Merriam Award

C. Hart Merriam Award

In 1974, the American Society of Mammalogists established the C. Hart Merriam Award to honor outstanding contributions to mammalogy through research, teaching, and service (Journal of Mammalogy 55:694, 1974). In 1996, the Board of Directors amended these criteria so that the award is now given in recognition of outstanding research in mammalogy. Nominees are typically established scientists who are actively engaged in research and who have made significant contributions to the science of mammalogy over a period of at least 10 years. The recipient is invited to address the Society in a plenary session at its annual meeting, as well as to prepare a manuscript for publication in the Journal of Mammalogy that is based on this presentation.

Nominations for the Merriam Award will be considered without regard to national citizenship and activity in the Society. Click here to see previous awardees.

2012 C. Hart Merriam Award Recipient

The C. Hart Merriam Award is given to eminent scholars in recognition of outstanding research in mammalogy over a period of at least 10 years. C. Hart Merriam was the first chief of the Division of Economic Ornithology and Mammalogy of the United States Department of Agriculture (the precursor of the national Fish and Wildlife Service), and a founding member of the American Ornithologists' Union, the National Geographic Society, and the American Society of Mammalogists. Among other contributions to mammalogy and science, he developed the concept of "life zones" to classify biomes found in North America.

The 2012 recipient of the Merriam award is Dr. James Estes from the University of California, Santa Cruz and USGS. Dr. Estes is a pioneer in the study of marine communities, especially with respect to their trophic structure and dynamics. His insights have strongly influenced our theories of community functioning, predator-prey relationships, the role of apex predators, and the evolution of food webs. He is the leading expert in the biology of sea otters and impacts of apex predators on ecosystems. In particular, his research on trophic cascades – the powerful suite of direct and indirect effects that propagate through a food web from the influence of top predators – has been a driving force over the past 30 years in the development of the field of community ecology. His work on sea otters and kelp forest systems provides the most comprehensive evidence ever compiled for the importance of top predators in healthy ecosystems. He has been the leading scientific voice in promoting the recovery of the southern sea otter from near extinction. Dr. Estes has also conducted highly influential research in other fields including animal behavior, population biology and evolutionary biology.

Chair

F. A. Smith (fasmith@unm.edu)

Members

R. T. Bowyer, R. S. Ostfeld, K. E. Holekamp, M. R. Willig, G. R. Michener

To facilitate the nomination and review process, the Merriam Award Committee has adopted the following schedule.  Persons interested in nominating someone for the Merriam Award should send a single letter of nomination and a copy of the nominee’s CV via email to Felisa Smith by 10 February. Based on these materials, the Committee will select candidates for more extensive consideration.  Nominators for the finalists will be asked to arrange to have 2-5 additional letters of support sent via email to Felisa Smith by 15 March.  The recipient of the award will be announced at the banquet at the annual meeting.