UT Tyler Biology Department Awarded Grant

TYLER — The University of Texas at Tyler Department of Biology has received a $75,000 Endangered Species Section 6 Grant from the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department. Dr. Neil Ford, professor of biology; Dr. Lance Williams, associate professor of biology; and Marsha Williams, research associate; will study threatened and endangered mussels and fish of four Northeast Texas rivers.

The group will use global satellite information to determine landscape features of Cypress Creek and the Sulphur, Sabine and Neches Rivers to predict where rare mussels and fish should occur. They will then conduct surveys in those sites to determine which habitat features are best at predicting where threatened species occur. Such information will improve the ability of natural resource managers to find and protect rare species of mussels and fish and their habitats.

“These four rivers differ in large scale factors that impact fish and mussels such as channelization, impoundments, sedimentation and pollution,” said Ford, principal investigator of the two-year project. “Comparing the occurrence of threatened fish and mussels in each river helps to determine which specific factors impact the habitats that are important to fish and mussels.”

Section 6 grants are funded by the United States Fish and Wildlife Service for states to gain information about their endangered species.