Echo Travel Award

This annual award of $1000 (USD) is given to support travel to a scientific conference relevant to the winner’s career objectives and to Ducks Unlimited Canada (DUC). Applicants must be or have been supported by IWWR. The award commemorates outstanding contributions of the Echo Lake crew to science-based conservation and their desire to help advance careers of promising professionals as they are about to or that have recently graduated. This is a time period when they may have limited access to funds and when their careers could benefit from exposure and networking opportunities at meetings. However, the award is also open to current IWWR students earlier in their graduate programs.

Key Timelines

• The next round of applications will be due November 2025.

Eligibility

• All students still within their IWWR supported programs and those that have graduated from those programs within three years (36 months) of the application deadline
• Must give an oral presentation
• Can highlight results of supported or new research of relevance to DUC
• Conference must occur by December 31^st in the calendar year after the award deadline.
• Cannot have previously won the Echo Award
• Cannot be an IWWR employee

You can apply before being accepted to a conference. However, release of funds will be contingent upon proof of acceptance and submission of final abstract.

Application Process

• Please submit the following information to IWWR@ducks.ca in no more than 2 pages:
  • Name, anticipated or actual graduation date (or time since graduation), and employment status
  • Anticipated conference name, date, and website.
  • Statement of conference relevance to:
    • Advancing your career aspirations
    • DUC’s science-based conservation
  • Presentation abstract- this may be draft if you have not yet submitted
  • CV (not included in page count)
  • Letter from supervisor confirming anticipated graduation date if not yet graduated (not included in page count and not required if already graduated)

Selection Criteria

• Decisions will be made by DUC staff based on the following criteria:
  • Relevance of conference to applicant’s career aspirations and to DUC
  • Quality of abstract, e.g. clarity, scientific merit, management implications
  • Achievements of applicant, given the current stage of their career
• Preference will be given to those within one year of graduation or three years post-graduation at the application deadline.

Reporting Requirements

• Submit proof of attendance. Failure to attend will require discussion with DUC with respect to reasons and return of funds
• A brief write up of benefits obtained from attending, suitable for sharing with donors

Echo Travel Award Recipients

2025

Alec Schindler, PhD. Energetic trade-offs in decision-making, reproductive effort, and subsequent parental care in Greenland white-fronted geese, University of Saskatchewan.

2024

Nick Masto, PhD. Functional connectivity and use of waterfowl sanctuaries for wintering mallards in the Mississippi Alluvial Valley, Tennessee Technological University.

2023

Sarah Clements, PhD. Habitat and environmental drivers of shorebird energy expenditure at contrasting non-breeding sites within a management unit, University of Missouri.

2022

Casey Setash, PhD. Effects of GPS transmitters on waterfowl annual survival across the life-history spectrum, Colorado State University.

2021

Zhe Zhang, PhD. Cooling effects of wetlands to mitigate climate change – a study of the North America Prairie Pothole Region, University of Saskatchewan.

2020

Matt Dyson, PhD. Waterfowl nest success in the Western Boreal Forest: Does industrial development alter predation rates?, University of Waterloo.

2019

Kelsey Navarre, MSc. Temporal covariation of demographic rates in Lesser Scaup (Aythya affinis) and management implications, Colorado State University.

2018

Kyle Kuechle, MSc. Quantifying neonicotinoid concentrations in Missouri public wetlands and the corresponding threat to aquatic food webs, University of Missouri.

Publication Award

Established in 2010, this award recognizes IWWR supported students who have successfully published research that makes a significant contribution to waterfowl and wetland conservation science.

Each year, the Institute for Wetland and Waterfowl Research (IWWR) awards up to two researchers with the IWWR Student Publication Award. In addition to recognition, recipients receive $500.

Eligibility criteria

• Only students who have received financial support from IWWR will be considered for this award.
• The student must have played a significant role in data collection, data analysis and preparation of the manuscript.
• Publications must have the student as the senior author.
• Student publications are only considered if they are submitted for publication within five years of the thesis defense.
• Papers are assessed by year of publication.
• Students who are IWWR staff (permanent, term, contract) at the time of publication review are not eligible for consideration for the award. Students who are Ducks Unlimited Canada or Ducks Unlimited Inc. staff outside of IWWR are eligible for consideration.

IWWR Student Publication Award Recipients

2022

Riecke, T.V., M.G. Lohman, B.S. Sedinger, T.W. Arnold, C.L. Feldheim, D.N. Koons, F.C. Rohwer, M. Schaub, P.J. Williams, and J.S. Sedinger. 2022. Density‐dependence produces spurious relationships among demographic parameters in a harvested species. Journal of Animal Ecology 91:2261-2272.

Srayko, S.H., T.D. Jardine, I.D. Phillips, and D.P. Chivers. 2022. Seasonal mass migration of water boatmen (Hemiptera: Corixidae) as a wetland–river linkage and dietary subsidy to riverine fish. Ecosystems 25:1571-1588.

2021

Messmer, D.J., R.T. Alisauskas, H. Pöysä, P. Runko, and R.G. Clark. 2021. Plasticity in timing of avian breeding in response to spring temperature differs between early and late nesting species. Scientific Reports 11:5410.

Zhang, Z., L.E. Bortolotti, Z. Li, L.M. Armstrong, T.W. Bell, and Y. Li. 2021. Heterogeneous changes to wetlands in the Canadian prairies under future climate. Water Resources Research 57:e2020WR028727.

2020

Dyson, M.E., S.M. Slattery, and B.C. Fedy. 2020. Nest Predators of Ducks in the Boreal Forest. Wildlife Society Bulletin 44(3):631–639.

Zhang, Z., Y. Li, M. Barlage, F. Chen, G. Miguez-Macho, A. Ireson, and Z. Li. 2020. Modeling groundwater responses to climate change in the Prairie Pothole Region. Hydrology and Earth System Sciences 24:655-672.

2019

Janke, A.K., M.J. Anteau, and J.D. Stafford. 2019. Prairie wetlands confer consistent migrant refueling conditions across a gradient of agricultural land use intensities. Biological Conservation 229: 99-112.

Kuechle, K.J., E.B. Webb, D. Mengel, and A.R. Main. 2019. Factors influencing neonicotinoid concentrations in floodplain wetland sediments across Missouri. Environmental Science & Technology 53:10591-10600.

2018

Iles, D.T., R.F. Rockwell, and D.N. Koons. 2018. Reproductive success of a keystone herbivore is more variable and responsive to climate in habitats with lower resource density. Journal of Animal Ecology 87: 1182-1191.

Johns, D.W., T.A. Marchant, G.D. Fairhurst, J.R. Speakman, and R.G. Clark. 2018. Biomarker of burden: Feather corticosterone reflects energetic expenditure and allostatic overload in captive waterfowl. Functional Ecology 32: 345-357.

2017

Ross, M.V., R.T. Alisauskas, D.C. Douglas, and D.K. Kellett. 2017. Decadal declines in avian herbivore reproduction: density-dependent nutrition and phenological mismatch in the Arctic. Ecology 98: 1869-1883.

2016

Finger, T.A., A.D. Afton, M.L. Schummer, S.A. Petrie, S.S. Badzinski, M.A. Johnson, M.L. Szymanski, K.J. Jacobs, G.H. Olsen, and M.A. Mitchell. 2016. Environmental factors influence lesser scaup migration chronology and population monitoring. Journal of Wildlife Management 80: 1437-1449. Read story.

Provencher, J.F., M.R. Forbes, H.L. Hennin, O.P. Love, B.M. Braune, M.L. Mallory, and H.G Gilchrist. 2016. Implications of mercury and lead concentrations on breeding physiology and penology in an Arctic bird. Environmental Pollution 218: 1014-1022. Read story.

2015

Harms, N.J., P. Legagneux, H.G. Gilchrist, J. Bêty, O.P. Love, M.R. Forbes, G.R. Bortolotti, and C. Soos. 2015. Feather corticosterone reveals effect of moulting in the autumn on subsequent reproductive output and survival in an Arctic migratory bird. Proceeding of the Royal Society B 282: 20142085. Read story.

Lavretsky, P., J.M. Dacosta, B.H. Hernández-Baños, A. Engilis Jr., M.D. Sorenson, and J.L. Peters. 2015. Speciation genomics and a role for the Z chromosome in the early stages of divergence between Mexican ducks and mallards. Molecular Ecology 24: 5364-5378. Read story.

2014

Barker, N.K.S., S.G. Cumming, and M. Darveau. 2014. Models to predict the distribution and abundance of breeding ducks in Canada. Avian Conservation & Ecology 9: 7.

2013

No award given.

2012

Nicolai, C.A., J.S. Sedinger, D.H. Ward, and W.S. Boyd. 2012. Mate loss affects survival but not breeding in black brant geese. Behavioral Ecology 23: 643-648.

2011

Coulton, D.W., R.G. Clark, D.W. Howerter, M.G. Anderson, and L.I. Wassenaar. 2011. Costs and benefits of natal dispersal in yearling mallards Anas platyrhynchos. Journal of Avian Biology 42: 123-133.

2010

Schummer, M.L., S.S. Badzinski, S.A. Petrie, Y.-W. Chen, and N. Belzile. 2010. Selenium accumulation in sea ducks wintering at Lake Ontario. Archives of Environmental Contamination and Toxicology 58:854-862.

Card, S.M. and S.A. Quideau. 2010. Microbial community structure in restored riparian soils of the Canadian prairie pothole region. Soil Biology and Biochemistry 42: 1463-1471.