Ecologists converge on Sacramento, Cal. for the Annual Meeting of the Ecological Society of America August 10-15, 2014
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: Monday, June 16, 2014
Contact: Liza Lester (202) 833-8773 x 211; gro.asenull@retsell
The Ecological Society of America’s 99th Annual Meeting “From Oceans to Mountains: It’s all Ecology” will meet in Sacramento, Cal., from Sunday evening, August 10, to Friday morning, August 15, at the Sacramento Convention Center.
ESA invites press and institutional public information officers to attend for free (see credential policy below). To apply, please contact ESA Communications Officer Liza Lester directly at gro.asenull@retsell. Qualified members of the media may also register in the press room during the meeting.
Meeting abstracts are not embargoed. Reporters who would like help locating presenters and outside sources for in person or phone interviews should contact Liza Lester at gro.asenull@retsell or (202) 833-8773 x211.
Sessions open to the public:
Opening Plenary: “Living in a world where 1+1=4: aligning the law, science, and practice of multiple stressors in marine ecosystems.” Margaret Caldwell will open the conference with insights from her work blending law and environmental science as a former chair of the California Coastal Commission, senior consultant to the National Commission on the BP Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill and Offshore Drilling, and current director of the Environmental and Natural Resources Law and Policy Program at Stanford Law School. Sunday, August 10, 5:00 p.m.
Scientific Plenary: “Wearing an ecologist’s hat and facing a world of change.” Kathy Cottingham of Dartmouth College will demonstrate how an ecological approach can be used to tackle questions in public environmental health. Monday, August. 11, 8:00 a.m.
Recent Advances: “Back to the land? On the paradoxes of certified organics for agricultural transformations.” Julie Guthman of UC Santa Cruz believes that organic agriculture is a better way to farm, but she will show how the political economy of certified organic has begun to thwart growth in the sector and is thus working against widespread transitions to more ecologically sound production practices. Wednesday, August 13, 12:15 p.m.
Science Café: In cooperation with Jared Shaw and the Davis Science Café, ESA will bring two ecologists to DeVere’s Pub in Davis, Cal. Madhusudan Katti of Cal State Fresno and Simon Brandl of James Cook University in Queensland, Australia, will lead conversations about living with nature, from city flamingoes to the underwater villages of the Great Barrier Reef. This event is designed for communion and conviviality with members of the greater Sacramento-Davis community. Wednesday, August 13, 5:30 pm.
Science Cafe: These are not your urban lawn flamingos! This pair dancing in the low tide in Mumbai’s busy harbor are Lesser Flamingos, considered near-threatened species due to declining populations in Africa and India. Yet, over the past decade, some 10-25 thousand of them have been turning up in Mumbai’s Thane Creek to spend the winter right in the middle of a megacity of over 20 million people. I photographed this pair just a year ago at Sewri Port, an industrial dockyard area known more for repairing boats than harboring such wildlife, which now teems in the creek’s recovering mangroves. Credit, Madhusudan Katti. Learn more.
A preliminary program is online. Popular themes include:
- Ecological effects of climate change
- California drought
- Food, fisheries, & agriculture
- Urban ecology & sustainability
- Invasive species
- Endangered species
- Conservation & ecosystem management
- Forests & fire
- Predators, prey & parasites
- Animal behavior
- Disease
ESA Policy on Press Credentials
We will waive registration fees for reporters with a recognized press card and current members of the National Association of Science Writers, the Canadian Science Writers Association, the International Science Writers Association and the Society of Environmental Journalists.
We do not waive registration fees for editors of peer-reviewed journals, ad sales representatives, publishers, program officers or marketing professionals.
Institutional Press Officers
We will waive registration fees for press officers. If you cannot attend but would like to promote presenters from your institution, we are happy to distribute your press releases in the meeting Press Room. Press officers may request copies of all abstracts related to their institution. For registration, more information, or help finding your scientists in our meeting program, please contact Liza Lester at gro.asenull@retsell or (202) 833-8773 x211.
Newsroom Operation
Members of the press are exempt from registration fees and may attend all meeting sessions (*field trip fee still apply). A staffed press room, including computers, a printer, telephones and an interview area, will be available.
- Location: room 102
- Phone: (916) 497-0638
The newsroom will be open on these dates:
- Sunday, August 10: 1:00 p.m.-5:00 p.m.
- Monday, August 11 – Thursday, August 14: 7:30 a.m.-5:30 p.m.
- Friday, August 15: 7:30 a.m.-Noon
The Ecological Society of America is the world’s largest community of professional ecologists and a trusted source of ecological knowledge. ESA is committed to advancing the understanding of life on Earth. The 10,000 member Society publishes five journals, convenes an annual scientific conference, and broadly shares ecological information through policy and media outreach and education initiatives. Visit the ESA website at https://www.esa.org.
To subscribe to ESA press releases, please contact Liza Lester at llester@esa.org.