Landscape Patterns and Ecosystem Processes
2008 US-IALE Symposium
Madison, Wisconsin | April 6-10, 2008
US-IALE 2008 Workshop Overview
All workshops will take place on Sunday, April 6th, 2008.
All workshops will require a minimum of 12 registrants.
Full-Day Workshops
- An Introduction to Landscape Genetics for Non-geneticists
- Eco-hydrology Quantification using FRAGSTATS and a Flow-patch
Analysis Approach - CANCELLED
Half-Day Workshops
- Applying for Fellowships and Grants: Tips from the Pros
- Landscape Modeling: a How-to Guide
- Digital Data in Landscape Ecology: Applications and Visions
- Modern Approaches to Resource Selection Modeling
An Introduction to Landscape Genetics for Non-geneticists
Time: 8:00 am - 5:00 pm (1 hour lunch break, lunch not provided)
Cost: $75.00
Organizers: Lisette Waits and Niko Balkenhol (University of Idaho)
Location: Pyle Center, 702 Langdon Street
Landscape genetics combines population genetics, landscape ecology, and spatial
statistics, and seeks to explain the influences of landscape composition and
configuration on genetic diversity and structure. This emerging field
could greatly enhance our understanding of species-specific landscape ecology,
for example with respect to functional connectivity or corridor design. In
this workshop, we will introduce non-geneticists (e.g., landscape ecologists)
to population genetic principles, and provide them with an overview of the
most commonly used methods for measuring gene flow and detecting genetic population
structure. Such analyses are the first step in landscape genetics, and
a good understanding of the different approaches and the unique characteristics
of genetic data is critical for landscape ecologists who plan to do research
in this new field. While the focus of the workshop is on these preliminary
steps of landscape genetics, we will also introduce participants to the most
commonly used methods for linking genetic variation and landscape patterns
(the second step of landscape genetics).
Detailed workshop description …
Eco-hydrology Quantification using FRAGSTATS and a Flow-patch Analysis Approach
This workshop has been cancelled.
Time: 8:00 am - 5:00 pm (1 hour lunch break, lunch not provided)
Cost: $50.00
Organizer: Richard Koehler (NOAA, National Weather Service)
Location: Pyle Center, 702 Langdon Street
Note: Participants should bring their own PC laptop computer.
Raster hydrographs offer an innovative approach to examining intra- and inter-annual
variations in streamflow. In a gridded environment, years are plotted
as rows and days of the water year are plotted as columns, with the magnitude
of a grid cell being streamflow. The resulting raster graphic can
be interpreted much like a map, with patches and discontinuities representing
seasonal and annual hydrologic patterns. Flow-patch analysis offers
a new and innovative approach for the visualization and quantification of streamflow
records by analyzing the raster hydrograph using some of the tools of fragmentation
analysis in landscape ecology. This technique permits new insights into characteristics
and disturbances of hydrologic properties and provides additional tools to
aquatic ecologists and scientists studying the physical hydrologic environment.
This approach also allows hydrologic properties to be put into landscape ecology
terms. This workshop is designed to instruct participants how to create and
interpret temporal patterns in streamflow records. Quantification of patterns
based on landscape metrics using FRAGSTATS is demonstrated.
Detailed workshop description …
Applying for Fellowships and Grants: Tips from the Pros
Time: 8:00 am - 12:00 pm
Cost: Free
Organizers: Deahn DonnerWright (USDA Forest Service, North
Central Research Station) and Martin Simard (UW-Madison)
Location: Pyle Center, 702 Langdon Street
Note: This workshop is organized by the US-IALE Graduate
Student Representatives
This workshop will provide fellowship and grant writing insights from successful
grant writers in the landscape ecology community. Speakers will talk
about their experience with the grant writing process, and also about their
perspective as reviewers of fellowship and grant applications. Topics will
include the fellowship application process and what reviewers look for in a
fellowship application, how to match research ideas to those of granting agencies,
how to avoid common mistakes made by beginning grant writers and fellowship
applicants, how to develop team proposals, and how to work with the administration
office when developing the proposal budget. Participants will gain a
better understanding of the fellowship application and grant writing process
that will increase the chances of landscape perspective research getting funded. We
invite graduate students, post doctoral fellows, early career faculty, and
other interested individuals to participate.
Detailed workshop description …
Landscape Modeling: a How-to Guide
Time: 1:00 pm - 5:00 pm
Cost: $25.00
Organizers: Erica A. H. Smithwick (Penn State) and Daniel B. Collins (UW-Madison)
Location: Geography computer lab, Science Hall, 550 N. Park Street
In this workshop, we will explore the utility of landscape models for informing
the central challenge of landscape and ecosystem ecology: understanding the
causes and consequences of landscape pattern at various scales. We will
examine the diversity of current landscape modeling approaches and methods,
their utility for answering different questions in landscape ecology, and their
evolving role at the intersection of geography, geomorphology, hydrology, and
ecosystem ecology. At the end of the workshop, participants will be able to
think through all aspects of a modeling project, from reading a modeling paper
critically, to designing a model and experimental procedure, and writing a
superior modeling paper. Through handouts, group modeling exercises (in Excel),
and discussions, we will help participants develop the skills necessary to
include landscape models in their scientific teaching and research. All
skill levels are welcome and will be accommodated.
Detailed workshop description …
Digital Data in Landscape Ecology: Applications and Visions
Time: 8:00 am - 12:00 pm
Cost: $25.00
Organizer: Falk Huettmann (University of Alaska-Fairbanks)
Location: Forestry computer lab, Russell labs, 1630 Linden Drive
With the explosion of digital data availability and increases in computational
power that allow landscape ecologists to analyze larger and larger spatial
data sets, the amount of data being collected, stored and shared has become
vast.These developments offer the possibility of creating an online global
village in which data and insights can be used worldwide in landscape-level
decision-making, especially in less developed areas where access to data may
be more limited. Furthermore, federal funding agencies now require PIs
to make their data widely available to other scientists; thus, all of us need
to build this step into our research programs. Open Access online initiatives
present a fascinating approach for reaching the goal of global online data
sharing efficiently. This workshop will cover topics involved in data
sharing including established data sharing policies, currently available on-line
databases relevant to Landscape Ecology, open source initiatives, and metadata
standards, tools and mark-up languages (e.g. XML).
Detailed workshop description …
Modern Approaches to Resource Selection Modeling
Time: 1:00 pm - 5:00 pm
Cost: $25.00
Organizers: James Forester (University of Chicago) and Jacqueline
Frair (SUNY ESF)
Location: Forestry computer lab, Russell labs, 1630 Linden Drive
Ecologists have long sought to understand how individuals and populations
use heterogeneous landscapes. In particular, one goal of ecological research
has been to determine what combinations of landscape characteristics attract
or repel animals . This provides insights necessary to define more carefully
the habitat requirements of (and interactions among) species. Statistical models
that describe habitat preference typically rely upon discrete locations of
individual animals combined with spatially explicit data on landscape covariates.
The abundance of GPS and land-cover data allows researchers to address previously
inaccessible questions relating to how animals use resources at multiple spatial
and temporal scales. The overall goal of this workshop is to provide hands-on
experience to researchers interested in developing resource selection models
using cutting-edge techniques.
Detailed workshop description …