News Release

2002 ESA award winners

Grant and Award Announcement

Ecological Society of America

The Ecological Society of America is proud to announce the following winners for ecological achievement. The awards will be given at ESA's 87th Annual Meeting in Tucson, Arizona on August 8, 2002.

Murray F. Buell Award
Melinda Smith

The Murray F. Buell Award is given annually for the most outstanding paper presented by a student at the previous Annual Meeting. Melinda Smith received the award for her presentation, "Loss of subordinate species affects productivity of C4-dominated grassland." Currently at the National Center for Ecological Analysis and Synthesis, Smith completed her doctorate at Kansas State University.

E. Lucy Braun Award
Antonio Golubski

The Lucy E. Braun Award is given annually for the most outstanding poster presented by a student at the previous Annual Meeting. This year's award is presented to Antonio Golubski for his impressive poster presentation, "Multiple partners: possible impacts on mycorrhizal community dynamics and diversity." Golubski is completing his doctorate at the University of Illinois at Chicago.

W. S. Cooper Award
Pitman, Terborgh, Silman, Nunez, Neill, Cern, Palacios, Aulestia

Given annually, the W. S. Cooper Award honors an outstanding contribution to the fields of geobotany and/or physiographic ecology. This year the Cooper award is presented to N.C.A. Pitman, J.W. Terborgh, M. R. Silman, P.V. Nunez, D. A. Neill, C.E. Cern, W.E Palacios, and M. Aulestia for their paper, "Dominance and distribution of tree species in upper Amazonian terra firme forests." Investigating the trees in the Amazonian forests, the group showed how trees in rainforests are not individually dominant, as some researchers first suggested, but live in an oligarchy, where a few trees dominate in clumps. These researchers further proved that the tree clumps occur in specific soil types. Their research provides insight into the co-evolution of species and community ecology.

George Mercer Award
Jonathon Levine

The Mercer Award, given annually to a younger researcher (40 or younger) for an outstanding ecological paper, is presented this year to Jonathon Levine. Seeding invasive species amongst clumps of native plants along a river system, Levine discovered the effectiveness of a diverse group of native plants in reducing the strength of invading species. These findings are important not only for science, but for the management of exotic species. According to the chair of the Mercer committee, Nicholas Gotelli, "His work raises the bar for future research on invasive organisms."

Eugene P. Odum Award for Excellence in Education
Margaret Lowman

Margaret Lowman, Director and Chair of Tropical Botany at the Marie Selby Botanical Gardens in Sarasota Florida, is the recipient of the Odum Education Award. The Eugene P. Odum Award is given annually to recognize an ecologist for outstanding work in ecology education. As part of her innovative efforts, she taught science at the United States' first summer environmental program, produced a Reading Rainbow feature film about trees that is part of a national series on science and reading, and wrote curriculum with the National Science Teachers Association. One of the first researchers to work in forest canopies, Lowman opened a previously inaccessible area of the forest to science and public inquiry with her canopy walk designs. Also a prolific writer, she has proven herself as a research scientist and as an author of books including her autobiography, Life in the Treetops.

Robert H. MacArthur Award
James H. Brown

Given every other year to an established ecologist in the middle of an extraordinary career, the MacArthur Award recognizes contributions in ecology and expectations of continued outstanding ecological research. The Award for 2002 will be presented to James H. Brown of the University of Arizona. His work on desert rodent communities has greatly advanced scientist's understanding of animal communities. Blending theoretical and empirical studies, Dr. Brown has successfully developed mathematical models to explain patterns in nature. He is also noted for being the first to apply island ecology concepts to mountaintops, which can be considered their own sort of "island" ecosystem.

Corporate Award
Adam Davis

Annually given, the Corporate Award recognizes a corporation, business, division, program, or an individual of a company for accomplishments in incorporating sound ecological concepts, knowledge and practices into planning and operating procedures. This year's recipient, Adam Davis, is an advocate for resource efficiency and sustainability. Integrating environmental values, Davis has changed the practices of forestry and investment firms, and spoken for the importance of sound ecological practices in business.

Special Recognition Award
Department of Utilities and Energy Management at Cornell University

This year the Department of Utilities and Energy Management at Cornell University has received an award of Special Recognition for its "Lake Source Cooling Project." The project represents an enormous investment leading to major reductions in energy use for the campus with little impact on nearby Lake Cayuga. Developed by the engineers in the department of Utilities and Energy Management, the team combined public feedback and education with the sustainable use of a local natural resource. Since the project's beginning, energy usage for air conditioning at Cornell has been reduced by 86%.

Honorary Member Award
Carlos Herrera

The Honorary Member Award is annually given to a distinguished ecologist who has made exceptional contributions to ecology and whose principal residence and site of ecological research are outside Canada, Mexico and the United States. This year's recipient, Carlos Herrera from the University of Seville, Spain, has been at the forefront of fieldwork linking ecology and evolutionary perspectives. "Few working ecologists have personally generated more – and more important – long term data sets on the evolutionary ecology…" of interactions between species said colleague Laurel Fox. Studying evolution, he has examined how natural selection affects interactions between species.

Distinguished Service Citation
Ron Pulliam

The Distinguished Service Citation is given annually to recognize long and distinguished service to the Ecological Society of America, to the larger scientific community and to the larger purpose of ecology in public welfare. The award will be presented to Ron Pulliam of the University of Georgia. An internationally know scientists, Pulliam has made many contributions to research in behavioral ecology. Within ESA, he helped initiate the "Issues in Ecology" series that encourages ecologists to relate their research to public policy issues and played a key role developing the Sustainable Biosphere Initiative. Since 1994, he has served in a number of high profile positions, including Director of the National Biological Survey, Science Advisor to the US Secretary of the Department of Interior, and several Boards of Director of environmental and scientific associations.

Eminent Ecologist Award
Charles Krebs

Charles Krebs of the University of British Columbia is the recipient for the Eminent Ecologist Award for 2002. This award, presented annually, recognizes a senior ecologist for sustained and distinguished contributions to the science of ecology and biological sciences. A pioneer in experimental ecology, Krebs has spent over 40 years studying changes in populations of mammals in British Columbia and the Canadian North. His research contributions include over 170 published papers. The author of several textbook chapters, Krebs also wrote his own textbooks, Ecology: The Experimental Analysis of Distribution and Abundance and Ecological Methods, which have influenced thousands of ecologists over the past 25 years.

The ESA Award Ceremony will be held on Thursday 8 August at 4 pm in the Tucson Convention Center Copper Ballroom in a session that will include the Past President's Address as well as the presentation of the awards. For more information about the Annual Meeting, visit the ESA website at: http://www.esa.org/Tucson.

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The Ecological Society of America (ESA) is a scientific, non-profit, 7,800-member organization founded in 1915. Through ESA reports, journals, membership research, and expert testimony to Congress, ESA seeks to promote the responsible application of ecological data and principles to the solution of environmental problems. ESA publishes three scientific, peer-reviewed journals: Ecology, Ecological Applications, and Ecological Monographs. Information about the Society and its activities is published in the Society's quarterly newsletter, ESA NewSource, and in the quarterly Bulletin. More information can be found on the ESA website: http://www.esa.org.


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