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ESA2017 awards

Daniel Winkler awarded Forrest Shreve Student Research Funds to study a desert invader

Getting to the roots of Sahara mustard invasion in the American Southwest- Awards from the Forrest Shreve Student Research Fund provide $1,000-2,000 to support ecological research by graduate or undergraduate student members of ESA in the hot deserts of North America (Sonora, Mohave, Chihuahua, and Vizcaino). In 2015, a rural community in southeastern California approached Daniel Winkler and his doctoral…

2017 Innovation in Sustainability Science Award recognizes Ian Donohue and colleagues for efforts to navigate the complexity of ecological stability

The 2017 Innovation in Sustainability Science Award honors Ian Donohue, Helmut Hillebrand, José M. Montoya, Owen L. Petchey, Stuart L. Pimm, Mike S. Fowler, Kevin Healy, Andrew L. Jackson, Miguel Lurgi, Deirdre McClean, Nessa E. O’Connor, Eoin J. O’Gorman, and Qiang Yang for their review and synthesis of “Navigating the complexity of ecological stability,” published in Ecology Letters in July,…

Frederick Hansen receives the Forrest Shreve Student Research Fund to study microbial communities in Chihuauan Desert soils

Awards from the Forrest Shreve Student Research Fund provide $1,000-2,000 to support ecological research by graduate or undergraduate student members of ESA in the hot deserts of North America (Sonora, Mohave, Chihuahua, and Vizcaino). Frederick Hansen, a junior majoring in Biology at New Mexico State University, received the Forrest Shreve Student award for his research into patterns of microbial life…

Julienne NeSmith removes exotic cogongrass (Imperata cylindrica) to test effects of the invader on pine tree performance across an environmental gradient at an experimental site near Archer, Florida, in October 2014. Credit: Luke Flory.

Julienne NeSmith receives Lucy Braun Student Award for investigating combined impacts of climate and cogongrass invasion on native pine

The Ecological Society of America recognizes Julienne E. NeSmith for an outstanding student research presentation at the 101st Annual Meeting of the Society in Fort Lauderdale, Florida in August 2016. ESA will present the awards during the 2017 Annual Meeting in Portland, Oregon. The awards ceremony will take place on Monday, August 7, at 8 AM in the Oregon Ballroom at the Oregon…

Michael McTavish sets up mulch plots to assess earthworm interactions with soil amendment at Glenorchy Conservation Area, Ontario, Canada, in November 2014. Credit: Heather Cray.

Michael McTavish receives Murray Buell Student Award for uncovering earthworms’ appetites for seeds

The Ecological Society of America recognizes Michael J.M. McTavish for an outstanding student research presentation at the 101st Annual Meeting of the Society in Fort Lauderdale, Florida in August 2016. ESA will present the awards during the 2017 Annual Meeting in Portland, Oregon. The awards ceremony will take place on Monday, August 7, at 8 AM in the Oregon Ballroom at the…

Jennifer Williams and colleagues receive the Mercer Award for outstanding papers by young researchers

The George Mercer Award recognizes an outstanding and recently-published ecological research paper by young scientists. ESA recognizes Jennifer Williams, Bruce Kendall, and Jonathan Levine with the 2017 Mercer award for their paper “Rapid evolution accelerates plant population spread in fragmented experimental landscapes,” published in Science. Biological invasions, and migrations of native species in response to climate change, are pressing areas…

Jianguo ‘Jack’ Liu visits Wolong Nature Reserve for giant pandas (Sichuan Province, China) in 2013. Dr. Liu is the Rachel Carson Chair in Sustainability and director of the Michigan State University Center for Systems Integration and Sustainability. He and his collaborators have been working on pandas and people for more than two decades and have contributed to the panda recovery that led to its recent removal from the endangered species list. Credit: Sue Nichols

ESA honors Jianguo Liu and colleagues with the 2017 Sustainability Science Award for their review of systems integration for global sustainability

The Sustainability Science Award recognizes the authors of the scholarly work that makes the greatest contribution to the emerging science of ecosystem and regional sustainability through the integration of ecological and social sciences. ESA recognizes Jianguo Liu, Harold Mooney, Vanessa Hull, Steven J. Davis, Joanne Gaskell, Thomas Hertel, Jane Lubchenco, Karen C. Seto, Peter Gleick, Claire Kremen, and Shuxin Li with…

Gillian Bowser samples pollinators with students in the 3dNaturalists program during the National Park Service’s Centennial Bioblitz in Bandelier National Park, in 2016. Students worked in “pollinator hotshot teams” to identify pollinators and upload photos and information to an online database using a citizen science app called iNaturalist. Credit: Carrie Lederer

ESA honors Gillian Bowser for her Commitment to Human Diversity in Ecology

The Ecological Society of America’s Commitment to Human Diversity in Ecology Award recognizes long-standing contributions of an individual towards increasing the diversity of future ecologists through mentoring, teaching, or outreach. Gillian Bowser, a research scientist in the Natural Resource Ecology Laboratory (NREL) and affiliated faculty with The Department of Ecosystem Science and Sustainability and Department of Ethnic Studies at Colorado…

Andrew Trant. Photo credit: Emily Urquhart.

Andrew Trant and colleagues win 2017 Cooper Award for uncovering the historical influence of a First Nations people on forest productivity

The Cooper Award honors the authors of an outstanding publication in the field of geobotany, physiographic ecology, plant succession or the distribution of plants along environmental gradients. William S. Cooper was a pioneer of physiographic ecology and geobotany, with a particular interest in the influence of historical factors, such as glaciations and climate history, on the pattern of contemporary plant…

Debra Peters honored for her Distinguished Service to ESA and ecology

The Distinguished Service Citation recognizes long and distinguished volunteer service to ESA, the scientific community, and the larger purpose of ecology in the public welfare. Debra Peters is the founding editor-in-chief of ESA’s newest journal, Ecosphere, created in 2010 to offer a rapid path to publication for research reports from across the spectrum of ecological science, including interdisciplinary studies that…

Kathleen Weathers receives ESA’s 2017 Eugene P. Odum Award for Excellence in Ecology Education

Odum Award recipients demonstrate their ability to relate basic ecological principles to human affairs through teaching, outreach, and mentoring activities. Kathleen Weathers is a senior scientist and the G.Evelyn Hutchinson Chair of Ecology at the Cary Institute of Ecosystem Studies in Millbrook, N.Y., where she focuses on freshwater ecosystems. For more than a decade, she has been dedicated to advancing bottom-up…

The Ecological Society of America's 2017 Eminent Ecologist, Diana Wall, takes a break from sampling soil biodiversity along an elevational transect as part of the McMurdo Dry Valley LTER project in Miers Valley, Antarctica (78°5.326 S, 163°46.382 E), in January 2013. Photo credit: Martijn Vandegehuchte

Diana Harrison Wall named 2017 ESA Eminent Ecologist

The Eminent Ecologist Award honors a senior ecologist for an outstanding body of ecological work or sustained ecological contributions of extraordinary merit. Soil ecologist Diana Wall, the founding director of the Colorado State University’s School of Global Environmental Sustainability, is world-renowned for uncovering the importance of below-ground processes. Best known for her outstanding quarter century of research in the McMurdo…

COP16 Dispatch: Week 2 From the Classroom to the Conference Floor, A Student’s Journey in Biodiversity Diplomacy

At COP16, Alexa Theodoropoulos balanced schoolwork with engaging in key biodiversity discussions. She witnessed the urgency of action and the crucial role of youth in shaping global commitments. While progress was made, she emphasizes that accountability is essential and that students have a responsibility to ensure these goals lead to real change.

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COP16 Dispatch: Week 2 Open Source and LLMs, Reflections from the Back Row of COP16

Cristian Román shares unique insights from attending COP16 in Cali, Colombia, exploring the interplay of science, policy, and equity. Highlights include challenges with proprietary biodiversity tools, ethical concerns surrounding AI in policy compliance, and academia’s role in negotiations, raising critical questions about accessibility, collaboration, and power dynamics.

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COP16 Dispatch: Week 2 How Does Science Participate in the Biodiversity Convention? The Case of Invasive Species at COP16

At COP16 in Cali, October 2024, Alejandra Osejo-Varona, PhD Candidate in Anthropology at Rice University, shares insights on how scientists and decision-makers collaborated to address invasive alien species (IAS). The conference presented scientific tools and assessments, such as the IPBES report and IUCN toolkit, to guide the implementation of Target 6 of the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework.

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COP16 Dispatch: Week 1 From the talk to the World, Women Scientists Discuss Citizen Science

Women scientists and community leaders are reshaping conservation through citizen science, integrating Indigenous knowledge, and advocating for policy change. At COP16-Columbia, Cindy Julianty and Tanya Majdumar showcased how grassroots initiatives led by women empower local communities, preserve biodiversity, and ensure sustainable conservation efforts. Their stories highlight resilience, innovation, and a call for global action.

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