TWS names winners of the 2026 Wildlife Publications Awards

# What the awards recognized Society (TWS) announced its 2026 Wildlife Publications Awards honoring scientific literature in wildlife biology and management published within the last three years. The awards highlight originality of research or thought and high scholastic standards of presentation.

# Major winners and topics TWS named winners across multiple categories — authored and edited books, journal articles, a monograph, a biography/history prize, and student paper awards. Collectively, the winning works address applied and theoretical questions that affect wildlife management and conservation practice.

• Biography/history: Jerry Emory won for George Meléndez Wright: The Fight for Wildlife and Wilderness in the National Parks. Jennifer Bonnell received an honorable mention for Stewards of Splendour: A History of Wildlife and People in British Columbia.

• Edited books: Jim Heffelfinger and Paul Krausman won for Ecology and Management of Black-tailed and Mule Deer of North America. Jean-Luc Cartron and Jennifer Frey received honorable mention for Wild Carnivores of New Mexico.

• Best paper: Jennifer Grauer, Joshua Twining, Manigandan Lejeune, Jacqueline Friar, Krysten Schuler, David Kramer and Angela Fuller won for "Parasite-mediated competition limits dominant cervid competitor," published in Ecology Letters.

• Monograph: Marie Gilbertson, Alison Ketz, Matthew Hunsaker, Daniel Walsh, Daniel Storm and Wendy Turner won for "White-tailed deer habitat use and implications for chronic wasting disease transmission," published in Wildlife Monographs.

# Practical implications The selection of winners points to several practical concerns for wildlife managers and researchers:

• Human recreation and disturbance: The grizzly bear student paper documents sex-specific differences in tolerance or avoidance of low-intensity recreation in protected areas, which can inform spatial management and visitor guidelines.

• Disease risk and habitat use: The awarded monograph links white-tailed deer habitat use to implications for chronic wasting disease transmission, relevant to monitoring and mitigation strategies.

• Anthropogenic light and bird behavior: The avian migration study demonstrates in-flight behavioral changes tied to artificial light at night, informing decisions about lighting in migration corridors and urban planning.

• Letters paper on parasite-mediated competition highlights mechanisms that can reshape community structure and management priorities.

• Emerging subfields and tools: Recognition of a soundscape ecology textbook and edited volumes on deer and carnivores signals the growing role of acoustics, interdisciplinary syntheses and regional perspectives in applied wildlife science.

# Logistics TWS will present the awards at its Annual Conference in Des Moines, Iowa, beginning Nov. 1, 2026. The list of winners offers a concise reading list for practitioners wanting current, peer-reviewed work with direct management relevance.