REPORT OF THE EIGHTIETH ANNUAL MEETING OF THE COOPER ORNITHOLOGICAL SOCIETY
The Cooper Ornithological Society held its 80th annual meeting in conjunction with the American Ornithologists' Union and the Society of Canadian Ornithologists in San Diego, California, 7–11 February 2010. BARBARA KUS and KEVIN BURNS chaired the Local Committee on Arrangements. Local Committee members were ERIC KERSHNER, PHILIP UNITT, and BRENDA COOK. JOHN ROTENBERRY chaired the Scientific Program Committee, which included KRIS PRESTON, AMBER O'NEAL, BILL KRISTAN, and CINDY SHANNON.
There were 876 registrants. The program included 4 plenary sessions, 12 symposia that collectively included 97 papers and 8 posters, 351 contributed papers, 139 contributed posters, and 7 workshops.
There were three plenary presentations: KENNETH P. DIAL, University of Montana, spoke on the “Ecological and evolutionary significance of the locomotor development in birds,” DAVID B. LANK, Simon Fraser University, British Columbia, on “Why are Ruffs the most interesting bird in the world?,” and KATHY MARTIN, University of British Columbia, on “The World Wide Nest Web: How excavators and decay shape cavity-nesting bird communities”. The fourth plenary session was shared by RENÉE DUCKWORTH, University of Arizona, who provided “An evolutionary perspective on avian range expansion,” and the Cooper Ornithological Society Young Professional Award finalists: DANIEL C. BARTON, University of Montana, “Ecological causes of life-history variation tested by a comparative-experimental approach,” ANDREA TOWNSEND, Cornell University, “Suboptimal reproductive sharing in cooperative crows? An inbreeding extension to the tug-of-war model of reproductive skew,” and ZACHARY CHEVIRON, University of California, Los Angeles, “Genetics of high-altitude adaptation in Rufous-collared Sparrows (Zonotrichia capensis).”
The Student Participation Committee designed and presented a workshop for students, Getting Involved with Non-academic Institutions; they also sponsored a Student—Mentor Lunch and a Get to Know Your Society session.
The Society's Loye and Alden Miller Research Award for lifetime achievement in ornithological research was presented to KEITH HOBSON, Senior Research Scientist with Environment Canada in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan (see below).
CARL MARTI and THOMAS E. MARTIN were recognized with monorary memberships in the Cooper Ornithological Society for their long and outstanding service to the society.
The Young Professional Award was presented to ZACHARY CHEVIRON.
Four awards were presented to students for outstanding presentations. ALEXANDRA ROSE, University of Wyoming, received the A. Brazier Howell Award for “A classic life-history pattern revisited: Day length and the latitudinal gradient in avian clutch size.” JONATHAN MOORE, Virginia Polytechnic Institute, received the Frances F. Roberts Award for “The effects of supplementary feeding on the reproductive activity of the Prothonotary Warbler.” Two Board of Directors Student Paper Awards were presented to JAMES MALEY, Louisiana State University, for “Ecological speciation between King and Clapper rails” and CLINTON FRANCIS, University of Colorado, for “The influence of vocal frequency and flexibility in predicting response to noise pollution.”
Two Mewaldt—King Student Research Awards were presented to JUDIT UNGVARI-MARTIN, University of Florida, for a study of “Habitat specialization in tropical bird communities of Amazonian white sand forests” and to SACHA HEATH, Humboldt State University, for a study of “A bird-caused trophic cascade in the context of riparian restoration: Does it exist and does it represent a ‘restoration service’?” JESSICA OSWALD, University of Florida, received honorable mention for her study of “The biogeography of birds in Peruvian tropical dry forest.”
KIMBERLY M. DOHMS, University of Lethbridge, received the Grinnell Student Research Award for her study of “Phylogeography and population structure of two high-latitude resident North American corvids.”
The members of the Society, through on-line balloting, elected CRAIG BENKMAN, EILEEN KIRSCH, and CAROL VLECK to three-year terms as members of the Board of Directors.
In the Board of Directors' meetings, the following individuals were elected to or continue in office: MERCEDES FOSTER, President; KIMBERLY A. SULLIVAN, President-elect; ABBY POWELL, Secretary; KATIE DUGGER, Treasurer; MARGARET PETERSEN, Assistant Treasurer, MICHAEL PATTEN, Editor-in-Chief of the Condor, and BRETT SANDERCOCK, Editor of Studies in Avian Biology.
The next annual meeting of the Cooper Ornithological Society will be held in conjunction with the annual meetings of the Wilson Ornithological Society and the Association of Field Ornithologists from 9 to 13 March 2011 at the Holiday Inn in Kearney, Nebraska, to coincide with the northward migration of Sandhill Cranes. MARY BOMBERGER BROWN, University of Nebraska, Lincoln, is the local host.
