Is What Humans Do Natural?

2010 US-IALE Twenty-fifth Anniversary Symposium

Athens, Georgia | April 5-9, 2010

Rosewalk Cottage
* Hank Bailey - ©2009 *

Workshops

Workshops A, B, C 2, (1:00 – 5:00 pm) and D (1:00 – 3:00 pm) Monday, 5 April 2010
Workshop E (3:00-6:00 pm) Thursday, 8 April 2010


A: Integrating Methods and Tools from Patch Metric Analysis Species Distribution Modeling, and Macroecology for Complex Landscape and Biotic Change Analysis - $40


Investigations of the dynamics of landscape change with respect to climate, disturbance and land use drivers increasingly must deal with the uncertainties inherent in many possible change scenarios. These analyses typically generate many potential future landscapes at many different time steps, which must then be collectively analyzed for patterns of landscape change. Then, changing landscape patterns must be used to assess impacts on many different species. For instance, thorough investigation of the combined effects of different climate change scenarios on multiple plant and animal distributions at broad scales requires that the analytical methods from three different disciplinary perspectives be combined: (1) patch metric analysis, (2) species distribution modeling, and (3) macroecological analysis. This process is data and compute intensive; there is a need for methods and tools that enable complex spatiotemporal analyses that integrate methods from these disciplinary perspectives.


There may be funding available for one or more working meetings to develop a journal article based on findings from the group, if there is interest. There is funding available for training workshops on these tools as they become available.


Instructor(s): Deana Pennington, University of New Mexico

  • Provide an overview of the core methods and tools used in patch metric analysis, species distribution modeling, and macroecological analysis
  • Collectively develop a set of example questions that could be addressed by integrating methods from across these perspectives
  • Break into small groups to design analytical pipelines that represent possible methodological approaches for investigating each example question
  • Discuss the requirements for ecoinformatic tools that could support these designs
  • Create an interest group to serve as a test bed as these tools are being developed over the next several years



B: Land Surface Phenology - $40


Phenology is the study of the timing of biological phenomena, with a particular emphasis on the linkages between abiotic drivers and biological responses of particular organisms. Land surface phenology explores how quasi-periodic events in terrestrial vegetation (e.g., budburst, leaf out, flowering, senescence) appear when observed through remote sensing technologies.


Instructor(s): Kirsten de Beurs, Virginia Tech; and Geoff Henebry, South Dakota State University

  • Terminology of phenology and seasonality
  • Basic ordering and processing of MODIS data products
  • How phenologies appear in image time series as observed from orbital sensors
  • Key methods for phonological observation and modeling using image time series


C 2: - Occupancy Sampling - $40

Replaces (Workshop C: Data Mining and Predictive Modeling with CART, TreeNet, and MART - $40)


Occupancy sampling is directed at the estimation of site occupancy and parameters such as extinction and colonization, via sample data in which the observations are binary detections ("presence-absence") of one (1) or more individuals of a population or species. Modern occupancy sampling and estimation take into account imperfect and potentially heterogeneous detection via designs involving replication in time or space and the use of maximum likelihood or Bayesian methods of inference. This workshop will introduce basic occupancy sampling and estimation, with emphasis on appropriate sampling designs and modeling approaches. We will first cover simple models in which occupancy and detection parameters are assumed constant, and expand these to allow for spatial and temporal heterogeneity, use of covariates and random effects, and (time allowing) modeling of hierarchical effects.


Instructor: Dr. Michael J. Conroy, Senior Research Scientist, Warnell School of Forestry and Natural Resources, University of Georgia, Athens



D: Open Access and Information: Concerns, Standards, and Protocols - No charge


Open access to research papers often result in a higher impact overall. It logically follows that open access to datasets would be beneficial to individual scientists, and the global community. This is well documented for geo-referenced Biodiversity data in Global Biodiversity Information Facility (GBIF), Bird Point Count Database, and Avian Knowledge Network. Similarly, geneticists have found that the library of DNA sequences, Genbank, has led to the facilitation of interdisciplinary science, greater exposure and use of their science as well as synergies worldwide. Freebase provides opportunities to describe projects, datasets and maps in standardized and specialized ways. The re-use of data to challenge or provide progress in science, global sustainability, is fundamental. The standardized documentation of raw data (i.e., metadata) allows individuals to formulate their own conclusions and review the material and methods with a new perspective.


Data repositories are not a new idea. Exemplary are National Climatic Data Center of NOAA from the National Center for Atmospheric Research, or the Harvard Geospatial Library. Some like the National Oceanographic Data Center or Global Land Cover Facility allow submissions of data. Options for landscape ecologists to publish data seem underutilized within our scientific community. Currently, many initiatives exist to make scientific data and information “available to all” such as, the Berlin Declaration, Budapest Declaration, and International Polar Year. The National Science Foundation (NSF) Cyberinfrastructure, National Institute of Health (NIH), and related journals for example, Emerging Infectious Diseases, and Landscape Ecology promote such concepts.

During the symposium workshop organizers will be available to assist conference attendees in sharing data, developing metadata for their projects, or links to their data sources.


Instructor(s): Amèlie Y. Davis, Purdue University; Falk Huettmann, University of Alaska; and Ed Laurent, American Bird Conservancy

  • Introduction to open access data and metadata
  • Benefits of open access data to scientists and the global community
  • Data sources
  • Concerns, standards, and protocols for a balanced sharing of data, maps, and metadata development
  • Uploading data to online data repositories, including preparation of metadata


E: Building Collaborative Research with Landscape Ecology - No charge


Landscape Ecology has become a crucial component of many interdisciplinary studies. Many grant opportunities are now focused on large collaborative projects. Now is the time to develop skills and strategies for finding collaborators, writing collaborative grants, and working successfully in a collaborative setting. Senior landscape ecologists will describe approaches to collaboration and give guidance on setting up and enacting collaborations. We will also discuss issues of authorship and how to salvage collaborations gone wrong. This is an interactive workshop and is open to students, postdoctoral fellows, and other people interested in beginning collaborative projects.


Instructor(s): Tabitha Graves, Northern Arizona University; Geoffrey Henebry, South Dakota State University; Jack Liu, Michigan State University; and J Vaun McArthur, Savannah River Ecology Laboratory

  • Selecting potential collaborators (individuals and organizations)
  • Writing grants when working with people from multiple backgrounds and institutions
  • Dealing with expectations (scheduling tasks, identifying authorship, etc)
  • When things go wrong — salvaging collaborative projects

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