Lori Massey
Texas A&M University-Kingsville
Graduate Research Assistant/M.S. in Range & Wildlife Management/Caesar Kleberg Wildlife Research Institute
Developing Unmanned Aerial Vehicle Approaches for Range and Wildlife Management
I was raised in Freestone County, Texas, and was an active member of the Teague FFA and competed on the Wildlife CDE team. The wildlife team paired with growing up in the outdoors, lead me to pursue a career in wildlife. I graduated from Texas A&M University-Kingsville with my bachelor’s in Range and Wildlife Management in the spring of 2021. I am currently pursuing my master’s degree in Range and Wildlife Management at TAMUK-CKWRI. My research focus is on developing drone approaches for range and wildlife management. My first project is using drones to estimate forage production of a pasture commonly used for hay production. Estimating forage is key to inventory resources, monitoring livestock, and making rangeland management decisions. My second project is identifying and quantifying the diversity of Tamaulipan Thornscrub in south Texas. Tamaulipan thornscrub is a dense, thorn-filled, brush community found in south Texas and northeastern Mexico. My last project is evaluating nighttime deer surveys with a thermal drone. Nighttime drone surveys paired with thermal imaging provide less expensive, programmed surveys, that could potentially simplify wildlife surveys by detecting heat signatures, while reducing animal disturbance. I look forward to completing my research in the next year!
