Master of Science in Fisheries and Wildlife Sciences
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This is an intercollegiate thesis degree program administered by the Department of Forestry and Environmental Resources in conjunction with the Department of Zoology and the College of Veterinary Medicine. A minor is required.
Past Master of Science in Fisheries and Wildlife Sciences student thesis topics have focused on such areas as:
- Fish populations associated with habitat-modified piers and natural woody debris in reservoirs;
- The effects of fishing practices, gear parameters and gear configurations on target and incidental catch in the southern flounder;
- Gillnet fishery of the Pamlico Sound, NC;
- An investigation of effects of dissolved oxygen level and other environmental factors on shrimp;
- Using temperature tolerance to predict distribution and overwintering success of lionfish;
- Shallow groundwater nitrate and breeding bird habitat in a riparian buffer restored by volunteer vegetation;
- Using banding data to assess the use of habitat corridors by breeding land birds;
- The influence of in-stream physical habitat and water quality on the survival and occurrence of endangered species; and
- The microsatellite DNA marker-assisted selective breeding of striped bass.
For a look at other topics graduate students have pursued, please visit the Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Library of the NC State Graduate School.
Please note that this is an interdisciplinary degree program. Students who pursue specific aspects of fisheries and wildlife science are supervised by Fisheries and Wildlife faculty from several departments, and reside in the department of their major professor.
Declaring A Minor
Master of Science in Fisheries and Wildlife Sciences candidates must declare a minor within any established curriculum at NCSU or as an interdisciplinary minor. A minor generally consists of at least nine graduate credits approved by your advisory committee’s minor faculty member. The courses must be taken during your degree program and all must be within a given curriculum or among the appropriate departments to satisfy a logical interdisciplinary minor.
Degree Requirements
The Master of Science in Fisheries and Wildlife Sciences degree requires a minimum of 30 credits, including 4-6 hours of special problems, and one to two hours of seminars. A thesis is required. Further requirements may be imposed by the advisory committee.
The seminar requirement for fisheries and wildlife sciences graduate students, regardless of the department in which they reside, is to take FW 802 to meet the graduate school requirement for MS and Ph.D. students. Substitutions and/or additional seminar requirements must be approved by the student’s graduate committee. Fisheries and wildlife sciences graduate students can take FW 802 a maximum of two times for credit, and additional times without credit.
