2022 TWS wildlife publication awards shortlisted titles announced

Each year, the Wildlife Publication Awards Committee receives award nominations for books, papers and monographs from authors, editors, publishers and colleagues. Committee members review the titles and score them based on five criteria. Based on the scores from all committee members, the book, paper and monograph receiving the highest total score is deemed the winner. This year, the committee received 63 nominated books from 32 publishers, 22 journal papers representing 13 journals, 12 monographs from four monograph publishers and nine journal papers with a student as the lead author, representing nine journals.

This year marks the first year of a new award category: Biography/History of Wildlife Biology. Books nominated in this category address some aspect of the history of wildlife biology. This can include biographies of distinguished wildlife biologists and ecologists; histories of ideas, policies or other developments important in the field of wildlife biology; and narratives concerning personal experiences as a wildlife biologist, particularly in looking back over one’s career and how wildlife biology may have changed. This inaugural year, the Biography/History of Wildlife Biology category saw 17 nominations from 12 publishers.

This is only the second year for the student paper category, which recognizes excellence in scientific writing in which the lead author of a paper was a student. The paper represents work that was completed predominately while the lead author was a student and is eligible only if published or accepted for publication in a peer-reviewed publication within three years graduation. For more information on the criteria please see https://wildlife.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/02/TWS-Wildlife-Publication-Awards-Student-Paper-Criteria.pdf

In an effort to recognize the broad range of titles committee members review each year for the TWS Wildlife Publication Awards, the committee has created a shortlist for each award category. Here are the top five titles in each award category, in alphabetical order by title.

Authored Book

• Morrison, M. L., L. A. Brennan, B. G. Marcot, W. M. Block, and K. S. McKelvey. 2021. Applications for Advancing Animal Ecology. Johns Hopkins University Press, MD.
• Walls, S. and R. Kenward. 2020. The Common Buzzard. T&AD Poyser, New York, NY.
• Upton, G. 2020. Measuring Abundance: Methods for the Estimation of Population Size and Species Richness. Pelagic Publishing, UK.
• Keyser, P. 2021. Native Grass Forages for the Eastern U.S. University of Tennessee Institute of Agriculture, Knoxville, TN.
• Powell, L. 2020. Principles for Management of Fisheries and Wildlife: The Manager as Decision-maker. Cognella, Inc., San Diego, CA.

Edited Book

• Pope, K. L. and L. A. Powell, eds. 2021. Harvest of Fish and Wildlife: New Paradigms for Sustainable Management. CRC Press, New York, NY.
• Downs, C. T. and L. A. Hart, eds. 2020. Invasive Birds: Global Trends and Impacts. CAB International, Boston, MA.
• Haak, B. A., ed. 2021. Magical Merlins. Falco Sapiens Press, Eagle, ID.
• Porter, W. F., C. J. Parent, R. A. Stewart, and D. M. Williams. 2021. Wildlife Management and Landscapes: Principles and Applications. Johns Hopkins University Press, MD.
• Silvy, N. J., ed. 2021. The Wildlife Techniques Manual. 2 Volumes. Eighth edition. Johns Hopkins University Press, MD.

Biography/History of Wildlife Biology

• Berger, J. 2018. Extreme Conservation: Life at the Edges of the World. University of Chicago Press, Chicago, IL.
• Klein, D. R. 2019. The Making of an Ecologist: My Career in Alaska Wildlife Management and Conservation. University of Alaska Press, Fairbanks, AK.
• Sinclair, A. R. E. and R. Beyers. 2021. A Place Like No Other: Discovering the Secrets of Serengeti. Princeton University Press, Princeton, NJ.
• Penn, B. 2015. The Real Thing: The Natural History of Ian McTaggart Cowan. Rocky Mountain Books Ltd., Victoria, BC.
• Schoen, J. 2020. Tongass Odyssey – Seeing the Forest Ecosystem through the Politics of Trees: A Biologist’s Memoir. University of Alaska Press, Fairbanks, AK.

Monograph

• White, H. B., G. R. Batcheller, E. K. Boggess, C. L. Brown, J. W. Butfiloski, T. A. Decker, J. D. Erb, M. W. Fall, D. A. Hamilton, T. L. Hiller, G. F. Hubert Jr., M. J. Lovallo, J. F. Olson, and N. M. Roberts. 2021. Best management practices for trapping furbearers in the United States. Wildlife Monographs 207. https://doi.org/10.1002/wmon.1057.
• Logan, K. A. and J. P. Runge. 2020. Effects of hunting on a puma population in Colorado. Wildlife Monographs 209. https://doi.org/10.1002/wmon.1061.
• Kwon, E., E. L. Weiser, R. B. Lanctot, S. C. Brown, H. R. Gates, G. Gilchrist, S. J. Kendall, D. B. Lank, J. R. Liebezeit, L. McKinnon, E. Nol, D. C. Payer, J. Rausch, D. J. Rinella, S. T. Saalfeld, N. R. Senner, P. A. Smith, D. Ward, R. W. Wisseman, and B. K. Sandercock. 2019. Geographic variation in the intensity of warming and phenological mismatch between Arctic shorebirds and invertebrates. Ecological Monographs 89. https://doi.org/10.1002/ecm.1383.
• Proffitt, K. M., R. Garrott, J. A. Gude, M. Hebblewhite , B. Jimenez, J. T. Paterson, and J. Rotella. 2020. Integrated carnivore‐ungulate management: A case study in west‐central Montana. Wildlife Monographs 206. https://doi.org/10.1002/wmon.1056.
• Tinker, M. T., J. L. Bodkin, L. Bowen, B. Ballachey, G. Bentall, A. Burdin, H. Coletti, G. Esslinger, B. B. Hatfield, M. C. Kenner, K. Kloecker, B. Konar, A. K. Miles, D. H. Monson, M. J. Murray, B. P. Weitzman, and J. A. Estes. 2021. Sea otter population collapse in southwest Alaska: assessing ecological covariates, consequences, and causal factors. Ecological Monographs 91. https://doi.org/10.1002/ecm.1472.

Journal Paper

• Fryxell, J. M., T. Avgar, B. Liu, J. A. Baker, A. R. Rodgers, J. Shuter, I. D. Thompson, D. E. B. Reid, A. M. Kittle, A. Mosser, S. G. Newmaster, T. D. Nudds, G. M. Street, G. S. Brown, and B. Patterson. 2020. Anthropogenic disturbance and population viability of woodland caribou in Ontario. Journal of Wildlife Management 84. https://doi.org/10.1002/jwmg.21829.
• Bastille-Rousseau, G. and G. Wittemyer. 2020. Characterizing the landscape of movement to identify critical wildlife habitat and corridors. Conservation Biology 35. https://doi.org/10.1111/cobi.13519.
• Davidson, S. C., et al. 2020. Ecological insights from three decades of animal movement tracking across a changing Arctic. Science 370. https://doi.org/10.1126/science.abb7080.
• Wiens, J. D., K. M. Dugger, J. M. Higley, D. B. Lesmeister, A. B. Franklin, K. A. Hamm, G. C. White, K. E. Dilione, D. C. Simon, R. R. Bown, P. C. Carlson, C. B. Yackulic, J. D. Nichols, J. E. Hines, R. J. Davis, D. W. Lamphear, C. McCafferty, T. L. McDonald, and S. G. Sovern. 2021. Invader removal triggers competitive release in a threatened avian predator. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 118. https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.2102859118.
• Dulude-de Broin, F., S. Hamel, G. F. Mastromonaco, and S. D. Côté. 2020. Predation risk and mountain goat reproduction: Evidence for stress-induced breeding suppression in a wild ungulate. Functional Ecology 34. https://doi.org/10.1111/1365-2435.13514.

Student Paper

• Windell1, R. M., L. L. Bailey, J. K. Young, T. M. Livieri, D. A. Eads, and S. W. Breck. 2021. Improving evaluation of nonlethal tools for carnivore management and conservation: Evaluating fladry to protect an endangered species from a generalist mesocarnivore. Animal Conservation 25. https://doi.org/10.1111/acv.12726.
• Frans, V. F., A. A. Augé, J. Fyfe, Y. Zhang, N. McNally, H. Edelhoff, N. Balkenhol, and J. O. Engler. 2021. Integrated SDM database: Enhancing the relevance and utility of species distribution models in conservation management. Methods in Ecology and Evolution 13. https://doi.org/10.1111/2041-210X.13736.
• Stillman, A. N., T. J. Lorenz, P. C. Fischer, R. B. Siegel, R. L. Wilkerson, M. Johnson, and M. W. Tingley. 2021. Juvenile survival of a burned forest specialist in response to variation in fire characteristics. Journal of Animal Ecology 90. https://doi.org/10.1111/1365-2656.13456.
• Dulude-de Broin, F., S. Hamel, G. F. Mastromonaco, and S. D. Côté. 2020. Predation risk and mountain goat reproduction: Evidence for stress-induced breeding suppression in a wild ungulate. Functional Ecology 34. https://doi.org/10.1111/1365-2435.13514.
• Hobart, B. K., G. M. Jones, K. N. Roberts, B. P. Dotters, S. A. Whitmore, W. J. Berigan, M. G. Raphael, J. J. Keane, R. J. Gutiérrez, and M. Z. Peery. 2019. Trophic interactions mediate the response of predator populations to habitat change. Biological Conservation 238. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.biocon.2019.108217.

The Committee hopes that these shortlists provide some recognition to well-deserved authors and highlight outstanding books, journal papers, and monographs worthy of TWS members’ attention. The winner of each category will be notified in June.

The winning authors/editors and publishers of each book category will be denoted by electronic and physical stickers stating that the title is the winner of TWS Wildlife Publication Award. The electronic version can be used by authors and publishers to highlight their award-winning title on websites and brochures used in conferences or other venues. The physical version can be affixed directly to the book to be displayed in bookstores, at conference booths, etc.

The sticker is meant to recognize excellence in scientific writing characterized by originality of research or thought and a high scholastic standard in the manner of presentation. In addition, the sticker promotes the wildlife publication award as given by TWS, the preeminent international association of wildlife professionals dedicated to excellence in wildlife stewardship through science and education.

The winner of each category will be notified in June.

If you have questions or comments, please contact Rick Spaulding, Chair, TWS Wildlife Publication Awards Committee, at rick.spaulding@mantech.com.