Elton Prize

The Elton Prize is awarded by the British Ecological Society each year for the best paper in the Journal of Animal Ecology written by a young author at the start of their research career.   The winner of the Elton Prize will receive £250, membership of the BES, a year’s subscription to the Journal of Animal Ecology, and a contribution to the costs incurred in attending the BES Annual Meeting in the UK if they wish to give a presentation on their work.  The winner is selected by the Executive Editors of the Journal of Animal Ecology at the end of each year and an announcement is made early in the New Year following.

Those nominated are typically under 30 years old and in the early stages of their research career. Nominations are accepted from authors slightly older where their careers in ecology have been interrupted or have developed later.

If the first named author of a paper meets these conditions and wishes to be considered for this prize they should indicate this when their manuscript has been conditionally accepted.

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Virtual Issue: BES Young investigator prizes 2012

Winner of the Elton Prize 2012

Sonya Auer

The Editors of Journal of Animal Ecologyare pleased to announce the winner of the Young Investigator Prize 2012 for papers published in Volume 81 is Sonya Auer from the University of Montana.

Sonya’s paper Life histories have a history: effects of past and present conditions on adult somatic growth rates in wild Trinidadian guppies is co-authored with Andrés Lopez-Sepulcre, Thomas Heatherly II, Tyler J. Kohler, Ronald D. Bassar, Steven A. Thomas and David N. Reznick.

In the paper, Auer and colleagues examined the effects of variation in food availability across life stages on growth rates in wild Trinidadian guppies (Poecilia reticulate).The Editors and reviewers liked the elegant study system used, the detailed analyses, and the surprising and fascinating results that emerged from the investigation. The authors found that food availability and population density at different points in guppy development can have contrasting effects on adult somatic growth rate. Previous studies had only examined the effects of environmental variation within and across life stages in isolation, and thus their relative influence and subsequent importance remained unexplored.

Sonya carried out this work during her PhD in the lab of David Reznick at University of California-Riverside, which she completed from in 2011. She is currently a post-doctoral researcher at Montana Cooperative Wildlife Research Unit, University of Montana.  Here, her current research focuses on breeding bird responses to extreme weather events and general increases in temperature associated with current climate change. In particular, she is examining how temperature influences avian growth and development and how these effects may differ across species. Finally, she is also looking at how other breeding strategies such as nest site selection are changing in response to increased warming in the southwestern United States.

Winner of the Elton Prize 2011

Philip Matich

The Editors of Journal of Animal Ecology are pleased to announce the winner of the Young Investigator Prize Award 2011 for papers published in Volume 80 is Philip Matich from Florida International University.

Philip’s paper Contrasting patterns of individual specialization and trophic coupling in two marine apex predators is co-authored with Michael R. Heithaus and Craig A. Layman and was published in Volume 80, Issue 1, pages 294–305, January 2011.

There are a variety of reasons why the Editors chose the paper.  The number of apex predators in the oceans, such as sharks, is declining due to over-fishing and there is concern that these declines may be altering how ecosystems function. Yet establishing the feeding ecology of apex predators is difficult as they are very hard to directly observe for protracted periods. This work emerged from challenging fieldwork – catching large sharks in various parts of the world and then taking small tissue samples for stable isotope analysis. This analysis revealed the generalist diet of tiger sharks versus a more specialised diet of bull sharks and, furthermore, how individuals within these species could often have specific diets, presumably linked to local resources and competition. As such, this work is a fine example of the use of stable isotopes to look at the diet of elusive hard-to-study species. The paper has generated strong interest and will allow better assessments of the ecosystem impact of removing large sharks from the oceans.

Philip is currently studying for his PhD in Biology with the Heithaus Lab at Florida International University, Miami.  He graduated in Marine Science at the University of South Carolina, Columbia, in 2007.  As the winner of several awards and grants he has already gained considerable fieldwork and teaching experience.

His research interests focus on the roles animals play within their ecosystems and how changes in biotic and abiotic factors can influence the spatiotemporal pattern of predator effects. He is currently investigating the habitat use and foraging ecology of juvenile bull sharks (Carcharhinus leucas) in the Shark River Slough (Florida Coastal Everglades) using acoustic telemetry, stable isotope analysis, and predator and prey sampling. The main objective of this project is to understand the factors responsible for driving shark foraging and movement decisions and how spatial and temporal variation in these factors may affect the role of bull sharks in the ecosystem.