Geo-Spatial Technologies Specialist

Eric J. Redeker is the director of the Wildlife Research Technologies Laboratory of the Caesar Kleberg Wildlife Research Institute at Texas A&M University - Kingsville. He is a native of Pennsylvania, born and raised on the outskirts of Philadelphia. He received his Bachelor of Science degree in Forest Science from Texas A&M University in 1995. Eric obtained his Masters of Science degree in Rangeland Ecology and Management in 1998 from Texas A&M University. The emphasis of his masters research was to determine the effect of shrub encroachment on the amount of water made available to off-site uses. This research was conducted on the Cusenbary Draw watershed located in Sutton and Edwards counties, near the Sonora Agriculture Experiment Station. Arc-InfoTM, Arc-ViewTM and ERDAS ImagineTM software were used to determine the amount of change in total woody cover from 1955 to 1990. Once this change was quantified, the SPUR-91 (Simulation of Production and Utilization of Rangelands) hydrologic model was used to determine the effects of vegetation change on watershed function. This research is documented in his thesis: THE EFFECTS OF VEGETATION ON THE WATER BALANCE OF AN EDWARDS PLATEAU WATERSHED: A GIS MODELING APPROACH. Eric joined the research team of the Caesar Kleberg Wildlife Research Institute in March 1998. He is responsible for a cutting-edge geo-spatial technologies facility of the institute. The goal of this facility is to educate and guide CKWRI researchers, professors and graduate students in the application of these technologies to their current and future research projects. In addition to working with CKWRI faculty and staff, this facility is designed to educate and guide area land managers in the use of these technologies to more effectively manage their range and wildlife resources.Since joining the Caesar Kleberg Wildlife Research Institute, Eric has successfully built one of the finest geo-spatial facilities in the state of Texas. This facility has grown substantially over the past four years, with monthly additions of new and updated equipment and software. Although, upgrading and expanding the facility does not come without a price, the benefits enjoyed by the CKWRI faculty, staff and graduate students are evident in the publications and presentations that come out of the laboratory and the institute. Some of the technologies made available to researchers and private land managers through the Wildlife Research Technologies Laboratory include but are not limited to:

• Geographic Information Systems (GIS): computerized mapping and analysis
• Global Positioning Systems (GPS): precise location finding and mapping using a constellation of U.S. Department of Defense satellites
• Remote Sensing: identifying features on the Earth's surface using digital imagery
• Precision Agriculture: the marriage of GIS and GPS to guide heavy equipment and aircraft
• Radio Telemetry: the location of radio tagged wildlife with direction finding radio receivers
• Web Page Development
• Emerging Technologies
• High-speed PC workstation computers

Eric is also heavily involved in education. He has developed a Texas State Mapping-Grade Global Positioning Systems Certification Program, a large number of workshops and a full-semester PhD course in Geographic Information Systems. In addition, he is also a very active guest lecturer for both the graduate and undergraduate range and wildlife courses taught at Texas A&M University - Kingsville. As a member of the graduate faculty at Texas A&M University - Kingsville, Eric serves on a number of M.S. graduate committees. Some of the research projects that he has been involved in over the past year include:

• Ocelot use of highway crossings in the Rio Grande Valley
• Use of color infrared digital images to evaluate bobcat habitat
• Spatial patterns and habitat use of an unharvested bobcat population
• Population dynamics of black bears in the Serranias del Burro, Mexico
• Effects of military maneuvers on habitat use by Texas horned lizards
• Environmental factors influencing Harris' hawk grouping
• Black bear habitat use and social interaction in Northern Mexico
• Effects of military maneuvers on habitat use by harvester ants
• Influence of food on black bear movements in Northern Mexico
• Effect of imported fire ants on the abundance of harvester ants
• Relationship between shoalgrass and wintering redhead ducks
• Impact of invasive exotic grasses on South Texas bird communities
• Reproductive ecology of mottled ducks in Southern Texas
• Mapping raccoon abundance by habitat type using GIS technology
• Assessing white-winged dove population changes in the Lower Rio Grande Valley
• Importance of freshwater wetlands to redheads foraging in Laguna Madre
• Effects of pen-raised bobwhites on wild bobwhite populations
• Nematode parasites of raccoons in Texas with special emphasis on Baylisascaris
• Multispectral digital aerial videography for identifying ocelot cover types
• Influence of cover on bear predation upon cattle in Northern Mexico
• SPOT satellite imagery for quantifying cover types for wild cats
• Percent use of supplemental feed by free-ranging white-tailed deer
• Spatial Aspects of Quail Populations and Habitat in the Rio Grande Plain
• Development of a distributed database for water resource management with applications to the Lower Rio Grande Valley

Professional Memberships

• The Society for Range Management (SRM)
• The Wildlife Society (TWS)
• ASPRS: The Imaging and GeoSpatial Information Society
• GITA: The Geospatial Information and Technology Association

Professional Interests

• Application of emerging geo-spatial technologies in range and wildlife research and management
• Advanced locational technologies (GPS and Radio Telemetry)
• Refining image classification through the use of field spectrometry
• Testing methodologies developed in academia to manage natural resources on private lands
• Introducing geo-spatial technologies to the "common man"
• Field data collection with emerging technologies
• Multimedia mapping