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:
*Ania Majewska – University of Georgia, Odum School of Ecology* *Gardening with good intentions: examining the effects of tropical milkweed (*Asclepias curassavica*) on monarch migration and disease.* 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 (*Asclepias curassavica*), 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. *Joseph Smokey – Washington State University Vancouver, School of Biological Sciences* *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 (*Plebejus icarioides fenderi *).* 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 (*Plebejus icarioides fenderi*) metapopulation. Results will provide ecologists and managers with insight into best practices of fire restoration for prairie butterflies. The board and staff of the Society congratulate Ania and Joseph and thank all the applicants for their outstanding efforts in invertebrate conservation. 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. For more information on the DeWind Award, visit http://www.xerces.org/joan-dewind-award/. -- *Candace Fallon* Conservation Biologist Endangered Species Program
