Conference Programme

The main conference talks run for three full days, Tuesday 23 – Thursday 25 November. Sunday 21 November is a student day, including an evening barbecue. Field trips will take place on Monday 22 November.

Social events and other activities include: Welcome Reception and Registration on Monday 22 November, Wine and Cheese poster session on Tuesday 23 November, NZES Annual General Meeting (AGM) and Conference Dinner on Wednesday 24 November, and daily lunches and morning and afternoon teas.

Download complete schedule of talks and posters here (updated 5 November).

Download Programme and Abstracts book here (2.3MB; updated 10 November)

DATES

Sunday 21 November

Monday 22 November

Tuesday 23 November

Wednesday 24 November

Thursday 25 November

Registration: Early bird registration closes 22 September
Abstracts: Submission closes 1 September

VENUE

The University of Otago, Dunedin

SYMPOSIA AND PLENARY SPEAKERS

Download schedule of symposia and plenary speakers here.. See below for more details.

SCIENTIFIC PROGRAMME: KEY SYMPOSIA AND PLENARY SPEAKERS

Time / Date Sunday 21 November Monday 22 November Tuesday 23 November Wednesday 24 November Thursday 25 November
from 10:00 08:00 - 17:00 08:30 - 17:00 08:30 - 17:00 08:30 - 17:00
Daytime Student Conference Day Field Trips Symposia Symposia Symposia
Contributed Sessions Contributed Sessions Contributed Sessions
Posters Posters Posters
Conference close and Farewell
17:00 - 18:00 17:15
Wine and cheese poster session NZES AGM
18:00 20:00 19:00
Evening Student barbecue Welcome reception registration Film night Conference Dinner

The registration desk will open at 8 am on Tuesday 23 – Thursday 25 November, at University College (UniCol).

Keynote presentation: As far as the eye could see... Professor Kevin Gaston

Professor Gaston (University of Sheffield ) is a leader in the fields of biodiversity and conservation. His research focuses on biodiversity and macroecology; its central unifying theme is the study of variation in the geographic distributions of species. Particular emphasis is given to geographic (or macro) scale patterns and dynamics, and their consequences for conservation.

Sponsor: Ecology Research Group, University of Otago (Director: Colin Townsend)

Biodiversity and production lands: the benefits and the risks

This symposium aims to highlight current research investigating the benefits and risks that land management practices pose to biodiversity within and beyond New Zealand's production land boundaries. The symposium will cover a wide range of production environments, including agriculture, cropping, and plantation forest ecosystems.

We have invited two plenary speakers to discuss the benefits and challenges that interdisciplinary research presents for sustainable land management in production landscapes. Professor Dave Raffaelli (University of York) will discuss the application of the Convention on Biological Diversity's Ecosystem Approach for maintaining biodiversity and ecosystem services in the UK's production landscape. Jon Manhire (The Agribusiness Group, Christchurch) will examine the environmental effects, and social and economic consequences, of different farming practices in New Zealand, in the context of community stakeholder and market demands.

To facilitate a lively discussion about the current and future biodiversity management challenges and opportunities facing New Zealand's production industries, a panel discussion will be held at the end of the symposium. Representatives from industry and local and regional government organisations will be actively encouraged to attend this meeting and participate in this discussion, which will be chaired by Grant Blackwell (Office of the Parliamentary Commissioner for the Environment).

Convenors: Steve Pawson (Scion) and Catriona MacLeod (Landcare Research and ARGOS)
ARGOS will offer a prize for the Best Student Paper in the Production Lands symposium. AGMARDT is a major sponsor of this symposium, supported by contributions from ARGOS, Scion and Parliamentary Commissioner for the Environment.

Ecology and conservation of indigenous grasslands

New Zealand indigenous grasslands face increasing threats from land-use change at a time when their biodiversity and ecosystem service values are being highlighted.  The symposium will provide science-perspectives on how we can sustain grassland ecosystems. The keynote speaker is Professor Alan Knapp (Colorado State University) who has had a long association with the NSF-funded Konza Prairie Konza Prairie LTER program. Alan has a distinguished career investigating grasslands in North America and more recently southern Africa, in both C3 and C4 systems. Of relevance to NZ is his interest in water and carbon cycles in grasslands, shrub encroachment, and sustaining grassland systems in the face of climate change.

Convenor: Bill Lee (Landcare Research)
Sponsor: Miss E.L. Hellaby Indigenous Grasslands Research Trust

Molecular ecology of New Zealand’s biota

New Zealand’s biota is ecologically and evolutionarily unique and commands interest from biologists the world over.  The modern tools of molecular ecology now allow us to examine questions about our flora and fauna that were previously unanswerable.  This symposium will highlight recent work in molecular ecology on elements of the New Zealand biota, with an emphasis on the biology rather than the molecular tools.  The symposium will start with a plenary talk by Professor Chris Simon (University of Connecticut) entitled Using molecules to understand the evolution of NZ cicada biodiversity.

Convenor: Hamish Spencer (University of Otago)
Sponsor: Allan Wilson Centre for Molecular Ecology and Evolution

Cultural perspectives on biodiversity research and management

This all day-symposium aims to highlight opportunities and challenges for cross-cultural environmental research and management in New Zealand and throughout the world. Although many participants will examine approaches of different cultures defined along ethnic lines, the symposium also invites contributions concerning the enablers and barriers for cross-cultural collaboration and co-discovery of how best to conserve biodiversity and the environment when the different ‘cultures’ are considered as: manager, researcher, educationalist or policy maker institutions; theoretical or applied traditions of research; scholarship from the humanities and sciences; and different religious approaches to society and biodiversity. Expect challenge, honesty, and surprise, but above all else, diversity in how best to achieve a shared quest for improved environmental and social wellbeing.

Two plenary speakers will start the symposium discussion off: Chief Randall Kahgee from Canada will describe his Saugeen-Ojibway First Nation’s experiences of working with ecological scientists in Ontario and their success and frustrations to influence biodiversity and conservation management in their tribal area. Prof Te Ahukaramū Charles Royal will also give a plenary address. Charles is co-director of Ngā Pae o Te Māramatanga, New Zealand’s Māori Centre of Research Excellence. He is also an accomplished musician and long term researcher and expert on Mātauranga Māori (which includes the Traditional Ecological Knowledge of Māori). He has chosen to talk about revitalisation of Mātauranga Māori, including its practice for improved environmental stewardship. If the symposium is oversubscribed, we will hold a separate poster session and/or workshop session the following day to allow fuller and more informal participation of as many people and perspectives as possible.

Convenors: Henrik Moller, Corey Bragg (Centre for Study of Agriculture, Food & Environment, University of Otago), Jenny Rock (Centre for Science Communication, University of Otago)
Sponsors: Ngā Pae o Te Māramatanga, University of Guelph (Canada), New Zealand Ecological Society
There will be a prize for the Best Student Paper in the Cultural Perspectives symposium.

A workshop and on-line discussion forum will also be dedicated to furthering debate of key issues relating to cultural aspects of biodiversity research and management.

Urban ecology: where social and biological sciences need to meet

Biodiversity in urban areas is increasingly being recognised for its own value as well as its role in promoting human well-being and providing opportunities for urban dwellers to encounter nature as part of their every-day lives. People have been described as being at the beginning, middle and end of all biodiversity conservation issues, and nowhere is this more evident than in urban areas. The challenge of developing an understanding of human motivations, perceptions and preferences, and how these can be influenced to improve biodiversity, requires a cross- disciplinary approach combining biological and social expertise. This symposium will explore the boundary where the ecological sciences meet the social sciences.

Convenors: Yolanda van Heezik (University of Otago) and Monica Awasthy (Victoria University)

Animal reintroductions and the problem of post-release dispersal

Reintroductions have become one of the standard tools for threatened species recovery. Although the methods used to catch, transport and release animals with minimal stress and mortality have improved over the years, our understanding of the factors influencing dispersal from a release area, and how this can jeopardize reintroduction project success, is still poor. This symposium will review the ways in which post-release dispersal can affect the reintroduction project outcomes. Speakers will present empirical studies based on a range of species – from seabirds to small forest passerines - where dispersal is a critical issue.

Convenors: Ian Jamieson & Phil Seddon (University of Otago)

Systematic biodiversity assessment, prioritisation and reporting

Diverse pressures from invasive species and land use change drive ongoing biodiversity decline in New Zealand. Various agencies and individuals take diverse actions to stem the decline, ranging from pest control to designing regulation. A central challenge for all players is how to maximise the positive difference made by their actions to alleviate pressures on biodiversity, across a wide range of biodiversity components, usually for a given (limited) budget.

Key questions are: “How can we better assess what actions will deliver most for biodiversity protection as a whole, and prioritise them?” “How should we quantify and compare the marginal benefits of different conservation actions and their contributions to slowing the decline?” “How can we more robustly measure and more honestly report on status and trends in biodiversity, and the difference we have made, across the full range?” “What tools and methods can help?” and “What are the blockages to applying them within agencies and institutions?”.

We invite presentations on concepts, and quantitative models and methods, and practical applications that advance and link systematic biodiversity measurement, prioritization of biodiversity actions and work, and reporting on the difference those human activities made to biodiversity in New Zealand.

Convenors: Susan Walker, Jake Overton (Landcare Research), Theo Stephens (Department of Conservation)

Biodiversity and ecosystem function

The effect of biodiversity on the functioning of ecosystems has been the focus of much ecological research over the last decade. Ecosystem function has been viewed as the flux of energy and matter within ecosystems and inter-specific interactions are primarily responsible for that flux. To date there has been a preoccupation with the experimental manipulation of biodiversity, primarily within autotrophic communities, to determine how ecosystems function. However, such manipulations are not done in the context of an evolutionary stable re-arrangement of the interacting species and, although considerably more demanding, the study of real communities may be more enlightening.

Convenor: Nod Kay (Scion)

Weta evolutionary ecology

Weta are both widespread and abundant in New Zealand but little is known of basic weta biology. In this symposium we aim to highlight recent advances and challenges in weta ecology in New Zealand. We hope to encourage vigorous debate on highly topical themes such as weta diet, putative ecosystem services, population dynamics, and management techniques.

Plenary speaker Mary Morgan-Richards will open the symposium by discussing tree weta as model organisms for understanding climate change. In some of her previous work, she has compared five hybrid zones in a single tree weta species (Evolution 57:849). She will describe some of the molecular ecology and field research that underpins our understanding of tree weta distribution patterns and shifts, and implications for climate change from an evolutionary perspective.

We invite presentations that explore any aspect of weta ecology or evolution, including both theoretical and applied perspectives.

Convenor: Priscilla Wehi (Massey University)

Macraes Flat: Research and management in an changing environment

Macraes Flat or ‘Macraes’, 50 km northwest of Dunedin, is a generic name for an area where intensive conservation research and management has been done over the last 20 years, initially on grand and Otago skinks but more recently on broader ecological relationships. The work has led to the purchase of land for conservation purposes. At the same time on adjacent blocks agricultural land use has intensified.

This symposium will review the wide-ranging, cutting-edge research that has taken place, and present perspectives on how it has influenced conservation and land use management.

Recent grand and Otago skink conservation has emphasised an adaptive management philosophy in learning how to manage habitats and predators of these two critically endangered species to prevent extinction. Other research has focused on the biology of other species of lizards, predator prey relationships, meso-population dynamics of mammals and vegetation communities, and changes in plant community structure as a result of land use and conservation management change.

The Macraes work is an ongoing multidisciplinary research and management project.

The Symposium is complementary to the Macraes Flat conference field trip.

Background information on grand and Otago skinks can be found here:
http://www.doc.govt.nz/conservation/native-animals/reptiles-and-frogs/lizards/grand-and-otago-skinks/

NZES award presentation: New Zealand’s freshwater crisis: the triumph of economists over ecologists

Dr Mike Joy (Massey University), winner of 2009 NZES Ecology in Action Award.

NZES award presentation: Retaining mountain diversity: facing the challenges

Professor Katharine Dickinson (University of Otago), winner of 2009 NZES Te Tohu Taiao Award for Ecological Excellence.