ANNOUNCING THE 2017 STUDENT RESEARCH GRANT AND DEVELOPING NATIONS RESEARCH AWARDS
Elizabeth Jakob, 1st Member-at-Large
Chair, 2017 Student Research Grant Committee
We are pleased to announce the recipients of the 2017 Student Research Grants and the Developing Nations Research Awards. We received many high-quality proposals, but as in previous years, the number of applications exceeded the number we could fund. Of the 130 applications submitted, 51 were awarded funding.
Each proposal was reviewed independently by at least two referees, who provided evaluations and constructive feedback for the student grant writers. As always, members of the Society went above and beyond to provide constructive reviews. The Research Grant Committee extends a very heartfelt thank you to the following referees:
Maria Abate, Shelley Adamo, Anita Aisenberg, Eric Albert, Daniel Albrecht, Jean Alupay, Rindy Anderson, Jimena Aracena, Bryan Arnold, Andrea Aspbury, Doris Audet, Barbara Ballentine, Peter Bednekoff, Karl Berg, Ximena Bernal, Anindita Bhadra, Bronwyn Bleakley, Dimitri Blondel, Gordon Burghardt, Stephen Burnett, Bruno Buzatto, Gerald Carter, Joseph Casto, Gloriana Chaverri, Pizza Ka Yee Chow, Barbara Clucas, Tom Contreras, Catherine Cornwell, Blair Costelloe, Leslie Curren, Rog daCunha, Nick DiRienzo, Ned Dochtermann, Gary Dodson, Julie Duboscq, Peter Dunn, Emily DuVal, Marcela Fernandez-Vargas, Courtney Fitzpatrick, Robin Foster, Kasey Fowler-Finn, Rebecca Fox, Becca Franks, Matthew Fuxjager, Caitlin Gabor, Megan Gall, David Gammon, Ellen Garland, Eliane Gfgreitas, Jennifer Gleason, Jean-Guy Godin, Ines Goncalves, Greg Grether, Jennifer Gumm, Charles Gunnels, Lisa Gunter, Shala Hankison, James Hare, Ann Hedrick, Heather Hill, Christy Hoffman, David Hudson, Kim Hunter, Jarred Jenkins, Susan Jenks, Michele Johnson, Philip Kanfush, Jason Keagy, Clint Kelly, David Kikuchi, Scott Kimball, Wendy King, Rosemary Knapp, Raine Kortet, Jennifer Kovacs, Kate Laskowski, Joseph Leese, Maureen Leonard, Stuart Leonard, Aliza leRoux, Elinor Lichtenberg, Russell Ligon, Hangkyo Lim, Philip Loftus, Bernie Lohr, George Lozano, Jay Mager, James Malcolm, Lilian Manica, Jeremy MarchantForde, Sue Margulis, Jennifer Mather, Misty McPhee, Tamra Mendelson, Darren Minier, Janice Moore, Jan Murie, Anita Murray, Nadje Najar, Paul Nealen, Melissa NelsonSlater, Eleni Nikitopoulos, Terry Ord, Teri Orr, Timothy Paciorek, Brian Palestis, Paulo Enrique Peixoto, Mario Pesendorfer, Richard Peters, Stephen Pratt, Andrea Presotto, Mariana Pueta, Claudia Rauter, Adam Reddon, Michael Reichert, Christina Riehl, Malcolm Rosenthal, Raphael Royaute, Rebecca Safran, Trish Sevene, Cara Shillington, Melissa Shyan-Norwalt, Adam Smith, Jennifer Snekser, Emilie Snell-Rood, Monique Sosnowski, Robert Srygley, Caitlin Stern, Andrew Stoehr, Brent Stoffer, Malini Suchak, Aaron Sullivan, Piyumika Suriyampola, Ben Taft, Keith Tarvin, Bettina Tassino, Hannah terHofstede, Kaci Thompson, Nicole Thompson, Matthew Toomey, Paula Trillo, Anita Tucker, Monique Udell, Adriana Vallarino, Sara Waller, Eric Walters, Peter Waser, Heather Waye, Melinda Weaver, Erica Westerman, Danielle Whittaker, Linda Whittingham, Livy Williams, Katrina Winsor, Jamie Winternitz, Brandi Wren, Jessica Yorzinski, Stephen Zawistowski, Jade Zee, Heather Zimbler-DeLorenzo
We were helped immensely by Lorena McMahon and Adam Kohm at SPLtrak, who administered the online grant submission and review system that ran very smoothly. Emily DuVal (2nd Member-at-Large) and Melissa Hughes (3rd Member-at-Large) made important contributions during the entire process. Thank you to them also. Most importantly, we want to thank all the members of the Society who have supported this program over the years and who have donated funds to make this program such a success.
GEORGE W. BARLOW AWARD
Brooke Woelber, University of New Hampshire, Investigating the behavioral consequences of gut microbiota: infanticide, begging, and wandering behavior in Nicrophorus
E. O. WILSON CONSERVATION AWARD
Dana Green, Northern Arizona University, The active space of grasshopper mouse vocalizations and implications of woody plant encroachment
DAVID TUBER APPLIED ANIMAL BEHAVIOR AWARD
Kelsea Brown, Texas Tech University, The methodology, reliability, and validity of canine sociability tests
STUDENT RESEARCH AWARDS
Christopher Akcali, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, The role of predator behavior in the evolution of imprecise coral snake mimicry
Andrea Albin, Instituto de Investigaciones Biológicas Clemente Estable, Metabolic costs associated with burrow-digging and variations according to the substrate in a South American sand-dwelling spider
Monica Anderson Berdal, North Dakota State University, Behavioral syndromes aligning with selection: a role for plasticity?
Justine Atkins, Princeton University, Landscape of fearlessness: the spatial ecology of African savanna herbivores in the absence of predation
Carly Batist, Central Washington University, Use of a two-action apparatus with captive gibbons: insights into social learning and cultural capacity
Ayala Berger, University of California Riverside, Hummingbird hearing: timbre discrimination
Nicholas Blay, Oklahoma State University, The influence of reproductive state on female thermoregulatory behavior in the wolf spider, Hogna antelucana
Mauricio Cantor, Universidade Federal de Santa Catarina, What exactly are the dolphins’ payoffs when cooperating with fishermen?
Noori Choi, University of Nebraska-Lincoln, Individual-level microhabitat specialization in courtship signal of Schizocosa retrors
Jeff Clerc, Texas Tech University, Two unique migratory strategies and the behavioral optimization of stopovers
Ellee Cook, University of Missouri, A female perspective: does testosterone mediate territorial aggression in wild female Anolis lizards?
Sarah Crocker-Buta, The University of Mississippi, Do glucocorticoids mask androgenic effects on elaborate male courtship signals?
Zachary Darwish, University of Nebraska at Omaha, Regulation of social facilitation by group composition and mesotocin
Erica Dunayer, University at Buffalo, SUNY, Influence of stress on market exchanges in Cayo Santiago macaques
Kathleen Farley, Rutgers University - Newark, Does breeding territory choice incur a fitness cost for early successional species in a post-industrial landscape?
Kristina Fialko, University of Chicago, The role of ambient light environment on behavioral variation of Phylloscopus warbler territorial displays
Genevieve Finerty, University of Oxford, Determining behavioral and energetic consequences of human-dominated landscapes for wild lion populations.
Aaron Grade, University of Massachusetts Amherst, Non-lethal effects of predation meets landscape context: An experimental test of House Wren nestling growth across an urban-to-rural gradient
Leanne Grieves, University of Western Ontario, Investigating the role of odour cues in avian mate choice and disease avoidance
Chris Holland, Texas A&M, Pheromonal mechanisms of reproductive isolation in Xiphophorus
Sydney Hope, Virginia Tech, The effect of clutch size on incubation behavior in wood ducks: do hormones mediate parental decisions?
Tabitha Hui, James Cook University, Improving wildlife corridor designs to mitigate the impacts of habitat fragmentation on small mammals in Peninsular Malaysia
Alex Huynh, Lehigh University, The chemical ecology of a hybridizing chickadee system: the role of olfactory communication in songbird mate choice and its consequences on hybridization
Joel Jameson, Université du Québec à Montréal, Linking personality and gut microbiome in natural metapopulations of deer mice (Peromyscus maniculatus) and red-backed voles (Myodes gapperi)
Vitek Jirinec, Louisiana State University, Does microclimate change explain observed declines of terrestrial insectivores?
Katherine Johnson, University of California Riverside, Vocal learning in the Costa's hummingbird
Abigail Johnson, Hunter College, The effect of visual, scent, sound, and tactile deterrents on honey badger depredation of beehive fences
Cameron Jones, University of California at Davis, The role of behavioral phenotypes on invasions and invasive-native species interactions
Abigail Kimmitt, Indiana University, Bloomington, The role of mate preference in population divergence of a seasonally sympatric species
Ryane Logsdon, University of California at Davis, The impacts of habitat structure on social network structure, information flow, and behavior in a lek-based system
Alexandra McInturf, University of California at Davis, Optimal foraging and habitat use in an endangered migratory predator
Victoria Monette, University of Mississippi, Tapir poo and parasites too: can weak social connections have strong impacts on parasite transmission?
Ines Moran, Windsor University, Why do birds sing softly? Testing the female eavesdropping avoidance hypothesis
Krista Oswald, Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University, Vulnerability of a Fynbos-endemic bird to climate warming: insights from past and present responses to high temperatures
Mia Phillips, University of New Hampshire, Behavioral and neurophysiological response to seismic Noise in an edaphic invertebrate
Edward Ramirez, University of Missouri-Columbia, Examining the effects of hybridization on the courtship traits of a tropical hybrid lizard
Courtney Rockenbach, Rutgers University - Newark, Network recovery in Formica lugubris colonies with multiple nests
Alexandre Marcel Silva Machado, Universidade Federal de Santa Catarina, Do individual traits affect the society of bottlenose dolphins that forages cooperatively with artisanal fishermen?
Chris Tyson, University of California at Davis, Why are seabirds so monogamous?
Malachi Whitford, San Diego State University, Interpopulational variation in locomotor performance: how performance impacts predation success
Rachel Wilson, Portland State University, The effect of leptin on reproduction in red-sided garter snakes
Sara Zlotnik, Purdue University, Effects of endocrine disrupting chemicals on larynx morphology and calling behavior in cane toads (Rhinella marina)
DEVELOPING NATIONS RESEARCH AWARDS
Madhura Amdekar, Indian Institute of Science, Identifying the information content of multicomponent dynamic colour signal in the Indian rock agama, Psammophilus dorsalis
Jorge Avendaño, Universidad de los Andes, Why do the same traits fix across distinct populations? An experimental evaluation of the role of social and sexual selection to explain the phenotypic convergence in a Neotropical bird
Yadok Biplang, A.P Leventis Ornithological Research Institute, Ecological behaviour of the African giant pouched rat (Cricetomys): foraging and dispersal of large-seeded species in a degraded West African montane forest landscape
María Milagros Jefferies, CONICET, Argentina, Assessment of parental activity and nest concealment on nest predation in a south temperate grassland specialist: the southern Sedge Wren (Cistothorus platensis platensis)
Lynna Marie Kiere, Universidad Nacional Autonoma de Mexico, Behavioral effects of mining waste exposure on resident passerine birds in southern Mexico
ANNOUNCING THE 2017 CONFERENCE TRAVEL AWARDS
Congratulations to the recipients of the conference travel awards. These awards were administered by Emily DuVal, with the assistance of Beth Jakob and Melissa Hughes (the Members at Large). For both the Latin American Travel Awards and Graduate Student Travel Grants, two MALs separately rated each abstract, and those scores were combined with ratings of the submitted CVs to rank applications. Within those rankings, ties were broken by giving preference to PhD students and those who had not previously attended ABS. We received many more deserving applications than we were able to fund, and appreciate the widespread interest in these awards.
We were able to fund 7 of 27 applications for the Latin American Travel Awards (8 names are listed, as one of the award winners declined as they obtained funding from elsewhere). Award amounts varied this year to reflect travel costs from the students’ varied locations. LATA awardees for the 2017 conference are:
Andrea Albin Celana, Universidad de la República, Uruguay
Carlos Biagolini Jr., Universidade de Brasilias, Brazil
Solimary García-Hernández, Universidade de São Paulo, Brazil
Oscar Sanchez Macouzet, Universidad Nacional Autonoma de Mexico
Angela Nava-Bolaños, Universidad Nacional Autonoma de Mexico
Tiago Pires, INPA - National Institute for Amazonian Research, Brazil
Pietro Pollo, University of Sao Paulo, Brazil
Rosannette Quesada, University of São Paulo, Brazil (declined for other funding)
We were able to fund 20 of 137 applications for the Graduate Student Travel Grants, with each award set at $500. GSTG awardees for the 2017 conference are:
Marek Charles Allen, University of Western Ontario
Thelma Arseneau-Robar, University of Zurich
Kevin Bairos-Novak, University of Saskatchewan
Lynne Beaty, Oklahoma State University
Carrie Branch, University of Nevada, Reno
Noori Choi, University of Nebraska-Lincoln
Jessica Cusick, Florida State University
Jacqueline Rae Dillard, University of Kentucky
Melissa Graham, Clark University
Sarah Guindre-Parker, Columbia University
Whitley Lehto, University of Denver
Kobe Martin, University of New South Wales
Tracy Montgomery, Michigan State University
Abigail Neyer, University of Nebraska-Lincoln
Richard Kendall Simpson III, Arizona State University
Joel Slade, University of Western Ontario
Soorim Song, University of California, Berkeley
Calandra Q. Stanley, University of Maryland
Michael Vickers, University of Florida
Matthew Zipple, Duke University
ANNOUNCING THE 2017 CAREGIVER CONFERENCE TRAVEL AWARDS
The Caregiver Travel Grant award provides financial assistance for active ABS members whose caregiving responsibilities for dependent persons would otherwise limit their ability to attend and present at the annual ABS meeting. Dependents include but are not limited to young children and aging parents. Award values vary according to funds available. Candidates are prioritized according to their need, abstract and CVs. Preference will be given to applicants who are presenting their work. This year, we were able to award four caregiver awards. Each recipient received $500 to put towards the care of those either travelling with them or staying behind. Awards were administered by Melissa Hughes, with the assistance of Beth Jakob and Emily DuVal (the Members at Large).