Lotka-Volterra Prizes for Best Student Presentations in Theoretical Ecology
The Theoretical Ecology Section awards the Alfred J. Lotka and Vito Volterra prizes for the best presentations given by students during the Annual Meeting of the ESA. The award is open to graduate student members of the ESA who, as sole or first author, present a talk or poster at the ESA annual meeting describing original research in theoretical ecology. All suitable approaches that yield theoretical insight to ecological phenomena will be considered.
Prizes will be awarded on the basis of scientific merit, originality, and clarity of presentation. We are grateful to Sinauer and Elsevier for their continuing support of this competition. To be considered for this award, prospective candidates must notify an officer of the Theoretical Ecology Section by July 15. More information about past winners and application guidelines can be found on the section's website.
Current Recipients (2011)
Lotka Award for Best Poster:
Stacy Scholle,
Duke University
"The effect of epidemiological dynamics on viral evolutionary rates"
Co-author: Katia Koelle
Volterra Award for Best Talk:
Carl Boettiger,
"Limits to the detection of early warning signals of population collapse"
Co-author: Alan Hastings
Past Years' Recipients
Outstanding Ecological Theory Paper Award
The Theoretical Ecology Section sponsors an annual award for an outstanding published paper
in ecological theory. Papers with a print or electronic publication date in either of the
two years preceding the year of the award are eligible. (For example, papers published in
years n-2 and n-1 are eligible for the award in year n.)
Nominations (including self-nominations) may be made from January 1 - March 1 for each year's
award. Nominations should be sent to the chair and vice-chair, and should include a short
statement by the nominator discussing the paper's merits and suitability for the award.
More information about past winners and application guidelines can be found on the section's
website.
Current Recipients (2011)
The recipients of the 2011 award are Heather Berkley, Bruce Kendall, Satoshi Mitarai, and David Siegel for their paper entitled "Turbulent dispersal promotes species coexistence", published in Ecology Letters 13:360-371. This paper uses spatially explicit simulations and analytical approximations to demonstrate that, for species with dispersed larvae and sessile adults, stochastic larval dispersal driven by environmental turbulence can result in decorrelated settlement patterns that enable long-term coexistence of competing species. The paper demonstrates how the nuanced interplay between species traits and their abiotic environment can drive population-scale processes, and illustrates how multiple sources of variation contribute differently to long-term community dynamics.
Past Years' Recipients
Last updated on: April 12, 2011
Colin Kremer