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Animal Behavior Society
Animal Behavior Society

Working towards a better understanding of animal behavior

Grants & Awards



Warder Clyde Allee Competition

The 2019 Warder Clyde Allee Session for Best Student Paper Competition will be held during the annual meeting of the Animal Behavior Society scheduled July 23-28 at the University of Illinois Chicago. All eligible students and recent graduates are encouraged to participate.

Eligibility requirements: Any independent graduate student research (including, but not limited to, the doctoral dissertation) is suitable for the application. The work presented may be part of a larger collaborative effort, but the student must be first author and have principal responsibility for conceptualization and design of the research, collection and analysis of the data, and interpretation of the results. The entrant cannot have been awarded the Ph.D. degree before the start of the preceding ABS annual meeting (for the 2018 meeting, this date is July 30, 2017). An individual can enter the session only once per lifetime.

To enter: Interested candidates must 1) check the appropriate box in the online abstract submission system for the annual meeting; 2) submit a cover letter and an electronic version of their paper as specified below; 3) confirm that they meet all eligibility requirements; 4) present a spoken version during the 2018 Annual Meeting; and 5) attend both the Allee welcoming dinner and the awards ceremony and closing banquet (complimanetary banquet ticket provided) during the Annual Meeting. Applications, including the written paper, will be due on the meeting’s abstract submission date. Applicants will be asked to submit a cover letter with addresses and phone numbers, as well as a manuscript in PDF format (see below for details).

Manuscripts should consist of no more than seven double-spaced, line-numbered, text pages, plus no more than a total of four tables and/or figures. This limit does not include abstract, references, or acknowledgments. Papers MUST be formatted using the instruction for authors for a research paper in the journal Animal Behaviour to insure eligibility (author instructions: http://bit.ly/1tfykZF). The spoken presentation should focus on the material presented in the submitted paper, but may also include other original material as well as general introductory and concluding remarks. Questions should be addressed to ABS Second President-Elect, Esteban Fernandez-Juricic (preselect2@animalbehaviorsociety.org).

The deadline for 2018 applications is the last day of abstract submissions. Abstract submission system will open January 2019.

Previous Recipients

Name Year Award Affiliation Title
Erin Siracusa 2018 Allee Award University of Guelph Long-term social relationships affect reproductive success and survival in a territorial squirrel
Samantha Carouso Peck 2018 1st Runner-up Cornell University Evolving the capacity for social guidance of vocal learning in songbirds
Joel Slade 2018 2nd Runner-up Michigan State University Chemical and acoustic signals of MHC and MHC-mediated mate choice in a wild songbird
Kelly Ronald 2017 Allee Award Purdue University Is mate choice in the eye and ear of the beholder? Multimodal sensory configuration shapes mating preferences
Marcela Benítez 2017 Allee Honorable Mention Georgia State University Evidence for mutual assessment in a wild primate
Matthew Nielsen 2017 Allee Honorable Mention University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill Color Plasticity Alters Thermoregulatory Behavior in Battus philenor Caterpillars by Changing the Cue Received
C. Nick Keiser 2016 Allee Award University of Pittsburgh Group composition begets conflicting dynamics of collective behavior and bacterial transmission
Natalia Borrego 2016 Allee Honorable Mention University of Miami Social carnivores outperform asocial carnivores on an innovative problem
Sarah E. Bengston 2015 Allee Award University of Arizona Life-history strategy and behavioral type: risk-tolerance reflects growth rate and energy allocation
Laura R. Stein 2015 Allee Honorable Mention University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign Dads matter: causes and consequences of plasticity in paternal care in three spine stickleback
Erin McCullough 2014 Allee Award University of Montana Structural Adaptations to Diverse Fighting Styles in Sexually Selected Weapons
Conor Taff 2014 Allee Award University of California Davis Sophisticated Surveillance of Neighborhood Fertility Generates Variable Signaling Effort.
Dana L. Moseley 2013 Allee Award University of Masschusetts Amherst Learning and innate biases guide the development of female mating preferences
Karyn Collie 2013 Allee Honorable Mention Queens College CUNY Sibling egg cannibalism by neonates of the Colorado potato beetle, Leptinotarsa decemlineata
Emily MacLeod 2013 Allee Honorable Mention University of Toronto Scarborough New insights into male mate choice behavior using the western black widow spider
Julia Saltz 2012 Allee Award University of California, Davis Social-gene-environment correlation influences the development of individual differences in male aggressiveness in Drosophila melanogaster
Courtney Fitzpatrick 2012 Allee Honorable Mention Duke University The expanded Bateman Gradient:  a refinement of sexual selection theory
Noah Snyder-Mackler 2012 Allee Honorable Mention University of Pennsylvania Kinship and cooperation in the multi-level society of geladas (Theropithecus gelada)
Michael Sheehan 2011 Allee Award University of Michigan Individual recognition in Polistes fuscatus wasps: correlated evolution of receiver cognition and sender phenotypes
Rebecca M. Calisi 2010 Allee Award University of California, Berkeley Social environment influences gonadotropin inhibitory hormone (GnIH) in the brain
Nathan I. Morehouse 2010 Allee Award Arizona State University Female choice, limiting nutrients, genic capture and male butterfly colors
Daizaburo Shizuka 2009 Allee Award University of California, Santa Barbara Coots reduce costs of learning errors and reject brood parasite nestlings
Alexander Baugh 2009 Allee Honorable Mention University of Texas, Austin The process of mate choice: dynamic reproductive decision making in tungara frogs
Aimee Dunlap 2009 Allee Honorable Mention University of Michigan Changes and reliability in the evolution of learning, non-learning and prepared learning
Robin Tinghitella 2008 Allee Award University of California, Riverside The strong silent type: courtship interactions following the loss of a sexual signal
Andre Fernandez 2008 Allee Honorable Mention Ohio University Mating advantages of Xmrk cancer gene and its associated pigment pattern within Xiphophorus cortezi
Hope Klug 2008 Allee Honorable Mention University of Florida Sometimes it’s okay to eat the kids: filial cannibalism and parental care in the sand goby
Karen Mabry 2007 Allee Award University of California, Davis Habitat selection by dispersers: natal habitat type affects dispersal behavior
Margaret Crofoot 2007 Allee Honorable Mention Harvard University The home- field advantage: the relative importance of location and group-size in capuchin intergroup competition
Ximena Bernal 2007 Allee Honorable Mention University of Texas, Austin Love bites: interaction between Corethrella spp blood-sucking flies and tungara frogs
Aaron S. Rundus 2006 Allee Award University of California, Davis In the heat of battle: Infrared signaling by ground squirrels puts rattlesnakes on the defensive
Sarah K. Huber 2006 Allee Honorable Mention University of Massachusetts, Amherst Premating isolation of sympatric morphs in a population of Darwin’sfinches (Geospiza fortis)
Vincent A. Formica 2006 Allee Honorable Mention Indiana State University Modifying the landscape through social niche construction
Christopher J. Leary 2005 Allee Award University of Oklahoma Hormonal mediation of a condition-dependent sexually-selected trait: stress, attractiveness, and sexually-parasitic male toads
Alan H. Krakauer 2005 Allee Honorable Mention University of California, Berkeley Brotherly love: kin selection explains cooperative courtship in wild turkeys
Debra M. Shier 2005 Allee Honorable Mention University of California, Davis Family support increases the success of translocated prairie dogs (Cynomys ludovicianus)
Emily DuVal 2004 Allee Award University of California, Berkeley Testing the adaptive function of cooperative male courtship display in the lance-tailed manakin
Laura Sirot 2004 Allee Honorable Mention University of Florida Sexual selection after mating has begun in Diaprepes abbreviatus (Coleoptera: Curculionidae)
Elena Berg 2004 Allee Honorable Mention University of California, Davis Reproductive options in the white-throated magpie-jay, a cooperative breeder with female helpers
Sarah Humfeld 2003 Allee Award University of Missouri, Columbia Intrinsic and extrinsic factors interact to mediate switches of mating tactics
Christopher Templeton 2003 Allee Honorable Mention University of Montana Black-capped chickadees convey information about predator risk in their mobbing calls
Maureen Leonard 2003 Allee Honorable Mention University of New Mexico Singing on the nest: evolution of exploited signals
Gail Patricelli 2002 Allee Award University of Maryland When you've got it, you've got it: males with attractive physical displays can give more intense behavioural displays without threatening females
Tim Parker 2002 Allee Honorable Mention Kansas State University Genetic benefits to mate choice separated from differential maternal investment
Anne Danielson-Francoise 2002 Allee Honorable Mention University of Arizona Causes of variation in paternity: differential sperm release versus sperm stratification in two orb-weaving spiders
Daniel J. Mennill 2001 Allee Award Queen's University Female black-capped chickadees eavesdrop on male song contests to make extra-pair mating decisions
Andrea S. Griffin 2001 Allee Honorable Mention
Learning about predators: mechanisms and applications
Deborah L. Duffy 2000 Allee Award Johns Hopkins University Song predicts cell- mediated and humoral immunity in European starlings
Gita Kolluru 2000 Allee Honorable Mention University of California, Riverside Matching-to-meaning: emotional awareness in chimpanzees
Lisa Parr 2000 Allee Honorable Mention Emory University The conflict between natural and sexual selection Influences the mating signal of the field cricket, Teleogryllus oceanicus
Sara Cahan 1999 Allee Award Arizona State University Cooperation and conflict in unrelated social groups: insights from geographic variation
Denise Pope 1999 Allee Honorable Mention Duke University Why wave? The function of fiddler crab claw waving
David Tarpy 1999 Allee Honorable Mention University of California, Davis Function of fiddler crab claw waving; Tarpy's was behavioral and evolutionary mechanisms of polyandry in honey bees (Apis mellifera)
Mitchell Baker 1998 Allee Award University of California, Davis Learning and dispersal: theory and an experiment using the desert isopod, Hemilepistus reamuri
Sarah Partan 1998 Allee Honorable Mention University of California, Davis The efficacy of silence: a comparison of unimodal and bimodal expressions of rhesus macaques
Alexander Skolnick 1998 Allee Honorable Mention University of Wisconsin Behavioral reactivity and dominance in adolescent male rhesus macaques
Andrew Storfer 1997 Allee Award University of Kentucky A mechanism for ineffective antipredator behavior in a stream-breeding salamander
Dorothy Hill 1997 Allee Honorable Mention University of Calgary High levels of extra-pair paternity and reduced parental care in second broods chestnut­ collared longspurs
J. Curtis Creighton 1996 Allee Award University of Oklahoma Reproductive trade-offs in the burying beetle, Nicrophorus orbicollis
Sheryl Swartz Soukup 1996 Allee Honorable Mention Illinois State University Social mating system affect~ extra~pair paternity in house wrens
Susan W. Margulis 1996 Allee Honorable Mention University of Chicago The effect of parental inbreeding on parental behavior and reproducti ve success in the oldfield mouse, Peromyscus polionotus
Gregory Grether 1995 Allee Award University of California, Davis Mechanisms of selection on wing coloration in a territorial damselfly
Jeffrey Podos 1995 Allee Honorable Mention Duke University Motor constraints on vocal imitation in a songbird
T. Ulmar Grafe 1994 Allee Award Cornell University Costs and benefits of female mate choice in the lek-breeding reed froh, Hyperdius marmorarus
Laurie S. Eberhardt 1994 Allee Honorable Mention University of Florida Feeding behavior of a sap-eating woodpecker: possible behavioral adaptations for overcoming plant defenses
Zen Faulkes 1994 Allee Honorable Mention University of Victoria Sand crab digging: a neuroethological study of the evolution of a 'new' behavior
Bonnie J. Ploger 1993 Allee Award University of Florida Family strife in brown pelicans (Pelecanus occidentalis)
David S. Guertia 1993 Allee Honorable Mention Colorado State University Large-male reproductive advantage influenced by randaom variability in mating behavior in a dung beetle (Canton pitularius)
Christine M. Drea 1992 Allee Award Emory University Social status and performance on learning tasks in rhesus monkeys
Katerina V. Thompson 1992 Allee Honorable Mention University of Maryland Play partner preferences and the function of play in infant sable antelope, Hippotragus niger
David L. Clark 1991 Allee Award University of Cincinnati Courtship behavior of the dimorphic jumping spider Maevia inclemens: a matter of perspective
Lee A. Dugatin 1991 Allee Honorable Mention SUNY, Binghamton Sexual selection and imitation: females copy the mate choice of others
Pamela J. Reid 1991 Allee Honorable Mention University of Toronto Detection of cryptic prey: search image or search rate?
Geoffrey Hill 1990 Allee Award University of Michigan Adaptive female mate choice in the house finch
Susan Lingle 1990 Allee Honorable Mention University of Calgary Effects of hybridization on the escape behaviour of deer
Elizabeth M. Jakob 1989 Allee Award University of California, Davis Age­ specific costs and benefits of group living in a pholcid spider
Patricia B. McConnell 1988 Allee Award University of Wisconsin Acoustic structure and receiver response in mammalian signal systems
Margaret A. Hodge 1988 Allee Honorable Mention University of Cincinnati
Guy A. Hoelzer 1988 Allee Honorable Mention University of Arizona
Sylvia L. Halkin 1987 Allee Award University of Wisconsin Song type matching by female cardinals on the nest inhibits visits by males
Margaret M. Symington 1987 Allee Honorable Mention Princeton University
Mary Victoria McDonald 1986 Allee Award University of Florida Vocalizations and reproductive behavior in seaside sparrows
Eldridge S, Adams 1986 Allee Honorable Mention University of California, Berkeley
James M. Whitehead 1985 Allee Award University of North Carolina Vocally mediated reciprocity between neighboring groups of mantled howling monkeys (Alouatta palliate)
Charles R. Brown 1984 Allee Award Princeton University Social foraging and information-sharing in cliff swalows, a benefit of coloniality
Kevin J. Cash 1984 Allee Honorable Mention University of Manitoba Siblicide in the white pelican
Matthew P. Rowe 1983 Allee Award University of California, Davis Rattlesnake rattles and burrowing owl hisses: a case of acoustic Batesian mimicry
Charles A. Munn 1983 Allee Honorable Mention Princeton University The deceptive use of alarm calls in two kinds of neotropical mixed-species flocks
Kimberly Sullivan 1982 Allee Award Rutgers University The advantages of social foraging in downy woodpeckers (Picoides pubescens)
Eliot A. Brenowitz 1982 Allee Honorable Mention Cornell University The active space of red-winged blackbird song and its relation to territory size
Leonard Freed 1981 Allee Award University of Iowa Optimal foraging by House Wrens in the face of conflicting demands
Clayton M. Hodges 1980 Allee Award Syracuse University Optimal foraging in bumblebees: hunting by expectation
Steven G. Hoffman 1979 Allee Award University of California, Santa Barbara Sex-related foraging patterns in some hermaphroditic fishes
Patricia Gowaty 1979 Allee Honorable Mention Clemson Universiy
Brian Partridge 1979 Allee Honorable Mention Oxford University
Frank Moore 1978 Allee Award Clemson Universiy Solar information and the orientation of a night-migrating bird
S. Lenington 1977 Allee Award

Cathleen R. Cox (with B.J. LeBoeuf) 1976 Allee Award
Female incitation of male competition: a mechdnism in sexual selection
E. Spanier 1975 Allee Award

Ronald E. Thresher 1974 Allee Award University of Miami Field experiments on the problem of species recognition by the D\dameelfish, Eupomacentrus planifrons (Cuvler)
Frederick Cardini 1973 Allee Award University of Massachusetts, Amherst Characteritics and adaptedness of feeding behaviors of North American anurans
C. Val Grant 1973 Allee Honorable Mention Utah State University
Michael Landauer 1973 Allee Honorable Mention University of Illinois
Harry W. Power 1973 Allee Honorable Mention University of Michigan
Judy Stamps 1972 Allee Award