Second Year of Biota Awards Invests $1.5 Million in Biodiversity Research
Walder’s Biota Awards supports projects to protect and increase biodiversity locally and globally
SKOKIE, IL - Today, the Walder Foundation announced the five 2023 Biota Award recipients whose research aims to understand, protect, and restore biodiversity in Chicago and around the world. All living things depend on healthy, thriving ecosystems, but many human activities deplete our environment of the biodiversity needed. Researchers in Chicago are uniquely positioned to understand how humans and nature can thrive together. The Biota Awards helps fund these researchers to explore solutions for a threat that impacts human and animal life.
“We are excited to announce a second year of Biota Award recipients,” said Elizabeth Walder, president and executive director of the Walder Foundation. “As extinction continues to threaten plants and animals, we maintain our commitment to ensuring that the Chicago region, and the world, continues to be resilient and livable for future generations. Investing in early-career researchers who prioritize protecting biodiversity to help mitigate and adapt to climate change makes that future a reality.”
Chicago's surrounding diverse ecosystem brings vast opportunities for potential solutions to threats to biodiversity.
“The Biota Awards are an important part of the Foundation’s commitment to the Chicago area,” said Jack Westwood, program director for environmental sustainability at Walder Foundation. “We are proud to support a second cohort of Chicago-based scientists who are working hard to ensure that both people and nature can thrive in Chicago and around the world.”
Each Biota Award recipient institution will receive $300,000 over three years to produce on-the-ground solutions to biodiversity challenges. 2023 awardee research includes:
Laura Adamovicz, Ph.D. a Research Scientist at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign’s Wildlife Epidemiology Laboratory, was selected for her research titled Development of an Infectious Disease Surveillance Program to Support the Conservation of Chicagoland Turtle Communities. Her study proposes molecular surveillance of five turtle species in four Chicago counties to gather knowledge of disease presence and identify diseases of concern to design mitigation strategies for all turtle communities.
Cara Brook, Ph.D. an Assistant Professor in the Department of Ecology and Evolution at the University of Chicago, was selected for her research titled Harnessing Fruit Bat Conservation to Combat Zoonotic Risk in Madagascar. Her research expands on previous work to conduct a conservation status reassessment of the Malagasy fruit bats’ viability across the island. It investigates the feasibility of habitat restoration to improve fruit bat health and limit risks of disease transmission to humans.
Michael Grillo, Ph.D. an Assistant Professor in the Biology Department of Loyola University, was selected for his research titled Harnessing Native Plant Microbiomes to Enhance the Restoration of Biodiversity in the Chicago Region. Using both greenhouse and field experiments, his research hopes to compare the efficiency of commercially available transferable microorganisms with more local microorganisms to evaluate the best way to restore Chicago region prairies and allow for the same biodiversity.
Maureen Murray, Ph.D. of the Urban Wildlife Institute at the Lincoln Park Zoo’ was selected for her research titled Maximizing the Health and Biodiversity Benefits of Chicago’s Community Gardens. Dr. Murray’s research hopes to provide gardeners with tools to prevent rat infestation and maintain community gardens. Partnering with gardening groups across Chicago, Dr. Murray will collect biodiversity information on the gardens and the gardener’s experiences with rats, insects, and birds to create and evaluate workshops that provide gardeners tools to prevent rat infestations.
Weston Testo, Ph.D., the Assistant Curator of Pteridophytes at the Field Museum of Natural History, was selected for his research titled Documenting Diversity Amidst a Mass Extinction: Generating a Conservation Framework for the Flora of Hispaniola. Dr. Testo’s research hopes to use the limited past data on flora in Hispaniolan as a foundation to ensure its future through resurveying, conservation initiatives, generation of genomic resources, and establishing a leaf tissue bank at the Field Museum.
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