"The Theoretical Ecology Section of ESA is pleased to award the 2016 prize for the “Outstanding Paper in Theoretical Ecology" to Simon Stump and Peter Chesson for their paper “Distance-responsive predation is not necessary for the Janzen-Connell hypothesis” (Theoretical Population Biology 2015, 106:60-70). This paper uses mathematical models to test the Janzen-Conell hypothesis - a major explanation for tropical biodiversity."