Society Activities
Science Office Projects
Science Office staff collaborate with ESA members and with other staff to develop special projects like ESA's Ecological Visions project, the Sustainability Science Initiative, and the activities of the Vegetation Classification Panel. We also help coordinate symposia, workshops, evening sessions, and special sessions at ESA 's Annual Meeting each August. Current and recent efforts are described below.
Millennium Conference Series
The new Millennium Conference Series provides ESA members the opportunity to
organize special conferences highlighting emerging, exciting ideas in ecology
with the endorsement and support of the Society. The Series is intended to
address high-visibility issues of wide interest in the science community, and
organizers are encouraged to work across disciplinary boundaries, engage
compelling speakers, and produce high-quality publications.
Proposals for the first Millennium Conference, to be held in early 2009, are due October 31, 2007. The President of ESA will appoint a review committee, and decisions will be announced by December 21, 2007.
ESA members interested in leading a Millennium Conference should submit a proposal to millenniumconf@esa.org by October 31, 2007. Further details can be found in the Call for Proposals.
Ecological Visions Project
ESA 's Ecological Visions Project was undertaken in 2002 - 2004 by a committee of ESA members at the request of the Governing Board. The Visions Committee developed a series of action plans intended to bolster the research capabilities of ecological science and to transform interactions among ecological scientists, the public, managers, and policy makers to reach the goal of sustaining natural systems and the benefits they provide. These plans are described in the Visions report and in a special issue of Frontiers. The Visions project has led to a series of initiatives, including the creation of Rapid Response Teams, the launch of the ESA data registry, and the Science Office data sharing initiative.
Panel on Vegetation Classification
The Science Office provides staff support for the ESA Panel on Vegetation Classification. The Panel provides impartial scientific expertise to public, professional, and private partners in support of the development and use of a scientifically credible national vegetation classification system. The Panel's goals are to:
- Advance the standardization of the national vegetation classification;
- Advance quality assurance of the data in the national vegetation classification;
- Support the application of the national vegetation classification to management and conservation objectives;
- Foster and coordinate research in vegetation classification; and
- Promote understanding of North American vegetation classification information and its importance to the national and international community.
Currently the Panel is revising the draft of "Description, documentation, evaluation of association and alliances within the U.S. National Vegetation Classification," which focuses on standards for classifying vegetation at the floristic levels (association and alliance). The Panel has also developed VegBank, a publicly available vegetation plot database.
2006 Annual Meeting
Science Office sponsored activities at the 2006 Annual Meeting in Memphis included:
- ESA Science Committee Meeting
- ESA Vegetation Classification Panel Business Meeting
- Vegetation Panel Database (VegBank) Subcommittee Meeting
- Breakfast (by invitation): National Parks Ecological Research Fellows Program
- Special Session - An ecologists' community discussion of funding agency initiatives
