of Four Native Prairie Stream Fishes
• 2nd Place: Diego Aviles (Graduate) Grazing Evaluation of Alternative Annual Forage Options for Water Limited Environments
• 3rd Place: (Tie) Amelia Richardson (Graduate) Biodiversity and Use of Culverts in Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument; Sadie Roth (Graduate) Evaluating Predictors of Reproductive Success for an Amphibian in a Dynamic Desert System and Shaelyn Rainey (Graduate) Wheat as a Cover Crop to Improve Native Grass Establishment

Undergraduate Poster Finalists

• 1st Place: Sarah Riney (Undergraduate) Influence of Fluctuating water levels on shorebird use of playas in West Texas
• 2nd Place: Kale Humpries (Undergraduate) Preliminary Survey of Aquatic Macroinvertebrates in Lubbock Playas
• 3rd Place: (Tie) Hannah Beline (Undergraduate) Collection and analysis of soil environmental DNA for the detection of the Texas kangaroo rat Dipodomys elator and Seth Hawke (Undergraduate) Endoparasite Occurrence in Sympatric Bighorn Sheep, Mule Deer, And Aoudad in the Trans-Pecos Region of Texas

3MT Graduate Finalists

• 1st Place: Sean Sutor (Graduate|Three-Minute Thesis) Roads and Natural Landscape Features Influence Movement Behavior and Habitat Selection of An Imperiled Tortoise
• 2nd Place: Clint Perkins (Graduate|Three-Minute Thesis) Negative Effects of Anthropogenic Landcover Alteration on Plains Spotted Skunk Occupancy  
• 3rd Place: Kalin Bayes (Graduate|Three-Minute Thesis) Assessing Habitat Quality Through Amphibian Condition  

Among other NRM students presenting research posters or presentations were:

Graduate Posters

• Maria Anastacio (Graduate) Fire Talk on Twitter: Leveraging Intercoder-Reliability Scoring
• Derek Malone (Graduate) Pilot Study for a Passive Integrated Transponder Antenna Array for Tracking Small Mammals
• Sahel Azizkhani (Graduate) Is the Public Use of Urban Green Spaces in Lubbock, Tx Related to Bird Diversity?
• Katherine Pearson (Graduate) Nutritive Value Dynamics with Addition of Polyethylene Glycol (PEG) of White-tailed Deer Browse Species in the Southern Cross Timbers and Prairies of Texas
• William Stewart (Graduate) A Preliminary Assessment of Invertebrate Communities Occurring in Rio Grande Wild Turkey Habitats in the Upper Llano River Watershed
• Owen George (Graduate) Asymmetric Competition Among Stream Fishes: Do Food Web Pathways Affect Competitive Outcomes?
• Pierce Adams (Graduate) Through the Looking Glass: Utilizing Historical Telemetry Locations to Address Fire Impacts on Mottled Ducks
• Badri Ghimire (Graduate) Post-Fire Dynamics of Lodgepole Pine (Pinus contorta var. latifolia) Saplings in the Routt National Forest, Colorado.
• Madison Ramsey (Graduate) The Effects of Neonicotinoids on Ring-Necked Pheasant Chick Growth and Physiology
• Tara Durboraw (Graduate) The Influence of Janet’s Looper Defoliation on the Spatial Pattern of Mexican Spotted Owl Nests and Habitat Structure
• Joseph Richards (Graduate) Comparative Analysis of Emerging Mayfly Biomass and Abundances and Their Role in Riparian Ecosystem Dynamics within the Upper Llano River Watershed: Implications for Rio Grande Wild Turkey Forage and Riverine Management Strategies
• Chris Carter (Graduate) Microbiome Structure in Wildlife Water Sources in the Trans-Pecos Region of Texas
• Haley Ditzenberger (Graduate) Quantifying Greater Sandhill Crane Migratory and Population Connectivity Using Molecular Techniques
• Carsten Groos (Graduate) Population Density and Habitat Associations of White-Tailed Deer (Odocoileus Virginianus), Axis (Axis Axis), And Aoudad (Ammotragus Lervia) In the Edwards Plateau Region of Texas 
• Lauren Spjut (Graduate) An Assessment of Fine Scale Microclimate Conditions in Purple Martin Artificial Housing and its Influence on Productivity
• Afsana Sharmin (Graduate) Extractive landscapes: Towards a Planning Response to the Hydraulic Fracturing in West Texas
• Charles Hoitt (Instructor) Observational Study of Habitat Availability and Use by Sambar Deer at the Powderhorn Wildlife Management Area, Calhoun County, Texas

Undergraduate Posters

• Jordan Davis (Undergraduate) Is There a Relationship Between Honey Mesquite (Prosopis Glandulosa) and Non-Prickly Pear Cactus? 
• Abigail Squire (Undergraduate) Comparative Analysis of the Efficiency of Hindgut Digestion in Equine Specimens in Relation to Feeding Routine
• Shantel Ramirez (Undergraduate) Insect Demographics within a Remnant Prairie Site in the Texas High Plains
• Marianna Zamora (Undergraduate) Quantifying the Pathogen Batrachochytrium Dendrobatidis (Bd) on Amphibians in Lubbock, Texas
• Emily Brown (Undergraduate) In Vitro Digestibility Analysis of Alternative Forage Options for Water Limited Environments
• Amia Barrio (Undergraduate) Detection of eDNA from Aquatic Organisms Via Airborne Sampling
• Serenity Quintela (Undergraduate) Exploring Reproductive Tract Variations in the Scimbok Hybrid (Oryx Dammah X Oryx Gazella)
• Emma Pitts (Undergraduate) How the Dust Bowl Reshaped Agriculture and Altered Lives: A Firsthand Account of Survival
• Thomas Springer (Undergraduate) Comparative Study of Habitat Selection and Use between White-tailed Deer (Odocoileus virginianus) on the Texas Tech University Junction Campus in Junction Texas in Kimble County and Kerr WMA in Kerr County
• Cassidy Wheeler (Undergraduate) Comparing the Diets Between Domesticated and Wild Lagomorphs in Their Respective Environments
• Emerald King (Undergraduate) The Amphibian Pathogen Batrachochytrium dendrobatidis (Bd) Is Present on Amphibians and in Environmental Samples in Lubbock, Texas
• Audrey Crawford (Undergraduate) An Experimental Investigation of the Influence of Green Plant Material In Raptor Nest Microclimate
• James Kerbow (Undergraduate) White-Tailed Deer Spatial Ecology in an Agricultural Environment
• Mackenzie Hall (Undergraduate) Trends in Raptor Admissions to Wildlife Rehabilitation Centers Across 13 Years in the Southern High Plains of Texas
• Gavin Saenz (Undergraduate) A Gut Content Composition Analysis of Four Native Fishes of the Red River.
• Emiliano Hernandez (Undergraduate) Detecting Forest Cover Change Associated to the Mayan Train Megaproject in Mexico: Analysis of The Impact of Remote Sensing Data Selection

3MT Presentations

• Angela Patrick (Graduate|Three-Minute Thesis) Survey of Disease Risk of Pronghorn (Antilocapra Americana) And Mule Deer (Odocoileus Hemionus) in the Texas Panhandle to Bovine Viral Diarrhea Virus
• Justin Dawsey (Graduate|Three-Minute Thesis) Using Machine Learning Techniques to Assist in Predicting the Location Of Mesquite On the Southern Plains (USA)
• Hayden Hays (Graduate|Three-Minute Thesis) The Effects of Invasive Feral Hog (Sus scrofa) on Channel Conditions and Benthic Macroinvertebrate Communities in the South Llano River

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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