2023 Joseph Grinnell Award- Dr. Brian Arbogast
Dr. Brain Arbogast is a Professor of Biology and Curator of Mammals in the Department of Biology and Marine Biology at the University of North Carolina Wilmington. Dr. Arbogast’s nomination was supported by letters from former students who credit him for inspiring them to pursue careers in mammalogy and science. Traits like generosity, enthusiasm, compassion, collaboration, and career-long support for women and minorities in science are attributed to Dr. Arbogast by his students and colleagues.
In the past few years, Dr. Arbogast has received numerous awards, including two prestigious teaching awards – one that is the highest teaching honor at his home university (2019 UNC Wilmington Distinguished Teaching Professorship Award) and one that is the highest honor in the University of North Carolina System (2022 UNC Board of Governors Excellence in Teaching Award). Dr. Arbogast also has been instrumental in establishing a research station in Ecuador, WildSumaco Biological Station, which creates opportunities to collaboratively advance conservation and education in the science of mammalogy and tropical ecology for local scientists and students, as well as those from the US. The station will undoubtedly continue to inspire generations of mammalogists.
2023 Leopold Award – Dr. Vernon Bleich
The recipient of the 2023 Aldo Leopold award is Dr. Vernon Bleich. Vern Bleich received BS (1970) and MA (1973) degrees from California State University Long Beach and earned a Ph.D. from the University of Alaska Fairbanks in 1993. Now retired, he was an employee of the California Department of Fish and Game (CDFG) for 34 years where he acquired vast knowledge and expertise regarding the behavior, distribution, ecology, life histories, and habitat requirements of bighorn sheep, mule deer, mountain lions among other species occupying arid and montane ecosystems. He also holds or held affiliated appointments at the University of Nevada Reno, Idaho State University and the University of Alaska Fairbanks. During his career with CDFG he was responsible for the restoration of numerous populations of bighorn sheep to then vacant mountain ranges, was a member of the Peninsular Bighorn Sheep Recovery Team, and served as Project Leader of the Sierra Nevada Bighorn Sheep Recovery Program from 2001 to 2008, during which he oversaw preparation of the Sierra Nevada Bighorn Sheep Recovery Plan. Vern and his co-authors were among the first to apply the concept of metapopulation dynamics to the management and conservation of large mammals and integrated behavioral ecology theory into studies on sexual segregation and mating systems. He has published widely in the professional literature with over 200 publications. He is the recipient of numerous awards from academia, conservation organizations, and professional societies. In 1999, Vern was nominated and elected as a Professional Member of the Boone and Crockett Club, and he is a Life Member of the Society for the Conservation of Bighorn Sheep, Wild Sheep Foundation, and California Wild Sheep Foundation and the American Society of Mammalogists. Vern and his family now reside in Bismarck, North Dakota, where he remains active in the conservation of bighorn sheep and other large mammals occupying the arid environments and northern plains of western North America, enjoys the outdoors and spending time with his grandchildren.
2023 C. Hart Merriam Award – Dr. Lawrence R. Heaney
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. The 2023 recipient of the C. Hart Merriam Award is Dr. Lawrence R. Heaney. Larry developed his twin interests in the systematics and evolution of mammals and the long-term dynamics of mammalian diversity on islands while working as volunteer and assistant in the Division of Mammals at the Smithsonian Institution’s Museum of Natural History, as an undergraduate at the University of Minnesota, and Master’s and PhD student at the University of Kansas. He is currently the Negaunee Curator of Mammals at the Field Museum of Natural History in Chicago, and teaches and advises students at the University of Chicago and University of the Philippines, and is a Research Fellow at the Philippine National Museum of Natural History.
Larry’s field-based research that began in 1981 has been conducted in collaboration with Philippine museums, universities, conservation organizations, and government agencies. This has included training for dozens of young and mid-career Filipino biologists in the Philippines and the US, and led to the founding of the Biodiversity Conservation Society of the Philippines in 1992, from which he received a Lifetime Achievement Award in 2022. The project’s combination of intensive, comprehensive field research and museum-based morphometric and genetic studies has shown that the Philippine Islands have the one of the world’s greatest concentrations of endemic mammals; well over 200 species are now known. He and his collaborators have learned that rare events, including rafting from the Asian mainland beginning about 16 million years ago, have allowed several groups of small mammals to diversify greatly, producing many highly distinctive animals that occur in ecologically complex communities. These studies, including discovery of about 50 previously unknown species of mammals, have produced unexpected insights into the ecological and evolutionary processes that produce diversity of mammals world-wide. They also have had substantial impact on promoting conservation in this heavily deforested tropical country, providing much of the baseline for assessments of conservation status of endemic mammals, and contributing to the establishment of many national parks. For more information, please see https://www.philippinemammalproject.com/