Jennifer Haase, a senior in the School of Renewable Natural Resources working with Dr. Garrett Hopper, received a College of Agriculture Undergraduate Research Award to develop new analytical skills to examine existing datasets and test hypotheses about fish and mussel distributions in Oklahoma rivers. This work will fulfill requirements for her honor’s thesis and will be submitted for peer review. She is leading a project on the federally threatened Louisiana pearlshell (Margaritifera hembeli). This research effort in Kisatchie National Forest is focused on improving our understanding of the habitat characteristics that are important to the persistence of this native Louisiana mussel. This work is funded by the Audubon Center for Research of Endangered Species.

Jennifer Haase at a Louisiana pearlshell mussel bed near the Kisatchie National Forest.