I am serving as the Program Chair for the ESA meeting next year in Portland.
Having developed the theme for the meeting ("Linking biodiversity, material
cycling and ecosystem services in a changing world”), I am excited to propose a
symposium closely aligned with the topic.
I suspect there is a diverse set of research going on relating different
dimensions of biodiversity to material cycling and ecosystem function.
However, a timely question is how do these aspects of biodiversity help us
understand (if at all) relevant ecosystem services? I am looking for
researchers who can contribute to this discussion. Please see details and a
draft summary below. I welcome talks from work in diverse systems and across
taxonomic levels.
If you are interested, please send me an email. And, of course, I welcome
questions. There is room for 6, 30 min presentations.
Regards,
Christopher M. Swan, Ph.D.
Professor
Dept. of Geography & Environmental Systems
University of Maryland, Baltimore County
211 Sondheim Hall
1000 Hilltop Circle
Baltimore, MD 21250 USA
http://biodiversity.umbc.edu
http://orcid.org/0000-0002-9763-9630
http://scholar.google.com/citations?user=NNfHt5YAAAAJ
1.410.455.3957
Title: Integrating functional and phylogenetic diversity to understand the
delivery of ecosystem services
Principal organizer:
Christopher M. Swan, University of Maryland Baltimore County,
[email protected]
Moderator:
Christopher M. Swan, University of Maryland Baltimore County,
[email protected]
Session description: Society is experiencing loss of biodiversity in both
species and trait diversities, as well as shifts in the degree of shared
evolutionary history within ecological assemblages. As biodiversity is the
foundation for nearly all ecosystem services, the known relationships between
biodiversity and material cycling may or may not inform the translation into
ecosystem services. As the concept of the ecosystem service is of interest not
only to scientists but also to policy makers and stakeholders, understanding
the relationship between these three components is of keen interests to
scientists and practitioners alike. The goal of this symposium is to bring
together experts in biodiversity science to present and discuss their findings
on how taxonomic, phylogenetic and functional diversity help inform the
patterns and processes involved not only in regulating rates of ecosystem
functions, but also ecosystem services. This discussion aligns well with the
theme of the 102nd meeting, and is timely given the emphasis the local region
places on sustainability in general.
