Research Programs
The Department of Natural Resource Ecology and Management conducts research in the following areas.
| Fisheries and Aquatic Ecology | Forest Resources | Rangeland Ecology and Management | Wildlife Ecology and Management |
1.) Fisheries and Aquatic Ecology
· Ecology of streams and rivers
· Fisheries science
· Population and community ecology of riverine fishes
· Movement patterns and habitat relationships of riverine fishes
· Management of recreational fisheries
· Geographic Information System (GIS) and remote sensing applications in fisheries
· Role of predation risk, competition, and abiotic factors in structuring food webs in aquatic systems
· How fish optimize their habitat selection and diet in the face of competitive and predatory pressures
· How changes in habitat selection or diet by a species affects (directly or indirectly) other species in the system
2.) Forest Resources
Forest Ecophysiology and Silviculture
Steve Hallgren
Tom Hennessey
Rod Will
· Water relations, carbon and nitrogen metabolism of forest plants
· Factors controlling vegetation dynamics
· Water uptake and transfer in trees
· Relations between root morphology and anatomical structures
· Hydraulic properties of pine and oak
· Effects of environmental stress on tree and forest stand
· Effects of silivcultural treatments on growth, productivity, and physiology of forest stands
· Environmental effects on the photosynthesis and respiration of trees
· Canopy dynamics of forest stands
· Effects of global climate change on trees and forests.
Wood Products
· Wood composites, wood-moisture relation, mechanical processes of wood products
· Value-added composite panels from under-utilized species of Oklahoma
· Evaluation of surface characteristics of wood composites
Forest Genetics
· Plant genetics and molecular biology
· Forest biotechnology, plant functional genomics
· Use of molecular markers to address population genetic questions in forestry
· Use of plant gene transformation systems to further study gene regulation and expression in trees
· Population studies of gene flow
· Risk associated with release of transgenics
· Effects of management methods on genetic diversity
· Tomato as a model system to identify and manipulate drought associated genes
Forest Economics and Management
· Economics of forest management
· Forest valuation
· Forests in regional economies
· Economics of forest management to mitigate global climate change
· Quantitative decision support tools to aid forest and natural resource management
· Mathematical models that can quantify and visualize the resource trade-offs and production possibilities between conflicting management objectives
· Forest management planning: spatially explicit harvest scheduling models, multiple-criteria forest planning
· Operations research: integer programming, multiple-criteria optimization, multiple-criteria decision support systems
· The economics of non-timber forest benefits
Forest Biometrics
· Modeling growth and development of naturally-occurring shortleaf pine forests
· Sampling and monitoring trees and shrubs in great plains riparian ecosystems
· Evaluation of restoration of shortleaf pine - bluestem forest type (pre-settlement forest type)
· Polyareal plot sampling and growth estimation from permanently established sample points
· Distance sampling for forest inventory
· Estimation of volume, product yield, weight, center of gravity and moment of inertia for individual tree-length stems and logs
· Growth and development of intensively managed loblolly pine plantations
Forest Hydrology and Watershed Management
· Soil erosion from forest roads
· Effects of forest management on the quantity (low, peak and flood flows) and quality (sediment, nutrients, chemical and biological properties) of water from forest watersheds
3.) Rangeland Ecology and Management
Terry Bidwell
Sam Fuhlendorf
Karen Hickman
Gail Wilson
· Ecological restoration
· Conservation of native plant communities
· Sustainable use for products and services
· Landscape ecology
· Plant-animal interactions
· Wildlife habitat ecology
· Community ecology
· Rangeland monitoring
· Landscape management
· Ecological succession
· Diversity of rangelands
· Grazing ecology
· Rangeland management
· Invasive plant species (Old World bluestems)
· Grassland ecology
4.) Wildlife Ecology and Management
Upland Bird Ecology and Management
Craig Davis
Dwayne Elmore
Chip Leslie
Fred Guthery
Tim O'Connell
· Large-scale conservation partnerships
· Wildlife damage management
· Ecology and management of avian species, with an emphasis on wetland and grassland species
· Ecology and management of terrestrial invertebrates
· Grassland bird responses to different grazing practices
· Ecology and recovery of endangered Ozark big eared bats, interior least terns, and red cockaded woodpeckers
· Assessment of the status of lesser prairie chickens
· Resource conservation and management in Romania and Poland
· Effects of habitat alterations on wildlife populations
· Field studies of breeding songbirds
· Habitat loss and degradation
· Landscape ecology
· Ecology and management of upland game birds
· Bobwhite thermal ecology, nesting success and behavior, nocturnal ecology
· Modeling of operative temperatures on landscapes, and response of populations to forest management practices
Behavior, Ecology, and Conservation of Large Mammals
· Red wolves in Texas, giant anteaters in Brazil and American bison
· Captive mammals, mainly primates, at the Tulsa and Oklahoma City Zoos
· Analysis of media coverage of environmental issues
Reptile Ecotoxicology
· Effects of endocrine disrupting chemicals and other environmental contaminants on sex determination, morphological development, endocrinology, immunology, reproduction, and behavior of lizards
· Lizard-egg screening assay for endocrine disrupting chemicals and soil contaminants
· Lizard reproductive toxicity assay
