Tall Timbers Research

Game bird staff conducted Research on northern bobwhite population dynamics at core study areas in the red hills of Florida (Tall Timbers Research station and livingston place) and Georgia (albany quail project). At these core locations staff conducted year-round monitoring of bobwhite survival and reproduction. In addition to these core long-term Research sites, we provided expertise to study areas in central Florida, east Texas, south carolina, Pennsylvania, and Alabama. We radio-tagged over 1000 bobwhites as part of both long-term Research and graduate student Research on our study sites; we continued Research on bobwhite chick survival, disease ecology, population estimation, harvest management, and habitat use in collaboration with researchers at multiple universities. Our wild bobwhite expansion continues via translocation by Tall Timbers moving over 7000 bobwhites to date; in 2023, we translocated wild bobwhites from fl and ga to sites in sc, fl, al, and va for both Research purposes and to establish new populations. Quail management published the annual quail call newsletter, provided input to 2 federal agencies and 10 state wildlife agencies on bobwhite management, coordinated 4 public education events, and made over 300 site visits in al, ar, fl, ga, la, nc, sc, tx, de, ok, ma, ks and va to provide outreach on exemplary quail management.

General Research staff focused Research and outreach activities in the conservation lands of northern Florida and southern Georgia on a diversity of species of conservation concern. Research on rare amphibians and reptiles was conducted at core study areas at Tall Timbers Research station and livingston place and in Georgia on private lands. We monitored populations of gopher tortoises, striped newts, tiger salamanders, eastern diamondback rattlesnakes and others. These population monitoring projects are long-term Research that documents the population fluctuations in response to climate and land management activities. Outreach to land managers across the region in three workshops and to scientists and public (state and federal) land managers and biologists were made at the gopher tortoise council professional meeting. We also continued our multi-year Research and monitoring project focused on feral hogs, not native to north america, but causing significant ecological damage to the region. This work was in collaboration with the us department of agriculture, the university of Georgia, and local land owners and managers. We held two workshops to discuss the problem, detail our Research findings to date, and to engage additional conservation partners.

Fire Research and outreach staff focused on critical Research on fuels, fire behavior, fire effects, and smoke in the south and across the us. Scientists produced 19 scientific publications in 2023. Per our strategic plan, we continued our increased focus on our national engagement: we presented Research at the international fire ecology and management congress in California, presented at the national academy of sciences in Washington, dc, and served on panels and advisory groups for the us departments of interior and agriculture. Staff made 21 presentations via webinars and conferences on the impediments to prescribed fire, fire-caused tree mortality, plant community responses to fire, development of fire behavior models, and continued Research on dendrochronology to determine fire history over the last five centuries. Scientists worked with university faculty and 7 graduate students from Florida, Georgia, Alabama, Louisiana, Virginia, and Washington. Staff assisted with fire and forestry education through the national interagency prescribed fire training center, national advanced fire Research institute, and national advanced silviculture program, across the us. Staff led prescribed fire outreach and application on > 40 sites working with prescribed burn associations across the longleaf legacy landscape in Georgia, Alabama, and Florida. Staff engaged with managers and leadership of national fire management organizations in the departments of interior and agriculture on Research and application priorities.