Dr. Neil Ford, Professor of Biology

The Impact of Flood Suppression on Amphibian and Reptile Assemblages in a Bottomland Forest

I currently have a grant from Texas Parks and Wildlife to compare the amphibian and reptile populations at the Old Sabine Bottom Wildlife Management Area, which has had a reduction in winter flooding events to the data I had collected there back in 1998 and 1999 under normal flooding regimens. Reservoirs upstream have reduced the flooding of the area and so the habitat, which normally would receive floods several times each winter has not been flooded in several years. The abundance and species composition of some reptiles has changed and this work will document those changes and make recommendations. We are collecting data on community structure but some students also have projects looking at individual species ecology such as foraging ecology and behavior.