Call for Proposals
Symposia, Organized Oral Sessions, and Organized Poster Sessions
Deadline for Submission: September 13, 2012

Only proposals that are complete and submitted by 5:00 PM EST will be 
considered.

98th Annual Meeting of the Ecological Society of America
Minneapolis, Minnesota
August 4-9, 2013
http://www.esa.org/minneapolis 

We invite proposals for Symposia, Organized Oral Sessions, and Organized Poster 
Sessions for ESA's 98th Annual Meeting to be held in Minneapolis, Minnesota. 
The theme for the 2013 meeting is "Sustainable Pathways: Learning From the Past 
and Shaping the Future." In anticipation of the 100th Annual Meeting in 2015, 
the 98th Annual Ecological Society of America Meeting will look to the past as 
guidance in understanding and predicting future trends in ecosystem dynamics 
and services. With the backdrop of the beautiful city of Minneapolis, this 
meeting will capture the long influence of the ESA on ecology and will set the 
stage for events leading to the centennial meeting. Long-term data, from fossil 
and pollen records, environmental proxies and observations that date in some 
cases from the early 1900s, provide the historical context and an important 
baseline for future trajectories; however, the future of Planet Earth is far 
from certain or predictable based on its past. Global drivers are changing in 
slope, magnitude, and direction, novel organisms are being introduced or 
developed, no-analog communities are forming, and humans continue to modify and 
interact with their environment. Historic legacies provide the template for 
these complex interactions. Developing and maintaining sustainable trajectories 
in the midst of these certain, yet highly unpredictable, changes that affect 
and interact with ecological systems is a critical challenge for ecologists, 
and provide the theme of the 98th Annual Meeting. 

Session proposals related to the meeting's theme are highly encouraged, but any 
timely and coherent subject of broad interest will be considered. We also 
welcome proposals that explore interdisciplinary connections with areas of 
social and natural science outside of ecology or that relate to ecological 
education at any level. All proposals will be peer reviewed. Historical topics 
are now included as an exemption to the one presentation rule in recognition of 
the ESA's Centennial in 2015.

Symposia are the scientific centerpiece of the meeting. They are limited to 
half-day sessions (3.5 hours) of 6 speakers each. Time devoted to synthesis, 
summary, and discussion is strongly encouraged. This meeting will include 24 
symposia. Note that the guidelines for speaker count and timing have changed 
since last year. For additional information, please visit: 
http://esa.org/minneapolis/symposia.php 

Organized Oral Sessions are organized around a specific topic with most of the 
speakers invited by the organizer. Compared to Symposia, there is less emphasis 
on breadth of appeal and overall synthesis and they may be comprised largely of 
related case studies. Organized oral sessions are limited to half-day sessions 
(3.5 hours). There is no set number of accepted Organized Oral Session 
proposals for the meeting. For additional information, please visit: 
http://esa.org/minneapolis/organizedorals.php 

Organized Poster Sessions are sets of posters (in multiples of 5) organized 
around a specific topic. All of the presenters are invited by the organizer. 
Organized poster sessions will be scheduled at the same time as regular poster 
sessions. All posters in each organized poster session will be placed as a 
group in a designated area of the exhibit hall. For additional information and 
to begin the submission process, please visit:
http://esa.org/minneapolis/organizedposters.php 

If you have any questions, please contact the Program Chair, Debra Peters, at 
[email protected], or the Program Coordinator, Jennifer Riem, at 
[email protected]. 

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