{"id":119,"date":"2015-06-09T13:13:03","date_gmt":"2015-06-09T13:13:03","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/esa.org\/theoretical\/?page_id=119"},"modified":"2025-10-20T15:20:01","modified_gmt":"2025-10-20T15:20:01","slug":"past-lotka-volterra-student-awards","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/esa.org\/theory\/awards\/past-lotka-volterra-student-awards\/","title":{"rendered":"Past Lotka & Volterra Student Award Recipients"},"content":{"rendered":"

2025<\/h1>\n
Volterra Prize for the Best Theoretical Talk:<\/div>\n
\u00a0<\/div>\n
Alison Robey<\/span><\/strong>, Yale University<\/div>\n
Temporal autocorrelation increases temperature-driven extinction risk<\/em><\/div>\n
\u00a0<\/div>\n
Lotka Prize for the Best Theoretical Poster:<\/div>\n
\u00a0<\/div>\n
Jeff Mintz<\/span><\/strong>\u00a0&\u00a0Saneer Lamichhane<\/span><\/strong>,<\/span> The University of Florida<\/div>\n
Are Wild Prey Sufficient for the Top Predators in the Lowland Protected Areas of Nepal?<\/em><\/div>\n

Honorable Mentions:<\/p>\n

\n

Hsiang-Chih Lo <\/span><\/strong>(Volterra)<\/span>,<\/span><\/strong> National Taiwan University<\/p>\n

Non-selective aggression as a competition strategy for Spodoptera frugiperda despite the negative effect on individual performance<\/em><\/p>\n

Ching-Lin Huang <\/span><\/strong>(Lotka),<\/span> U. of Minnesota<\/p>\n

Frugivore-plant interactions affect plant population persistence and spreading speed, mediated by an Allee effect<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

2024<\/h1>\n
Volterra Prize for the Best Theoretical Talk:<\/div>\n
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Annie Innes-Gold<\/strong>, University of Hawai\u02bbi at M\u0101noa<\/div>\n
Biotic and abiotic drivers of reef halo dynamics<\/em><\/div>\n
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Lotka Prize for the Best Theoretical Poster:<\/div>\n
\u00a0<\/div>\n
Kaylee Rosenberger<\/strong>, University of Colorado<\/div>\n
Matrix-driven mass effects determine species responses to fragmentation<\/em><\/div>\n
\u00a0<\/div>\n

2023<\/h1>\n
Volterra Prize for the Best Theoretical Talk:<\/div>\n
\u00a0<\/div>\n
Lucy Van Kleunen<\/strong>, University of Colorado Boulder<\/span><\/div>\n
Predicting missing interactions in food webs using stacked models and species traits<\/span><\/em><\/div>\n
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Lotka Prize for the Best Theoretical Poster:<\/div>\n
\u00a0<\/div>\n
Jonathan Morris<\/strong>, University of Michigan<\/span><\/div>\n
Matrix-driven mass effects determine species responses to fragmentation<\/em><\/div>\n
\u00a0<\/div>\n

2022<\/h1>\n
Volterra Prize for the Best Theoretical Talk:<\/div>\n
\u00a0<\/div>\n
Sarah McPeek<\/strong>, University of Virginia<\/div>\n
Resource evolution shapes the contemporary ecology of mutualisms in communities<\/i><\/div>\n
Coauthors: Mark McPeek, and Judith Bronstein<\/div>\n
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Lotka Prize for the Best Theoretical Poster:<\/div>\n
\u00a0<\/div>\n
Aarshi Jain<\/strong>, University of California, Los Angeles<\/div>\n
Modeling bacteria-enhanced thermal tolerance in marine phytoplankton<\/i><\/div>\n
Coauthor: Colin Kremer<\/div>\n
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-and-<\/div>\n
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Jakob Karee-Rasmussen<\/strong>, University of California, Santa Barbara<\/div>\n
Modeling food-dependent symbiosis in Exaiptasia pallida<\/i><\/div>\n
Coauthor: Ferdinand Pfab, and Holly Moeller<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

2021<\/h1>\n
\n
Volterra Prize:<\/div>\n
Lucas Medeiros<\/strong>, Massachusetts Institute of Technology<\/div>\n
Ranking species based on sensitivity to perturbations under non-equilibrium community dynamics<\/i><\/div>\n
Coauthors: Vasilis Dakos, George Sugihara, and Serguei Saavedra<\/div>\n
Lotka Prize:<\/div>\n
Janette Davidson<\/strong>, University of Wyoming<\/div>\n
Resistance and resilience to invasion is stronger in synchronous than compensatory communities<\/i><\/div>\n
Coauthor: Lauren G. Shoemaker<\/div>\n

2020<\/h1>\n

Ashwini Ramesh<\/strong>, Volterra Award for Best Talk
\nIndiana University Bloomington
\nWithin-host parasite dynamics: Insights from food web modules and feedback loops<\/em>
\nCoauthor: Spencer Hall<\/p>\n

Christina Hernandez<\/strong>, Lotka Award for Best Poster
\nWoods Hole Oceanographic Institution
\nMaternal effect senescence and fitness: A demographic analysis of a novel model organism<\/em>
\nCoauthors: Silke F. van Daalen, Hal Caswell, Michael G. Neubert, Kristin E. Gribble<\/p>\n

2019<\/h1>\n

Micah Brush<\/strong>, Volterra Award for Best Talk
\nUniversity of California Berkeley
\nThe effects of density dependence on spatial aggregation in the maximum entropy theory of ecology<\/em>
\nCoauthors: John Harte, Juliette Franzman, and Kaito Umemura<\/p>\n

Emerson Arehart<\/strong>, Lotka Award for Best Poster
\nUniversity of Utah
\nQuantifying the fitness benefit of sensory learning as a function of environmental complexity<\/em>
\nCoauthor: Frederick R. Adler<\/p>\n

2018<\/h1>\n

Kayla R. Sale-Hale<\/strong>, Volterra Award for Best Talk
\nUniversity of Michigan
\nMutualism in food webs: Persistent pollinators facilitate positive diversity-stability relationships<\/em>
\nCoauthors: Fernanda S. Valdovinos and Neo D. Martinez<\/p>\n

John Park<\/strong>, Lotka Award for Best Poster
\nUniversity of Chicago
\nEvolution of life histories in cyclical environments: theory and test in a tidepool copepod
\nCoauthors: Greg Dwyer and J. Timothy Wootton<\/p>\n

2017<\/h1>\n

Evan Johnson<\/strong>, Lotka Award for Best Poster
\nWK Kellogg Biological Station
\nDistance makes the heart grow\u00a0stronger: How space makes mutualisms robust to cheaters<\/em>
\nCo-author: Simon Stump and Christopher Klausmeier<\/p>\n

Pratha Sah<\/strong>, Volterra Award for Best Talk
\nGeorgetown University
\nDisease implications of animal social organization and\u00a0network structure: A quantitative analysis<\/em>
\nCo-authors: Shweta Bansal and Janet Mann<\/p>\n

2016<\/h1>\n

Gregory Backus<\/strong>, Lotka Award for Best Poster
\nNorth Carolina State University
\nGenetically engineered mice for eradicating invasive mouse populations: Estimating the efficiency and ecological impacts<\/em>
\nCo-author:\u00a0Kevin Gross<\/p>\n

Nikunj Goel<\/strong>, Volterra Award for Best Talk
\nYale University
\nSpatiotemporal dynamics of savanna-forest distribution<\/em>
\nCo-authors: Vishwesha Guttal, Thierry Emonet, Simon Levin and A. Carla Staver<\/p>\n

2015<\/h1>\n

Geoffrey Legault<\/strong>, Lotka Award for Best Poster
\nUniversity of\u00a0Colorado, Boulder
\nThe distribution of birth and death in\u00a0Daphnia magna: Implications for stochastic models<\/em>
\nCo-authors:\u00a0Caroline Tucker and Brett Melbourne<\/p>\n

Po-Ju Ke<\/strong>, Volterra Award for Best Talk
\nStanford University
\nHerbivory-pollination coupling mediated by ontogenetic change in interaction type stabilizes community dynamics<\/em>
\nCo-author: Takefumi Nakazawa<\/p>\n

2014<\/h1>\n

Sean Hayes<\/strong>, Lotka Award for Best Poster
\nUniversity of California, Riverside
\nDispersal network structure predicts metacommunity dynamics<\/em>
\nCo-author: Kurt Anderson<\/p>\n

Holly Moeller<\/strong>, Volterra Award for Best Talk
\nStanford University
\nOptimal investment in a multi-mutualist system: Tree maintenance of ectomycorrhizal fungal diversity<\/em>
\nCo-author: Michael Neubert<\/p>\n

2013<\/h1>\n

Jaime Ashander<\/strong>, Lotka Award for Best Poster
\nCenter for Population Biology, University of California, Davis, CA
\nUnderstanding the joint effects of plastic and evolutionary change on demography from time series data<\/em>
\nAdvisor: Marissa Baskett<\/p>\n

Julie Rushmore<\/strong>, Volterra Award for Best Talk
\nOdum School of Ecology, University of Georgia, Athens, GA
\nNetwork-based vaccination improves prospects for disease control in wild chimpanzee<\/em>
\nCo-author: Damien Caillaud, Richard J. Hall, Rebecca M. Stumpf, Lauren Ancel Meyers, Sonia Altizer<\/p>\n

2012<\/h1>\n

Emily Moberg<\/strong>, Lotka Award for Best Poster
\nMIT-WHOI Joint Program
\nThe cost of protecting biodiversity in harvested metacommunities<\/em>
\nCo-author: Michael Neubert<\/p>\n

Colin Olito<\/strong>, Volterra Award for Best Talk
\nUniversity of Calgary
\nUsing a bottom-up model of plant-pollinator interaction networks to investigate the role of foraging decisions vs. topological constraints in determining network structure<\/em>
\nCo-author: Stephen Hausch<\/p>\n

2011<\/h1>\n

Stacy Scholle<\/strong>, Lotka Award for Best Poster
\nDuke University
\nThe effect of epidemiological dynamics on viral evolutionary rates<\/em>
\nCo-author: Katia Koelle<\/p>\n

Carl Boettiger<\/strong>, Volterra Award for Best Talk
\nLimits to the detection of early warning signals of population collapse<\/em>
\nCo-author: Alan Hastings<\/p>\n

2010<\/h1>\n

Yun Tao<\/strong>, Lotka Award for Best Poster
\nUniversity of California-Davis
\nInformation ecology: A theoretical analysis of seasonality, movement behavior, and population dynamics<\/em><\/p>\n

Ben C. Nolting<\/strong>, Volterra Award for Best Talk: Co-winners!
\nUniversity of Nebraska-Lincoln
\nThe role of environmental stochasticity in reducing the amplitude of population fluctuations<\/em>
\nCo-author: Chad E. Brassil<\/p>\n

Gy\u00f6rgy Barab\u00e1s<\/strong>,\u00a0Volterra Award for Best Talk: Co-winners!
\nUniversity of Michigan
\nHow should temporal niche segregation be defined?<\/em>
\nCo-authors: Aaron A. King, Geza Meszena and Annette Ostling<\/p>\n

2009<\/h1>\n

Andres Baeza<\/strong>, Lotka Award for Best Poster
\nUniversity of Michigan
\nOn the emergence of conservation behavior in a simple model of land-use with ecosystem services.<\/em>
\nCo-authors: Mercedes Pascual and Andy Dobson.<\/p>\n

Alex Perkins<\/strong>, Volterra Award for Best Oral Presentation
\nUniversity of California, Davis
\nEvolutionarily labile species interactions and spatial spread dynamics of invasions.<\/em>
\nCo-author: Alan Hastings<\/p>\n

2008<\/h1>\n

Clay Cressler<\/strong>, Lotka Award for Best Poster
\nForaging-predation risk tradeoff governs evolution of inducible defenses.<\/em>
\nCo-author: Aaron King<\/p>\n

Vishwesha Guttal<\/strong>, Volterra Award for Best Oral Presentation
\nSpatial indicators of catastrophic regime shifts in ecological systems.<\/em>
\nCo-author: C. Jayaprakash<\/p>\n

2007<\/h1>\n

Sharon Martinson<\/strong>, Lotka Award for Best Poster
\nDartmouth College
\nA multiple equilibria model for Dendroctonus frontalis which includes predation and competition.<\/em>
\nCo-author: Matthew P. Ayres<\/p>\n

Colin Kremer<\/strong>, Volterra Award for Best Oral Presentation
\nState University of New York at Geneseo (undergraduate student)
\nChaotic dynamics lost in small-world network meta-populations<\/em>
\nCo-authors: Chris C. Leary, Gary W. Towsley, Gregg Hartvigsen<\/p>\n

2006<\/h1>\n

Sean Michaletz<\/strong>,\u00a0Volterra Award for Best Oral Presentation
\nUniversity of Calgary
\nA heat transfer model of crown scorch in forest fires<\/em><\/p>\n

2005<\/h1>\n

Karen Abbott<\/strong>, Volterra Award for Best Oral Presentation
\nUniversity of Chicago
\nFood limitation and complex dynamics in herbivorous insects<\/em><\/p>\n

2004<\/h1>\n

Allison Shaw<\/strong>, Lotka Award for Best Poster
\nBrown University \/ Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (undergraduate student)
\nInvasion dynamics in sex-structured populations<\/em><\/p>\n

Katharina V. Koelle<\/strong>, Volterra Award for Best Oral Presentation
\nUniversity of Michigan
\nBetween-strain competition for susceptible hosts in host-pathogen systems with seasonal dynamics<\/em><\/p>\n

2003<\/h1>\n

Curtis A. Smith<\/strong>, Lotka Award for Best Poster
\nDuke University
\nEvolution of dispersal distance in a predator-prey system Living on the edge of criticality<\/em><\/p>\n

Chad Brassil<\/strong>,\u00a0Volterra Award for Best Oral Presentation
\nUniversity of Toronto
\nThe Similar Effect of Intrinsic versus Extrinsic Cycles on Mean Population Densities<\/em><\/p>\n

2002<\/h1>\n

Caz Taylor<\/strong>, Lotka Award for Best Poster
\nConsequences of an Allee effect on the invasion of Spartina alterniflora in Willapa Bay, WA<\/em><\/p>\n

John Haskell<\/strong>, Volterra Award for Best Oral Presentation
\nHome range scaling in fractal environments<\/em><\/p>\n

2001<\/h1>\n

Jennifer A. Nelson<\/strong>, Lotka Award for Best Poster
\nDuke University
\nStability Effects due to Differences in Predator and Prey Spatial Scales<\/em><\/p>\n

Michael Dietze<\/strong>, Volterra Award for Best Oral Presentation
\nThe Extinction Debt Revisited: Population Dynamics in a Point-Process Model<\/em><\/p>\n

2000<\/h1>\n

Derek Johnson<\/strong>, Lotka Award for Best Poster
\nUniversity of Miami
\nPatch size-dependent migration and semi-synchronous extinction in a beetle metapopulation.<\/em><\/p>\n

Juan Manuel Morales<\/strong>, Volterra Award for Best Oral Presentation
\nUniversity of Connecticut
\nScaling-up movements in heterogeneous landscapes: importance of behavior.<\/em><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

Last updated on: September 12, 2022<\/b><\/i><\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

2025 Volterra Prize for the Best Theoretical Talk: \u00a0 Alison Robey, Yale University Temporal autocorrelation increases temperature-driven extinction risk \u00a0 Lotka Prize for the Best Theoretical Poster: \u00a0 Jeff Mintz\u00a0&\u00a0Saneer Lamichhane, The University of Florida Are Wild Prey Sufficient for the Top Predators in the Lowland Protected Areas of Nepal? Honorable Mentions: Hsiang-Chih Lo (Volterra), National Taiwan University Non-selective aggression…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":9,"featured_media":0,"parent":339,"menu_order":3,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-119","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/esa.org\/theory\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/119","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/esa.org\/theory\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/esa.org\/theory\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/esa.org\/theory\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/9"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/esa.org\/theory\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=119"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/esa.org\/theory\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/119\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":558,"href":"https:\/\/esa.org\/theory\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/119\/revisions\/558"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/esa.org\/theory\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/339"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/esa.org\/theory\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=119"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}