{"id":1982,"date":"2026-01-07T18:41:14","date_gmt":"2026-01-07T18:41:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/esa.org\/saltlake2026\/?page_id=1982"},"modified":"2026-02-25T20:09:41","modified_gmt":"2026-02-25T20:09:41","slug":"call-for-contributed-abstracts","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/esa.org\/saltlake2026\/past-calls-for-proposals\/call-for-contributed-abstracts\/","title":{"rendered":"Call for\u00a0Contributed Abstracts\u00a0"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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<\/span>Submission Deadline<\/span><\/h2>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

Thursday, February 19th, 2026
5:00 PM EST (2:00 PM Pacific)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Submit an Abstract Here<\/a><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n
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How to Submit<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Please Note:<\/em><\/strong> The submission website supports the latest version of Chrome, the current and previous release of Firefox, Safari and Microsoft browsers. Cookies and JavaScript must be enabled.<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

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You must submit your abstract using the online submission form. Abstracts sent by email will not be considered. Abstracts that are incomplete will not be considered. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

All ESA Annual Meeting proposal and abstract deadlines are 5:00 PM Eastern so that technical support and ESA staff assistance will be immediately available when submitters need it. If you begin your submission very close to the deadline, you are choosing to take a risk, and we will not make an exception if you are unable to complete your submission in time. The form automatically closes at 5:00 Eastern Time (2:00 Pacific Time) whether you have completed your submission or not. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

You will receive an automatic email when you complete your submission. You will be able to return to the abstract to edit it until the submission deadline has passed. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

To submit an abstract, you will need to log in using an ESA member account. If you have not been an ESA member or registered for an ESA meeting in recent years, you will need to create an ESA member account before you can submit. You do not need to pay membership dues to create an ESA member account or submit an abstract for the meeting. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Important Note <\/p>\n\n\n\n

ESA meetings, open to ESA members and those interested in ecology, are among the most respected meetings of ecologists in the science community. ESA is committed to providing a safe, productive and welcoming environment. All participants including, but not limited to, attendees, speakers, volunteers, exhibitors, ESA staff, service providers and others are expected to abide by the ESA Meetings Code of Conduct<\/a>. This Code of Conduct applies to all ESA meeting-related events including those sponsored by organizations other than ESA but held in conjunction with ESA events, in public or private facilities. In addition, ESA members and authors of ESA publications must adhere to the ESA Code of Ethics<\/a> and the ESA Diversity Statement<\/a>. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/span>About Contributed Abstracts<\/span><\/h2>\n\n\n\n
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We invite submission of abstracts for individual contributed presentations for the 2026 ESA Annual Meeting. Abstracts are encouraged to address the meeting theme<\/a>, \u201cEcology in an Era of Uncertainty\u201d, if appropriate but doing so is not necessary. We welcome submissions from any topic in ecological research and practice. This includes submissions that report interdisciplinary work, address communication with broad audiences, or explore ways of teaching ecology at any level.   <\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

<\/span>Preference for an oral or poster presentation<\/span><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

In recent years, the interest in presenting a contributed oral presentation has been much higher than presenting a contributed poster presentation. Since 2023, submitters of contributed abstracts will indicate their preferred presentation format (oral, poster, or no preference) at the time of submission. All accepted abstracts that prefer a poster will be scheduled as a poster.   <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Due to space limitations for oral sessions, it is possible some submitters who prefer to give an oral presentation will be scheduled to give a poster presentation. Among the abstracts that have indicated a preference for an oral presentation, the Program Subcommittee will schedule as many as such as space allows. The Program Subcommittee will make these selections randomly to give every submitter who prefers an oral presentation an equal chance of giving one. This decision will be communicated to all submitters at the time of abstract acceptance. Senior ecologists are encouraged to indicate a preference for a poster presentation to give early career ecologists and students a higher chance of being selected for an oral presentation.   <\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/span>About contributed oral presentations<\/span><\/h2>\n\n\n\n
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Contributed oral presentations are scheduled for 15 minutes, with 12 minutes for each presentation plus 3 minutes for questions. Individually submitted contributd oral presentations will be scheduled in a session with other abstracts that have similar ranked themes. These sessions will be scheduled in 90-minute timeslots Monday through Thursday. All contributed oral sessions will have other types of sessions scheduled concurrently with them, including invited paper sessions (symposia, organized oral sessions, and Inspire sessions), workshops and special sessions.   <\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

<\/span>About contributed poster presentations<\/span><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Individually submitted contributed poster presentations will be scheduled in a session with other abstracts that have similarly ranked themes. These sessions will be scheduled for 5:00-6:30 PM (90 minutes) and could be scheduled on any day, Monday through Wednesday. Poster sessions are the last scientific session each day to give presenters an opportunity for extended discussion and networking. There are no other scientific sessions that are scheduled concurrently with posters.   <\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/span>Sorting abstracts into sessions<\/span><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Abstract submitters will rank 3 preferred session themes [PDF]<\/a> as part of the abstract submission process.  Individually submitted contributed abstracts will be grouped together to create sessions with a common theme, and then these sessions will be scheduled across the week. We do not know in advance which themes will become sessions or what days these themes will be scheduled for. The priorities during scheduling are to avoid conflicts for people participating in multiple roles (for example, organizing a workshop and speaking in a contributed oral session) and to minimize conflicts between sessions with similar topics. By submitting an abstract, you indicate that the presenting author will be available during any of the possible time slots. We cannot consider scheduling requests for a specific day or time or avoiding a specific day or time.   <\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/span>Abstract Submission Guidelines<\/span><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

The abstract guidelines were updated in 2023 to allow for greater flexibility in the formatting and content of abstracts. We welcome submissions on a wide variety of ecological topics, including but not limited to research-focused studies, topics related to education or human dimensions of ecology, applied ecological works, conceptual or theoretical contributions, and valuable resources to support ecological research.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Abstract guidelines<\/h3>\n\n\n\n