<div dir="ltr"><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0.0001pt;background-image:initial;background-repeat:initial"><span style="font-size:10pt;line-height:115%;font-family:Arial,sans-serif">The Xerces Society is
thrilled to announce the two winners of the 2015 Joan Mosenthal DeWind Awards.
>From among the exceptional applications we received, the following two students
were selected:</span></p>

<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0.0001pt;background-image:initial;background-repeat:initial"><span style="font-size:10pt;line-height:115%;font-family:Arial,sans-serif"> </span></p>

<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0.0001pt;background-image:initial;background-repeat:initial"><b><span style="font-size:10pt;line-height:115%;font-family:Arial,sans-serif">Ania Majewska – University
of Georgia, Odum School of Ecology</span></b><span style="font-size:10pt;line-height:115%;font-family:Arial,sans-serif"></span></p>

<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0.0001pt;background-image:initial;background-repeat:initial"><i><span style="font-size:10pt;line-height:115%;font-family:Arial,sans-serif">Gardening with good
intentions: examining the effects of tropical milkweed (</span></i><span style="font-size:10pt;line-height:115%;font-family:Arial,sans-serif">Asclepias curassavica<i>) on monarch migration and disease.</i></span><span style="font-size:10pt;line-height:115%;font-family:Arial,sans-serif"></span></p>

<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0.0001pt;background-image:initial;background-repeat:initial"><span style="font-size:10pt;line-height:115%;font-family:Arial,sans-serif">Habitat loss is a
major threat to monarchs and their spectacular migration. Gardeners attempt to
counter habitat loss by planting milkweed in their gardens to provide host
plants for monarch reproduction. Yet, the most readily available and
easiest-to-grow species, tropical milkweed (<i>Asclepias
curassavica</i>), might have negative consequences. I propose a study that
investigates the effects of exotic milkweed on migratory monarchs and a
monarch-specific protozoan parasite as well as a management technique for the
exotic milkweed. This study will provide an evidence-based understanding of the
impacts of exotic milkweed on monarchs and yield recommendations for best
practices for home gardens.</span></p>

<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0.0001pt;background-image:initial;background-repeat:initial"><span style="font-size:10pt;line-height:115%;font-family:Arial,sans-serif"> </span></p>

<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0.0001pt;background-image:initial;background-repeat:initial"><b><span style="font-size:10pt;line-height:115%;font-family:Arial,sans-serif;color:black">Joseph Smokey – Washington
State University Vancouver, School of Biological Sciences</span></b><span style="font-size:10pt;line-height:115%;font-family:Arial,sans-serif"></span></p>

<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0.0001pt;background-image:initial;background-repeat:initial"><i><span style="font-size:10pt;line-height:115%;font-family:Arial,sans-serif;color:black">How do butterfly
metapopulation dynamics change in response to fire? Evaluating the impact of
burning as a restoration method of remnant prairie habitat on a federally endangered
butterfly (</span></i><span style="font-size:10pt;line-height:115%;font-family:Arial,sans-serif;color:black">Plebejus icarioides fenderi<i>).</i></span><span style="font-size:10pt;line-height:115%;font-family:Arial,sans-serif"></span></p>

<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0.0001pt;background-image:initial;background-repeat:initial"><span style="font-size:10pt;line-height:115%;font-family:Arial,sans-serif">Land managers using
fire to restore fragmented and degraded prairie sites seek to understand how
many sites and how frequently to burn to provide the greatest benefit to
threatened butterflies. This study will use a mark-recapture study on U.S. Army
Corps of Engineer sites in Eugene, OR, in combination with a fire model to
evaluate relative benefits of burning entire, small but well-connected sites
versus subdividing small patches for burn management in a Fender’s blue
butterfly (<i>Plebejus icarioides fenderi</i>) metapopulation. Results will
provide ecologists and managers with insight into best practices of fire
restoration for prairie butterflies.</span></p>

<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0.0001pt;background-image:initial;background-repeat:initial"><span style="font-size:10pt;line-height:115%;font-family:Arial,sans-serif"> </span></p>

<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0.0001pt;background-image:initial;background-repeat:initial"><span style="font-size:10pt;line-height:115%;font-family:Arial,sans-serif">The board and staff of
the Society congratulate Ania and Joseph and thank all the applicants for their
outstanding efforts in invertebrate conservation.</span></p>

<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0.0001pt;background-image:initial;background-repeat:initial"><span style="font-size:10pt;line-height:115%;font-family:Arial,sans-serif"> </span></p>

<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0.0001pt;background-image:initial;background-repeat:initial"><span style="font-size:10pt;line-height:115%;font-family:Arial,sans-serif">The DeWind Awards are
given to individuals engaged in studies or research leading to a university
degree related to Lepidoptera research and conservation, and working or
intending to work in that field. Joan Mosenthal DeWind was a pioneering member
of the Xerces Society. A psychiatric social worker by profession, she was also
an avid butterfly gardener and an accomplished amateur lepidopterist. Her
contributions of time, organizational expertise, and financial support were
essential to the growth and success of the Xerces Society over the past 40
years. Joan also had a keen interest in young people, supporting what became
the Young Entomologists’ Society. In Joan’s memory, Bill DeWind established a
student research endowment fund in her name.</span></p>

<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0.0001pt;background-image:initial;background-repeat:initial"><span style="font-size:10pt;line-height:115%;font-family:Arial,sans-serif"> </span></p>

<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0.0001pt;background-image:initial;background-repeat:initial"><span style="font-size:10pt;line-height:115%;font-family:Arial,sans-serif">For more information
on the DeWind Award, visit </span><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif;font-size:11pt;line-height:115%"><a href="https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u=http-3A__www.xerces.org_joan-2Ddewind-2Daward_&d=AwMFaQ&c=-dg2m7zWuuDZ0MUcV7Sdqw&r=tVAKMFPe3UCcsMWUFXo0FeX0xe1JUAj77B74DAI3DKI&m=6zFH1RGH3jY8UDzUQhh08yxZXiZf-vIFTJhF5_Ajxrk&s=MEhC_PrJGCePW59nfXKIOQy1FoGD2L0IIEhfThOfZwg&e=">http://www.xerces.org/joan-dewind-award/</a>.</span></p><div><br></div>-- <br><div><div dir="ltr"><p style="margin:0in 0in 0.0001pt"><b><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:Calibri,sans-serif;color:rgb(31,73,125)">Candace
Fallon</span></b><span style="font-family:Arial,sans-serif"></span></p><p style="margin:0in 0in 0.0001pt"><span>Conservation Biologist</span><span style="font-family:Arial,sans-serif"></span></p><p style="margin:0in 0in 0.0001pt"><span>Endangered Species Program</span></p></div></div>
</div>