FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: Monday, 22 May 2017
Contact: Liza Lester, 202-833-8773 ext. 211, [email protected]
Awards recognize students for outstanding research presented at the
2016 Annual Meeting
Read a photo enriched version of this release online:
http://www.esa.org/esa/2017-buell-braun-student-awards/
The Ecological Society of America recognizes Michael J.M. McTavish and Julienne
E. NeSmith for outstanding student research presentations at the 101st Annual
Meeting of the Society in Fort Lauderdale, Florida in August 2016. ESA will
present the awards during the 2017 Annual Meeting in Portland, Oregon. The
awards ceremony will take place on Monday, August 7, at 8 AM in the Oregon
Ballroom at the Oregon Convention Center.
Murray F. Buell had a long and distinguished record of service and
accomplishment in the Ecological Society of America. Among other things, he
ascribed great importance to the participation of students in meetings and to
excellence in the presentation of papers. To honor his selfless dedication to
the younger generation of ecologists, the Murray F. Buell Award for Excellence
in Ecology is given to a student for the outstanding oral paper presented at
the ESA Annual Meeting.
Lucy Braun, an eminent plant ecologist and one of the charter members of the
Society, studied and mapped the deciduous forest regions of eastern North
America and described them in her classic book, The Deciduous Forests of
Eastern North America. To honor her, the E. Lucy Braun Award for Excellence in
Ecology is given to a student for the outstanding poster presentation at the
ESA Annual Meeting. Papers and posters are judged on the significance of ideas,
creativity, quality of methodology, validity of conclusions drawn from results,
and clarity of presentation.
Award panel members honored Michael J.M. McTavish with the Buell Award for his
presentation "Selective granivory of exotic earthworms within commercial grass
seed mixes: Implications for seeding-based restoration in invaded ecosystems."
McTavish is a doctoral candidate working with Professor Stephen D. Murphy in
the School of Environment, Resources & Sustainability at the University of
Waterloo in Ontario, Canada.
The invasion of earthworms into previously earthworm-free soils is instigating
sweeping change in the ecosystems of eastern North America. This has brought
interest in the earthworms' appetite for seeds and how they may impact
ecological restoration projects that add seeds to soil. McTavish investigated
the characteristics of commercial grass seeds favored by the exotic earthworm
Lumbricus terrestris. He observed how earthworm activity affected the biomass
of different types of grass in outdoor, enclosed experiments called mesocosms,
which simulate natural environments under controlled conditions. He found that
earthworms preferred smaller seeds that had been coated to increase water
uptake, resulting in decreased grass biomass in mesocosms planted with coated
seeds. The judges felt that McTavish showed excellence in presenting and
answering his experimental questions, particularly praising his distribution of
text and pictures. His experimental results formed a comprehensive and
important story.
Panel members honored Julienne E. NeSmith with the Braun Award for her poster
"Interactive effects of soil moisture and plant invasion on pine tree
survival." NeSmith is a graduate student working with Associate Professor of
Agronomy S. Luke Flory in the School of Natural Resources and Environment at
the University of Florida in Gainesville.
NeSmith investigated the separate and combined effects of drought and exotic
grass invasion on the survival of native loblolly (Pinus tied) and slash (Pinus
elliottii) pine in central Florida by manipulating environmental conditions in
experimental garden plots. Cogongrass (Imperata cylindrica) is an aggressively
invasive, highly flammable perennial grass which arrived in the southeastern
United States in the early twentieth century. Drought and cogongrass invasion
each separately decreased survival of both pine species, but invasion only
exacerbated the effects of drought on the survival of loblolly pine. The
presence of cogongrass offset the effects of drought on slash pine survival in
the experimental garden plots. NeSmith attributed the greater survival of slash
pine under drought conditions to higher soil moisture and humidity in invaded
plots than non-invaded plots. Judges recognized NeSmith's ability to explain
the experimental details and the management implications of her results and
enjoyed her enthusiasm for the project.
2017 Annual Meeting in Portland, Oregon
Environmental scientists from 50 U.S. states, U. S. territories, and countries
around the world will converge on Portland, Oregon this August for the 102nd
Annual Meeting of the Ecological Society of America. Five thousand attendees
are expected to gather for nearly four thousand scientific presentations on
breaking research and new ecological concepts at the Oregon Convention Center
on August 6th through 11th, 2017.
Register: http://esa.org/portland/
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Liza Lester
Public Information Manager
Ecological Society of America
Washington, DC
(202) 833-8773 ext. 211
Ecotone: news and views on ecological science
Tweeting @esa_org
