WARDER CLYDE ALLEE AWARD: BEST STUDENT POSTER PAPER
| The Warder Clyde Allee Symposium for best student paper is always a highlight of the conference as it features outstanding graduate student research, with an award for the best paper and talk. The session honors Dr. Warder Clyde Allee (1885–1955) who was very influential in the development and direction of animal behavior research in the 20th century. Dr. Allee earned his PhD from the University of Chicago in 1912, was a faculty member at the University of Illinois, University of Oklahoma, University of Chicago, and University of Florida. He was elected to the National Academy of Sciences in 1951 and ranks among the leading twentieth century ecologists.
In the 2015 ABS Allee Session, 9 finalists were selected to present their research based on the quality of their papers. Any independent graduate student research is eligible, but the students must have had the principal responsibility for the conceptualization and design of the research, the collection and analysis of the data, and the interpretation of the results. These presenters also cannot have completed their defense of the doctoral dissertation before the preceding ABS annual meeting.
The judges: – William Searcy, Jeff Podos, Dorothy Cheney, and Jonathan Pruitt – found the presentations to be of exceptionally high quality.
First place was awarded to Sarah E. Bengston (University of Arizona) for her talk and paper entitled Life-history strategy and behavioral type: risk-tolerance reflects growth rate and energy allocation.
Honorable mention was awarded to Laura R. Stein (University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign) for her talk and paper entitled Dads matter: causes and consequences of plasticity in paternal care in three spine stickleback. | 
Sarah E. Bengston (University of Arizona) Laura R. Stein (University of Illinois Urbana- |
FOUNDERS’ MEMORIAL POSTER AWARD
his John A. King Founders’ Memorial Poster Award.
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Each year a poster competition, named for a Founder of the Animal Behavior Society, is held at the annual meeting (“A founder is defined as a person active in the period prior to 1966 who held at least two administrative positions, elected or appointed, in ABS or the ESA Section on Animal Behavior and Sociobiology or the ASZ Division of Animal Behavior as recorded by the ABS Historian.”). The Founders’ Memorial Award is for outstanding posters presented at the annual meeting. The Founders’ Memorial Award was named this year for John A. King. The judges included Emilia Martins (Chair, First President Elect), Emily DuVal, Teresa Dzieweczynski, Jeff Lucas, Clair Varian-Ramos, and Danielle Whittaker. There were many excellent posters, and a lot of fascinating science shared. The judges identified one outstanding poster and two honorable mentions that were notable for their innovative science, and clear presentation. The grand prize winner of the Founders’ Memorial Award for 2014 was: Cheng-Yu Li (University of Alabama) for his poster entitled Sexual Phenotype Drives Variation in Endocrine Responses to Social Challenge in a Clonal Animal (co-authored by Shu-Ping Huang, Adam Fuller, Mark Garcia, Yuying Hsu, and Ryan Earley). Honorable Mention was presented to Melinda Weaver (Arizona State University) for the poster entitled Bold Urbanites and Shy Hillbillies? Variation in Novel Environment Exploration in Haemorhous mexicanus (co-authored by Kevin McGraw) and Alissa G. Anderson (University of Nebraska – Lincoln) for the poster entitled Male Benefits of Copulatory Silk Wrapping in the Nursery Web Spider Pisaurina mira (co-authored by Eileen Hebets). |
GENESIS AWARD FOR OUTSTANDING UNDERGRADUATE POSTER PRESENTATION
First presented at the 2000 ABS Annual meeting, the Genesis Award honors the best undergraduate poster presented at the meeting. This year 23 undergraduate students submitted posters for the Genesis Undergraduate Poster Competition, and the standard was extremely high. The judges included Matt Wund, Sarah Humfield, Carrie Hall, Melissa Graham, Dan Howard, and Emilie Snell-Rood. This team worked extremely hard to carefully review all posters. The grand prize was awarded to Hailey Shannon (Susquehanna University) for her poster titled “The Effects of Prenatal Predator Cue Exposure on Offspring Substrate Preferences in Wolf Spiders” (co-authored by Dylan Kutz, Matthew Persons). Three honorable mention prizes were awarded to Ciara Main (University of California at Davis) for her poster titled “Seasonal Changes in Male Display Performance in Response to a Robotic Female Stimulus” (co-authored by Anna C. Perry, Alan H. Krakauer, and Gail L. Patricelli), Mykell Reifer (Carleton University) for his poster titled “Do fight winners produce higher quality offspring?” (co-authored by Michelle J. Loranger and Susan M. Bertram), and David Vazques (Virginia Tech) for his poster titled “Examining the Relationship Between Dominance Status and Disease Transmission in House Finches” (co-authored by Sahnzi C. Moyers, Jim S. Adelman, Dana M. Hawley).
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Hailey Shannon (Susquehanna University)
Genesis honorable mention prizes being |
ABS FILM FESTIVAL AWARDS
Now in its 32nd year, the ABS Film Festival featured top films that were produced in the preceding five years that portray important concepts in animal behavior research and education. Categories included both amateur (non-commercial) and professional (commercial) films. This year’s ABS Film Festival was attended by an enthusiastic 100 people.
After careful deliberation, the Film Committee was happy to announce that the ABS Jack Ward Film Award in the non-commercial category would be awarded to “The Bearded Capuchin Monkeys of Fazenda Boa Vista” directed by Elisabetta Visalberghi and Alessandro Albani.
The ABS Film Award in the Commercial Category was awarded to “Wild Australia - Desert of the Red Kangaroo” directed by Jens Westphalen and Thoralf Grospitz.
CHARLES H. TURNER AWARDS
In 2002, the Animal Behavior Society created the Charles H. Turner Program for undergraduate participation at the annual society meetings. Charles Turner was the first known African American researcher in animal behavior. He earned his PhD from the University of Chicago in 1907. Among other things, his research showed that insects can hear and exhibit trial-and-error learning. By naming the undergraduate program after him, the ABS Diversity Committee emphasizes its goal of increasing the diversity of its membership by encouraging researchers of all ages, levels and ethnic groups to participate in the annual meetings. The ABS Diversity Committee brought a group of eight undergraduates to the Anchorage meeting this year, covering all expenses and providing a full program of events including a pre-meeting workshop and direct mentorship from junior and senior scientists.
This years deserving Charles H. Turner Award winners were Jose Alvarez (Augustana College), Monica Bailey (Augustana College), Ashley Bothwell (University of North Carolina Wilmington and Semester by the Bay, Homer, Alaska), Ciara Main (University of California at Davis), Sade McFadden (Clark University), Montrai Spikes (University of Missouri, Columbia), Mykell Reifer (Carleton University), and David Vasquez (Virginia Tech).
2015 Charles H. Turner Award recipients and mentors.
ABS 2015 Career Awards
 | Distinguished Animal Behaviorist Award Sir Paul Patrick Gordon Bateson Sir Paul Patrick Gordon Bateson has been awarded the Distinguished Animal Behaviorist Award for his lifetime commitment and the impressive intellectual contributions he has made to the field of Animal Behavior. |
 | Quest Award Bernard Crespi The Quest Award, recognizing an outstanding seminal contribution in animal behavior, has been awarded to Bernie Crespi at the annual meeting in Anchorage. |
 | Exemplar Award Andrew Sih The Animal Behaviour Society was pleased to announce Andy Sih as the Exemplar Awardee in Anchorage. |
 | Outstanding New Investigator Award Emily DuVal Emily DuVal has received the Outstanding New Investigator Award at the annual meeting in Anchorage. |
 | Penny Bernstein Distinguished Teaching Award Linda Rayor Linda Rayor has received the Penny Bernstein Distinguished Teaching Award at the annual meeting in Anchorage. Linda is known as a talented, dynamic, and inspiring teacher who draws in students with her style and then gives them an innovative and experiential course. |