The SSAR student poster awards honor Victor Hutchison for his extensive contributions to herpetology and the development of future herpetologists. The sixth annual SSAR Victor Hutchison Student Poster Awards were presented at the 60th Annual Meeting of the SSAR and the Joint Meeting of Ichthyology and Herpetology in New Orleans, Louisiana, 6-10 July 2016. This year there were 53 poster submissions, our highest number of submissions so far. In recognition of outstanding student poster presentations at the annual meeting, a single award was given in each of the following categories: Evolution, Genetics, & Systematics (3 eligible presentations), Ecology, Natural History, Distribution, & Behavior (23 presentations), Physiology & Morphology (9 presentations), and Conservation & Management (12 presentations). All awardees received a check for US $200 and a book from CRC Press.
This year’s judges were Tiffany Doan (Chair, University of Central Florida), Catherine Aubee (US Environmental Protection Agency), Nirvana Filoramo (Worcester State University), Marina Gerson (California State University, Stanislaus), Michelle Koo (University of California), Mark Mills (Missouri Western State University), Carol Spencer (Museum of Vertebrate Zoology), Steven Whitfield (Zoo Miami), and Thomas Wilson (University of Tennessee at Chattanooga).
The Winners – Ecology, Natural History, Distribution, & Behavior: Berlynna Heres (Marshall University), “Ambush Site Selection in Eastern Diamondback Rattlesnakes Using Vegetation Analysis and Radio Telemetry.” Evolution, Genetics, & Systematics: Kathryn Mercier (University of Central Florida), “Unearthing the evolutionary history of Mole Skinks.” Physiology & Morphology: Jake Pruett (Indiana State University, Terra Haute), “Polymorphic Male Blue-bellied Lizards (Sceloporus parvus) Exhibit Differences in Circulating Testosterone Levels and Relative Abundance of Volatile Organic Compounds”.Conservation & Management: Alex Cameron (John Carroll University), “Can Species Distribution Models Predict Abundance?”