Agriculture, Big Data, and Traditional Knowledge headline the Ecological Society of America’s 2013 Annual Meeting in Minneapolis, Minn.

August 4 – 9

Sustainable Pathways: Learning From the Past and Shaping the Future

The Ecological Society of America’s 98^th annual meeting “Sustainable Pathways: Learning From the Past and Shaping the Future” will meet in in Minneapolis, Minn., from Sunday evening, August 4, to Friday morning, August 9, at the Minneapolis Convention Center. Early bird registration opens the first week of April.

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.

Plenary sessions (open to the public):

• Jonathan Foley is a prominent voice on land use, global food security, and sustainability. He directs the Institute on the Environment (IonE) at the University of Minnesota, where he holds the McKnight Presidential Chair in the Department of Ecology, Evolution and Behavior, and leads IonE’s Global Landscapes Initiative. Opening keynote, Sunday, August 4, 5:00pm.

• Anthony Ives, Professor of Zoology at the University of Wisconsin, Madison, will look deep into a lake in a lively volcanic region of northern Iceland, nutrient-rich  Mývatn (Icelandic for lake of midges), to meditate on the confluence of theory and empiricism in ecology. MacArthur lecture, Monday, August 5, 8:00 am.

• Tony Hey, Vice President of Microsoft Research says science has already entered the era of Big Data. Future researchers will need digital tools, technology, and talent to integrate big data troves into the research machine. Hey, who has fingers in popular science communication as well as commercial computing, will present challenges and opportunities for management, visualization, and manipulation of data. Recent advances lecture, Wednesday, August 7, 12:15 pm

A preliminary program is online. Other highlights:

• Symposia dig into the ecology of agricultural ecosystems and infectious disease.

• Ignite 5-minute presentations debut at ESA2013, with sessions on realizing resilient food systems, and urban ecology.

• Field trips head out to the Fond du Lac Reservation, where traditional knowledge is combined with modern science to restore native wild rice and lake sturgeon [CANCELLED–update 7/12/2013], and ESA’s SEEDs undergraduate diversity program will take students and interested conference attendees to “Dream of Wild Health” a 10-acre, organic farm in Hugo, Minnesota, which aims to recover traditional Native American crop varietals and traditional farming knowledge.

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.

ESA Policy on Press Credentials

We will waive registration for reporters with a recognized press card and for press officers. 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.

Institutional Press Officers

We will waive registration 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. The newsroom will be open:

• Sunday, August 4: 1:00 p.m.-5:00 p.m.
• Monday, August 5 – Thursday, August 8: 7:30 a.m.-5:30 p.m.
• Friday, August 9: 7:30 a.m.-Noon

The Ecological Society of America is the world’s largest community of professional ecologists and the 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://ecologicalsocietyofamerica.org or find experts in ecological science at https://ecologicalsocietyofamerica.org/pao/rrt/.

To subscribe to ESA press releases, contact Liza Lester at llester@esa.org.