Warder Clyde Allee Competition
Warder Clyde Allee Competition
The 2025 Warder Clyde Allee Session for Best Student Paper Competition will be held during the annual meeting of the Animal Behavior Society to be held from July 8-12, 2025 in Baltimore, Maryland. All eligible students and recent graduates are encouraged to apply.
Eligibility requirements: Any independent graduate student research is suitable for the application. The participant may present any work done prior to the completion of the PhD; most commonly it will be one component of the student’s PhD dissertation, but this is not required. 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 The work presented may be unpublished or published at the time of submission to the Allee Competition. The entrant cannot have been awarded the Ph.D. degree before the start of the preceding ABS annual meeting. An individual can enter the session only once per lifetime. If selected as a finalist in the period of eligibility, applicants with dependent care responsibilities that preclude conference attendance may request a one-year deferral of participation in the competition.
To submit an entry to the Allee Competition, applicants 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 extended abstract as specified below; (3) confirm that they meet all eligibility requirements above; (4) present an in-person spoken version during the annual meeting; and (4) participate in the Allee welcoming dinner and the ABS awards ceremony during the annual meeting.
Applications, including the extended abstract, will be due March 21, 2025. Applicants will be asked to submit a cover letter with addresses and phone numbers, as well as an extended abstract in PDF format (see below for details). Extended abstracts should be no more than four single-spaced text pages, including no more than a total of two tables and/or figures. This limit includes all extended abstract sections (see below). Margins must be at least 2.5cm on all sides with 12pt font. Follow author guidelines for the journal Animal Behaviour (https://www.elsevier.com/journals/animal-behaviour/0003-3472/guide-for-authors) for appropriate formatting of references as well as use of abbreviations, nomenclature and units.
Extended abstracts are shortened manuscripts, not long abstracts. They should include the following sections, all included within the 4-page limit:
- TITLE & AUTHOR
- ABSTRACT (≤300 words)
• Clearly and accurately reflect the study topic, results, and importance. - KEYWORDS (3-5)
- INTRODUCTION
• Demonstrate a mastery of the literature as evidenced by appropriate citations and synthesis.
• Provide a background for the current study and integrate new ideas and/or research foci into existing conceptual frameworks.
• Clearly articulate hypothesis (if relevant) and/or objectives. - MATERIALS & METHODS
• Ensure that methods and analyses are appropriate for testing the stated hypotheses and objectives. - RESULTS & DISCUSSION
• Present results in a clear manner.
• Ensure that tables and figures are understandable, with appropriate labels and legends.
• Interpret the results in a manner consistent with findings and relate results back to previously stated hypotheses and objectives.
• Ensure that all computations and analyses are reproducible. - CONCLUSION
• Integrate major findings into past and current knowledge. - REFERENCES (<15 total)
• Format according to Animal Behaviour guidelines.
• Limit references to no more than fifteen in total.
Allee judges will evaluate all applications and then select a slate of applicants to be invited to present their research in-person during the Allee Competition at the annual meeting. Submission of an entry does not guarantee participation in the Competition, but if an applicant is not invited to participate in the Allee Session they will be guaranteed a regular oral presentation at the annual meeting.
If invited, the oral presentation should focus on the material presented in the submitted extended abstract but may also include other original material as well as general introductory and concluding remarks. Questions should be addressed to ABS Second President-Elect, Eileen Lacey ([email protected]).
Previous Recipients
| Name | Year | Award | Affiliation | Title |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Noah Leith | 2024 | Allee Awardee | Saint Louis University | Plasticity in signal production directs the evolution of multi-component mating displays |
| Severine Hex | 2024 | Allee Honorable Mention | Princeton University | Sociality in climate change: bonds in plains zebra harems buffer those with the greatest need during a drought |
| Lea Pollack | 2023 | Allee Awardee | Rice University | Group dynamics drive susceptibility to the common evolutionary trap of plastic ingestiony |
| Victoria S. Farrar | 2023 | Allee Honorable Mention | University of California Davis | Prior parental experience alters hormonal responses to stress and neural gene expression in a biparental bird |
| Shailee Shah | 2022 | Allee Awardee | University of Rochester | Group augmentation underlies the evolution of complex sociality in the face of environmental instability |
| Jason Dinh | 2022 | Allee Honorable Mention | Duke University | Reproductive costs and benefits underlie sex differences in weapon investment in the snapping shrimp |
| Shelby Lawson | 2021 | Allee Co-Awardee | University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign | Cooperative heterospecific eavesdropping on an anti-parasitic referential alarm call |
| Matthew N. Zipple | 2021 | Allee Co-Awardee | Duke University | Intergenerational fitness effects of early adversity in a wild primate: behavioral mechanisms |
| Watcharapong Hongjamrassilp | 2021 | Allee Honorable Mention | University of California, Los Angeles | Studying migratory behavior in parading shrimps to inform conservation and ecotourism management |
| J. Colton Watts | 2020 | Allee Co-Awardee | University of Nebraska-Lincoln | Mate Sampling Behavior Determines the Density-Dependence of Sexual Selection |
| Natalie S. Roberts | 2020 | Allee Co-Awardee | University of Maryland Baltimore County | The evolution and significance of male mate choice in behavioral isolation |
| Rickesh N. Patel | 2020 | Runner-up | University of Maryland Baltimore County | Mantis shrimp navigate home using path integration |
| Sara Lipshutz | 2019 | Allee Award | Indiana University | “Female competition promotes hybridization between sex-role reversed species” |
| Erin Brandt | 2019 | Runner-up | University of California, Berkeley | “Effects of temperature on ecology, behavior, and physiology in a desert-dwelling jumping spider" |
| 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 |
| Lisa Parr | 2000 | Allee Honorable Mention | University of California, Riverside | Matching-to-meaning: emotional awareness in chimpanzees |
| Gita Kolluru | 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 |
