The Clarence Cottam Award is the most prestigious student award given by the Texas Chapter of the Wildlife Society to recognize and promote student research excellence in wildlife biology, conservation, and management. Selected participants will have the opportunity to present their research to the entire membership. The winners are recognized for their outstanding research contributions, awarded a scholarship, and become part of the more than 30-year history of the Clarence Cottam Award.
The first place prize is a $1,000 scholarship sponsored by the Welder Wildlife Foundation. Second and third place prizes are smaller scholarships sponsored by the Texas Chapter and awarded if more than 6 papers are accepted. A maximum of eight papers will be included in the competition, with any additional submissions encouraged to present during regular concurrent sessions.
Students must be the senior author of the abstract and oral presentation. Research projects should be nearing completion so that results and their interpretations can be included. Only students that are affiliated with a Texas college or university at the time of research OR If affiliated with a non-Texas based college or university, students that have conducted their fieldwork in Texas, are eligible to compete. Students who have graduated since the last meeting are also eligible if they are currently members of the Texas Chapter of the Wildlife Society.
Cottam Award participants are required to submit two abstracts: one abbreviated abstract and one extended abstract. The deadline for submission of both abstracts is November 30, 2025. Submit Abstract
The abbreviated and extended abstracts should follow instructions outlined in the general call for abstract submission from the program committee. The extended abstract must be submitted online at the same time as the abbreviated abstract, be less than or equal to 3 pages, and in the style and format of the Journal of Wildlife Management (JWM). Abstracts should include a statement of objectives, brief description of methods used, concise presentation of results, and a summary of conclusions and inferences drawn. Do not include tables, appendices, or a literature cited section.
In addition to neatness and conformity to JWM style and format, abstracts are judged based on the following criteria:
- Significance and originality of ideas
- Creativity of research design and implementation
- Quality of methodology, including statistical analyses
- Validity of conclusions drawn from the results
Questions can be directed to the Cottam Awards chair.
Ready to enter the Cottam Awards Contest? Submit Abstract
Sample Abbreviated Abstract
Abbreviated Abstract Format
Abbreviated abstracts should be no longer than 250 words and follow The Journal of Wildlife Management format. Abstracts should be concise and include general problem statement, brief review of methods/experimental design, results, and management implications. For needed statistical significance statements, report P-values only (no need for exact statistical test results). Please follow formatting instructions on the abstract submission website.
(please note not to use scientific names in title; use only in body of abstract; though not shown below, author list should use hanging indent)
Effect of Domestic Rabbit Urine on Trap Response in Cottontail Rabbits
JONATHON G. YOUNG, Caesar Kleberg Wildlife Research Institute, Department of Animal and Wildlife Sciences, Texas A&M University-Kingsville, Kingsville, TX 78363, USA
SCOTT E. HENKE, Caesar Kleberg Wildlife Research Institute, Department of Animal and Wildlife Sciences, Texas A&M University-Kingsville, Kingsville, TX 78363, USA
ABSTRACT Low capture rates of cottontail rabbits (Sylvilagus floridanus) are common. We hypothesized that urine as an olfactory attractant would increase trapping success because rabbits scent-mark their territories with urine. We assessed trap response in cottontail rabbits using clean traps (control), traps baited with food, traps baited with block salt and minerals, and traps baited with urine from non-pregnant domestic rabbit does. We caught 314 cottontail rabbits during 2,000 trap-nights conducted from July-August 1996. We captured more cottontails in traps baited with rabbit urine (P<0.001) than in the others, suggesting that olfactory cues are important in the behavior of cottontail rabbits. Capture frequencies were 2.8, 13.4, 17.0, and 29.6% for control traps and traps baited with food, salt, and urine, respectively. Sex ratios of captured rabbits did not deviate from a 1:1 relationship for each bait or for all baits combined.
Sample Extended Abstract
19 November 2024
Carmen A. Burkett
Department of Biological Sciences
University of North Texas, Denton
Denton, TX 76201
<insert email address here>
RH: Burkett et al. • Species richness and genetic diversity
Species richness and genetic diversity: continental patterns of bird diversity correlations across the United States
CARMEN A. BURKETT, Department of Biological Sciences, University of North Texas, Denton, TX, 76201, USA
ARIANNA SZUBRYT, School of Biological Sciences, Southern Illinois University, Carbondale, IL, 62901, USA
GABRIELLA BURKETT, School of Agricultural Sciences, Southern Illinois University, Carbondale, IL, 62901, USA
ALYSSA HERRERA, Department of Biological Sciences, University of North Texas, Denton, TX, 76201, USA
PANTEA TEHARI, Department of Biological Sciences, University of North Texas, Denton, TX, 76201, USA
ZACCHAEUS G. COMPSON, Department of Biological Sciences, University of North Texas, Denton, TX, 76201, USA
ANDREW J. GREGORY, Department of Biological Sciences, University of North Texas, Denton, TX, 76201, USA
Correspondence: Carmen A. Burkett, <insert email address here>
ABSTRACT Species richness (SR) and genetic diversity (GD) are fundamental aspects of biodiversity, and each plays a unique role in maintaining ecosystem stability. Literature suggests that species richness and genetic diversity may be spatially correlated and co-vary at different scales; however, despite long-recognized species diversity-genetic diversity relationships, as well as their demonstrated utility in aiding in management decisions, few research studies on SDxGD exist, and what studies we do have yielded largely equivocal results. Consequently, there exists a knowledge gap that hinders our ability to formulate a mechanistic understanding of biodiversity patterns and associated ecosystem functions. Understanding the spatial dynamics where species richness and genetic diversity co-occur, might allow us to identify fundamental attributes of the landscape that generate both biodiversity and individual species evolutionary potential. This will allow us to identify regions whose protection is critical to the long-term conservation of biodiversity in light of ongoing human land use and climate change. Using data synthesis and meta-analysis, we explored spatial correlations between bird SR and GD among species across the continental United States. We considered the continental U.S. as a study area due to its vast and diverse landscapes and relatively high amount of published literature on bird demographics, richness, and genomics. We were able to estimate species richness, rarity weighted richness, and Shannon’s diversity across >3,800 BBS routes from 2013 to 2022 using Bird Banding Station (BBS) data from savebirds.app. We then used spatial statistics in ArcGIS to identify regional hotspots in bird SR. Next, we performed a detailed meta-analysis of published literature across approximately 200 papers for estimates of bird GD. We selected data and studies published between 2014 and 2024, which employed microsatellite markers to assess genetic diversity and published the geographical coordinates of their sampling sites. We estimated hotspots of GD using the published accounts of bird GD with mapped sample locations. Using Multiple Response Permutation Procedure in the vegan package in R to test the spatial overlap of genetic diversity HotSpots with HotSpots of either SR, Shannon Diversity (H’), or Rarity Weighted Richness (RWR), we found that several areas of bird GD significantly overlapped areas of bird SR. We used a Geographically Weighted Regression analysis to identify areas where bird SR significantly predicts bird GD. These areas were mainly concentrated along coastal areas of the eastern US and may be critical targets for protection, as they seem to be areas that support diversity across multiple scales important to maintaining the future adaptive potential of birds. Our analyses highlight areas of high evolutionary activity and provide a foundation for future studies to explore how joint environmental factors, such as environmental gradients, topography, habitat heterogeneity, fragmentation, connectivity, and climate variability influence genetic variation, adaptation, and speciation. These results also largely parallel work on foraminifera speciation occurring in shallow coastal areas of inland sea observed in the archeological record from the Ocean Anoxic Event of Cenomanian Turonian Boundary period that is frequently used as the corollary event to current climate change and species extinction models.
