University of Wisconsin–Madison
A group of four people smile while holding awards on stage, a large sign reading "esa 2026" is behind them.
Researchers from the Turner lab received the W.S. Cooper Award for Outstanding Contributions in the Fields of Geobotany and/or Physiographic Ecology at the 2026 Ecological Society of America’s annual meeting. From Left to Right: Monica Turner, Peter Groffman (ESA president), Nathan Kiel (PhD iBio, 2024), and Derek Deney (receiving the award for the additional winning paper).

A paper by Nathan Kiel (PhD iBio ’24), undergraduate student Eileen Mavencamp (’23), and Professor Monica Turner has been awarded the W.S. Cooper Award for Outstanding Contributions in the Fields of Geobotany and/or Physiographic Ecology. Their paper, “Sparse subalpine forest recovery pathways, plant communities, and carbon stocks 34 years after stand-replacing fire“, emphasizes that post-fire forest resilience is variable and increasingly uncertain under changing climate and fire regimes, with long-term consequences for ecosystem structure and function.

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