Master of Science Candidate

STUDENT BACKGROUND

My name is Dean Wiemers.  I was born and raised in Hondo, TX on a small farm and ranch.  I graduated in 2000 with a Bachelor’s of Science in Animal Science from Texas A&M University-College Station.  In 2002 I married my lovely wife Marcy and held various jobs unrelated to wildlife and agriculture.  In 2004 I began working for the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department Marine Development Center in Corpus Christi, TX to help raise and release red drum and spotted seatrout throughout the coastal bays of Texas.  This experience motivated me to pursue graduate school.  In the fall of 2005 I began my Master’s research project under Dr. Tim Fulbright at the Naval bases in Corpus Christi, TX.  My research was conducted to determine the distribution of the invasive plants: guineagrass, Brazilian pepper, Chinese tallow, and chinaberry on the Naval properties.  I also investigated the invasive characteristics that guineagrass might display and the affects of sucrose addition on guineagrass.  I also investigated the microhabitat characteristics of the Maritime pocket gopher.  In December of 2007 I will be receive my Master’s degree in Range and Wildlife Science.  I am currently working under Dr. Fulbright on my Ph.D. project that has just begun.  In my spare time I enjoy hunting, fishing, shooting trap and skeet and being in the outdoors.

THESIS PROJECT

Habitat Selection of Male White-tailed Deer in Response to Brush Management

White-tailed deer (Odocoileus virginianus) preferentially seek areas dominated by herbaceous plants for feeding and use brush for screening and thermal cover.  Habitat selection by males and females may differ, particularly when females are gestating and lactating.

Range management practices have traditionally focused on managing for homogeneous landscapes for livestock production.  However, traditional range management practices may not be appropriate for managing wildlife habitat. Creating a heterogeneous landscape may be more appropriate.

My overall objective is to determine the effects of a combination of brush management, prescribed burning, and grazing to create a heterogeneous landscape disturbed at different times and intensities on habitat selection by male white-tailed deer