Three-Million Dollar Man: Alumnus Houston Chandler protects native Georgia wildlife

By Amanda Respess

G rowing up in Statesboro on Georgia's coastal plain, alumnus Houston Chandler ('12) spent his summers surrounded by wildlife while his parents - both biologists - studied birds and mammals. Houston preferred the cold-blooded creatures, though, and spent his time searching for salamanders and snakes.

Chandler is now the science director for The Orianne Society, a nonprofit working to conserve imperiled reptiles and amphibians. He oversees the implementation of a broad research program, ensuring scientific integrity and communicating his team's findings to the public.

Chandler works with a wide variety of species for Orianne, including Eastern Indigo Snakes, Reticulated Flatwoods Salamanders, Spotted Turtles, Eastern Diamond-backed Rattlesnakes and Suwannee Alligator Snapping Turtles. Since 2023, he has earned over $3 million in grant funding for the research and conservation work he is doing with partners across the Southeast.

Houston Chandler ('12) works with native species including alligator snapping turtles. (Photo: Houston Chandler)

"During my time at GCSU, I began to turn my love for nature … into a career in research and conservation," said Chandler, who doubled majored in biology and environmental science. "I developed a better understanding of what it takes to conduct high-quality research while completing undergraduate research projects.

Chandler then earned his master's and doctoral degrees in fish and wildlife conservation from Virginia Tech.

Running The Orianne Society's science division "feels like coming full circle" to Chandler. He is often back in his hometown of Statesboro, which is located near many of the organization's field research sites.

"The Southeast is such a special place to learn about herpetology, because it's really a biodiversity hotspot for both reptiles and amphibians," Chandler said. "At Georgia College, as an undergrad, I had the ability to be outside in the field as a biology major. … We weren't in the lab or in the classroom the whole time."

Through those real-world experiences, he made connections and was exposed to fields he later used in graduate study.

Current Projects

Chandler holds an indigo snake that is part of the Orianne Society captive breeding project (Photo: Anna Gay Leavitt)

One of Chandler's current projects is to research the behavior of spotted turtles, one of the smallest turtle species in North America. The turtles' size and adorable appearance make them a popular pet, thus removing them from their natural habitat and potentially threatening their population.

In fact, as an undergrad, Chandler recorded the first spotted turtle found in Baldwin County history.

"I would have never guessed that, this many years later, I would still be working with that species, doing research," he said.

Chandler and his team are also studying eDNA, the trace environmental DNA left behind by animals like snakes.

"[Snakes] are hard to find," Chandler said. To track them down, his team analyzes soil samples for their DNA.

The Eastern Indigo Snake is a non-venomous apex predator that is critical to the longleaf pine ecosystems of the Southeast. A threatened species, their presence in particular areas signals to conservationists to protect that habitat.

"When animals are out in the environment, they shed skin cells and saliva, so you can actually detect that DNA in the environment," Chandler explained. "We were able to detect snake presence just from looking for their DNA in the sand."

Header Images: Dr. Houston Chandler ('12) works to protect and conserve numerous native reptile and amphibian species as Science Director for The Orianne Society. Photos by Anna Gay Leavitt and videography by Chris Brown on location in Lumber City, Georgia.

Eastern indigo snakes are categorized as threatened on the national Endangered Species list. (Photo: Anna Gay Leavitt)