Hanski Prize

The journal Oecologia’s Hanski Prize is awarded to Matteo Rizzuto, from the Department of Biology, Memorial University of Newfoundland, St. John’s, Canada. Dr. Rizzuto completed his PhD degree as part of the Terrestrial Ecology Research Group in 2021. Dr. Rizzuto conducted this work while a student in Dr. Shawn J. Leroux’s laboratory and this work was also mentored by Dr. Yolanda Wiersma and Dr. Eric Vander Wal. The Hanski Prize is awarded to the best student paper published in the journal Oecologia in 2021.

Dr. Rizzuto’s paper is entitled, “Forage stoichiometry predicts the home range size of a small terrestrial herbivore” (Oecologia 197:327–338. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00442-021-04965-0). This study used ecological stoichiometry and landscape ecology to demonstrate how food chemistry drives range size of snowshoe hares in boreal forests. The results support a wide use of ecological stoichiometry to reveal how animal space-use decisions are related to, and influence, the functioning and processes of an ecosystem.

Matteo is currently a Postdoctoral Associate in Dr. Oswald J. Schmitz’s Lab at the Yale University School of the Environment.

The award announcement can be found here: https://www.springer.com/journal/442/updates/23340402

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ESA Canada Chapter award

The Ecological Society of America’s Canada Chapter has awarded the inaugural Excellence in Canadian Ecology award to Anne McLeod, from the Department of Biology, Memorial University of Newfoundland, St. John’s, Canada. Dr. McLeod completed her PhD degree in 2020 and conducted this work while a student in Dr. Shawn J. Leroux’s laboratory. The Excellence in Canadian Ecology award recognizes the best recent student paper published in the Ecological Society of America’s journals.

Dr. McLeod’s paper is titled “Incorporating abiotic controls on animal movements in metacommunities” (Ecology 102:e03365. https://esajournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1002/ecy.3365). In this paper, Dr. McLeod integrates data synthesis and mathematical models to develop a framework to fill critical gaps in our basic understanding of organismal movement across landscapes and provide testable predictions for how these common natural phenomena impact landscape-level ecosystem function. This framework will help us better anticipate biodiversity responses to human disturbances.

Anne is currently an NSERC Postdoctoral Fellow in Dr. Jonothan Tonkin’s Lab in the School of Biological Sciences at the University of Canterbury.