Our Work
GAME BIRD RESEARCH
The Game Bird Program’s mission is to advance our knowledge of game bird ecology in the Chihuahuan Desert. We conduct targeted studies on scaled quail, Gambel’s quail, Montezuma quail, turkey, and waterfowl. The overall focus of our studies is to yield valuable information that can be passed along to landowners or managers to aid in making sound management decisions for these species.
Explore GAME BIRD RESEARCH
CONSERVATION BIOLOGY RESEARCH
Across the Texas Borderlands region, a wide variety of gradients interplay to yield incredible biotic diversity. Elevation, precipitation and temperature interact to create “sky island” ecosystems that are relatively cooler and wetter than the surrounding hot, dry lowlands.
A rich geologic history gives rise to numerous soil types, which in turn yield different vegetation communities across the sky island gradient. Vegetation communities affect how the land can be used by livestock, wildlife and people.
Borderlands Research Institute faculty, staff, and students study rangelands, watersheds, riparian forests, desert mountain ecosystems, and the wildlife that depend on these resources to support the people and the natural resources of the Trans-Pecos.
- Bird Conservation
- Carnivores
- Human Dimensions (change from Landscape Ecology)
- Small Mammals
Big Game Research
The Chihuahuan Desert Borderlands feature an unparalleled diversity of big game species, including desert mule deer, pronghorn, desert bighorn, Carmen Mountain white-tailed deer, aoudad, and elk. Each species has unique management considerations, so appropriate solutions must adapt to changing resources, habitats, and goals by using flexibility and ingenuity.
Our research team is committed to understanding the variety of processes that shape these species’ populations and distributions to achieve a variety of management goals, not just rubber-stamping blanket solutions on complicated problems. We can provide reliable information to guide land managers through complicated challenges.
Explore Big Game Research
Habitat & Rangeland Ecology
The Habitat Management Program at the Borderlands Research Institute focuses on advancing science-driven management of arid ecosystems in the Trans-Pecos region of West Texas. Our work combines principles of rangeland ecology, livestock production, hydrology, vegetation dynamics, soils, and remote sensing methods to better understand and manage diverse landscape processes. Combining traditional on-the-ground and emerging tools such as drone-based imagery with high-resolution monitoring, we can quantify vegetation change, soil conditions, and restoration outcomes at scales previously difficult to assess. This approach allows us to move beyond observations to the development of comprehensive, data-driven insights into ecosystem function.
Our goal is to translate this information into practical, economically viable management strategies for land stewards that improve rangeland health, increase resilience toward environmental variability, and advance sustainable land use for landowners and natural resource professionals across the Chihuahuan Desert.
- Wildlife-Habitat Relationships/Remote Sensing
- Rangeland Restoration
- Livestock-Habitat Relationships
- Rangeland Ecology