BACKGROUND
The John Martin Award, established in 2005, recognizes a paper in aquatic sciences that is judged to have had a high impact on subsequent research in the field. The model for such a paper is Martin et al (1991), which laid out the case for iron limitation of phytoplankton productivity in the ocean. This award will be given to at most one paper per year. Unlike the Lindeman Award, which recognizes very recent papers (within 2 years) by young investigators, the Martin Award is for papers at least 10 years old.
Martin, JH, RM Gordon, and SE Fitzwater. 1991. The case for iron. Limnol. Oceanogr. 36:1793-1802
ELIGIBILITY
A nominated paper must be at least 10, but no more than 30 years old. It must be published in English and can be from any area of aquatic sciences. The spirit of the award is such that papers leading to fundamental shifts in research focus or interpretation of a large body of previous observations will be favored. In general, summarizing reviews and methods papers will not be favored.
NOMINATIONS PACKAGE
Nominations must include a copy of the paper and a brief letter of less than 500 words describing its impact. The latter may include a citation analysis, but this is not required. Nominations may be made by any ASLO member, with the exception of the authors, or members of ASLO Executive, Board, or Award Committees.
CRITERIA FOR JUDGING THE NOMINATIONS
- As stated above, the spirit of the award is such that papers leading to fundamental shifts in research focus or interpretation of a large body of previous observations will be favored. In general, summarizing reviews and methods papers will not.
- A standing committee will judge nominations. The committee will vote once per year. To be chosen for the award, a nominated paper must be named on the ballots of all committee members. Each committee member may vote for a limited number of nominations, with this number to be determined by the committee annually, based on the number of nominated papers on the ballot [i.e. the larger the number of nominations, the greater the number of votes per committee member; otherwise you'd never get unanimity].
- A paper may be nominated no sooner than 10 years after it first appeared. Papers more than 30 years old will not be eligible.
- No more than one award may be given per year; if more than one paper are named on all ballots in a given year, a runoff vote will be held and the loser(s) will be returned to the nominating ballot to be considered in subsequent years.
- Nominated papers will stay on the ballot for three years or until unanimously approved for the award. After three years of consideration, papers not receiving the award will be removed from consideration. Nominated papers not receiving the award may be renominated as long as they remain eligible.
OTHER ISSUES
The award is given to the paper. The lead author will be invited to accept the award and give a plenary talk at the ASLO meeting in the year following its receipt. If the lead author is unavailable, the second author accepts the award and gives the talk. If the lead author chooses, s/he may designate a co-author or the nominator to give the talk.
AWARD RECIPIENTS
2023: Hutchins, D. A. and K. W. Bruland. 1998.ย Iron-limited diatom growth and Si:N uptake ratios in a coastal upwelling regime.ย Nature 393, 561-564 (1998)โฏโฏhttps://doi.org/10.1038/31203.ย Read complete citation
2022: Hartnett, H.E., Keil, R.G., Hedges, J.I. and Devol, A.H., 1998. Influence of oxygen exposure time on organic carbon preservation in continental margin sediments. Nature, 391(6667), pp.572-575.ย https://doi.org/10.1038/35351.ย Read complete citation | ย View award presentation
2021: Wilhelm, S.W. and C.A. Suttle. 1999. Viruses and nutrient cycles in the sea, BioScience 49(10): 781-788. doi.org/10.2307/1313569. Read complete citationย |ย View award presentation
2020: Hecky, R. E., and R. H. Hesslein. 1995. Contributions of benthic algae to lake food webs as revealed by stable isotope analysis. Journal of the North American Benthological Society 14: 631-653.ย doi.org/10.2307/1467546. Read complete citationย |ย View award presentation
2019: Boyd PW, Watson AJ, Law CS, Abraham ER, Trull T, Murdoch R, Bakker DC, Bowie AR, Buesseler KO, Chang H, Charette M, Croot P, Downing K, Frew R, Gall M, Hadfield M, Hall J, Harvey M, Jameson G, LaRoche J, Liddicoat M, Ling R, Maldonado MT, McKay RM, Nodder S, Pickmere S, Pridmore R, Rintoul S, Safi K, Sutton P, Strzepek R, Tanneberger K, Turner S, Waite A, Zeldis J. (2000), A mesoscale phytoplankton bloom in the polar Southern Ocean stimulated by iron fertilization.ย Natureย 407:695-702.ย Read complete citationย |ย View award presentation
2018: Robert Howarth, G. Billen, D. Swaney, A. Townsend, N. Jaworski, K. Lajtha, J.A. Downing, Ragnar Elmgren, N. Caraco, T. Jordan, F. Berendse, J. Freney, V. Kudeyarov, P. Murdoch, and Z.-L. Zhu (1996). Regional nitrogen budgets and riverine nitrogen and phosphorus fluxes for the drainages to the North Atlantic Ocean: natural and human influences. Biogeochemistry 35: 75-139.ย Read complete citationย |ย View award presentation
2017: Robert Sterner and Dag Hessen (1994). Algal nutrient limitation and the nutrition of aquatic herbivores. Ann. Rev. Ecol. Syst. 25:1-29.ย View award presentation
2016: Jonathan Cole, Nina Caraco, George Kling and Tim Kratz (1994). Carbon Dioxide Supersaturation in the Surface Waters of Lakes. Science 265(5178):1568-1570.ย View award presentation
2015: Stephen R. Carpenter; James F. Kitchell; James R. Hodgson (1985) Cascading Trophic Interactions and Lake Productivity. BioScience, 35(10):634-639.ย View award presentation
2014: Li, W. K. W., D. V. Subba Rao, W. G. Harrison, J. C. Smith, J. J. Cullen, B. Irwin, and T. Platt. Autotrophic picoplankton in the tropical ocean. Science. 1983. 219:292-95.ย View award presentation
2013: Val H. Smith, 1983. Low Nitrogen to Phosphorus Ratios Favor Dominance by Blue-Green Algae in Lake Phytoplankton. Science 221: 669-671.ย View award presentation
2012: Wanninkhof, R., 1992. Relationship between gas exchange and wind speed over the ocean. J. Geophys. Res. 97, 7373-7381.ย View award presentation
2011: รvind Bergh, Knut Yngve Borsheim, Gunnar Bratbak and Mikai Heldal. 1989. High Abundance of viruses found in Aquatic Environments. Nature 340:467-68ย View award presentation
2010: M.J.R. Fasham, H.W. Ducklow, and S.M. McKelvie. 1990. A nitrogen-based model of plankton dynamics in the oceanic mixed layer. Journal of Marine Research, 48: 591-639ย View award presentation
2009: Koehl, M. A. R., and J. R. Strickler. 1981. Copepod feeding currents: food capture at low Reynolds number. Limnol. Oceanogr. 26: 1062-1073.ย View award presentation
2008: Eppley, R. and B. Peterson. 1979. Particulate organic matter flux and planktonic new production in the deep ocean. Nature 282:677-680.ย View award presentation
2007: Vannote, R. L., G.W. Minshall, K.W. Cummins, J. R. Sedell and C. E. Cushing. 1980. The river continuum concept. Canadian Journal of Fisheries and Aquatic Science 37: 130-137.
2006: Azam, F., T. Fenchel, J.G. Field, S. Gray, L.A. Meyer-Reil, and F. Thingstad. 1983. The ecological role of water-column microbes in the sea. Mar. Ecol. Prog. Ser. 10:257-263.