Individuals planning to attend the 2014 Joint Aquatic Sciences Meeting in Portland Oregon are invited to participate in a special session on "Modeling for ecological assessments and conservation planning". Substantial progress has been made over the last 15 years in developing predictive models for use in biological assessments and conservation planning. These models are increasingly used across a wide range of aquatic ecosystems (lotic, lentic, wetlands, and marine) and for the prediction of both biotic (algae, invertebrates, fish) and physical properties (hydrology, water chemistry, geomorphology). Much of this work has focused on improving predictions of the reference condition the ecological state that should occur in the absence of human-caused disturbance, but these models have also helped generate and test hypotheses regarding the factors and processes that structure aquatic ecosystems. This session will consist of talks that explore progress made to date, integration of modeling and theory, modeling of stressor-response relationships, uses and abuses of predictive modeling, fundamental constraints that may influence model accuracy and precision, and new modeling approaches that may allow more robust predictions of ecological and environmental structure and dynamics.
Please contact Chuck Hawkins ([email protected]) if you are interested in participating in this session. Abstracts must submitted before 23:59 U.S. Central Standard Time on Friday, 7 February 2014. See http://www.sgmeet.com/jasm2014/ for meeting information
