The image of an airboat gliding across a swamp probably brings to mind old movies and television shows like "The Waterboy" or "Swamp People."
But for researchers like Texas Tech University's Pierce Adams, the nimble craft capable of navigating the coastal wetlands is invaluable in reaching locations that would otherwise call for a miserable trudge through inhospitable terrain.
The work environment here, though beautiful, can be unforgiving. Brutal even. The combination of alligators, snakes and marsh deep enough to swallow a boot is enough to make anybody nervous. And that’s before you realize the mosquitoes are the real issue.
But the work being done by Adams, a graduate student in the Davis College of Agricultural Sciences & Natural Resources, represents the continuation of nearly two decades of research focused on keeping an iconic coastal native species alive and well.
That coastal native is the mottled duck, a permanent resident of Texas Gulf marshes and coastal prairies.
In 2006, Texas Tech student Beth Rigby started collecting data on Texas mottled ducks. Since then, researchers from Louisiana State University, Texas A&M University–Kingsville, Stephen F. Austin State University, the Gulf Coast Joint Venture, and Delta Waterfowl have worked collaboratively with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Texas Parks & Wildlife Department and Louisiana Department of Wildlife & Fisheries to continue collecting data on the ducks using a variety of methods, including aerial surveys and banding.
Now, Adams is making use of historical research by pairing it with modern capture data and information about fire events in western Gulf wetlands, an overlooked combination that will fill large knowledge gaps about the role fire plays in mottled duck ecology.
“What Pierce is doing for his master’s degree work is revolutionary in that he is at the nexus of incorporating 20 years’ worth of geospatial data, fire data and mottled duck movement data from partners across the country to examine how mottled ducks respond to fire on the Gulf landscape,” said Warren Conway, Davis College’s Bricker Endowed Chair in Wildlife Management. “This will be critical for stakeholders and practitioners using fire on these landscapes in the future.”
Adams spent two years on the Texas coast performing mottled duck surveys and habitat measurements as part of a Gulf-wide collaboration on bird use of high marshes from Texas to Florida. As part of project ‘Firebird,’ Adams and his Texas Tech team detected 500 mottled ducks across the Texas marshes – while partners in eastern Gulf states either did not detect any or had irregular sightings in best-case scenarios. This spurred his research to focus specifically on movement data related to fire.
Alongside the banding came population surveys – a tricky task that involves using aircraft to get on the level of the birds to better identify the sometimes-vague silhouettes commonly seen from the ground – and habitat evaluations, a critical element in evaluating the breeding population.
“I am so proud to continue the legacy of the incredible mottled duck researchers who have graciously shared their data with us to create the most comprehensive mottled duck study ever,” Adams said. “Getting to work with such a critically important species as the mottled duck has been a dream come true. I consider myself incredibly fortunate to get to work with Dr. Warren Conway and Dr. Jena Moon to hopefully create an informative and important resource for habitat recommendations for mottled ducks.”
With the new and old data combined, Adams will dive into a review covering water levels, vegetation types, fire regimes and other factors. All in an effort help inform future decisions and sustain the declining mottled duck populations well into the future.
© 2026 Texas Tech University
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