Andrew George

Professor of Biology

Education

Ph.D., University of Missouri

M.S., Oklahoma State University

B.S., Arkansas Tech University

Courses Taught

• Ornithology
• Herpetology
• Wildlife Ecology and Management
• Terrestrial Field Ecology
• Principles of Ecology
• General Biology

Research Projects

• Prothonotary Warblers: Graduate student Gabe McClain is leading a project to study the breeding ecology and migration of Prothonotary Warblers. We are grateful for the many partners, private donors, and volunteers who have made this project possible. More Information: Prothonotary Warblers Article 1 | Prothonotary Warblers Article 2
• Kansas Motus: Dr. George partnered with colleagues from Kansas State University and Emporia State University to develop Kansas Motus, a network of automated radio telemetry stations across the state for tracking the movements of birds and other small animals. Among other projects, we are using Motus to study the migration patterns of Harris’s Sparrows and Gray Bats.
• Bird use of Abandoned Mined Lands: Southeast Kansas and the surrounding region have been heavily impacted by the legacy of surface mining. We have established a long-term bird-banding project to better understand the potential conservation value of abandoned mined lands relative to unmined habitats.
• Gray Bat Population Monitoring: With support from the Kansas Department of Wildlife and Parks and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Dr. George and his students are working on a long-term project to study and help protect Kansas’ only colony of the federally endangered Gray Bat. More Information: Gray Bat Population Article 1 | Gray Bat Population Article 2
• The Missouri Ozark Forest Ecosystem Project: MOFEP is a 100-year landscape-scale ecological experiment. Dr. George and his grad students are working closely with collaborators from the University of Missouri, Central Methodist University, and the Missouri Department of Conservation to study the long-term effects of forest management on bird communities.  

Recent Publications

• Buckardt, E. M., A. D. George, and C. C. Rega-Brodsky. 2026. Anuran responses to land cover in a historically mined anthropogenic landscape. Canadian Journal of Zoology. (In press.)
• Benson, D. J., A. D. George, A. A. Ahlers, E. M. Buckardt, and C. C. Rega-Brodsky. 2026. Relative habitat suitability of the gray fox (Urocyon cinereoargenteus) in the central Great Plains. Wildlife Letters 4:94–101.
• Letterman, B., E. Jantz, A. D. George, E. Petro, and A. Ghosh. 2026. Tick and tick-borne bacterial pathogen surveillance as a public health tool updating geographic distribution map of ticks in Kansas. Journal of the Kansas Entomological Society 99:1–14.
• Evilsizor, D. F., and A. D. George. 2025. Ecological factors influencing chestnut blight infection and reproductive success in Ozark chinquapins (Castanea ozarkensis). Natural Areas Journal 45:66–75.
• Benson, D., J. de la Peña, Z. Cordes, C. Durbin, A. D. George, and C. C. Rega-Brodsky. 2024. Declining detections of the plains spotted skunk in Kansas: conservation implications for the central Great Plains. Journal of Mammalogy 106:650–657.
• Benson, D., J. de la Peña, A. D. George, and C. C. Rega-Brodsky. 2024. County records and noteworthy detections of gray fox (Urocyon cinereoargenteus) in Kansas. Transactions of the Kansas Academy of Science 127:1–8.
• Buckardt, E. M., C. C. Rega-Brodsky, and A. D. George. 2024. To glow or not to glow: capture rates of larval amphibians vary by season and capture methodology. Herpetological Review 55:167–172.
• Scholes, S., E. M. Buckardt, C. C. Rega-Brodsky, and A. D. George. 2024. Getting to the root of the newt: larval occurrence patterns of a newly discovered eastern newt population in southeast Kansas. Transactions of the Kansas Academy of Science 127:25–30.
• Buckardt, E. M., C. C. Rega-Brodsky, and A. D. George. 2023. Post-mined wetlands provide breeding habitat for amphibians. Wetlands 43:75. Recipient of the Suzanne L. & Joseph T. Collins Award.
• George, A. D., F. R. Thompson III, and J. Faaborg. 2022. Movements and habitat use by western ratsnakes (Pantherophis obsoletus) in a fragmented Midwestern landscape. Herpetological Conservation and Biology 17:306–315.
• Buckardt, E. M., C. C. Rega-Brodsky, and A. D. George. 2022. New newts: population discovered in southeast Kansas. Collinsorum 11:5–6.