We are delighted to announce Clara Woodie as the 2023 winner of our Elton Prize early career researcher award

Clara received the award for her paper, “long transients and dendritic network structure affect spatial predator–prey dynamics in experimental microcosms“. The award is given to the best article in the journal by an author at the start of their career and was picked from a shortlist of 12 articles.

Could you give us a bit of background about yourself and how you got into ecology?
I have loved nature since my first backpacking trip at 2 years old in the Sierra Nevada mountains with my grandfather, but I fell in love with the study of ecology when I took a population dynamics course in undergrad. I was instantly fascinated by the mathematical underpinnings of nature. I was amazed to learn that something as complex as ecology, with all of its direct and indirect interactions operating at numerous scales, could be described by something as simple and abstract as mathematical modelling. From there, I dropped my pre-veterinary courses in favour of ecology ones, and the rest was history. Shortly after beginning
ecological research as an undergraduate, my grandfather passed away on a solo backpacking trip in the very same Sierra Nevada mountains that he showed me growing up. This tragedy ultimately drove me to pursue my doctorate in Ecology, with the goal of helping conserve the beautiful natural ecosystems that my
grandfather revered, a value he instilled in me since that first backpacking trip at 2 years old.

Can you summarise the research in your paper and how it advances the field?
Our study explores how different network structures drive long-term predator-prey dynamics, offering new insights into spatial food web stability. By quantifying the dynamics of over 100 predator and 500 prey generations, we found that adding spatial structure can help stabilize extinction-prone predator-prey interactions, with predators thriving in highly connected landscapes while prey benefit from
less-connected refuges. The results underscore the importance of considering large spatial and temporal scales in conservation efforts, providing a link between ecological theory and real-world applications for both predator and prey persistence.

Have you continued this research and if so, where are you at now with it?
The research I am currently working on includes two studies that are related to this one. Each involves spatial resource heterogeneity (the variable distribution of resources) as an extension of this work, which controlled for nutrient levels. Both studies have found significant stabilizing effects of spatial resource heterogeneity.
The first study develops new theory on much larger dendritic spatial scales (63 patches) by modelling the effects of variable resource distribution on predator-prey dynamics. That work breeds opportunities to be tested with protist microcosm experiments similar to the ones in this study, but with uneven resource distribution. The second study is a protist microcosm experiment on a smaller spatial scale than this one, just three patches, but varies spatial resource distribution as well. I amusing the same prey species with a different predator, an adaptively foraging omnivore. This work can eventually be scaled up to larger spatial scales to test the effects of spatial structure, similar to the present study.

What did you enjoy most about conducting this research?
I enjoyed mentoring undergraduate researchers the most with this project. We had a large team of undergraduates, some of which helped throughout the entirety of the experiment (about a year). To be able to create and foster a fun laboratory environment for my vibrant team of undergraduate researchers was extremely fulfilling. Most of them have, by now, graduated and started successful careers of their own.

Were there any funny experiences or surprising discoveries from this research?
We actually considered ending the experiment early and rethinking the entire experimental design, thinking that the predators had gone extinct (they were below detection level for about 40 days) and that spatial networks in this case played no role in the stability of extinction-prone predator-prey dynamics. We were very excited when the predators re-emerged from their transient state of low abundance. This led to several side projects involving the biology of the predator in particular, such as disentangling their encystment behaviour to determine if they
were encysted as opposed to being at low abundance. Experiments revealed this to likely not be the case.

What does this award mean to you?
To be acknowledged by such a prestigious award at the beginning of my career boosts my confidence and motivates me to pursue my research with even greater passion. Winning this award validates my hard work, and those of my coauthors, and reaffirms my dedication to advancing the field of ecology.