Potential Research Topics & NREM Faculty Connections
Fisheries & Aquatic EcologyListed below are research topics and faculty members to contact.
Topics
- 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
Topics Continued
- 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
Forest ResourcesListed below are research topics and faculty to contact.
Ecohydrology
- Plant, soil, and water interactions
- Soil moisture dynamics and redistribution
- Woody plant expansion and eco-hydrological impact
- Coupling of carbon and water cycles
- Ecosystem fluxes of CO2 and H20
- Eddy covariance technique
Forest and other Natural Resource Management
Stated and revealed preference methods in natural resource valuation
- Timber price and market forecasting
- Timber growth projections and economic valuation
- Economics of wood-based bioenergy
- Input-output modeling of forest and related industries
- Family forest landownership's in United States
- Community and social forestry issues
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 Ecophysiology & Silviculture
- 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 silvicultural 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
Rangeland Ecology & ManagementThe Grassland Management Graduate Certificate is a 12-credit graduate certificate offered completely online. Students are required to enroll in three core courses (7 credits) and two elective courses (at least 5 credits) to earn the certificate.
Topics
- Grazing behavior and animal performance
- Targeted grazing
- Plant animal interactions
- Integrated plant management
- 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
Topics
- Ecological succession
- Diversity of rangeland
- Grazing ecology
- Conservation grazing
- Rangeland management
- Invasive plant species (Old World Bluestems, tall fescue, Serica lespedeza)
- Fire Ecology
- Grassland ecology
- Social-ecological resilience
- Eastern redcedar ecology and management
- Large-scale conservation
- Sociology of conservation management
Wildlife Ecology and Management
Topics
- Upland Bird Ecology & Management
- 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
- Human-caused accidental mortality of birds (e.g. collisions with man-made structures, predation by pets, poisoning
- Effects of invasive species on bird habitats
- Urban ecology of bird populations and communities
- Ecology of arthropod borne diseases for which birds are reservoir hosts
Topics
Behavior, Ecology, & Conservation of Large Mammals
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- 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
- Habitat selection and behavior of ungulates and black bear
- Population ecology of ungulates and black bear
- Seed dispersal by bison in tall grass prairie