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About Emerging Issues Conferences

In 2007, the ESA Governing Board announced a new conference series to provide ESA members the opportunity to organize special conferences highlighting emerging, exciting ideas in ecology with the endorsement and support of the Society. The series, originally named the Millennium Conference Series and renamed the Emerging Issues Series, is intended to address high-visibility issues of wide interest in the science community. Organizers are encouraged to work across disciplinary boundaries, to engage compelling speakers, and to produce high-quality publications. Each conference topic is selected from proposals submitted by ESA members. Proposals are reviewed by a committee appointed by the ESA President.

Emerging Issues Conferences will typically last 3 to 5 days and may include plenary sessions, parallel presentation sessions, posters, and workshop style discussions. The target number of participants is 60 to 100, including 20 students and post-docs. Each conference is expected to produce at least one peer-reviewed publication, and additional products intended for policy or education use are strongly encouraged. Approved conferences receive logistical and fundraising support from ESA Headquarters.

The first conference in the series, “Water-Ecosystem Services, Drought, and Environmental Justice,” was held November 9-12, 2009 in Athens, Georgia.

The second conference in the series, “Developing Ecologically-Based Conservation Targets Under Global Change,” will be held February 27 – March 1, 2012 in Shepherdstown, West Virginia.