The British Ecological Society (BES) is announcing today the winners of its annual awards and prizes, recognising nine distinguished ecologists whose work has benefited the scientific community and society in general.

Miguel B. Araújo wins the prestigious British Ecological Society Marsh Award for Climate Change Research. Previous winners of this award included Simon Lewis (2023), Kathleen Treseder (2022), Ruth DeFries (2021), Wendy Foden (2020), Susan Trumbore (2019), Josep Peñuelas (2018), Richard Pearson (2017), Bridget Emmett and Yadvinder Malhi (2016), Camille Parmesan (2015), Peter Smith (2014), Johan Rockström (2013), Stephen Long (2012), Chris Thomas (2011), Ian Woodward (2010), and John Grace (2009).

Asked by the British Ecological Society’s (BES) communication office about the meaning of this award, Miguel Araújo responded: “I am honoured to have received several national and international awards throughout my career. However, given that I have conducted the majority of my academic training in Britain, being recognised by the British Ecological Society for my research on biodiversity and climate change holds a special significance for me.”

BES: At the present moment, what excites you in the world of ecology?

Miguel: “My research is best known for advancing species distribution models (SDMs) and developing innovative methods for spatial conservation planning that address the challenges posed by climate change.

In our work with SDMs, we are currently focusing on biotic interactions. Traditionally, models assume that species respond to environmental factors, such as climate, in an individualistic manner. While SDMs are based on the idea that biotic interactions can influence species distributions and coexistence locally, their macro-ecological impact has often been considered minimal compared to major environmental drivers—an issue that remains a topic of ongoing debate.

Recently, we have begun to explore biotic interactions from a different perspective. Instead of focusing on how these interactions might affect individual species distributions—a potentially intractable problem when scaled up to encompass all of biodiversity—we are investigating how the environment influences biotic interactions. For example, if climate shapes the types of biotic interactions in a given location, we can shift our predictive focus to address a broader question: rather than merely predicting how species respond to environmental changes, we aim to forecast how these changes will alter the composition and function of species assemblages.

In terms of spatial conservation planning, there is often an assumption that species distributions are static and that effectively shielding protected areas from human activities is sufficient to conserve them. However, we know that climate change is driving a global redistribution of biodiversity, necessitating a dynamic approach to planning protected areas that accounts for these shifts. We are coupling our experience in modelling species distributions with research in spatial conservation planning methodologies, and in addition to innovating on the methodological front, we are working closely with regional and national governments to develop conservation plans that respond to global international challenges under the UN framework on biodiversity.”

The winners will be presented with their prizes during a ceremony held at the 2024 BES Annual Meeting, which runs from 10 – 13 December in Liverpool. The meeting will bring together over 1000 ecologists (in person and online) to discuss the latest advances in ecological research across the whole discipline.