Carrie Baker, Author at Department of Ecology and Conservation Biology

First-generation student advocates globally for women in science

Yasmin Quintana paves the way for female scientists

As a first-generation college student, Yasmin Quintana never imagined pursuing a career in fish ecology. For girls in her home country of Guatemala, becoming a scientist was not generally encouraged.Now, the doctoral student in the Texas A&M University College of Agriculture and Life Sciences Department of Ecology and Conservation Biology has teamed up with international organizations to empower young women in science.

In addition to her many research projects for Texas A&M in Guatemala, Quintana devotes her time to the Organization for Women in Science in the Developing World (OWSD) Guatemala National Chapter. As an early member of OWSDW, Quintana knew she wanted to be a voice for women interested in scientific disciplines. She joined the organization in 2019 after witnessing similar women in science organizations being developed at the University of Florida and Texas A&M.

“I’ve been trying to be a part of these organizations and learn how to promote women in science because we didn’t do that in Guatemala,” said Quintana. “It’s hard to imagine being a woman working in science in Guatemala because we didn’t have those (female) role models or mentors. So, I joined OWSD, and we started talking about how we could promote different types of activities with children, young women and women in early careers. We wanted to work with national institutions to get funds from international sources to promote these projects.”

After working as a coordinator and volunteering for the organization in several capacities, Quintana attended an OWSD workshop for creative writing. The aim of the workshop was for women to tell their stories in a way that could inspire young women and children.

Ultimately, these stories were shared with the U.S. Agency for International Development, USAID, and utilized for the Lifelong Learning Project that promotes literacy in Guatemala. Quintana, along with seven other female scientists, were featured in the project’s Inspiring Guatemalan Women Series for their work in aquatic-related topics.

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Nature can reduce costs, extend life for infrastructure projects

Texas A&M AgriLife researcher makes case for natural infrastructure

A newly published article hopes to stir discussion around adoption of construction designs and methods that utilize nature to cut costs, extend project lifecycles and improve ecological synergy, according to a Texas A&M AgriLife Research scientist.

The lead author is Rusty Feagin, Ph.D., AgriLife Research professor and ecologist in the Department of Ecology and Conservation Biology in the College of Agricultural and Life Sciences, and the Department of Ocean Engineering in the College of Engineering, both at Texas A&M University, Bryan-College Station. In addition to Feagin, 23 U.S. and European professionals in various fields including engineering, public policy, construction and biology contributed to the publication.

In the News Research Uncategorized

New fish identified after years in scientific studies

Newly classified Danionella cerebrum hides in plain sight

Scientists identify and name new fish species around the globe practically every week. Some turn up in unlikely places like the soil of riverbanks. Some display characteristics and behaviors that are not what most people would call fish-like, such as not having fins and breathing through their skin rather than gills.

But it is rare for an unidentified and unnamed fish to have played such an important role in scientific research for several years before being officially identified and named.

Kevin Conway, Ph.D., associate professor in the Department of Ecology and Conservation Biology and curator of fishes at the Biodiversity Research and Teaching Collections in the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences at Texas A&M University, Bryan-College Station, is among a team of three international scientists from Germany, Switzerland and the U.S. who have discovered and classified a fish that has been swimming in the tanks of neuroscientists for years.

In the News Research Uncategorized

Saving the Great Plains with prescribed fire, mixed grazing

The Prairie Project focuses on research, extension and education

Rangelands in the Great Plains, and the ranchers who depend on them, are losing battles against an invasion of brush and shrubs on historical grasslands.

Ranchers are under increasing stress due to changing environmental conditions and subsequent losses of rangelands to woody plants, but a relatively new management approach shows promise in turning the tide against encroaching brush and shrubs.

Texas A&M AgriLife Research scientist Brad Wilcox is among a group of researchers, extension specialists and educators who hope pyric herbivory will one day become a routine point of conversation in rangeland conservation and wildfire mitigation.

Pyric herbivory utilizes controlled patch burns to promote forage growth. Over thousands of years, fire and mixed animal grazing helped shape the Great Plains, which cover more than 452 million acres across 12 states.

Wilcox, Ph.D., AgriLife Research ecohydrologist in the Department of Ecology and Conservation Biology in the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences, Bryan-College Station, said the invasion by woody plants like cedar and mesquite presents a host of problems for producers, native ecosystems, and properties in both rural and urban areas.

Wilcox is leading a consortium of researchers, extension specialists and educators looking to help ranching operations and landowners prevent and reverse rangeland losses by replicating natural fire and grazing.

This undertaking, the Prairie Project, is a team effort that spans many institutions, agencies and disciplines. The project promotes pyric herbivory, mixed animal grazing and other disturbance regimens on rangelands in the Great Plains to make these areas more resilient to woody plant encroachment, wildfire and extreme heat events.

The Texas A&M University-led project is a collaboration with Oklahoma State University and the University of Nebraska and is funded via a five-year, $10 million U.S. Department of Agriculture National Institute of Food and Agriculture grant to test and promote pyric herbivory and other replicated natural disturbance regimens.

In the News Research

Texas A&M bird collection influences the future of ornithology, conservation

Each time Gary Voelker opens a drawer inside rows of crisp white cabinets represents an unveiling of sorts.

Solemn beauty lies inside. Curated winged fragments of Mother Nature sit frozen in time. Some are as tiny as a human thumb, while others are long and lean. The colors on display range from white and drab earth to a vibrant spectrum of tones and shades artists spend years learning to imitate.

The Collection of Birds at the Biodiversity Research and Teaching Collections, BRTC, is a curated collection of thousands of avian specimens from around the state, nation and world. It is a part of the Department of Ecology and Conservation Biology at Texas A&M College of Agriculture and Life Sciences, Bryan-College Station.

Voelker, Ph.D., curator of birds, professor, ornithologist and evolutionary biologist, said the collection represents decades of collection, curation and utilization by birders, researchers and students the world over.

“Our job is to preserve the material and make the data and materials available to the interested public and researchers,” he said. “We’re not a museum in that these birds are not on exhibition. We just have lots and lots of preserved material for research and education.”

In the News Uncategorized

Rangeland Systems volume edited by David D. Briske receives 500,000 chapter downloads since publication in April 2017

Rangeland Systems: Processes, Management and Challenges provides an unprecedented synthesis of the current status of scientific and management knowledge regarding global rangelands and the major challenges that confront them.

This volume contains 17 chapters organized around three major themes. The first theme summarizes the conceptual advances that have occurred in the rangeland profession. The second theme addresses the implications of these conceptual advances to management and policy. The third theme assesses several major challenges confronting global rangelands in the 21^st century.

The book is intended to compliment applied range management textbooks by describing the conceptual foundation on which the rangeland profession is based. It is written to be accessible to a broad audience, including ecosystem managers, educators, students and policy makers. The content is founded on the collective experience, knowledge and commitment of 80 authors who have worked in rangelands throughout the world. Their collective contributions indicate that a more comprehensive framework is necessary to address the complex challenges confronting global rangelands.

Rangelands represent adaptive social-ecological systems, in which societal values, organizations and capacities are of equal importance to, and interact with, those of ecological processes. A more comprehensive framework for rangeland systems will enable management agencies, and educational, research and policy making organizations to more effectively assess complex problems and develop appropriate solutions.

This book is open access and can be downloaded by anyone who is interested in learning more about global rangelands and the major challenges that confront them.

Download here

Faculty In the News

Lacher retires from dual roles at Texas A&M

Thomas Lacher, Ph.D., director of Texas A&M’s Center for Coffee Research and Education, CCRE, and professor for over 20 years in the Department of Ecology and Conservation Biology, retires at the end of June. He has been a global leader in both roles.

Lacher, serving as director of the CCRE of the Norman Borlaug Institute for International Agriculture’s coffee center for the last year, has worked to incorporate innovations to coffee production practices.

“Dr. Lacher has brought awareness of the value and environmental sustainability of agroforestry as applied to coffee,” said Elsa Murano, Ph.D., director of the Borlaug Institute.

Coffee agroforestry consists of producing coffee under a canopy of native trees. This creates habitat for biodiversity to thrive and serve as natural control agents against pests, such as the coffee borer beetle. Such innovative practices are essential for small-holder coffee producers in developing countries to be able to thrive in a competitive market, enhancing their livelihoods and elevating them out of poverty.

In his professor role, Kirk Winemiller, Ph.D., interim department head of the Department of Ecology and Conservation Biology in the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences, described Lacher as a leader in biodiversity conservation.

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Winemiller and Winemiller summarize peacock bass in recently published book

Kirk O. Winemiller, PhD, University Distinguished Professor and Interim Department Dead in the Department of Ecology and Conservation Biology, Leslie C. Kelso Winemiller, PhD, Instructional Associate Professor in the Department of Ecology and Conservation Biology and Carmen Montaña, PhD, assistant professor at Stephen F. Austin State University and former Texas A&M University doctoral student coauthored and published “Peacock Bass: Diversity, Ecology and Conservation.”

A fire peacock bass being released unharmed back into the clear waters of the Sáo Benedito River, Brazil. (photo K. Winemiller)

The book describes the diversity and natural history of the various peacock bass species, including their geographic distributions, evolutionary relationships, ecology, and economic importance.

According to Kirk Winemiller, PhD, peacock bass are the most popular sportfish pursued by anglers in tropical freshwaters, and they support important subsistence and commercial fisheries in rivers and lakes in their native South America. However, peacock bass are more than just sportfish. Like other species of the Cichlidae, a large and diverse family of tropical freshwater fishes, peacock bass (species of the genus Cichla) have fascinating reproductive biology that includes aggressive defense of eggs and fry by both parents.

“Research has revealed that peacock bass in rivers and lakes can exert strong control over prey-fish stocks and thereby have the potential to function as keystone predators affecting aquatic community dynamics,” Kirk Winemiller, PhD, said. “When people introduce peacock bass into waters outside their natural range, they can have a negative impact on fish diversity and ecological processes.”

Peacock bass are also of high value in fish markets, which oftentimes results in overfishing. Ecotourism for peacock bass fishing has emerged as a significant economic component in South America.

This book summarizes all that is currently known about the peacock bass and is essential reading for biologists, fisheries managers, anglers, naturalists, and aquarists interested in these remarkable fish and the diverse tropical rivers they inhabit.

The book can be purchased at most online bookstores, including Amazon, for $106.

Faculty In the News Uncategorized

Light receives 2021 Accountability, Climate and Equity Award

Jessica Light, Ph.D., Associate Professor and Curator of Mammals in the Department of Ecology and Conservation Biology received the 2021 Accountability, Climate and Equity, ACE, Diversity Service Faculty Award.

Light Earned this award for demonstrating outstanding commitment to the value of diversity at Texas A&M. She was recognized at the 2021 ACE Awards Ceremony on April 14.

“I am ecstatic to be recognized for my service working to create and sustain a diverse and equitable climate at Texas A&M University,” said Light. “Receiving an Accountability, Climate, and Equity Award is an honor and really means a lot to me; I’m excited to continue this important work.”

The ACE Awards recognize the appreciation of diversity at Texas A&M and center around the three overarching goals of the Texas A&M University Diversity Plan: Accountability, Climate and Equity.

ACE Awards acknowledge students, faculty, and staff in honor of their commitment to the Texas A&M core value of respect promoting respectful treatment of others, affirming, and encouraging individuals to take pride in their social and cultural identities, and including all in their definition of the “Aggie Family.” The ACE Awards are sponsored by the Division of Student Affairs, Office for Diversity, Department of Multicultural Services, Disability Resources, Women’s Resource Center, Aggie Allies, LGBTQ+ Pride Center, Health Promotion, and Student Government Association Diversity Commission.

2021 ACE Award Recipients

Faculty In the News Research Uncategorized

Conway lab research yields new insight on Danionella, an emerging model in the neurosciences

Research model featured on Developmental Dynamics cover

A recently published paper by Kevin Conway, Ph.D., Associate Professor and Curator of Ichthyology, highlights the Danionella vertebrate model as an important resource for brain and nervous system research.

Species of Danionella, small freshwater fish, are among the smallest vertebrates in the world. The miniature size of Danionella is in part due to extreme cases of progenesis, a term used to describe development being cut short by early onset maturity.

Over time, progenesis has affected the skeleton of Danionella, resulting in the absence of 60 skeletal elements, including some of the roofing bones of the skull. The lack of a skull roof in Danionella combined with presence of a fully formed hearing and sound producing apparatus makes these organisms a useful model in neurophysiological studies.

Developmental Dynamics, a peer-reviewed scientific journal of developmental biology and one of three official journals of the American Association of Anatomists, featured Conway’s emerging vertebrate model of Danionella on the April 2021 cover.