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Ecological Society of America announces 2018 Fellows

RELEASE DATE: Thursday, 1 March 2018
Contact: Liza Lester, 202-833-8773 ext. 211, gro.asenull@retseLL

 

WASHINGTON, DC – The Ecological Society of America (ESA) is pleased to announce its 2018 Fellows. The Society’s fellowship program recognizes the many ways in which its members contribute to ecological research and discovery, communication, education and pedagogy, and management and policy.

Fellows are members who have made outstanding contributions to a wide range of fields served by ESA, including, but not restricted to, those that advance or apply ecological knowledge in academics, government, non-profit organizations, and the broader society. They are elected for life.

Early Career Fellows are members within 8 years of completing their doctoral training (or other terminal degree) who have advanced ecological knowledge and applications and show promise of continuing to make outstanding contributions to a wide range of fields served by ESA. They are elected for five years.

ESA established its fellows program in 2012 with the goal of honoring its members and supporting their competitiveness and advancement to leadership positions in the Society, at their institutions, and in broader society. Past ESA Fellows and Early Career Fellows are listed on the ESA Fellows page.

 

Fellows elected in 2018 in recognition of their contributions to the science of ecology:

Fredrick R. Adler,  Professor, Mathematics and Biology, University of Utah
Elected for his theoretical contributions to the areas of physiological, disease, evolutionary, population, community, behavioral and most recently urban ecology. His work exemplifies the power of theoretical thinking to simultaneously clarify specific questions and link across disparate fields of ecology.

Craig D. Allen, Research Ecologist & Station Leader, New Mexico Landscapes Field Station, U.S. Geological Survey, Fort Collins Science Center
Elected for advancing core understanding of forest disturbance ecology, particularly through leadership that uncovered emerging patterns of forest die-off around the globe in response to drought and heat with associated pests and pathogens, and associated patterns in wildfire, demonstrating the value of place-based ecology in a global perspective.

Emily S. Bernhardt,  Professor, Biology, Duke University
Elected for excellent contributions to watershed biogeochemistry and the impacts of global environmental change and human activities on aquatic ecosystems, as well as the applications of ecology to management and policy.

James E. (Jeb) Byers,  Josiah Meigs Professor of Ecology, Odum School of Ecology, University of Georgia
Elected for major contributions to invasion biology, ecosystem engineering, ecological parasitology, and the biogeography of range boundaries, along with excellence in educating and mentoring students and in service to the national and international ecological community.

Zoe G. Cardon,  Senior Scientist, The Ecosystems Center, Marine Biological Laboratory
Elected for outstanding research contributions in ecosystem science, understanding of the rhizosphere as the nexus of commodity exchange in the terrestrial biosphere, for engineering developments in microbio-sensing, and for broad and fearless exploration of connections in ecology, from stomata to soil to hydrology to nutrients to microbiomes to biodiversity.

Cory C. Cleveland,  Professor, Department  of Ecosystem and Conservation Sciences, University of Montana
Elected for substantial contributions to our understanding of carbon and nutrient cycling across multiple scales in terrestrial ecosystems.

Phyllis D. Coley,  Distinguished Professor, Department of Biology, University of Utah
Elected for advancing our fundamental ecological knowledge of plant-animal
interactions and of tropical ecology, as well as a lifetime commitment to training generations of students from Central and South America.

Jana E. Compton,  Ecologist, Western Ecology Division, US Environmental Protection Agency
Elected for her innovative and tireless efforts to better understand and develop societal solutions to the problem of nitrogen pollution. Her assessments of the social and environmental costs of excess nitrogen, her outstanding mentorship of students, and her applications of ecology to management and policy make her an inspiration to us all.

Todd E. Dawson, Professor, Integrative Biology, University of California – Berkeley
Elected for pioneering research on sources and pathways of plant water uptake with fundamental contributions at the interface among geosphere, biosphere and atmosphere.

Jeffrey S. Dukes,  Professor, Department of Forestry and Natural Resources, Department of Biological Sciences, Purdue University, and Director, Purdue Climate Change Research Center
Elected for insightful and creative research highlighting important interactions among plant communities, ecosystem processes, and global environmental change and for impressive leadership in synthesis and research coordination in global change ecology. 

Brian J. Enquist,  Professor, Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, University of Arizona
Elected for seminal discoveries on the origin and diversity of organismal form and function, the natural constraints controlling the organization of ecological systems, and the application of ecological scaling laws to ecosystem function.

Nelson G. Hairston Jr.,  Frank H.T. Rhodes Professor of Environmental Science, Department of Ecology ane Evolutionary Biology, Cornell University
Elected for influential experimental, conceptual, methodological, and synthetic contributions to our understanding of the interplay between ecological and evolutionary processes, for penetrating studies of freshwater populations and communities, and for pioneering “resurrection ecology” by using zooplankton diapausing eggs to reconstruct evolutionary history.

Stephen C. Hart,  Professor of Ecology, Life and Environmental Sciences & Sierra Nevada Research Institute, University of California Merced
Elected for groundbreaking contributions in terrestrial ecosystem ecology and forest management. His pioneering use of stable isotopes transformed understanding of forest nitrogen cycling and soil microbial structure and function.

Janneke Hille Ris Lambers,  Professor, Biology Department, University of Washington, Seattle
Elected for research linking models and data to test theories of community assembly and hypotheses about the role of climate and competition in setting species range limits, and for outstanding public outreach through an innovative citizen science program in Mt. Ranier National Park.

Nancy J. Huntly,  Professor, Biology Department and Director, Ecology Center, Utah State University
Elected for foundational research on herbivory, coexistence, and human ecology, and for commitment to and innovation in both science communication and the application of ecological principles to the management of natural resources.

Douglas J. Levey,  Program Officer, Division of Environmental Biology, National Science Foundation
Elected for his pioneering research on landscape corridors, seed dispersal, avian ecology, and evolutionary ecology of chilies; excellence in mentoring; commitment to broadening participation; and service to the field as an NSF Program

Jianguo (Jack) Liu,  Rachel Carson Chair in Sustainability and University Distinguished Professor, Center for Systems Integration and Sustainability, Department of Fisheries and Wildlife, Michigan State University
Elected for outstanding contributions to the integration of ecology with social sciences and policy, for understanding and promoting ecological sustainability, and for his exceptional contributions to mentorship and capacity-building in the area of sustainability.

Yiqi Luo, Professor,  Department of Biological Sciences, Northern Arizona University
Elected for his fundamental contributions to our understanding of ecosystem dynamics in response to global change, theory development in terrestrial carbon and nitrogen cycles, and his pioneering approaches and applications of data assimilation techniques in ecological research.

Michael G. Neubert,  Senior Scientist, Biology Department and Marine Policy Center, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution
Elected for fundamental contributions to theoretical ecology, biological oceanography, and resource management through his outstanding ability to formulate the mathematical structures that capture the essentials of the ecological problem, and avoid the inessential.

Amy Daum Rosemond,  Professor, Odum School of Ecology, University of Georgia
Elected for creative and influential experimental research on the food web, microbial, and biogeochemical dynamics of aquatic ecosystems.

Nathan J. Sanders,  Professor and Director of the Environmental Program, Rubenstein School of Environment and Natural Resources, University of Vermont
Elected for increasing understanding about causes and consequences of biodiversity change in terrestrial ecosystems by linking community, ecosystem, and macroecological approaches using observations and experiments from local to global scales.

Mark W. Schwartz,  Professor, Environmental Science & Policy, University of California, Davis
Elected for influential research on responses to climate change, biodiversity and ecosystem function, and translational ecology, as well development of innovative ecology-in-practice graduate curricula. 

Eric W. Seabloom,  Professor, Ecology, Evolution, and Behavior, University of Minnesota
Elected for major contributions to theoretical understanding of biological invasions, leadership in global network science, interdisciplinary collaboration, and mentorship of junior scientists.

Emily H. Stanley,  Professor, Center for Limnology, University of Wisconsin
Elected for the quality and importance of her contributions to ecology, for her ability to identify and lead new ecological frontiers, and for making connections across boundaries that continue to push our field forward.

Michael J. Vanni,  Professor, Biology, Miami University
Elected for outstanding experimental work that has created new insights into the roles of nutrients and fish in controlling primary productivity and trophic interactions in pelagic ecosystems in freshwater reservoirs.

Kirk O. Winemiller,  Regents Professor, Department of Wildlife and Fisheries Sciences & Program of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Texas A&M University
Elected for his outstanding research on rivers, estuaries and fish ecology and evolution, involving field sites throughout the Americas, Africa and Asia and for his advice to agencies on freshwater resource science and policy.

Erika Zavaleta,  Professor, Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, University of California, Santa Cruz
Elected for high impact research in basic plant community ecology, the interface of community dynamics and ecosystem function, comprehensive analyses of major conservation challenges for islands and boreal ecosystems, and integration of sociological factors into assessments of agricultural ecosystems. 

Jizhong Zhou,  Chaired Professor, School of Microbiology and Plant Biology, and Director, Institute for Environmental Genomics, University of Oklahoma
Elected for substantial contributions to the advancement and maturation of microbial ecology in the United States and China, including developing the interface between theoretical ecology and microbiology.

 

Early Career Fellows (2018 – 2022) elected for advancing the science of ecology and showing promise for continuing contributions:

William Anderegg,  Assistant Professor, Department of Biology, University of Utah
Elected for advancing our fundamental ecological knowledge of how trees respond to drought and how we might expect the interactions of water stress and climate change to impact our nation’s forests.

Sarah E. Diamond,  George B. Mayer Assistant Professor of Urban and Environmental Studies, Department of Biology, Case Western Reserve University
Elected for far-reaching contributions in the areas of urban ecology, climate change impacts, and introduced species using ecophysiology, macroecology, and evolutionary ecology, and statistical modeling.

Tyler Kartzinel,  Assistant Professor, Ecology and Evolutionary Biology; Institute at Brown for Environment and Society, Brown University
Elected for outstanding contributions at the interface of ecology and molecular biology, and for his pioneering use of DNA metabarcoding to elucidate the structure of complex terrestrial food webs.

Douglas McCauley,  Assistant Professor, Ecology, Evolution and Marine Biology, University of California Santa Barbara
Elected for helping advance understanding of the complex ecological functions of large vertebrates in marine and terrestrial ecosystems, and for furthering the use of this information in conservation and environmental policy.

Allison K. Shaw,  Assistant Professor, Ecology, Evolution, and Behavior, University of Minnesota
Elected for innovative contributions to the fields of ecology, evolution, and behavior through the development of cutting-edge modeling approaches to answer general questions about dispersal, animal migration, disease ecology, conservation, and invasion biology.

Marjorie G. Weber,  Assistant Professor, Plant Biology Department and Ecology, Evolutionary Biology, and Behavior Program, Michigan State University
Elected for outstanding research linking the ecology and macroevolution of plant-arthropod interactions, integrating diverse tools from comparative phylogenetics, community and chemical ecology, and manipulative field experiments.

Wendy H. Yang,  Assistant Professor, Plant Biology and Geology, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
Elected for outstanding contributions to research, teaching, and outreach in the fields of biogeochemistry and global change biology.


The Ecological Society of America, founded in 1915, is the world’s largest community of professional ecologists and a trusted source of ecological knowledge, committed to advancing the understanding of life on Earth. The 9,000 member Society publishes five journals and a membership bulletin and broadly shares ecological information through policy, media outreach, and education initiatives. The Society’s Annual Meeting attracts 4,000 attendees and features the most recent advances in ecological science. Visit the ESA website at https://www.esa.org.