Wes Burger is Associate Director of the Mississippi Agricultural and Forestry Experiment Station, Associate Director of the Forest and Wildlife Research Center, Mississippi State University, Giles Distinguished Professor, and Dale Arner Distinguished Professor of Wildlife Ecology in the Department of Wildlife, Fisheries, and Aquaculture at Mississippi State University. Wes is a Fellow of the Wildlife Society and holds B.S. degrees in Biology and Mathematics from Murray State University, and M.S. and Ph.D. in Wildlife Biology from University of Missouri-Columbia. Over the past 30 years, his research has focused on the ecology and management of disturbance-dependent upland birds in managed landscapes, with an emphasis on measuring environmental benefits and services produced by conservation practices in working agricultural and forested landscapes.

In support of this research program he has secured more than $22.7 million in research grants and authored more than 240 publications including: 150 peer-reviewed scientific journal articles, 14 book chapters, and 79 semi-technical bulletins and articles. Wes has been a leader in the precision conservation movement emphasizing strategic delivery of targeted conservation practices in multifunctional working landscapes. His research in avian ecology has contributed to our current understanding of bobwhite mating systems, population ecology, and energetics. His research in strategic conservation has informed farm bill policy and shaped conservation delivery at state, regional and national scales. In his current role as Associate Director, he works to define, develop, and administer a broadly-based research program of national significance in agriculture and natural resources through grants and contracts administration, management of intellectual property and fostering of research partnerships with industry, agency, and stakeholders groups.