About Us

J. SILVERIO AVILA S.

Dr. Silverio Avila is an Assistant Professor and Extension Range Specialist serving Texas A&M AgriLife Extension Service and Borderlands Research Institute. In this role, he helps plan, conduct, and evaluate educational programs in Rangeland Management and develops research programs in rangeland restoration, soil-plant communities, and plant community response to grazing.

He obtained his BS in Forestry from Universidad Autonoma Agraria Antonio Narro in Saltillo, Mexico, where he learned about the ecology, business and management of forest and rangeland ecosystems. During his BS, he focused his thesis work on vegetation changes following a wildfire in an arid ecosystem. He obtained an M.S. in Range and Wildlife and a PhD in Wildlife and Rangeland Sciences from Texas A&M University-Kingsville with the Caesar Kleberg Wildlife Research Institute. His MS research focused on looking at the effects of summer and winter prescribed burning on Gulf prairies and marsh vegetation. His dissertation work focused on the effects of livestock grazing and how it affects the spatial arrangement of the vegetation at the pasture scale to enhance bobwhite habitat. He did this by using traditional vegetation sampling methods and UAV imagery to model fine-scale 3D vegetation structure, and by looking at the abundance of bobwhites under the effects of flexible stocking rates in semi-arid ecosystems of South Texas. During his PhD, he developed an interest in UAV remote sensing and how it is used to monitor and manage rangelands and survey wildlife. He developed a feasibility study for the detection of bobwhites through thermal sensors attached to UAVs.

In general, his research interests have been in range ecology and management for livestock and wildlife, rangeland fire ecology and prescribed burning, rangeland remote sensing, landscape ecology, and the use of UAV technologies for range and wildlife management.

Selected Publications

• Gonzalez, E.A., Harveson, L., Tarrant, B., and Avila-Sanchez, J.S.. 2025. The Rangelands of Far West Texas. In Gonzalez, E.A., Harveson, L., Tarrant, B., and Avila-Sanchez, J.S.. 2025. Trans-Pecos Rangelands Management: The Rangelands of Far West Texas. Published July 2025. From, Trans-Pecos Rangelands Management: The Rangelands of Far West Texas | Publications | AgriLife Learn
• Gonzalez, E.A., Harveson, L., Tarrant, B., and Avila-Sanchez, J.S.. 2025. The Rangelands of Far West Texas. In Gonzalez, E.A., Harveson, L., Tarrant, B., and Avila-Sanchez, J.S.. 2025. Trans-Pecos Rangelands Management: The Rangelands of Far West Texas. Published July 2025. From, Trans-Pecos Rangelands Management: The Rangelands of Far West Texas | Publications | AgriLife Learn
• Perotto-Baldivieso, H., Perez, K., & Avila-Sanchez, J. (2025, October 21). Remote Sensing of Drylands: An Overview. Oxford Research Encyclopedia of Environmental Science. https://doi.org/10.1093/acrefore/9780199389414.013.878
• Zerlin, R. R., Elissetche, J. C., Avila-Sanchez, J. S., Patrock, R. J., Wester, D. B., & Rideout-Hanzak, S. (2025). How does prescribed burning in grasslands of coastal southern Texas, USA, impact butterfly populations?. Journal of Environmental Management, 396, 128034. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jenvman.2025.128034
• Avila-Sanchez, J.S., Perotto-Baldivieso, H.L., Massey, L.D. et al. Fine spatial scale assessment of structure and configuration of vegetation cover for northern bobwhites in grazed pastures. Ecol Process 13, 64 (2024). https://doi.org/10.1186/s13717-024-00546-0
• Avila-Sanchez, J.S.; Perotto-Baldivieso, H.L.; Massey, L.D.; Ortega-S., J.A.; Brennan, L.A.; Hernández, F. 2024. Evaluating the Use of a Thermal Sensor to Detect Small Ground-Nesting Birds in Semi-Arid Environments during Winter. Drones, 8, 64. https://doi.org/10.3390/drones8020064
• Haynes, V. L., Avila-Sanchez, J. S., Toomey, A. E., Ortega-S, J. A., Campbell, T. A., Ortega-S Jr, A., … and Wester, D. B. 2023. Patch Burning Improves Nutritional Quality of Two Gulf Coast Grasses—And Winter Burning Is Better than Summer Burning. Fire, 6(3), 105.
• Avila-Sanchez, J. S., C. E. Bates, A. M. Camacho, A. M. DiMaggio, S. Jacobson, B. K. Johnston, M. T. Page, E. C. Rhodes, N. J. Traub, and H. L. Perotto-Baldivieso. 2021. Rangeland Ecology & Management Highlights. 43: 127–130. Rangelands. DOI: 10.1016/0190-0528.43.3.127.
• Haynes, V.L., J.S. Avila-Sanchez, S. Rideout-Hanzak, D.B. Wester and J.A. Ortega-S. 2018. Effects of prescribed burning on gulf cordgrass, Spartina spartinae. MOJ Ecology & Environmental Sciences 3(2):110-115.

View Dr. Silverio Avila’s Google Scholar Page