Two separate awards recognize significant advancements in physiological ecology; entrants are judged on the rigor, creativity, importance, and presentation of the research. See below for eligibility requirements and some tips on effective paper and poster presentation.

2008 Winners

It’s my pleasure to announce the winners and honorable mentions for the Billings award and the New Phytologist Poster award. Notice that the Section has renamed the “Best Poster award” to the “New Phytologist Poster award” in recognition of New Phytologist’s contribution to the Billings Fund, which provides a cash prize to both the Billings award winner for the best oral presentation and the New Phytologist award winner for the best poster. The winners and honorable mentions also receive a complimentary book of their choice from Elseveir. Thanks to both New Phytologist and Elsevier for supporting our Section’s awards competition.

We had an excellent group of students that participated in this year’s awards competition at ESA. Eleven were considered for the Billings award, and six for the New Phytologist Poster award. The judges, including myself, were very impressed by the quality of work presented by each student. After some lengthy consideration, the following students emerged as the top presenters; all gave excellent, well-organized, and clearly presented talks and posters, and all addressed very interesting questions in creative ways. Please congratulate the winners when you have a chance!

Billings award:

Winner: Marnie Rout, University of Montana, gave an oral presentation on "Sorghum halepense and endophytic N-fixing bacteria: Ecosystem engineers altering soil biogeochemistry"

Honorable mention: Rob Salguero-Gomez, University of Pennsylvania, gave a presentation on "First evidence for hydraulic fragmentation in an herbaceous aridland perennial: Cryptantha flava"

New Phytologist Poster award:

Winner: Ava Howard, University of Georgia, presented a poster on "Stomatal conductance responses to changing vapor pressure deficit: Do daytime patterns of regulation apply at night?"

Honorable mention: Jessica Cruz de Osuna presented a poster titled "An in-depth study of the seasonal trends in photosynthesis in Q. douglasii in a Mediterranean savanna"

Sincerely,
Kiona Ogle
Secretary, Physiological Ecology Section

The W.D. and S.M. Billings award is made to the graduate student whose oral presentation at the Annual Meeting of the Ecological Society of America represents a significant advancement in physiological ecology. The award will be given to a student whose paper is judged to offer the rigor, creativity, importance, and presentation that sets a new standard in the discipline. The winner receives a $500 check from the Physiological Ecology section and will be able to select a complimentary book from the Academic Press list of publications. (The honorable mention winner also receives a complimentary book of his or her choice from Academic Press.) The award recognizes the life-time contributions by its namesakes, Dwight and Shirley Billings, to physiological ecology. Dwight built the foundation for physiological ecology in North America and provided leadership for the field throughout his illustrious career. Together, Dwight and Shirley have shown a deep regard for the interests and training of graduate students in this dynamic component of ecology.

2008 winner:

Marnie Rout, University of Montana, for her oral presentation on "Sorghum halepense and endophytic N-fixing bacteria: Ecosystem engineers altering soil biogeochemistry"

Honorable mention: Rob Salguero-Gomez, University of Pennsylvania, for his presentation on "First evidence for hydraulic fragmentation in an herbaceous aridland perennial: Cryptantha flava"

Past winners:

• 2007: Anna Jacobsen from Michigan State University for her talk "Support for a fiber inclusive model of xylem cavitation resistance" co-authored by Brandon Pratt. The two equivalent honorable mentions for the Billings award were: Ms. Allyson Elller from Cornell for her talk "Responses of tree seedlings to atmospheric change: increasing nitrogen dioxide, carbon dioxide, and soil nitrate" co-authored by Jed Sparks and Ms. Nicole Hughes from Wake Forest for her talk "When are red juvenile leaves mature enough to be green? The coordination of anthocyanin decline with photosynthetic maturity" co-authored by William K. Smith.
• 2006: Carmody McCalley of Cornell University for her presentation: "The role of water, nutrients, and temperature in regulating NO and NH₃ efflux from Mojave Desert soils". The honorable mention for the Billings Award is Paul Stoy of Duke University for his presentation: "Explaining the interannual variability of carbon exchange in successional ecosystems".
• 2005: Laura Scott-Denton, from the University of Colorado-Boulder. Her presentation, entitled "Spatially-explicit modeling of soil respiration rate in a high-elevation, subalpine forest," was co-authored by Russell Monson. Due to the overwhelming preponderance of oral presentations in relation to poster presentations, the judges' committee and officers of the Physiological Ecology Section decided to give two Honorable Mentions for this year's Billings Award. They are, in alphabetical order:
  • Catarina Moura, from Duke University, for her presentation entitled "Gene expression of loblolly pine exposed to elevated CO₂ in the field," co-authored by Ruth Grene (Virginia Tech) and Robert Jackson.
  • Rachel Spicer, from Harvard University, for her presentation entitled "Small scale patterns with large scale implications: the role of programmed cell death in determining the sapwood volume of forest trees," co-authored by N. Michele Holbrook.
• 2004: Maggie Prater of the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign for her talk "Evapotranspiration and energy balance of post-fire and native sagebrush communities in the Great Basin Desert" with Evan DeLucia, coauthor. Honorable mention goes to Will Cornwell of Stanford University for his talk "Quantifying functional diversity: A new analytic method" with D.W. Schwilk and D.D. Ackerly, coauthors.
• 2003: Katherine McCulloh of the University of Utah for her talk "The application of Murray's law to Psilotum nudum, an analogue of an ancestral vascular plant" with John Sperry, coauthor. Honorable mention goes to Jennifer Funk of SUNY Stonybrook for her talk "Variation in isoprene emission from Quercus rubra: sources, causes, and consequences for estimating fluxes" with coauthors Clive G. Jones, Manuel T. Lerdau, Dennis W. Gray, Heather L. Throop, and Laura A. Hyatt.
• 2002: Richard O. Musser for his talk "A suppression mechanism of induced plant defenses by an insect salivary enzyme" with G. W. Felton, coauthor. Richard's work was conducted at University of Arkansas, and currently he is at University of Arizona. Honorable mention goes to Lisa Anne Moore.
• 2001: Amy Miller of the University of Colorado for her oral presentation: Amy Miller & William Bowman. "Nutrient Uptake, Movement, Use. Preferential uptake of N by alpine tundra species: do all species tap the same N pool?".
  
• 2000: Brent Helliker of the University of Utah for his oral presentation: Helliker B. & J R Ehleringer. "Why is a grass blade like a tree ring? An isotopic model for recording environmental data in grass blades".
  
• 1999: Jeanine Cavender-Bares of Harvard University for her presentation of the paper: Cavender-Bares J, Ackerly D, Baum D, Bazzaz FA. Correlated evolution in 15 co-occurring species of oaks (Quercus): a study of habitat and plant functional traits.
• 1998: The winner of the first Billings Award was Susan Bassow.

The Billings Award was created with an initial gift from Shirley Billings. Further donations are needed and can be sent to the address below. Thank you for any contributions.

Billings Award
Ecological Society of America
1707 H Street, N.W., Suite 400
Washington, DC 20006

The New Phytologist Trust is pleased to announce that it will continue the commitment begun in 2000 to contribute $500 annually towards the Billings Award. New Phytologist, the broad spectrum plant science journal, was established in 1902 by the pioneer ecologist Arthur Tansley. It is a not-for-profit organization. The spirit of the Billings Award is very consistent with the goals of the New Phytologist Trust - to promote education and research in plant sciences. More information about activities of the New Phytologist Trust and links to the journal New Phytologist can be found at www.newphytologist.com.

This is given to the student with the best physiological ecology poster presentation at the annual ESA meeting. The winner receives a $500 check from the Physiological Ecology section and will be able to select a complimentary book from the Elsevier (formerly Academic Press) list of publications. (The honorable mention winner also receives a complimentary book courtesy of Academic Press.) In 2008 the Section renamed the “Best Poster award” to the “New Phytologist Poster award” in recognition of New Phytologist’s contribution to the Billings Fund, which provides a cash prize to both the Billings award winner for the best oral presentation and the New Phytologist award winner for the best poster.

2008 Winner:

Ava Howard, University of Georgia, who presented a poster on "Stomatal conductance responses to changing vapor pressure deficit: Do daytime patterns of regulation apply at night?"

Honorable mention: Jessica Cruz de Osuna for her poster on "Seasonal trends of mesophyll conductance and its importance in understand photosynthesis in a C"

Past winners:

• 2007: Ms. Kelly Hopping from the University of Montana for her talk "Do these cones make me look fat?  Unexpected patterns of resource allocation in whitebark pine" co-authored by Elizabeth T. Miller, Elizabeth E. Crone, and Anna Sala.
• 2006 winner: Justin Bichler for his poster: "Quantifying the contribution of aquaporins to overall water transport in deep roots accessed via caves". The honorable mention for the Best Poster Award is Anna Tyler for her poster: "Annual and ephemeral plants are important for shrub-island development and ecosystem processes in arid regions".
• 2005: Lisa Patrick, from Texas Tech University. Her poster presentation, entitled "Responses of daytime net ecosystem carbon and water exchange to increased seasonal precipitation in a sotol-grassland at Big Bend National Park, Texas" was co-authored by Traesha Robertson, Natasja van Gestel, and David Tissue.
• 2004: Tracy Gartner of the University of Connecticut for "Arrangement of litter types can influence mass and N dynamics in mixed-species litter decomposition experiments" with Z.G. Cardon, coauthor. Honorable mention goes to Catarina Moura for "Differential gene expression when loblolly pine trees FACE a rise in CO₂" with R.B. Jackson, coauthor.
• 2003: Patrick Herron of the University of Connecticut for his poster "Divining Rods: Pseudomonas putida as a microbiosensor of fine-scale osmotic potentials in soil" with coauthors Daniel J. Gage and Zoe G. Cardon. Honorable mention goes to Will Bowman of Columbia University for his poster "Influences of Sapflow and sapwood respiratory activity on CO2 efflux from woody stems in a New Zealand Podocarp forest" with coauthors Margaret M. Barbour, David T. Tissue, Matthew H. Turnbull, David Whitehead, and Kevin L. Griffin.
• 2002: Jennifer L. Funk for her poster "The role of stored carbon in isoprene production in response to environmental stress in Populus deltoides" with J. E. Mak and M. T. Lerdau, coauthors. Jennifer is a student at State University of New York, Stonybrook. Honorable mention goes to Catarina Moura
• 2001: co-winners were Laura Scott-Denton and Javier Espeleta for their poster presentations: Laura Scott-Denton, Kimberlee Sparks, Russell Monson. "Linking root and microbial biomass to soil respiration rate in a high-altitude coniferous forest" and Javier Espeleta, Lisa Donovan. "Fine root demography differs among xeric and mesic adult tree species in a sandhill habitat of southeastern US".
• 2000: Andrew McElrone for his poster presentation: McElrone, A.J. and I.N. Forseth. "Interactive effects of drought stress and infection by Xylella fastidiosa on the ecophysiology of a common liana".
• 1999: David R. Bowling of the University of Colorado for his poster: Bowling DR, Baldocchi DD, Monson RK. "Partitioning net ecosystem exchange in a Tennessee deciduous forest using stable isotopes of carbon dioxide".
• 1998: co-winners were Louise Comas "Root efficiency in fast- and slow-growing species of maple and oak" and Travis Huxman "Gas exchange and chlorophyll fluorescence responses of three southwestern Yucca species to elevated CO2 and high temperature".
• 1997: Nate McDowell of the Dept. of Forest Resources at the University of Idaho: "Winter carbon dioxide uptake and release from an interior Pacific Northwest forest."
• 1996: James R. Cleverly of the University of Nevada, Las Vegas: "Modeling advective energy exchange between neighboring ecosystems with a special emphasis on the oasis effect." The poster was co-authored by Anna Sala and Stan Smith.

Eligibility requirements for both awards:

1. The student entrant must be first author and presenter for the paper or poster.
2. "Student" is defined as undergraduate or graduate student who is currently enrolled in a degree program or who finished his/her degree within the last 12 months.
3. The student must be a Physiological Ecology section member at the time of the presentation. Not a member of the Physiological Ecology section? No problem -- it's easy to join. Just go to the ESA membership site, and on the application form scroll down to "Section & Chapter Affiliation" and select "Physiological Ecology Section". Annual membership dues are $3. You can join us at any time, but you must be a member of ESA. If you're not already a member of ESA, you can use the link above to join ESA at the same time. ESA memberships run January-December, regardless of when you join.

To enter the competitions:

Please send Jed Sparks (jps66@cornell.edu) the following information by 4 June 2007:

1. Information on the student entrant: name, mailing address, email address, phone number, FAX number, College/University association, and student status.
2. Presentation title, complete list of authors, and abstract.
3. Presentation time, location, session title, and (for talks) name of session moderator. (If you do not have this information by 6 June, go ahead and send in the other information, and then update your application when information about your session arrives.)

For an enlightening discussion of what makes a good poster, check out the American Society of Plant Biology poster site. See also the following:

Designing effective posters
Poster and podium presentation
Survival skills for graduate students

Physiological Ecology Section home

Last modified 9/23/08 cwcook@duke.edu