Seeligson Conservation Fund

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Projects supported in the past include:

• Using geolocators to determine wintering range and annual migratory routes for Wilson's plover, a species of shorebird that breeds along the Texas coast
• Determining breeding habitat and proportion of migrant and resident loggerhead shrike on the western gulf coast 
• Investigating the effects of native grass restoration on populations of the state-threatened Texas horned lizard and their preferred food of harvester ants
• Determining habitat preferences and factors that influence population dynamics and distribution of seahorses in the Texas Gulf in order to update the current conservation status of Texas Gulf seahorses and assist with future management of threatened sea grass habitat
• Raising native milkweeds for transplanting throughout the Texas Mid-coast National Wildlife Refuge Complex and private lands which will expand food and habitat resources for monarch butterflies
• Documenting and monitoring the insect pollinator community at the Houston Arboretum and Nature Center to assess habitat restoration efforts that will promote pollinator populations in Texas
• Monitoring and evaluating the reintroduction of Texas horned lizards to historically occupied habitat
• Investigating habitat use, home range size and nest success of the threatened Texas horned lizard under different habitat management regimes
• Using trained search dogs to locate Houston toads in their natural habitat to monitor populations and habitat preferences of the endangered toad
• Habitat enhancement for northern bobwhite quail through progressive management techniques
• Investigation of habitat use and preference of eastern and western box turtles in an urban environment
• Assessment of ornate box turtle population genetics as a proactive conservation approach
• Effects of introduced grasses on native Texas grassland birds
• Captive breeding and monitoring of wild populations of endangered Houston toads
• Researching foraging ecology of reddish egret in the Laguna Madre of Texas
• Installation of artificial nest cavities for red-cockaded woodpecker
• Construction of a pre-release facility for re-introducing Attwater’s prairie chicken
• Installation of artificial roosts for Rafinesque’s big-eared bat
• Development of a conservation strategy for alligator snapping turtle and nest protection for sea turtles