Dan Blumstein, a UCLA professor of ecology and evolutionary biology, has received the 2020 Richard Buchholz conservation behavior award from the Animal Behavior Society Conservation Committee. The award recognizes members for their contributions to the field. One recipient is selected annually and presented with a plaque at the society’s awards ceremony.
The committee recognized Blumstein’s leadership in the sciences and as one of the most important authors in conservation behavior. The committee also praised his mentorship of students who have gone on to become leaders in the field.
Blumstein’s research concerns the evolution of social and antipredator behavior in animals. He has spent more than a decade studying the evolution of complex communication and sociality and used the 14 species of marmots as a model system. A major goal of his research is to integrate knowledge of animal behavior into conservation biology and to show how this knowledge should influence policy. Blumstein also co-directs the UCLA evolutionary medicine program.
