Publications Awards recognize outstanding work

From cougars, wolves and panthers to wild pigs and even humans, recipients of the TWS’ 2020 Wildlife Publications Awards tackled an array of topics in wildlife conservation and management.

Tori Ruth, Polly Buotte and Maurice Hornocker received the award in the authored book category for Yellowstone Cougars: Ecology Before and During Wolf Restoration, published by the University Press of Colorado. The book examines the effect of wolf restoration on the cougar population in Yellowstone National Park, including an analysis of cougar ecology, how cougars interact with wolves and how understanding this dynamic can inform management and conservation of both species across the West.

The award for edited book went to Kurt C. VerCauteren, James C. Beasley, Stephen S. Ditchkoff, John J. Mayer, Gary J. Roloff and Bronson K. Strickland for their book Invasive Wild Pigs in North America, published by CRC Press. The book provides a comprehensive look at the biology, ecology, damage and management of what they call the most destructive introduced vertebrate species in the United States.

In the article/journal paper category, Justin P. Suraci, Michael Clinchy, Liana Y. Zanette and Christopher C. Wilmers were honored for their study, “Fear of humans as apex predators has landscape-scale impacts from mountain lions to mice,” published in Ecology Letters. In a landscape-scale experiment, they found the sound of human voices created a landscape of fear affecting everything from large carnivores to small mammals.

The monograph award went to Madelon van de Kerk, David P. Onorato, Jeffrey A. Hostetler, Benjamin M. Bolker and Madan K. Oli for “Dynamics, Persistence, and Genetic Management of the Endangered Florida Panther Population,” which appeared in Wildlife Monographs. Their monograph assessed Florida panther demographics and evaluated which genetic management strategies are most effective to recover the population.

First given in 1940, the Wildlife Publication Award recognizes excellent scientific literature relating to wildlife biology and management that shows originality.

Click here for a complete list of 2020 TWS award winners. For more about this year’s virtual conference, click here.