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SNR Biologists work with various partner organizations to conserve game and non-game birds, including songbirds, such as this northern cardinal. SNR foresters research and promote the value of woodlands and shelterbelts as wildlife habitat and paying investments that conserve soil and moiture. |
Biological Resources Program
The Biological Resources program area includes conservation biology; wildlife ecology and management; fisheries and aquaculture; environmental microbiology; and agroforestry and shelterbelt ecology. Students can learn about and conduct research in areas as diverse as soil biology on the smallest scale and wildlife, fisheries or agroforestry ecology at much larger scales.
Fisheries and wildlife investigations address management strategies that involve consumptive uses, such as hunting and fishing, and non-consumptive uses, such as bird watching, non-game species enhancement and analysis and protection of habitats for threatened and endangered species, among others. Wildlife damage assessment and mitigation also forms an important component of this program area. Planning for conservation of biological diversity using remote sensing and geographic information systems to analyze key habitats and their gaps is another part.
Forestry investigations focus intensively on the ecology and management of shelterbelts and managed forests. The pre-forestry program prepares a student to transfer to a forestry-degree granting university after two years. Other forestry research and outreach includes “productive conservation” plantings of trees and shrubs that provide specialty products while sheltering landscapes and buildings.
Environmental microbiology research focuses on studies of soil-plant interactions and nutrient cycling in natural and managed ecosystems. Soils microbiology research has investigated economical ways to remedy toxic contamination of soils and restore soil productivity.
The following affiliates, programs and organizations are also connected with the Biological Resources program area.
- Tern and Plover Conservation Program
- Wildlife Damage Management Center
- Nebraska Bird Trails
- Nebraska Forest Service
- Nebraska Statewide Arboretum
- Nebraska State Museum/ Division of Zoology
- Pesticide Education Resources
- Ecology and Evolutionary Biology
- Reptiles and Amphibians of Nebraska Identification
- US National Agroforestry Center
- Nebraska Cooperative Fish & Wildlife Research Unit
Participating Faculty
