19th Annual Symposium of the United States Regional Association of the International Association for Landscape Ecology:

Transdisciplinary Challenges in Landscape Ecology

March 30 - April 2, 2004
Field Trips: April 3 - 4, 2004

Co-Chairs: Nita Tallent-Halsell and Bruce Jones, Ph.D.

Thank you for your interest in the US-IALE 2004 Symposium. We had an outstanding meeting. The final count was 334 registrants. Of these, 117 (35%) were members, 86 (26%) were non-members, 75 (22%) were student members, 18 (5%) student non-members, 7 (2%) were one-day members, 14 (4% ) were one-day non-members, 1 (< 1%) one-day student member and 2 (<1 %) one-day student non-members. Eleven (3 %) of the registrants were student volunteers while 3 (<1%) were exhibitors.

A geographic analysis of the registrants finds that 36 (11%) were from 14 countries other than the US : Belgium (1), Brazil (2), Canada (17), China (1), Germany (1), Hungary (2), India (1), Israel (1), Japan (1), Netherlands (3), Portugal (1), Puerto Rico (2), Switzerland (2) and Taiwan (1). Of the 298 US registrants, the regional breakdown shows the majority of registrants came from the southwest (38%), mid-west (24%), southeast (14 %), northwest (13%) and northeast (11%). States with at least 10 registrants included: Arizona (27), Colorado (26), Michigan (24), North Carolina (19), California (17), Nevada (16), Washington (14), New Mexico and Oregon (13 each), Rhode Island (11), and Minnesota, Virginia and Wisconsin (10 each).

The on-line Itinerary Planner with abstracts will be available until at least April 2006.

We have many people to thank. We extend our thanks to the speakers, Drs. Jerry Franklin, Lawrence Band, and James Deacon for their informative and thought provoking presentations. We also thank banquet speaker Mr. Edwin (Phil) Pister for sharing his experiences and insights following 38 years as a fisheries biologist with the California Department of Fish and Game. No major gathering is possible without the dedication and hard work of scores of people - often behind the scenes, whose individual contributions and efforts combine to make the event happen. This meeting is no exception. We are grateful for the many who volunteered to serve as abstract reviewers, special session organizers, session chairs, web master and field trip leaders. Thanks again to the student volunteers. Their assistance was invaluable. We are indeed indebted to the many that have supported the implementation of the US-IALE Meeting and helped make this meeting such a success.

From its onset, landscape ecology has been defined by a wide range of scientific disciplines, including those in the general categories of the physical sciences, and more recently, the social sciences. In addition to providing a venue for a diverse set of scientific disciplines, landscape ecology has emphasized the importance of spatial pattern and scale. Solving current and future environmental issues requires transdisciplinary approaches that integrate the physical, ecological, and social sciences in space and time. The theme of this meeting was selected to provide a forum to consider the challenges and potential of applying transdisciplinary approaches to solve current and future environmental issues. Activities for this meeting were selected to demonstrate and highlight research, methods, and tools that integrate multiple scientific disciplines needed to address today's environmental problems.