Achievement

Trainee Jonah Piovia-Scott will give the the 2011 UC Davis Merton Love Award for the Outstanding Dissertation in Ecology & Evolution on 6/2/2011, on "The effects of seaweed subsidy on a terrestrial food web". Piovia-Scott studied species interactions, disturbance, trait variation, and resource subsidies, using Bahamian ant-plant mutualisms as his model system. In addition to contributions to community ecology, Piovia-Scott has investigated a number of applied questions, including placing the resource subsidy work in the context of response to global change, IGERT cohort projects on California invasive species in commerce, and chytrid fungus in northwest California. Well-known for his collegiality, he has excelled at both independent and collaborative research, and undergraduate mentorship. Finally, his superb communication abilities shine through in his outreach to stakeholders and government agencies as well as his ability to place his research in the broader scientific context.