Dear Colleagues,

We are pleased to announce the “Diversity 2024 Best Paper Award”, for research and review articles published in Diversity from 1 January 2022 to 31 December 2022. One review and three research articles will receive an award each. The papers will be selected after thorough evaluation by the journal Award Committee led by the Editor-in-Chief, Prof. Dr. Michael Wink.

Eligibility for the Award:
– Papers published in Diversity from 1 January 2022 to 31 December 2022;
– Open to all career levels;
– Both regular and Special Issue submissions will be considered.

Selection Criteria:
The papers will be selected by the journal Award Committee, according to the following criteria:
– Scientific merit and broad impact;
– Originality of the research objectives and/or the ideas presented;
– Creativity of the study design or uniqueness of the approaches and concepts;
– Clarity of presentation;
– Citations and downloads.

Prizes:
– One review award: CHF 500 and a chance to publish a paper free of charge in Diversity in 2024 after peer review;
– Three research article awards:
a. The First Prize: CHF 500 and a chance to publish a paper free of charge in Diversity in 2024 after peer review;
b. The Second Prize: CHF 300 and a chance to publish a paper free of charge in Diversity in 2024 after peer review;
c. The Third Prize: CHF 200 and a chance to publish a paper free of charge in Diversity in 2024 after peer review;
– Each winner will also receive a certificate.

The winners will be announced on the journal website in February 2024.

Kind regards,
Diversity Editorial Office

Dear Colleagues,

We are pleased to announce that Diversity will be granting the Travel Award to 1 junior scientist. The applications will be assessed by an Evaluation Committee consisting of senior scholars from the Diversity Editorial Board.

This award provides financial support for the winner to attend an international conference in the field of Biodiversity to be held in 2024, in order to hold a presentation, present a poster, or both.

Candidate Requirements:
– Postdoctoral fellows or PhD students.
– Plans to attend an international conference in 2024 (oral presentation or poster).

Required Application Documents:
– Information of the conference the applicant is planning to attend and the abstract that will be submitted.
– Curriculum Vitae and list of publications.
– Justification letter describing the focus of the research (max. 800 words).
– Letter of recommendation from the supervisor, research director, or department head, which also confirms the applicant’s status as a postdoctoral fellow/PhD student.

The winner will be awarded CHF 800 and a certificate.

Please submit your applications for the Diversity 2024 Travel Award online by 31 October 2023. Prizes will be awarded at the end of December 2023 and announced on the Diversity website.

Kind regards,
Diversity Editorial Office

Dear Colleagues,

On behalf of the Editor-in-Chief, Prof. Dr. Michael Wink, we wish to acknowledge our reviewers who so generously offer their time to review the papers submitted to Diversity by presenting an award to the reviewers who have demonstrated their dedication, professionalism, and timeliness in reviewing manuscripts for Diversity.

What are the pre-requisites to be eligible for this award?
All of the reviewers for Diversity in 2023 will be automatically included.

Selection Criteria:
– Number of review reports;
– The quality and timeliness of review reports.

What will the winners receive?
There will be five winners this year, and each will receive the following:
– An opportunity to publish a paper free of charge in 2024 after peer review;
– A certificate.

When will the winners be announced?
The winners will be announced in January 2024 on the journal website.

How can I make myself eligible?
If you have not yet reviewed papers for Diversity, but would like to do so, you can register as a reviewer at the following link: https://susy.mdpi.com/volunteer/profile/edit.

Kind regards,
Diversity Editorial Office

Dear Colleagues,

The editorial team would like to congratulate the winners of the Diversity 2023 Best Paper Award, who were chosen by a selection committee chaired by the Editor-in-Chief, Prof. Dr. Michael Wink. Following a review process by the Award Evaluation Committee, four winners were selected.

Article:

The First Prize: CHF 500 plus the opportunity to publish a paper free of charge after peer review in Diversity in 2023.
Mires in Europe—Regional Diversity, Condition and Protection
By Franziska Tanneberger, Asbjørn Moen, Alexandra Barthelmes, Edward Lewis, Lera Miles, Andrey Sirin, Cosima Tegetmeyer and Hans Joosten
Diversity 2021, 13(8), 381; doi:10.3390/d13080381

The Second Prize: CHF 300 plus the opportunity to publish a paper free of charge after peer review in Diversity in 2023.
The Role of Small Lowland Patches of Exotic Forests as Refuges of Rare Endemic Azorean Arthropods
By Noelline Tsafack, Simone Fattorini, Mário Boieiro, François Rigal, Alejandra Ros-Prieto, Maria Teresa Ferreira and Paulo A. V. Borges
Diversity 2021, 13(9), 443; doi:10.3390/d13090443

The Third Prize: CHF 200 plus the opportunity to publish a paper free of charge after peer review in Diversity in 2023.
Origins of Six Species of Butterflies Migrating through Northeastern Mexico: New Insights from Stable Isotope (δ2H) Analyses and a Call for Documenting Butterfly Migrations
By Keith A. Hobson, Jackson W. Kusack and Blanca X. Mora-Alvarez
Diversity 2021, 13(3), 102; doi:10.3390/d13030102

Review:

Prize: CHF 500 plus the opportunity to publish a paper free of charge after peer review in Diversity in 2023.
Why Is the Alpine Flora Comparatively Robust against Climatic Warming?
By Christian Körner and Erika Hiltbrunner
Diversity 2021, 13(8), 383; doi:10.3390/d13080383

Please join us in congratulating the winners of the Diversity 2023 Best Paper Award. We would also like to take this opportunity to thank all of our authors for your continued support of Diversity.

Kind regards,
Diversity Editorial Office

Dear Colleagues,

We are pleased to announce that the winner of the Diversity 2023 Young Investigator Award is Dr. Zhichao Zhou.

Dr. Zhichao Zhou is an Assistant Scientist of the Department of Bacteriology at the University of Wisconsin–Madison, USA. Dr. Zhou’s research interests are in the metagenome and metatranscriptome-based interpretation of biogeochemical functions and activities, environmental and energy dynamics mediated by microorganisms, microbial community interactions, the environmental microbiome, the virome, and population genomics. Dr. Zhou received his PhD in 2017 and has an outstanding publication record, comprising 47 publications in peer-reviewed international journals. His Google Scholar citations number is 2089, and his H-index is 23. He is clearly a rising star in the field of the environmental microbiome and virome. As a single applicant, Dr. Zhou has obtained multiple awards, including the Lorus J. and Margery J. Milne Scholarship (2016, MBL Microbial Diversity Course), the third prize of Polar Science Excellent Paper (2012, State Oceanic Administration of China), and a University Postgraduate Fellowship (2012, the University of Hong Kong). These are outstanding achievements in today’s competitive environment. Please join us in congratulating Dr. Zhou for his remarkable accomplishments.

As the awardee, Dr. Zhou will receive an honorarium of CHF 2000, an offer to publish a paper free of charge before 31 December 2023 in Diversity after peer review, and an electronic certificate.

We would like to thank all of the nominators from various fields of study for their participation and all of the Award Committee Members for their evaluation of the many excellent nominations.

Editor-in-Chief, Prof. Dr. Michael Wink, on behalf of Diversity 2023 Young Investigator Evaluation Committee

Dear Colleagues,

We are pleased to announce the winners of the Diversity 2022 Outstanding Reviewer Award. The Diversity Editorial Board and Editorial Team would like to gratefully acknowledge the time and energy dedicated by reviewers in checking the manuscripts submitted to Diversity. It is due to their efforts that the high quality and efficiency of the journal are maintained.

Dr. Corrado Battisti
“Torre Flavia” LTER (Long Term Ecological Research) Station, Città Metropolitana di Roma Capitale, Rome, Italy.
Research Interests: quantitative ecology; biogeography; problem solving in wildlife management; wetland ecology and management; habitat fragmentation and ecological network planning.

Dr. Emilia Grzędzicka
Institute of Systematics and Evolution of Animals of the Polish Academy of Sciences, Krakow, Poland.
Research Interests: conservation biology; landscape ecology; community ecology; birds; biological invasions; evolutionary ecology.

Dr. Vasilios Liordos
Department of Forestry and Natural Environment, International Hellenic University, Thermi, Greece.
Research Interests: wildlife ecology; biology and management; human–wildlife coexistence; natural and modified habitats; ornithology; conservation conflicts; biological invasions; population dynamics; spatial ecology; environmental monitoring.

Dr. Daniel Stec
Department of Invertebrate Evolution, Krakow, Poland.
Research Interests: taxonomy, phylogeny and biology of Tardigrada; DNA taxonomy and phylogenetic methods; meiofauna; evolutionary biology; molecular ecology; biology of the honey bee and beekeeping.

Dr. Igor Zelnik
Department of biology, University of Ljubljana, Ljubljana, Slovenia.
Research Interests: biodiversity of aquatic ecosystems; wetlands; macrophytes; riparian zones; rivers; ponds; marshes; diatoms.

The Prize for Each Winner:
– An opportunity to publish a paper free of charge in Diversity in 2023 after peer review;
– A certificate.

Kind regards,
Diversity Editorial Office

Dear Colleagues,

We are pleased to announce the winners of the Diversity 2022 Best Paper Award. All papers published in 2020 in Diversity were considered for the award. After a thorough evaluation of the originality and significance of the papers, citations, and downloads, the four winning papers, which were nominated by the Editor-in-Chief, Prof. Dr. Michael Wink, have been selected.

One Review

More Than a Functional Group: Diversity within the Legume–Rhizobia Mutualism and Its Relationship with Ecosystem Function

Benton N. Taylor , Ellen L. Simms and Kimberly J. Komatsu

Diversity 2020, 12(2), 50; https://doi.org/10.3390/d12020050

Three Research Articles:

A Common Approach to the Conservation of Threatened Island Vascular Plants: First Results in the Mediterranean Basin

Giuseppe Fenu, Gianluigi Bacchetta, Charalambos S. Christodoulou, Donatella Cogoni, Christini Fournaraki, Giusso del Galdo Gian Pietro, Panagiota Gotsiou, Angelos Kyratzis, Carole Piazza, Magdalena Vicens and Bertrand de Montmollin

Diversity 2020, 12(4), 157; https://doi.org/10.3390/d12040157

Plant Diversity Patterns and Conservation Implications under Climate-Change Scenarios in the Mediterranean: The Case of Crete (Aegean, Greece)

Konstantinos Kougioumoutzis, Ioannis P. Kokkoris, Maria Panitsa, Panayiotis Trigas, Arne Strid and Panayotis Dimopoulos

Diversity 2020, 12(7), 270; https://doi.org/10.3390/d12070270

Conserving the Diversity of Ecological Interactions: The Role of Two Threatened Macaw Species as Legitimate Dispersers of “Megafaunal” Fruits

José L. Tella, Fernando Hiraldo, Erica Pacífico, José A. Díaz-Luque, Francisco V. Dénes, Fernanda M. Fontoura, Neiva Guedes and Guillermo Blanco

Diversity 2020, 12(2), 45; https://doi.org/10.3390/d12020045

Each winner (corresponding author) will receive 500 CHF and the chance of publishing a free paper in Diversity in 2022.

On behalf of the assessment committee, I would like to congratulate the winners on their accomplishments. We would also like to take this opportunity to thank all the nominated research groups of the above exceptional papers for their contributions to Diversity and thank the Award Committee for voting and helping with this award.

Editor-in-Chief
Prof. Dr. Michael Wink, Diversity

Dear Colleagues,

It is my pleasure to announce, on behalf of the Evaluation Committee, the winner of the Diversity 2022 Travel Award. The award has been granted to Ms. Vanessa Silva, a PhD student from the University of Trás-os-Montes and Alto Douro. Her research interests include antimicrobial resistance, the epidemiology of genetic lineages, bacterial biofilms, and multi-omics. The award comprises 800 CHF to support her to attend the “2nd FEMS Conference on Microbiology” conference in Belgrade, Serbia.

With so many high-quality applicants, the evaluation process and final decision were challenging. We would like to thank all the applicants for submitting their diverse and fascinating range of research topics. On behalf of the assessment committee, I congratulate the winner on her accomplishments.

Additional thanks go out to the selection committee for its efforts in choosing the winner:

Dr. Eric Buffetaut
Dr. Jordi Figuerola
Dr. Mary Kelly-Quinn
Dr. J. Judson Wynne
Prof. Dr. Michel Baguette
Prof. Dr. Richard Seigel

Prof. Dr. Michael Wink
Editor-in-Chief, Diversity

Dear Colleagues,

We are pleased to announce that the winner of the Diversity 2021 Young Investigator Award is Dr. Enrico Lunghi.

Dr. Enrico Lunghi is a Postdoc fellow at the Institute of Zoology Chinese Academy of Sciences in Beijing, China. Dr. Lunghi’s research interests are mostly related to the ecology, behavior, and conservation of cave species, with particular emphasis on European cave salamanders (genus Hydromantes – Speleomantes), animals representing his preferred model species. Dr. Lunghi received his PhD in 2018 and has an outstanding publication record, comprising 46 articles published in peer-reviewed international journals. Nonetheless, Dr. Lunghi has recently co-edited a Special Issue on Cave communities in Diversity. Lunghi’s Scopus Scientific Citations number is 358 and his Hirsch index is 10. He is clearly a rising star in the field of ecology and zoology. As a single applicant, Dr. Lunghi has obtained multiple awards, including the President’s International Fellowship Initiative (PIFI), the Mohamed bin Zayed Species Conservation Fund grant, and the Ralph W. Stone Graduate Fellowship in Cave and Karst Studies from the National Speleological Society. This is an outstanding achievement in today’s competitive environment. Please join us in congratulating Dr. Lunghi for his outstanding achievements.

As the awardee, Dr. Enrico Lunghi will receive an honorarium of 2000 CHF, an offer to publish a paper free of charge before 31 December 2021 in Diversity after peer-review, and a certificate.

We would like to thank all the nominators from various fields of study for their participation and all the Award Committee Members for their evaluation of the abundant excellent nominations.

Prof. Dr. Michael Wink
Editor-in-Chief, Diversity

Dear Colleagues,

The Diversity Editorial Board and Editorial Team would like to gratefully acknowledge the time and energy given by reviewers in checking manuscripts submitted to Diversity. It is due to their efforts that the high quality of the journal and quick turnaround are maintained.

It is our pleasure to announce that the following referees have been selected to receive the “Diversity 2021 Outstanding Reviewer Award” for the quantity, timeliness, and quality of their reviews in 2021 (in alphabetical order by surname):

Günter Gollmann
Department of Theoretical Biology, University of Vienna, Austria
Research Interests: evolution; speciation; hybrid zones; dispersal; population ecology; conservation

Stephan Koblmüller
Institute of Zoology, University of Graz, Austria
Research Interests: conservation biology; biodiversity; genomics; ecology and evolution; DNA sequencing; DNA

Emiliano Mori
Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche, Istituto di Ricerca sugli Ecosistemi Terrestri, Italy
Research Interests: evolution; species diversity; biodiversity; conservation; ecology; conservation biology; ecology and evolution; wildlife; invasive species; biological invasions; hystrix cristata; introduced parakeets and squirrels

For those of you who have not yet reviewed papers for the journal but would like to do so, you can easily register as a reviewer via the following link: susy.mdpi.com/volunteer/profile/edit

Dear Colleagues,

The editorial team would like to congratulate the winners of Diversity 2020 Best Paper Awards. The nominations were made by a selection committee, which was chaired by the Editor-in-Chief, Prof. Dr. Michael Wink, and supported by four Editorial Board Members. The following papers, in no particular order, won the Diversity 2020 Best Paper Awards:

A Phylogenomic Supertree of Birds
Rebecca T. Kimball, Carl H. Oliveros, Ning Wang, Noor D. White, F. Keith Barker, Daniel J. Field, Daniel T. Ksepka, R. Terry Chesser, Robert G. Moyle, Michael J. Braun, Robb T. Brumfield, Brant C. Faircloth, Brian Tilston Smith and Edward L. Braun.
Diversity 2019, 11(7), 109; https://doi.org/10.3390/d11070109

Recent Trends in Research on the Genetic Diversity of Plants: Implications for Conservation
Yasmin G. S. Carvalho, Luciana C. Vitorino, Ueric J. B. de Souza and Layara A. Bessa.
Diversity 2019, 11(4), 62; https://doi.org/10.3390/d11040062

The Importance of Isotopic Turnover for Understanding Key Aspects of Animal Ecology and Nutrition
Wales A. Carter, Ulf Bauchinger and Scott R. McWilliams.
Diversity 2019, 11(5), 84; https://doi.org/10.3390/d11050084

Please join us in congratulating the winners, whom we thank for having chosen Diversity to publish their work.

Each Best Paper Award winner will receive a certificate, 500 CHF, and an opportunity to publish a paper in Diversity free of charge in open-access format, after the standard peer-review process.

An additional thank you goes out to the selection committee for its invaluable efforts in choosing the winners.

Dear Colleagues,

The Diversity Editorial Board and Editorial Team would like to gratefully acknowledge the time and energy given by reviewers in checking manuscripts submitted to Diversity. It is due to their efforts that the high quality of the journal and quick turnaround are maintained.

It is our pleasure to announce that the following referees have been selected to receive the “Diversity 2020 Outstanding Reviewer Awards” for the quantity, timeliness, and quality of their reviews in 2020 (in alphabetical order by surname):

Dr. Atsuko Fukunaga
University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa, USA

Dr. Jong-Kook Jung
National Institute of Forest Science, Korea

Dr. Daniel Raudabaugh
Illinois Natural History Survey, USA

For those of you who have not yet reviewed papers for the journal but would like to do so, you can easily register as a reviewer via the following link: susy.mdpi.com/volunteer/profile/edit.

Dear Colleagues,

On behalf of the Evaluation Committee, we are pleased to announce the winners of the Diversity 2020 Travel Awards. The awards have been granted to:

Arlie McCarthy, a PhD student at University of Cambridge, UK. Her work is focused on the study of assessing the vulnerability of Antarctic marine ecosystems to invasive marine species. The award consists of 800 Swiss Francs to support her to attend the “NEOBIOTA 2020--11th International Conference on Biological Invasions” conference.

and to:

Zeana Ganem, a PhD student at The Hebrew University of Jerusalem (HUJ), Israel. Her work is focused on the study of the evolution of predationspecialization in the woodlouse hunter spiders (Araneae, Dysderidae), including evidence from morphology, behavior and gut contents. The award consists of 800 Swiss Francs to support her to attend the “32nd European Congress of Arachnology” conference.

We would like to thank all the applicants for submitting their applications, describing the diverse and fascinating range of topics that they are investigating.

Prof. Dr. Michael Wink
Editor-in-Chief

The editorial team would like to congratulate the winners of the 2019 Diversity Best Paper Award. The nominations were made by a selection committee, which was chaired by the Editor-in-Chief, Prof. Dr. Michael Wink, and supported by Five Editorial Board Members. The two top-voted papers, in no particular order, have won the 2019 Diversity Best Paper Award:

Species Richness and Relative Abundance of Reef-Building Corals in the Indo-West Pacific
DeVantier, L.; Turak, E.
Diversity 2017, 9, 25. https://www.mdpi.com/1424-2818/9/3/25

Positive Diagnosis of Ancient Leprosy and Tuberculosis Using Ancient DNA and Lipid Biomarkers
Donoghue, H.D.; Taylor, G.M.; Stewart, G.R.; Lee, O.Y.-C.; Wu, H.H.T.; Besra, G.S.; Minnikin, D.E.
Diversity 2017, 9, 46. https://www.mdpi.com/1424-2818/9/4/46

Please join us in congratulating the winners, whom we thank for having chosen Diversity to publish their work.

In recognition of their accomplishment, the authors will collectively receive a cash award of 500 CHF, and the privilege of publishing an additional research article or review paper free of charge in open access format in Diversity after the usual peer-review procedure.

Additional thanks go out to the selection committee for its efforts in choosing the winners:

Prof. Dr. Maria Augustyniak
Prof. Dr. Carlo Nike BIANCHI
Dr. Vitor H. Paiva
Dr. Eugenia Apostolaki
Dr. Matthieu Chauvat

Dear Colleagues,

On behalf of the Evaluation Committee, we are pleased to announce the winners of the 2019 Diversity Travel Award. The Awards have been granted to:

Juan Moles Sánchez, a Postdoctoral fellow at Harvard University, USA. His work is focused on the study of the diversity and systematics of Antarctic heterobranchs (Mollusca: Gastropoda), and the application of next-generation sequencing to answer deep phylogenomic questions. The Award consists of 500 Swiss Francs to support him to attend the “World Congress of Malacology 2019” conference.

and to:

Adrià López-Baucells, a PhD student at University of Salford, UK. His work is focused on the study of sustainable land use and bat conservation worldwide. The Award consists of 500 Swiss Francs to support him to attend the “18th IBRC International Bat Research Conferences”.

We would like to thank all the applicants for submitting their applications, describing the diverse and fascinating range of topics that they are investigating.

Prof. Dr. Michael Wink
Editor-in-Chief

Dear Colleagues,

On behalf of the Evaluation Committee, we are pleased to announce the winner of the 2018 Diversity Travel Award.

The Award has been granted to:

Raquel A. Garcia, a Postdoctoral fellow at Stellenbosch University, South Africa. Her work links climate change geography, biogeography, and thermal ecology to understand the mechanisms underlying species responses to climate change. She attended the IBS Climate Change Biogeography Meeting in Portugal where she presented her work “Rethinking climate change vulnerability indices”. The Award consists of 800 Swiss Francs to support her attendance at this conference.

We would like to thank all the applicants for submitting their applications, describing the diverse and fascinating range of topics that they are investigating.

Prof. Dr. Michael Wink
Editor-in-Chief

Diversity (ISSN 1424-2818) is an open access journal on the science of biodiversity, published quarterly online by MDPI. It is indexed in Scopus, Zoological Record, etc. For more information on Diversity, please visit our website: https://www.mdpi.com/journal/diversity.