Faculty

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.

Faculty In the News Research Uncategorized

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.

Faculty In the News Research Uncategorized

Boutton, Wilcox named 2021 Ecology Society of America Fellows

Texas A&M Professors recognized for research contributions

Thomas Boutton, Ph.D., and Bradford Wilcox, Ph.D., were both recognized as 2021 Ecology Society of America (ESA) Fellows.

ESA Fellows are honored for their outstanding contributions to research in fields that advance or apply ecological knowledge in academics, government, non-profit organizations, and society.

Thomas Boutton, Ph.D., Regents Professor and Sid Kyle Endowed Chair in Biogeochemistry, was elected for outstanding scholarly contributions that have advanced understanding of the structure and function of grassland and savanna ecosystems, and for revealing how land cover and land-use changes in those systems have modified key biogeochemical processes in the carbon, nitrogen and phosphorus cycles at multiple scales.

Bradford Wilcox, Ph.D., Sid Kyle Endowed Professor in Arid and Semi-Arid Land Ecohydrology, was elected for his research elucidating causes and consequences of vegetation change on the ecohydrology of savannas and woodlands, including field studies conducted in North, Central and South America that have provided a deeper understanding of hydrological and other ecosystem changes during woody plant encroachment in semiarid regions.

To learn more about the ESA and its Fellows program, read the 2021 press release announcement.

Faculty Uncategorized

Feagin receives the 2020 Robert G. Dean Coastal Academic Award

Written by Justin Agan ’18

Rusty Feagin, Ph.D. recently received the Robert G. Dean Coastal Academic Award from the American Shore & Beach Preservation Association (ASBPA).

Feagin, a professor in the Department of Ecology and Conservation Biology (ECCB) and the Department of Ocean Engineering at Texas A&M University, was recently awarded the Robert G. Dean Coastal Academic Award from the American Shore & Beach Preservation Association, ASBPA. Feagin received this honor for his significant contributions to coastal science and his mentorship of the next generation of coastal scientists and engineers.

Feagin’s research centers on how living material, like plants and microflora, affect the processes of coastal erosion. He teaches classes like Coastal Processes and Ecosystem Management, Wetlands and Riverine Restoration, among others, that are attended by students from multiple different majors.

“I enjoy mentoring grad students because its more one-on-one and it’s a bigger time investment,” Feagin said. “Over several years, you really get to know someone and what makes them tick and it gives you enough time to learn where they are strong in science and how to help them best apply themselves.”

One of Feagin’s current projects involves the building of a living shoreline by building several miles of an oyster reef in Carancahua Bay, a northern extension of Matagorda Bay on the Texas Coast, to reduce waves and decrease erosion while also increasing habitat for fish and other species in the environment.

“We’re trying to figure out ways that we can stop the erosion, but also increase the number of fish and the overall environment for fishing and hunting so that we can help the local economy,” Feagin said.

The ASBPA, founded in 1926 to combat the effects of coastal erosion with science and lobbying for government policy change, bestows multiple special awards each year to individuals and coastal projects for their contributions to their mission. The Robert G. Dean award recognizes individuals in academia that have made significant contributions to coastal science or engineering and fostered the education of new coastal scientists or engineers.

Feagin was nominated for this award by one of his colleagues, Cris Weber, a Senior Managing Coastal Engineer at Anchor QEA, a science and engineering firm. He also received multiple letters of support from students, former students, and other colleagues for the honor

Faculty Uncategorized

West named ECCB Associate Department Head

Jason West, Ph.D. was named the Associate Department Head for the Department of Ecology and Conservation Biology. West assumed his role in October and now provides the department with leadership in administration of our academic programs and assist the Department Head and staff with other administrative duties. West will also work closely with the Undergraduate and Graduate Program committees to prepare for the initial cohort of students under the new department.

“I am very excited and grateful to have Jason assume this important role for our department” Kirk Winemiller, Interim Department Head, said of West’s appointment. “He is already doing a great job for us.

West is an associate professor in Ecology and Conservation Biology, with expertise in plant physiological ecology and ecosystem ecology. He obtained a B.S. degree in Range Science from Utah State University and a Ph.D. in Botany from the University of Georgia and was previously a postdoctoral fellow in the Department of Ecology, Evolution and Behavior at the University of Minnesota. He served as research faculty at the University of Utah in the Department of Biology, before coming to Texas A&M University.

West oversees research in the West Lab Group, which generally falls in the broad domain of terrestrial ecology, with an emphasis on how the physiology and growth of plants interact with other components of ecological systems.

Learn more.

For more information on Dr. Jason West, visit his personal page or lab website.

Faculty Research Uncategorized

Texas A&M AgriLife announces 2020 Fulbright award winner

Srinivasan, resident director of the Texas A&M AgriLife Research and Extension Center at Temple, honored with Fulbright U.S. Scholar award.

Source: AgriLife announces Fulbright awards for 2020-2021

Srinivasan named awardee for environmental sciences

Texas A&M University and Texas A&M AgriLife are pleased to announce that Raghavan Srinivasan, Ph.D., who wears many hats in Texas A&M’s College of Agriculture and Life Sciences, was honored with a Fulbright U.S. Scholar Program award.

Srinivasan’s award is in Environmental Sciences, Effects of Climate and Land Use Change on Hydrology and Water Quality of Canadian River Basins, for the 2020-2021 academic year from the U.S. Department of State and the Fulbright Foreign Scholarship Board.

Faculty Uncategorized

Casola and Lawing receive promotion with tenure

The Department of Ecology and Conservation Biology Congratulates Claudio Casola, Ph.D. and Michelle Lawing, Ph.D. for both being promoted to Associate Professor with tenure.

Casola received his Master’s in Biology and Ph.D. in Molecular Biotechnology from University of Pisa in Italy. Casola was a postdoctoral fellow at the University of Texas in Arlington and Indiana University before becoming an assistant professor in the Department of Biology at Saint Louis University. He then came to Texas A&M University and began his role as Assistant Professor in the then Department of Ecosystem Science and Management in 2014. He has published 34 papers in high impact journals and contributed to research teams to secure over $1 million in collective grant funds.

Claudio Casola in the Genetics Lab — Dr. Claudio Casola

Casola and his research team in The Casola Lab study genome evolution and adaptation in plants using both experimental and computational approaches. Currently, they are investigating work in three main areas: evolution of lineage-specific traits and adaptation through gene turnover, population variation in drought tolerance in loblolly pine, and the molecular basis of convergent evolution.

Casola mentors graduate researchers and has taught graduate and undergraduate courses in Molecular Evolution, Ecological Genomics, and Functional Ecology and Adaptation.

Lawing received her Master’s in Biology (Quantitative) from the University of Texas in Arlington and a double major Ph.D. in Evolution, Ecology and Behavior and Geological Sciences (Paleobiology) at Indiana University. Lawing spent a year as a postdoctoral fellow at the National Institute for Mathematical and Biological Synthesis before coming to Texas A&M in 2014 as an Assistant Professor in the then, Department of Ecosystem Science and Management.

Lawing has published 31 peer-reviewed articles and 4 peer-reviewed book chapters. She has secured over $600,000 in funds as part of various interdisciplinary research teams.

Lawing mentors researchers in the Paleobiology, Evolution, and Climate Lab, where their research focuses on the grand challenge of predicting biotic response to environmental change and untangling anthropogenic impacts. They study shifts in morphology and geography through time for populations, species, and communities. Her group also brings together natural and social scientists with educators to evaluate qualities of STEM educational outreach that result in improved learning outcomes.

Lawing teaches undergraduate courses in Spatial Project Management and Advanced GIS for Natural Resource Management. She has also taught graduate courses in Quantitative Methods in Ecology, Evolution and Biogeography and Phylogenetics and Comparative Biology.

Congratulations again to these faculty on reaching these milestones in their career. The Department is so thankful for their dedication to students and their efforts to advance scholarship in their respective areas within Ecology and Conservation Biology.