2016 Gordon conference: Unifying Ecology across Scales

[Melanie Colón]

This conference provides a discussion forum for those wanting to make links between physiological, behavioral, population, community and ecosystems ecology. If you want to reach out from specialized research and are passionately interested in linking the levels and putting the pieces together, or if you want to apply ecology in, e.g., conservation, fisheries, forestry or climate change, then this is the conference for you. We look forward to welcoming you at this five-day meeting at the beautiful seaside campus of the University of New England overlooking the Saco River Estuary. To attend: just apply; to speak: contact the chair. Bursaries are available to speakers to part cover registration which includes accommodation and meals, and it is hoped bursaries for postgrads may be available from BES.

Special focus will be on linking the levels using insights from the factors that constrain individual physiologies such as availability of energy and nutrients. Major themes are Metabolic Ecology and Individual-based Modeling using computer simulation. Approaches will include energy-based methods but also ecological stoichiometry accounting for chemical flows within and across levels. Examples will include animals, plants and microbes. Speakers include Brian Enquist, Mary O'Connor, Gabriel Yvon-Durocher, Roger Nisbet Steve Railsback and Volker Grimm.

More details and online application are available at: http://www.grc.org/programs.aspx?id=13261
Associated Gordon Research Seminar for postgrads: https://www.grc.org/programs.aspx?id=15150
Organizers: Chair: Richard Sibly; Vice Chair: Mary O'Connor

The preliminary program is as follows:-

Sunday

1

Making Links Between Physiological, Behavioral, Population, Community and Ecosystems Ecology (Discussant Mary O'Connor)

7.30-8.30

James H Brown

Toward a metabolic theory of ecology: how far have we come and how far still to go?

8.30-9.30

Roger Nisbet

Prediction up and down levels of organization: one step at a time

Monday

2

Metabolic Traits and Biotic Interactions (Discussant Gabriel Yvon-Durocher)

9.00-10.00

Mark Bradford

Biotic interactions, biogeochemistry and scale: does ignoring local variation invalidate our knowledge of broad-scale controls on carbon cycling?

10.30-11.30

Thomas Bell

Ecosystem functioning in miniature worlds: dynamics of the niche in bacterial microcosms

11.30-11.50

Anita Narwani

The role of standing genetic variation in determining competitive abilities of freshwater green algae

11.50-12.10

Mridul Thomas

The effect of temperature on present and future phytoplankton

12.10-12.30

Elisa Schaum

Wee beasties in a warming world - molecular and physiological mechanisms of thermal acclimation and adaptation


3

Linking Ecological, Evolutionary and Ecosystem Dynamics (Discussant Samraat Pawar)

7.30-8.30

Gabriel Yvon-Durocher

Ecological and evolutionary constraints on the temperature dependence of the carbon cycle

8.30-9.30

Mick Follows

Linking stoichometry, allometry and the biogeography of marine microbes

Tuesday

4

Linking the Levels Using Individual Based Models (IBMs) (Discussant Roger Nisbet)

9.00-10

Volker Grimm

Nothing makes sense in ecology except in the light of individuals: individual-based modelling unifies ecology

10.30-11.30

Steve Railsback

Should we hope for general theory linking individual adaptive behavior and community ecology?

11.30-12

Richard Sibly

Linking individuals and populations using Individual Based Models

12-12.30

Elske van der Vaart

Evaluation of complex models using Approximate Bayesian Computation


5

New Insights from Individual Based Models (Discussant Volker Grimm)

7.30-8.30

Jaclyn Hatala Matthes

The challenge of reconciling earth system models with ecological datasets across centuries

8.30-9.30

Contributed talks

Wednesday

6

Biological Allometry - Organismal Form, Function, and Evolution (Discussant: Van Savage)

9.00-10

Brian Enquist

TBA

10.30-11.30

Chris Doughty

How did ecosystems function before the megafauna extinctions: Using biological allometry to predict large animals impact on forest function

11.30-11.50

Cyrille Violle

Biological allometry, natural and artificial selection

11.50-12.10

Lisa Bentley

Scaling ecosystem function in the tropics using tree architecture traits

12.10-12.30

Contributed talks


7

Biological Allometry - Constraints on Ecosystem Functioning and Biological Diversity (Discussant: Brian Enquist)

7.30-8.30

Van Savage

Temperature, Traits, and Trophic Interactions

8.30-9.30

Contributed talks

Thursday

8

Stoichiometry in Ecological Interactions and Evolutionary Dynamics (Discussant: Angelica Gonzalez)

9.00-10

TBA

10.30-11.30

Kathleen Treseder

Microbial traits, stoichiometry, and ecosystem function

11.30-11.45

Caroline Turner

Evolving stoichiometry in E. coli: Selection for elemental efficiency or increased growth?

11.45-12

Arianne Cease

A stoichiometric approach to understanding livestock-locust social-ecological systems offers insights for global locust management

12-12.15

Krista Capps

Waste-water stoichiometry and freshwater ecosystem function: linking resource-management decisions with the quality and quantity of basal food resources

12.15-12.30

Jim Heffernan

Using fine-scale variability to diagnose and forecast shifts in resource limitation


9

Stoichiometry from Ecosystems to Molecules (Discussant: Angelica Gonzalez)

7.30-8.30

Michael Lomas

Redfield: Revisiting the coupling of ocean nutrient cycles from microscopic single cells to macroscopic integrated ocean basins

8.30-9.30

Mary O'Connor

Unifying ecology - where have we got to and what are the prospects?


Hope to see you there!

Best wishes
Richard Sibly

School of Biological Sciences
Harborne Building
University of Reading
Whiteknights, PO Box 217
Reading, RG6 6AS, UK
Tel +44 (0)118 931 8461
http://www.reading.ac.uk/biologicalsciences/about/staff/r-m-sibly.asp


July 24-29, 2016. Biddeford, Maine. Start planning now!