Howard Jelks

Until his retirement in 2022, Howard Jelks was responsible for assisting the in planning, organizing, coordinating, and reporting research on faunal surveys, distributional analyses, species biology, experimental field and laboratory ecology, limiting factors, and behavior of rare, threatened, and endangered freshwater fishes of the southeastern United States. He designed studies, collected and processed samples, compiled, and statistically analyzed data, and assisted with interpretation of the results and preparation of written research findings as publishable additions to fisheries science and technical presentations at meetings. He assisted in study design and analysis on a survey of cryptic fish at Buck Island National Monument, St. Croix, VI, completed a book on the life history and risk assessment of the black carp. Jelks has been a leader in the research and recovery effort for the federally endangered Okaloosa darter at Eglin Air Force Base over the past decade. He led in coordinating and drafting the 1998 Revised Recovery Plan for the Okaloosa darter. Jelks is completing a book on the Fishes of Eglin Air Force Base which details the distribution, life history, and identifying characteristics of the species that inhabit those waters. He regularly participates in meetings at Eglin to help guide management of aquatic systems and their upland watersheds. Jelks collaborated with Frank Jordan, of Loyola University New Orleans, and Robert Dorazio, USGS, in developing removal sampling methods and statistical analyses that permit the simultaneous estimation of the abundance and detection of darters at multiple sites across Eglin. These estimates will contribute toward the assessment of the Okaloosa darter. Jelks has also participated in multi-species efforts to assess imperiled aquatic fauna both in the southeastern U.S. and throughout North America.