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Roads as drivers of evolution. A suite of common ecological impacts of roads are shown as labeled arrows. While these effects are well described in road ecology, their role as known or likely agents of natural selection is poorly understood. Yet these factors are capable of driving contemporary evolutionary change. Studying the evolutionary effects of these factors will provide a more comprehensive understanding of the ways in which organisms are responding to the presence and consequences of roads.

Road ecology: shifting gears toward evolutionary perspectives

Steven Brady is an evolutionary ecologist with the Department of Water and Land Resources at King County in Seattle, Wa. He and colleague Jonathan Richardson, an assistant professor at Providence College, share this Frontiers Focus on the ways in which species adapt to the pervasive presence of roads—and how those adaptations are not always beneficial for survival in the wider…

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A flock of greater flamingos in the Doñana wetlands, where up to 30,000 are recorded, making them a major ecotourism attraction. Doñana is Europe’s most important wetland for waterfowl. Credit: Rubén Rodríguez, EBD-CSIC

Safe operating space for wetlands in a changing climate

Edwin Peeters, associate professor at Wageningen University, the Netherlands, and Edward Morris, postdoctoral scientist at the University of Cádiz, Spain share this Frontiers Focus on managing local threats to wetlands so that we may continue to enjoy their benefits as the climate changes, in the March 2017 issue of ESA Frontiers. Wetlands are exciting places to spend our free time, exploring…

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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…

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ESA Announces 2017 Graduate Student Policy Award Recipients

The Ecological Society of America (ESA) is pleased to announce the winners of this year’s Graduate Student Policy Award (GSPA). This award provides graduate students with the opportunity to travel to Washington, DC for policy experience and training. Six recipients were selected for this year’s award: Jason M. Aloisio (Fordham University), Tyler C. Coverdale (Princeton University), Anna M. Groves (Michigan…

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Special Policy News 9: The Transition

We are keeping you up-to-date on the appropriations process with a new Federal Budget Tracker for FY 2018. We are also continuing to update our Federal Agency Transition Tracker. In This Issue: Budget Blueprint Slashes Non-Defense Discretionary Budgets Hiring freeze, agency reorganizations, and budget blueprint cause concern in scientific community House Science Committee Seeks to Prioritize Basic Physical Sciences Research NSF…

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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…

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ESA endorses the March for Science

RSVP if you plan on participating in the March for Science in Washington, D.C. or in another city. ESA, the largest society of ecologists in the world, endorses the nonpartisan March for Science. The Society joins over 28 organizations and scientific societies in supporting the mission of the March to publicly communicate science as a pillar of human freedom and…

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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…

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Special Policy News 8: The Transition

We are keeping you up-to-date with a Federal Agency Transition Tracker. In This Issue: Transition Update Trump addresses Congress and signs two STEM bills Bipartisan bills promote women in STEM Executive Orders Waters of the U.S. Rule Foreign Travel and Immigration Department of the Interior – Zinke takes the reins Greeted by documents requests, signs two secretarial orders Department of Energy…

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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…

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