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2024 Student Awards for Best Papers and Posters

July 28, 2024

At the 22nd Annual Symposium on the Conservation & Biology of Tortoises and Freshwater Turtles, Anders Rhodin and the Chelonian Research Foundation presented the 2024 Student Awards for Best Papers and Posters. The Awards committee consisted of Denise Thomson (Chair), Grover Brown, Natalia Gallego-García, Camila Ferrara, Sean Doody, Day Ligon, Donald McKnight, Daren Riedle, Christel Griffioen, Flora Ihlow, Jordan Donini, and Anders Rhodin.

Winner – Best Paper
Larissa Saarel
Rocky Mountain College
“Turtle Nesting Habitat in a Free-flowing and Dammed River in the Western Great Plains”
Winner – Best Poster
Basem Motwaly
Missouri State University
“Demographic Analysis and Population Viability of Egyptian Tortoises: A Two-Phase Approach Integrating Multi-State Modeling and Population Viability Analysis”
Runner-up – Best Paper
Marita Paredes Rodríguez
Red de Investigadores en Herpetología-Bolivia
“Population Estimate and Population Structure of the Pantanal Swamp Turtle (Acanthochelys macrocephala) in Palmar de las Islas, Santa Cruz, Bolivia”
Runner-up – Best Paper
Patrick Delisle
University of Southern Mississippi
“Using Time Lapse Photography to Monitor Alligator Snapping Turtle (Macrochelys temminckii)”

Anders Rhodin (right) and Denise Thompson (second from right) present the Student Awards to Basem Motwaly (third from right), Marita A. Paredes Rodriguez (third from left), Patrick Delisle (second from left) and Larissa Saarel (left).

Header image: (from left) Patrick Delisle, Larissa Saarel, Marita A. Paredes Rodriguez, and Basem Motwaly. Images courtesy of Kathleen Dreier Photography.