| Affiliations: | |
| Project Leader: | Lauren Naylor laurenchristine09@tamu.edu Wildlife and Fisheries Sciences |
| Faculty Mentor: | Thomas Lacher, Jr., Ph.D. |
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Meeting Times:
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Summer 2016 (complete) |
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Team Size:
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3 (Team Full) |
| Open Spots: | 0 |
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Special Opportunities:
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Gain research experience working on a high profile global conservation project Opportunities available to gain experience with ArcGIS and R and Python statistical programming.. Potential to publish in a peer reviewed scientific journal. |
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Team Needs:
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A strong work ethic, ability to meet deadlines, detail-oriented, and interest in mammalian ecology and conservation. Preferred: GIS skills (for mapping only) and familiarity with data bases. |
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Description:
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This project will be conducted in conjunction with the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Small Mammal Specialist Group (SMSG) to re-assess species extinction risk of New World small mammals. Team members will complete species assessments for priority species across North, Central, and South America. Duties will include conducting extensive literature reviews, GIS mapping, data mining and organization, and presentation and publication of results on the IUCN Red List. The work conducted by the SMSG team at Texas A&M will be presented in September 2016 at the World Conservation Congress (the largest conservation conference in the world) in Hawaii. Along with IUCN Red List priority species assessments, the team members will also conduct preliminary analyses of priority species. This includes mapping and referencing current ranges and IUCN Red List status in relation to protected areas across the Americas. We will start at a national level with local analyses of priority species in Colombia. We aim to get these analyses published in a scientific journal by the end of 2017. |