Texas A&M University professor named to Boone and Crockett Chair
Writer: Steve Byrns, 325-653-4576,
Contact: Dr. Michael Masser, 979-845-6295, mmasser@tamu.edu
Dr. Perry Barboza, 979-845-3492, psbarboza@exchange.tamu.edu
COLLEGE STATION – Dr. Perry Barboza, a professor in the department of wildlife and fisheries sciences department at Texas A&M University, College Station, has been appointed to the prestigious Boone and Crockett Chair in Wildlife Conservation and Policy, according to the department head.
“Dr. Barboza comes to Texas A&M University from the University of Alaska, Fairbanks and has 24 years experience in working with big game species through his teaching and research,” said Dr. Michael Masser, department head. “His research focuses on physiological and nutritional aspects of population dynamics for both game and nongame populations.”
Barboza said the internationally recognized Boone and Crockett Club sponsors the endowed chair. The club was named for pioneer hunter heroes Davy Crockett and Daniel Boone. Founded in 1887 by a group of hunters that included President Theodore Roosevelt, the club succeeded in its principal goal of reversing the alarming decline in big game animals, which was occurring through loss of habitat and commercial harvest in the early 20th century.
Barboza said although most of his recent projects deal with large herbivores such as reindeer, caribou, moose and muskoxen, he has also studied bear, seal, waterfowl and a diverse group of non game species including bats, porcupines, tortoises, iguanas and marsupials.
Barboza joined the faculty at Texas A&M on July 1 and subsequently began his five-year term as the Boone and Crockett Chair on Oct. 13.
As a professor, he teaches undergraduate and graduate courses in wildlife ecology with particular emphasis on the management of big game species, he said. He is also continuing the research with moose, caribou and deer he was involved with prior to his move to Texas A&M.
He said each project will include graduate students who will design and implement studies by working with stakeholders including landowners, Texas A&M AgriLife Research and Texas A&M AgriLife Extension Service specialists, public officials and private interest groups. The information they gather in the field and laboratory will be used for their academic theses and professional research papers as well as presentations to a general audience.
“My research laboratory measures how animals use the available supply of food and water to meet the demands of living in an area,” Barboza said. “We measure what foods animals use, how much food they use and how well they are able to survive and reproduce in an area. Ultimately, we hope to better inform decision-makers about sustainably managing that landscape for wildlife and to help formulate policies to meet those management goals.
“Texas A&M has provided a wonderful opportunity to expand our research on wildlife from a cold climate where human influences are small to a variety of warm ecoregions with many human activities. The partnership between Texas A&M and the Boone and Crockett Club will help us integrate our research with management practices and public policies that address issues such as climate change and habitat loss for wildlife across North America.
“The Boone and Crockett Club continues to play a major role in promoting legislation and policy to protect areas for wildlife and to fund conservation actions,” he said. “Its educational activities include public outreach on ethical hunting and the North American Model of Wildlife Conservation, as well as university programs to develop the next generation of conservationists.”
Texas A&M, the University of Montana, and Michigan State University have endowed professorships supported by the Boone and Crockett Club while six other institutions have student fellowships supported by endowments with contributions from the Club.
“Texas A&M has completed 10 years of graduate education in public policy with the Boone and Crockett endowment,” he said. “We are proposing to enhance the endowment over the next three to five years to continue our graduate program in research on big game as well as the public policies that affect habitat and sustainable use of big game populations.”
Barboza was educated in Australia and earned a bachelor’s degree from the University of New South Wales, Kensington, New South Wales, and a doctorate from the University of New England, Armidale, New South Wales. He has worked in North America since 1989 when he began a postdoctoral fellowship with the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, D.C.
