MEDIA ADVISORY
For immediate release
June 11, 2009

Ecological Society of America announces its 94^th Annual Meeting

Registration is now open to the press for the Ecological Society of America’s (ESA) 94^th Annual Meeting, which will be held Aug. 2-7 in Albuquerque, New Mexico. The meeting will include more than 3,500 scientists, students and educators, and will center around the theme, “Ecological Knowledge and a Global Sustainable Society.”

The scientific program will feature 24 symposia, 180 oral sessions, 95 poster sessions and host of special sessions and workshops. Field trips, which are open to all meeting registrants, will explore habitats and cultures unique to New Mexico.

The meeting program is available online in searchable format at http://eco.confex.com/eco/2009/techprogram/. Please note that all abstracts are embargoed until 12:00 a.m. MDT the day of their presentation.

To register for the meeting, contact Christine Buckley at christine@esa.org or 202 833-8773 ext. 211. The deadline to register for field trips and workshops is June 30.

Highlights from the program include:

Plenary addresses

• Sandra Postel, director of the Global Water Policy Project Opening plenary: “Strategies to sustain earth's freshwater ecosystems”
• Monica Turner, University of Wisconsin Madison

Scientific plenary: “Disturbance and landscape dynamics in a changing world”

Scientific sessions

• Climate change science and its role in conservation planning
• Warfare ecology: an agenda for an emerging sub-field
• Special series on global biogeochemical cycles
• Integrating science and policy for watershed sustainability
• What should ecology education look like in the year 2020?

Field trips

• Los Alamos National Laboratory and the Jemez mountains
• El Malpais National Monument: Extremophiles and life in “lava tubes”
• Traditional corn dances in the Jemez Pueblo community
• Raptor viewing with HawkWatch International
• Forest restoration, fire, and water: Ecology of the Sangre de Cristo Mountains

Newsroom operation

Members of the press are exempt from registration fees and may attend all meeting sessions. A staffed press room will be available, including internet access, computers, a printer, telephones and an interview area.

ESA Policy on Press Credentials

We will waive registration for reporters with a recognized press card. Registration is also waived for 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 for editors of peer-reviewed journals, ad sales representatives, publishers, program officers or marketing professionals.

For Institutional Press Officers

Press officers may request copies of all abstracts related to their institution. ESA will distribute any relevant press releases in the Annual Meeting press room. Please contact Christine Buckley at christine@esa.org for more information.

The Ecological Society of America is the world's largest professional organization of ecologists, representing 10,000 scientists in the United States and around the globe. Since its founding in 1915, ESA has promoted the responsible application of ecological principles to the solution of environmental problems through ESA reports, journals, research, and expert testimony to Congress. ESA publishes four print journals and one online-only, open-access journal Ecosphere and convenes an annual scientific conference. Visit the ESA website at www.esa.org or find experts in ecological science at www.esa.org/pao/rrt.

To subscribe to ESA press releases, contact Nadine Lymn at .