Anne Keymer Prize

In 1981, Anne was one of the first winners of this previously unnamed prize. She went on to a career of great distinction, before dying of cancer in 1993, at the age of 36. She was a member of our Journal of Animal Ecology editorial board and was an exemplary scholar, teacher and citizen.

In naming this prize after Anne, we recognise a younger ecologist who embodies, to a remarkable degree, the qualities and values we stand for.

To be eligible, you must present a paper at our Annual Meeting and, usually, be a current or recent graduate student and present work that was completed when still a student. Competition for the prize is fierce. A panel of judges chooses the winner and the prize is an honorarium of £250. There are two runner up prizes of £100 each.

2023 Winner

Katy Ross (UK Centre for Ecology and Hydrology)
Erosion and Ecosystem Exchange: Quantifying the carbon balance of Falkland Islands’ peatlands

2023 Runner Up

Marco Antonio Chiminazzo (Universidade Estadual Paulista)
How do disturbance and persistence drive community assembly and structure across contrasting ecosystems? A functional approach in the Cerrado

2020 Winner

Gergana Daskalova (University of Edinburgh)
Accelerating land abandonment is reshaping ecosystems and biodiversity across Europe.

2020 Runner Up

Dominic Martin (University of Goettingen)
Land-use trajectory reveals recurring conservation opportunities in the biodiversity hotspot Madagascar.

Sanne Evers (1 Institute of Biology Martin Luther University Halle-Wittenberg)
Are we timing it right? Lagged and dormant season climate predicts vital rates in perennial plants better than growing season climate.

2020 Highly Commended

Rachel Bates (Imperial College London)
Calculating extinction probabilities for threatened species using historical IUCN data.

Johannes Oberpriller (University of Regensburg)
Importance of drivers and processes for the predictive uncertainty in vegetation dynamics changes across European vegetation zones.

Tanja Petersen (Norwegian University of Science and Technology)
Biodiversity dynamics in urban areas under changing land-use.

2019 Winner

Jessica Burrows (University of Stirling)
Chernobyl-level radiation exposure triggers elevated metabolic rate and nectar consumption in bumblebees (Bombus terrestris).

2019 Runner Up

Gergana Daskalova (University of Edinburgh)
Cumulative effects of global change drivers are stronger at latitudinal extremes

2019 Highly Commended

Michael Pashkevich (University of Cambridge)
Age is not “just a number”:  differences in ground, understorey, and canopy arthropod communities across an oil palm chronosequence

Lorna Drake (Cardiff University)
Otterly delicious: Investigating the diet of the Eurasian otter (Lutra lutra) using high throughput sequencing and stable isotope analysis

Andrew Mooney (Trinity College Dublin)
Few large animals or many small? Managing zoo collections for visitor attendance and in situ conservation activity.

2018 Winner

Jesamine Bartlett (University of Birmingham)
Ecological consequences of a single introduced species to the Antarctic.

2018 Runner Up

Daniel Kenna (Imperial College London)
Flight of the Bumblebee: Bee flight performance under variable temperature scenarios and pesticide stress

2018 Highly Commended

Janna Barel (Wageningen University)
Winter cover crop legacy effects on litter decomposition in agriculture act through litter quality and microbial community changes

Gergana Daskalova (University of Edinburgh)
Population and biodiversity change increase after forest cover change globally

2017 Winner (Ecology Across Borders)

Pen-Yuan Hsing (Durham University)
Lorraine Coghill (Durham University), Julie Ryder (Belmont Community School), Roland Ascroft (Citizen scientist), Philip Stephens (Durham University)
Science and citizenship: Capacity building for civic engagement through the MammalWeb citizen science project

2017 Runners Up

Eleanor Tew (University of Cambridge)
Capturing cultural ecosystem services – a new method of incorporating cultural values into land management decisions

Dries Van de Loock (University of Antwerp Belgium)
Liesbeth De Neve (Ghent University Belgium), Diederik Strubbe (Ghent University Belgium), Mwangi Githiru (Wildlife Works Kenya), Erik Matthysen (University of Antwerp Belgium), Luc Lens (Ghent University Belgium)
Cooperative breeding in an Afrotropical songbird: a buffer against habitat disturbance?

2017 Highly Commended

Martina Lori (Research Institute of Organic Agriculture (FiBL))
Sarah Symanczik (Research Institute of Organic Agriculture (FiBL)), Paul Mäder (Research Institute of Organic Agriculture (FiBL)), Norah Efosa (Research Institute of Organic Agriculture (FiBL)), Sebastian Jaenicke (Justus-Liebig-University Giessen), Franz Buegger (Helmholtz Zentrum München), Simon Tresch (Research Institute of Organic Agriculture (FiBL)), Alexander Goesmann (Justus-Liebig-University Giessen), Andreas Gattinger (Justus-Liebig-University Giessen)
Enhanced functional potential of protease encoding microbial communities in soils of organic compared to conventional farming systems under simulated future drought scenarios

Ineke Roeling (Universiteit Utrecht)
Jerry Van Dijk (Universiteit Utrecht), Maarten Eppinga (Universiteit Utrecht), Martin Wassen (Universiteit Utrecht)
Grassland plants differ in phenotypic plasticity and trait strategy depending on their niche width and position along N:P gradients

2016 Winner

Svenja Kroeger (University of Aberdeen)
Julien Martin (University of Aberdeen), Jane Reid (University of Aberdeen), Daniel Blumstein (University of California), Kenneth Armitage (The University of Kansas)
Cumulative reproductive costs on current reproduction in wild yellow-bellied marmots

2016 Runners Up

Charlie Outhwaite (Centre for Ecology & Hydrology)
Gary Powney (CEH), Tom August (CEH), Nick Isaac (CEH)
The other taxa behind the State of Nature 2016 report: Exploring the results from biological records

Ashley Lyons (Edge Hill University)
Paul Ashton (Edge Hill University), Ian Powell (Edge Hill University), Anne Oxbrough (Edge Hill University)
Spider community responses to contrasting grazing management in upland calcareous grasslands

2016 Highly Commended

Alessandra Kortz (University of St Andrews )
Anne Magurran (University of St Andrews)
Habitat structure mediates the impact of an invasive species in a biodiversity hotspot

Marianna Chimienti (University of Aberdeen)
Thomas Cornulier (University of Aberdeen), Ellie Owen (RSPB), Mark Bolton (RSPB), Ian Davies (Marine Scotland Science), Justin Travis (University of Aberdeen), Beth Scott (University of Aberdeen)
Taking movement data to new depths: inferring prey availability and patch profitability from predator foraging behaviour

2015 Winner

Janet Maclean (James Hutton Institute/University of Aberdeen)
Ruth Mitchell (James Hutton Institute), Robin Pakeman (James Hutton Institute), David Burslem (University of Aberdeen), David Genney (Scottish Natural Heritage), Jeanette Hall (Scottish Natural Heritage)
Does the native plant community of Atlantic oak woods recover after removal of invasive Rhododendron ponticum?

2015 Runners Up

Katie Murray (University of Stirling)
Helen Roy (Centre for Ecology & Hydrology), Matthew Tinsley (University of Stirling)
Host life history shifts in response to a sexually transmitted infection in an alien invasive ladybird

Callum Macgregor (Centre for Ecology & Hydrology/University of Hull/Newcastle University)
Darren Evans (University of Hull/Newcastle University), Richard Fox (Butterfly Conservation), Michael Pocock (Centre for Ecology & Hydrology)
Artificial light affects abundance and diversity of moths, with implications for nocturnal pollen transport

2015 Highly Commended

Jacob Bishop (University of Reading)
Hannah Jones (University of Reading), Simon Potts (University of Reading)
Crop yield resilience and climate change: the role of insect pollinators

Philippa Holder (University of Exeter)
Ainsley Jones (FERA), Charles Tyler (University of Exeter), James Cresswell (University of Exeter)
A new hypothesis regarding the cause of mass honeybee deaths in France in the 1990s

Kirsty Yule (Victoria University of Wellington)
Kevin Burns (Victoria University of Wellington)
Winning a co-evolutionary arms-race: a shift in sensory mechanisms compensates for cryptic prey

Svenja Kroeger (University of Aberdeen)
Daniel Blumstein (University of California Los Angeles), Kenneth Armitage (The University of Kansas), Jane Reid (University of Aberdeen), Julien Martin (University of Aberdeen)
Sex and environmental differences in age-dependent and age-independent ageing variation in body mass

2014 BES-SFE Winner

Tom Walker (University of Manchester)
Mark Garnett (NERC Radiocarbon Facility), Susan Ward (Lancaster University), Simon Oakley (Centre for Ecology & Hydrology), Richard Bardgett (University of Manchester), Nicholas Ostle (Lancaster University)
Vascular plants drive ancient peatland carbon loss in the face of climate change

2014 BES-SFE Runners up

Tommaso Jucker (University of Cambridge)
Olivier Bouriaud (University Stefan cel Mare of Suceava), David Coomes (University of Cambridge)
Crown plasticity enables trees to optimize canopy packing in mixed-species forests

Shun Hasegawa (Imperial College London)
Sally Power (University of Western Sydney), Catriona Macdonald (University of Western Sydney)
Investigating the effects of elevated temperature on carbon, nitrogen and phosphorus cycling in soils under Eucalyptus tereticornis growing in whole-tree chambers

2014 BES-SFE Highly Commended

Alexis Beaurepaire (Institut für Biologie Martin Luther Universität Halle-Wittenberg)
Bernhard Kraus (University Hospital Halle), Gudrun Koeniger (Martin Luther Universität), Nikolaus Koeniger (Martin Luther Universität), Herbert Lim (Agricultural Research Station Tenom), Robin Moritz (Martin Luther Universität)
Extensive population admixture on drone congregation areas of the giant honeybee, Apis dorsata (Fabricius, 1793)

2013 (INTECOL) Winner

James Borrell, Queen Mary University of London
(Nian Wang, Queen Mary University of London; Richard Buggs, Queen Mary University of London)
Gene flow between birch species of differing ploidy levels in the UK: Implications for conservation of dwarf birch

2013 (INTECOL) Runners up

Hannah Markham, University of Queensland
(George Roff, University of Queensland; Jian-xin Zhao, University of Queensland; John Pandolfi, University of Queensland)
A Centennial-Scale Palaeoecological Study to Disentangle the Effects of Chronic Anthropogenic Pressure on the Wet Tropics Region of the Inshore Great Barrier Reef since European Colonisation.

Anna Riach, University of York
(Venura Perera, University of Exeter; Hannah Florance, University of Exeter; Steven Penfield, University of Exeter; Jane Hill, University of York)
Relationships between insects and their host-plants viewed through metabolomic fingerprints

2013 (INTECOL) Highly Commended

Ofir Katz (Ben-Gurion University of the Negev), Ulrike Lampe (Bielefeld University), Frazer Matthews-Bird (The Open University), Tim Rademacher (University of Cambridge), Rebecca Spriggs (University of Cambridge)

2012 Award winner

Hanna Granroth-Wilding – Granroth-Wilding, H. (Institute of Evolutionary Biology University of Edinburgh), Burthe, S. (Centre for Ecology and Hydrology), Lewis, S. (Institute of Evolutionary Biology University of Edinburgh), Daunt, F. (Centre for Ecology and Hydrology), Cunningham, E. (Institute of Evolutionary Biology University of Edinburgh) – Parasites of nestling seabirds affect siblings unequally

2012 Runners Up

Eimear Rooney (Queen’s University Belfast)
Reid, N. (Quercus), Lundy, M.G. (Quercus), Kunc, H.P. (Queen’s University Belfast), Montgomery, W. I. (Queen’s University Belfast) – Supplementary feeding demonstrates temporal heterogeneity in the importance of food on reproductive success

Phillip J Blaen (University of Birmingham)
Milner, A. M. (University of Birmingham), Hannah, D. M. (University of Birmingham), Brown, L. E. (University of Leeds) – Drivers of nutrient uptake in High Arctic rivers (Svalbard) under a changing climate

2011 Award Winner

Sunitha Pangala (The Open University)
Gauci, V. (The Open University) Hornibrook, E.R. (University of Bristol) Gowing, D.J. (The Open University) – Methane Emissions from Tropical Wetland Trees

2011 Runners up

Sophie Fauset (University of Leeds)
Baker, T.M., Lewis, S.L., Feldpaush, T.R., (University of Leeds) Affum-Baffoe, K., (Ghana Forestry Commission) Swaine, M.D. (University of Aberdeen) Does Long Term Drought Affect the Floristic and Functional Composition of Tropical Forests in Ghana, West Africa?

Chris Sutherland (University of Aberdeen)
Elston, D. (Biomathematics and Statistics Scotland) Bierman, S. (Institute for Marine Resources and Ecosystem Studies) Lambin, X., (University of Aberdeen) – Processes at Multiple Scales affect Extinction and Colonisation in a Water Vole Metapopulation

2010 Award winner

Thomas Crowther (University of Cardiff)
Jones, T.H., Boddy, L. (University of Cardiff) – Fungus-invertebrate interactions determine mycelial distribution and wood decay rates.

2010 Runner up prize winners

Sharon Zytynska (University of Manchester)
Presziosi, R.F. (University of Manchester) – Aphic Choice behaviour is influenced by host plant genotype and intraspecific competition among aphid genotypes.

Gabriel Yvon-Durocher (Queen Mary University of London )
Montoya, J.M (Marine Sciences Institute, Barcelona), Trimmer, M. (Queen Mary University of London), Woodward, G. (Queen Mary University of London) – Warming alters the size spectrum and the distribution of biomass in aquatic ecosystems

2009 Award winner

Ailsa Mclean (University of Oxford)
Van Asch, M.( University of Oxford), Godfray, H.C.J. (University of Oxford), Ferrari, J. (University of York) – Fitness influences of facultative symbionts in the pea aphid (Acyrthosiphon pisum)

2009 Runner up prize winners

Mary O’Connor (NCEAS)
Piehler, M.P. (Institute of Marine Sciences, UNC), Leech, D. M. (DePauw University), Anton, A. (University of North Carolina), Bruno, J.F. (University of North Carolina) – Implications of metabolic temperature scaling for marine food web structures

Gabriel Yvon-Durocher (Queen Mary University of London)
Montoya, J., Trimmer, M., Woodward, G. (Queen Mary University of London) – Methane and NPP: a New Positive Feedback, between Global Warming and the Carbon Cycle