Texas A&M AgriLife wildlife management earns statewide recognition
Faculty, staff, student research, contributions earn awards from Texas Chapter of The Wildlife Society
Texas A&M AgriLife faculty, staff and students were recognized for their ongoing contributions and expertise in wildlife management and conservation at the Texas Chapter of The Wildlife Society meeting recently in Denton.
The Wildlife Society is an international nonprofit scientific and educational organization serving and representing wildlife conservation and resource management professionals.
“Texas A&M University has an exceptional reputation as an innovative leader in wildlife research and education,” said Roel Lopez, Ph.D., head of the Texas A&M Department of Rangeland, Wildlife and Fisheries Management and director of the Texas A&M Natural Resources Institute. “In addition to the annual recognitions received at this statewide meeting, the sheer number of Texas A&M alumni attending the event as successful wildlife professionals is a testament to our impact on the field.”
Outstanding Achievement Award
Lopez received the chapter’s Outstanding Achievement Award, recognizing his contributions to wildlife research, outreach and education.
“This is one of the highest honors the Texas Chapter of the Wildlife Society can bestow and celebrates Dr. Lopez’s decades of impact in wildlife conservation and management,” said John Tomeček, Ph.D., associate professor in the Department of Rangeland, Wildlife and Fisheries Management and past president of the Texas Chapter of the Wildlife Society.
Lopez’s extensive contributions to wildlife conservation and resource management have garnered both statewide and national recognition. Most recently, he was named 2025 Conservationist of the Year by the Houston Safari Club Foundation.
Outstanding scientific publication
Tomeček was part of the research team that received the Outstanding Scientific Publication Award for the article “An Evolutionary Perspective on Genetic Load in Small, Isolated Populations as Informed by Whole Genome Resequencing and Forward-time Simulations.”
The team analyzed 66 individual whole genomes of Montezuma quail from multiple populations to illustrate how the genetic load is dynamic over evolutionary time.
Publication co-authors include Samarth Mathur, Ph.D., bioinformatics analyst with the Frederick National Laboratory for Cancer Research; Luis Tarango-Arámbula, Ph.D., professor at the Colegio de Postgraduados, Campus San Luis Potosí; Robert Perez, oaks and prairies joint venture coordinator with the American Bird Conservancy; and Andrew DeWoody, Ph.D., professor and University Faculty Scholar with Purdue University’s College of Agriculture and College of Science.
Outstanding technical publication
The Outstanding Technical Publication award went to Shraddha Hegde, Ph.D., assistant professor in the Department of Rangeland, Wildlife and Fisheries Management; Alison Lund, program manager with the Texas A&M Natural Resources Institute; Jacob Dykes, Ph.D., Texas A&M AgriLife Extension Service wildlife specialist and assistant professor in the Department of Rangeland, Wildlife and Fisheries Management; Tammi Johnson, Ph.D., Texas A&M AgriLife Research assistant professor of disease ecology in the Department of Rangeland, Wildlife and Fisheries Management; Angelica Lopez, Ph.D., research scientist with the Texas A&M Natural Resources Institute; Lopez, and Kevin Skow, project manager with the Texas A&M Natural Resources Institute.
The publication, “Economic Values of White-tailed Deer in Texas: Part II,” quantifies an annual measure of economic activity generated by white-tailed deer hunting in Texas.
Student awards
Texas A&M Range Club plant identification teams took first and second place honors during the meeting’s plant identification competition.
Team One earned first-place honors. The team included Jessica Sabastian, Jake Chapman and Garret Purcell, all with the Department of Rangeland, Wildlife and Fisheries Management. Chapman, Purcell and Sabastian also earned the top three individual competition scores, respectively.
Team Two took second place honors and comprised Hanna Hardt, Department of Ecology and Conservation Biology, and Isabella Villalobos, Hannah Moreno and William Longoria, all with the Department of Rangeland, Wildlife and Fisheries Management.
Presley Griffin, a Texas A&M Department of Biology student, was named Outstanding Wildlife Student at Texas A&M.
Kennedy Bailey received the Collin Caruthers Memorial Scholarship, and Kelley Mundy received the Conservation Equity Partners and Wildlife Systems Inc. Scholarship. Both are with the Department of Rangeland, Wildlife and Fisheries Management.
