Summer is heating up! After a record-breaking Open House in the spring, our research, conservation, and education programs are firing on all cylinders. This issue highlights our Water research program, where our staff continue to excel in their efforts to manage, research, and teach about our aquatic ecosystems. |
| Ecohydrology Lab Goes to New Depths to Understand Wetland Hydrology | | Wetlands are an incredibly valuable part of the landscape, but surprisingly little is known about wetland water use and how it interacts with the surrounding uplands. Ecohydrology Lab graduate students, Carlie Blackburn, Katy Perkins, and Suranjana Chatterjee, are trying to answer some of these questions. Blackburn is utilizing a new instrument that measures actual wetland water use per minute. In addition, she is measuring wetland carbon intake to understand how climate affects wetland productivity and water use efficiency. | | Meanwhile, Perkins and Chatterjee are investigating the interactions between land management and hydroperiod, as well as testing how a NASA satellite can monitor wetlands at a larger, landscape scale. Read more about their work. | | The Georgia Environmental Protection Division Submits the First Draft of the Freshwater Mussel Habitat Conservation Plan | | The Mussel Conservation Lab and The Jones Center at Ichauway contributed to the first draft of a Habitat Conservation Plan for freshwater mussels in the Lower Flint River Basin. The Plan, which included Research Associate Caitlin Sweeney along with technicians Amber Johnson and Christine Bahlinger as technical contributors, was submitted to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service in February. The Mussel Conservation Lab's two field seasons of data were significant contributions to understanding the current abundance and distribution of federally listed mussels in the lower Flint. Their physical habitat measurements in collaboration with the Landscape Ecology Lab enabled Georgia Environmental Protection Division modelers to create various scenarios of conservation approaches and evaluate their potential effects on designated critical habitat throughout the Lower Flint River Basin. | | Monitoring Movement of Giant, Aquatic Salamanders | | Summer is generally a quiet time for amphibian research as our isolated wetlands dry down when water loss from evapotranspiration exceeds water input from rainfall. Typically, the Herpetology Lab uses this time to analyze frog call recordings; however, University of Alabama master's student Maddie Zickgraf stayed busy with field work! Zickgraf is radio-tracking more than 15 greater sirens and two-toed amphiumas, hoping to discover more about their movement behavior and home range. Check out this video highlighting Maddie’s work. | | | Aquatic Sciences Lab Continues to Grow | | | Since Dr. Nick Marzolf joined the Center in early 2024, the Aquatic Sciences Lab has expanded through new personnel and collaborations. This summer, the lab hired three new technicians, including former Woods to Water Program mentees Dustin Benton and Jewell Johnson. Hired last year as a technician, Chloe Hall will transition to be a PhD student in August, co-advised by Dr. Amanda DelVecchia at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Hall will research methane dynamics across the wetlands on Ichauway. Lastly, the lab will add Tayton Alvis, a PhD student co-advised by Dr. Carla Atkinson at the University of Alabama, who will study the effects of changing nutrient concentrations on river organisms.
| | Our 2025 prescribed fire season was a success. Led by Assistant Natural Resources Manager David Sisson, our crews have burned approximately 12,722 acres since January. Their primary objectives included fuel reduction and hardwood control, wildlife habitat management, perpetuating fire-dependent species and restoration, and, for growing season burns, promoting wiregrass seed production. | | | A Banner Year for Red-cockaded Woodpeckers | | After a down year in 2024, our Red-cockaded Woodpecker population has bounced back stronger than ever! Led by Forestry and Wildlife Biologist Zach Henshaw, we monitored 54 nest attempts and banded 98 chicks, beating the previous high of 83 banded chicks in 2022. Of those 98 chicks, 89 successfully fledged, surpassing the previous record of 68 fledglings in 2023. Across the Southeast, many Red-cockaded Woodpecker managers have reported a similarly successful 2025 season. | | A Humming University Education Season | | |
Spring and early summer are abuzz with university groups, from short spring break or weekend field trips to longer Maymester courses.
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Berry College’s Conservation Biology course returned in April to learn from the Center’s research labs and Conservation staff
- A Vector Ecology Maymester, led by the University of Georgia’s Dr. Dan Peach spent a week exploring mosquitoes and other disease-carrying arthropods.
- The University of Georgia's Ecological Problem-Solving Course visited our Mussel Conservation Lab for a day in the creek, investigating water quantity and quality issues
| | Center staff co-instructed the Longleaf Ecology and Management Maymester with Dr. Daniel Markewitz and Dr. Jason Vogel for students from the University of Georgia and the University of Florida. Most participants were graduate students in forestry, wildlife, ecology, and associated science programs. The week-long, field-based course included ample time at Ichauway as well as an overnight trip to visit longleaf ecosystems on Apalachicola National Forest, Greenwood Plantation near Thomasville, GA, St. Marks National Wildlife Refuge, and The Nature Conservancy’s Apalachicola Bluffs and Ravines Preserve. View some of the course’s journey. | | SE TWS Wildlife Techniques Course | | The Center welcomed back the Southeastern chapter of The Wildlife Society’s Wildlife Techniques Course, spearheaded by Weyerhauser’s Dr. Daniel Greene and the Center’s Dr. Mike Conner, along with several guest instructors. This two-week, intensive program provided eleven undergraduates/post-grads from Texas to North Carolina with a wide variety of applied skills relevant to the wildlife sciences profession. From operating heavy equipment to small mammal trapping to wetland frog surveys, these students received a holistic crash course in technical skills. | | | SW GA Science Educator Training | | A resurrection of the Environmental Education Research Academy from the late 1990s/early 2000s occurred in early June. The 3-day workshop for formal science educators in southwest Georgia was co-funded by the Center and a Georgia Outdoor Learning Demonstration (GOLD) grant sponsored by the Miller County School System. Partners included the Georgia Youth Science and Technology Centers and Georgia Adopt-a-Stream. Educators participated in hands-on outdoor activities and received materials and lesson plans to adapt to their classrooms with central themes of prescribed fire as a land management tool, conservation of game and non-game wildlife, dendrochronology, and water quality indicators. | | | Fishes of the Flint River Basin | | |
Introducing the Fishes of the Flint River Basin poster! This poster highlights the 92 species of fish found in the Flint River Basin from the headwaters near Hartsfield-Jackson airport in Atlanta to the confluence with the Chattahoochee River at Lake Seminole. For a limited time, free posters will be available to the public in two locations in Albany and Bainbridge. Read more about the poster and where you can pick up a copy.
| | New Video Highlights Water Benefits to Longleaf Pine Woodland Restoration | | |
Recent Center research funded by the USDA’s Conservation Effects Assessment Project, led by the Natural Resources Conservation Service, investigated the use of forest restoration as a water conservation tool. A region-wide analysis confirmed that longleaf pine woodland restoration improves water availability. View the video. Read the associated research.
| | Year 1 of Postbaccalaureate Training Program Concludes | | |
The National Science Foundation-funded Woods to Water Program wrapped up its first year in late April. Seven mentees completed the 12-month postbaccalaureate fellowship. Three mentees became research technicians at The Jones Center, and others have moved on to new jobs and/or graduate school opportunities. Looking ahead, we received nearly 100 applicants for the Year 2 cohort! Ten applicants were selected as mentees and will start their Woods to Water journey in August 2025.
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New Publication
Pine Pandemic Preparedness Plan for the Southern United States
Southern U.S. pines represent 61% of U.S. planted forest area, 57% of U.S. wood volume, and provide $230 billion in value and over 1 million jobs. These pines are vulnerable to high-impact pests and diseases as they spread rapidly and cause extensive economic, ecological, cultural, and ecosystem service impacts. The Plan outlines the steps needed to recognize and stop outbreaks of currently unknown new invasive pests or diseases causing significant injury to pine trees throughout the southern U.S. Learn more or download the Plan.
| | | We need Center Alumni Mentors! | | We are looking for additional Alumni (former MS or PhD students of The Jones Center at Ichauway) to serve as mentors for our current graduate students starting in August. If you are interested in being a mentor, please fill out this form. | | |
As we anticipate the height of conference season in the fall, several of our labs warmed up by travelling far and wide to present their latest work.
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In June, the Aquatic Sciences Lab and the affiliate Mussel Conservation Lab represented The Jones Center at the Society for Freshwater Science 2025 Annual Meeting in San Juan, Puerto Rico. Research Associates Caitlin Sweeney and Jamie Rogers were joined by technicians Jewell Johnson and Chloe Hall, all of whom gave a poster or oral presentation.
The Entomology Lab, represented by Director Kier Klepzig, Research Associate Gabriel Tigreros, and graduate student Leela Hospach, attended the Southern Forest Health Working Group Conference in Tulsa, Oklahoma, in July. Kier presented on the Pine Pandemic Preparedness Plan, while Gabriel and Leela presented on their work with insects in the longleaf pine ecosystem.
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Members of the Landscape Ecology Lab attended the 2025 meeting of the International Association for Landscape Ecology – North America in Durham, North Carolina. Postdoc Behnoosh Abbasnezhad and Research Associate Leah Andino both presented recent work that showcased the lab’s applied research and responsiveness to land management challenges.
In May, Plant Ecology technician and former Woods to Water Program mentee Luke Barnes, traveled to the Center for Plant Conservation National Meeting in St. Louis, Missouri, where he presented his work on germination requirements for the imperiled Curtiss’ loosestrife.
| | Jones Center Advisory Committee Enjoys Annual Visit | | The Center hosted the annual meeting of the Jones Center Advisory Committee. This group of esteemed natural resource experts provides advice and counsel to the Center, leverages collaborations, and shares their findings with the Robert W. Woodruff Foundation in annual reports. Thanks to Dr. Wes Burger, Dr. Jennifer Tank, Dr. Frank Thompson, Dr. Andrew Sánchez Meador, and Jimmy Bullock for their work and support! | | | | JaBryan Pegues (M.S. Student, Ecological Silviculture) successfully defended his thesis at Mississippi State University. He presented new site index equations for longleaf pine planted on marginal agricultural lands and discussed tree-level growth efficiency relationships. | | |
Lisa Giencke (Research Associate, Plant Ecology) joined the steering committee of the Southeast Native Seed Network. This newly developing organization is housed within the Southeastern Grasslands Institute and aims to build a trusted native seed supply to meet the Southeast’s restoration needs.
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Madison Ohmen (Research Technician, Plant Ecology) will be attending Arizona State University to obtain a master’s degree in plant biology and conservation. She will be researching the impacts of wildfires on biotic and abiotic factors in soils to determine differences in germination success between native and invasive plants.
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Nicole Zampieri (Postdoc, Landscape Ecology) accepted a position as the Assistant Professor of Landscape Ecology in the Department of Biology at the University of Central Florida. Her exceptional work and incandescent enthusiasm will be deeply missed, but we are thrilled that her contributions to the conservation of longleaf pine ecosystems in the region will continue in this new role.
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Will Guyette (Technician, Ecohydrology Lab) accepted a position with Cole Ecological in Greenfield, MA. He will work on aquatic macroinvertebrate sampling and identification. The Ecohydrology Lab will greatly miss him in the field, but is excited for his new opportunity!
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