Report of The Seventy-seventh Annual Meeting of The Cooper Ornithological Society
The Cooper Ornithological Society held its 77th annual meeting at the University Inn in Moscow, Idaho, 19–23 June, 2007. Kerri T. Vierling chaired the Local Committee and Steven T. Knick chaired the Scientific Program Committee. There were 132 registrants, including 35 students. The program included 10 posters and 81 papers, as well as six plenary lectures: David Wilcove asked, “Can We Save the Hottest Hotspot in North America?”; J. Michael Scott lectured on “America's Conservation Landscape in 2076: Where, What, Who?”; Helen James spoke on “Island Birds in Ecological and Evolutionary Time: The Hawaiian Fossil Record”; Emilynn Sheffield presented “Landscapes, Lifestyle, and Leisure: Connecting to an Urban America”; Mark Rauzon talked about “Birds on a Hot Atoll”; and Dee Boersma discussed “Penguins as Global Sentinels.” Two workshops were conducted in conjunction with the meeting. Edward O. Garton and Jon S. Horne organized the workshop, “New Approaches to Analysis of Home Range, Resource Selection, and Space Use.” Blair Wolf, Scott McWilliams, and Keith Hobson organized the workshop, “Use of Stable Isotope Approaches to Answer Questions about Avian Movements, Physiology, Behavior, and Ecology.” The banquet speaker was the 2005 Miller Award recipient, John Wiens, whose speech was titled “Does Natural History Have a Place in Modern Conservation?”
The Society's award for lifetime achievement in ornithological research, the Loye and Alden Miller Research Award, was presented to Robert B. Payne. The chair of the Miller Award committee, Mercedes Foster, read the full citation at the banquet, and the citation appears in this edition of The Condor. Dr. Payne was delighted and honored to receive the award, but was unable to attend the banquet.
Kimberly A. Sullivan was recognized with Honorary Membership to the Cooper Ornithological Society for her service to the society. From 1995 through 1997 she served on the COS Board of Directors. She served on the COS Member-Student Grants Committee from 1995 through 2000, the Editorial Review Committee from 1996 to 1998, and was the chair and member of the COS Nominations Committee in 1995 and 2000, respectively. Dr. Sullivan was elected COS Treasurer in 2003 and continues to balance the Society's financial records and work with the officers and members, providing financial guidance and direction.
Mewaldt–King Student Research Awards were presented to Jennifer Mortensen, of Villanova University, for “Conservation ecology and social organization of the endangered White-breasted Thrasher on St. Lucia, West Indies,” Trina Schneider Bayard, from the University of Connecticut, for “Testing the role of social cues in habitat selection behavior,” and Erica N. Spotswood, University of California–Berkley, for “The impact of an invasive plant on the population biology of the Gray-green Fruit-Dove in Moorea, Polynesia.”
Grinnell Student Research Awards were presented to Dana L. Moseley, University of Massachusetts, Amherst, for “Sexual selection and signal function in the song of the Swamp Sparrow (Melospiza georgiana),” and Corey E. Tarwater, of the University of Illinois–Urbana-Champaign, for “How do life history traits of Neotropical birds influence patterns of parental defense?”
Four awards were presented for outstanding student papers. Peter S. Coates, from Idaho State University, was awarded the Brazier Howell Award for his paper (with co-author D. J. Delehanty), “Greater Sage-Grouse incubation rhythms and the effects of age, timing of incubation, predators, habitat, and weather.” Claire W. Varian, of Washington State University, was awarded the Frances F. Roberts Award for her paper (with co-authors M. S. Webster and J. Karubian), “The effects of repayment and competition on offspring sex ratios in the cooperatively breeding Red-backed Fairy-wren.” Board of Directors Student Paper Awards were presented to Anders Olson, University of Wisconsin, for his presentation (with co-authors A. M. Pidgeon, V. C. Radeloff, D. A. Rogers, T. P. Rooney, and D. M. Waller), “Fifty years of change in southern Wisconsin forest bird communities” and to Elizabeth A. Landeen, University of Arizona, for her poster (with co-author A. V. Badyaev), “Developmental evolution of sexual displays: model and a test of feather growth and pigmentation.”
Through the annual balloting by all members of the Society, Janis Dickinson, Mark Reynolds, and Matthias Leu were elected to three-year terms on the Board of Directors.
In the Board of Directors' meetings, the following were elected to, or to continue in, office: Thomas E. Martin, President; Mercedes Foster, President-elect; Eileen M. Kirsch, Secretary; Kimberly A. Sullivan, Treasurer; Thomas Edwards, Assistant Treasurer; David S. Dobkin, Editor of The Condor; and Carl Marti, Editor of Studies in Avian Biology. John Rotenberry became Past-president.
The next annual meeting of the Cooper Ornithological Society will be held in partnership with the American Ornithologists' Union and the Society of Canadian Ornithologists, 6–9 August, 2008, in Portland, Oregon. Susan Haig is chair of the local committee and Doug Robinson is chair of the scientific program committee.
Many financial and membership challenges face the Cooper Ornithological Society and other North American ornithological societies. We are seeking members interested in serving on the Finance Committee to help monitor our investments and to increase our endowment through fundraising. Significant changes are planned for 2008 to further increase publication speed and visibility of The Condor and Studies in Avian Biology. Some key changes include a move to a new publisher (University of California Press) to allow early online publishing, among other benefits, and adoption in mid-2008 of a new editorial model for The Condor. The officers and directors seek further input as we plan for the future of the Cooper Ornithological Society. Contact president Tom Martin if you have ideas, would like to serve on a committee, or would like to be involved in strategic planning for improving and expanding the Society.
Board of Directors Nominations
2006 Nominations Committee:
Fritz Knopf (chair), Barbara Kus, Kimberly Smith, and David Winkler.
The following five members (in alphabetical order) have agreed to be nominated and stand for election (by members) to the Cooper Ornithological Society (COS) Board of Directors, to serve from 2008–2011.
Steven R. Beissinger is a Professor of Conservation Biology and holds the A. Starker Leopold Chair in Wildlife Biology at the University of California, Berkeley. He served as Chair of the Department of Environmental Science, Policy and Management from 2001–2004. Dr. Beissinger teaches courses in conservation biology, demography of small populations, and behavioral and population ecology. His current research focuses on the ecology of endangered or exploited birds, demographic models of population viability, and avian parental care strategies. Dr. Beissinger has worked throughout the U.S. and internationally (Venezuela, Guyana, Puerto Rico, and Cuba), and has published over 130 scientific articles. He is senior editor of the books Population Viability Analysis (University of Chicago Press, 2002) and New World Parrots in Crisis: Solutions from Conservation Biology (Smithsonian Press, 1992). Dr. Beissinger is a Fellow of the London Zoological Society and the American Ornithologists' Union, where he chaired the conservation committee and was elected as a councilor. He has served on the Marbled Murrelet Recovery Team, U.S. National Committee to IUBS, and the U.S. National Committee of Diversitas. He serves on the editorial boards of Conservation Biology, Ecology Letters, and Animal Conservation, and the Board of Directors of the National Audubon Society. He is a research associate of the Smithsonian Institution and the Museum of Vertebrate Zoology. Professor Beissinger earned a B.S. and M.S. in Zoology at Miami University, and a Ph.D. in Natural Resource Ecology at the University of Michigan. Dr. Beissinger joined the faculty at Berkeley after spending eight years as a professor at Yale University and two years as an NSF Postdoctoral Fellow at the Smithsonian Institution's National Zoo.
Craig W. Benkman is a Professor and the Robert B. Berry Distinguished Chair in Ecology at the University of Wyoming, Laramie, Wyoming. He gained his Ph.D. in 1985 from the State University of New York at Albany, after which he was an NSF Postdoctoral Research Fellow in Environmental Biology from 1987–1989 (Princeton University) and an NSF NATO Postdoctoral Fellow from 1989–1991 (University of British Columbia). Dr. Benkman was on the faculty of New Mexico State University from 1993 to 2004. He has been a member of the Cooper Ornithological Society since 1977, serving on the Student Awards Committee in 1994 (joint committee with AOU) and 2003, and is an Elective Member and Fellow of the AOU. Dr. Benkman has served as president of the New Mexico Ornithological Society, 2000–2004; on the Board of Directors of Audubon Wyoming, 2005–present; as Associate Editor for Evolution, 2002–2005, The American Naturalist, 2006–2008, and Functional Ecology, 2006–present; and on the Scientific Advisory Committee, Southwestern Research Station, 2001–2003. Most of Dr. Benkman's research concerns the ecology and evolution of conifer seed-eating birds, especially crossbills.
Jeffrey F. Kelly is an Assistant Professor at the University of Oklahoma where he teaches conservation biology and population ecology to undergraduate and graduate students. He is also a Heritage Biologist in the Oklahoma Natural Heritage Inventory. Dr. Kelly holds a B.S. in Wildlife Management from the University of Maine, an M.S. in Zoology from Oklahoma State University, and a Ph.D. in Zoology from Colorado State University. His graduate research projects focused on Red-cockaded Woodpeckers in Oklahoma and Belted Kingfishers in Colorado. Beginning with his post-doc at the Forest Service's Rocky Mountain Research Station in Albuquerque, Dr. Kelly has been conducting research on songbird migration and the effects of shrub encroachment on grassland bird communities for the past 15 years. He has published 31 peer-reviewed papers, including four papers in The Condor, three in The Auk, and two in Journal of Field Ornithology. Other journals in which Dr. Kelly's papers have appeared include Trends in Ecology and Evolution, Ecology, Ecological Applications, Oikos, and Oecologia. Many of his recent papers explore the use of stable isotopes in understanding songbird migration. In 2006, he and others received funding to form a research coordination network focused on migration (< www.migrate.ou.edu>). Over the last 20 years, he has been active as a member of the Cooper Ornithological Society and other professional ornithological and conservation societies. Dr. Kelly currently serves as the chair of the conservation committee for the Southwestern Association of Naturalists and is a co-editor of the Oklahoma Ornithological Society Bulletin. An elected member of the AOU, his primary interests lie at the interface of science, conservation, and education. He thinks that ornithology, and the Cooper society in particular, will continue to play a leading role in transferring scientific knowledge into public education and policy.
Patricia (Pat) L. Kennedy is a Professor of Wildlife Biology and Management in the Department of Fisheries and Wildlife at Oregon State University. She is located in northeastern Oregon (a six hour drive from OSU's main campus) at Eastern Oregon Agricultural Research Center, where she is the ecologist on an interdisciplinary team that evaluates ranching and farming practices to enhance their ecological and economic sustainability. She also teaches courses in wildlife ecology and management at Eastern Oregon University where OSU offers several degree programs in agricultural sciences. She holds a B.A. in Biology from Colorado College, an M.S. in Zoology from the University of Idaho, and a Ph.D. in Biology and Ecology from Utah State University. Prior to joining the OSU faculty in 2002, Dr. Kennedy spent 11 years as an Assistant and Associate Professor in the Department of Fishery and Wildlife Biology at Colorado State University. She has published >50 technical papers and book chapters, including nine papers in The Condor and Studies in Avian Biology. Dr. Kennedy joined COS in 1976 and is a Life Member as well as an elected Fellow of the AOU. Over the last 30 years, she has been active in COS both as a member and serving one term on the Board of Directors (2000–2002), on the Mewaldt-King Award Committee, and as the COS representative on the American Bird Conservancy Policy Council. She also served on several committees that provided scientific guidance on ornithological policy issues for the Ornithological Council. She has served in similar capacities for the Raptor Research Foundation and the Ecological Society of America and was an Associate Editor for the Journal of Raptor Research. Dr. Kennedy's current passions are grassland birds and the conservation of those landscapes. She especially enjoys working at the science-policy interface and views the Cooper Ornithological Society as the leading society providing information on the basic and applied ecology of birds.
Frank Moore is Professor of Biological Sciences, T. W. Bennett Distinguished Professor in the Sciences, and Chair of the Department of Biological Sciences at The University of Southern Mississippi. He received a B.A. from Ohio Wesleyan University, M.S. from Northern Illinois University, and Ph.D. in 1978 from Clemson University. Dr. Moore is a Fellow of the American Ornithologists' Union, former assistant to the AOU Treasurer, former Associate Editor for The Auk, former member of the editorial board of the American Midland Naturalist, current member of the editorial board for the Southeastern Naturalist, member of the IOC Scientific Program Committee, member of the scientific advisory board for the Gulf Coast Bird Observatory, and Trustee for the Nature Conservancy in Mississippi. Dr. Moore, along with his students and collaborators, studies the biology of migratory birds during stopover (< http://www.usm.edu/mbrg/>), has done so on islands off the coasts of Sweden and Italy, on Block Island, RI, and at a variety of locations along the northern coast of the Gulf of Mexico, including the Mississippi barrier islands, the cheniers of Louisiana, and Ft. Morgan Peninsula, Alabama, and has published over 85 papers on the biology of migratory birds. Several organizations and federal agencies have funded his research, including the National Geographic Society, National Fish and Wildlife Foundation, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, USDA Forest Service, National Park Service, NOAA, U.S. Department of the Navy, Mississippi Department of Health–Center for Disease Control, and the National Science Foundation.
