Dear Eco-Loggers:
We would like to invite you all to the ESA 2015 session OOS 37: “Implications of positive interaction studies to the future of ecological research”. The goal of this session is to highlight the current state of facilitation research and describe the future projections including available gaps in the literature. Broadly, this session provides a synthesis of positive interaction studies across different ecosystems with topics ranging from niche expansion, coexistence, evolutionary adaptation, and global change. This set of studies showcase the growing importance of positive interactions for ecological processes and biodiversity coexistence. We also guarantee that it will be entirely entertaining. We will be on social media to share and explore questions in real time. We are encouraging presenters to share in advance as well. The session is on Wednesday, August 12th from 8:00-11:30am. Here is our list of speakers: 8:00 AM - A role for soil microbial communities in plant-plant facilitation Cristina Armas, Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas; Yudi M. Lozano, Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas; Sara Hortal, University of Western Sydney; Susana Rodríguez-Echeverría, Centre for Functional Ecology; Francisco I. Pugnaire, Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas 8:20 AM - Positive interactions expand habitat use and the realized niches of sympatric species Sinead M. Crotty, Brown University; Mark D. Bertness, Brown University 8:40 AM - Facilitation in plant communities: Driver of evolutionary adaptation? Christian Smit, University of Groningen 9:00 AM - The future of gradient studies in examining plant-plant interactions for the next 100 years Chris Lortie, York University 9:20 AM - The consequences of plant–plant interactions at the community level: A niche-based approach Christian Schöb, University of Zurich; Sara Hortal, University of Western Sydney; Alison J. Karley, The James Hutton Institute; Luna Morcillo, Universitat d'Alacant; Andrian C. Newton, The James Hutton Institute; Robin J. Pakeman, The James Hutton Institute; Jeff R. Powell, University of Western Sydney; Ian Anderson, University of Western Sydney; Rob W. Brooker, The James Hutton Institute 9:40 AM - Break 9:50 AM - The competition cascade: Indirect facilitation emerges as a key driver of species richness under neutral, niche or individual difference Eliot J. B. McIntire, Natural Resources Canada 10:10 AM - Positive species interactions and climate change at global scales Qiang He, Duke University; Brian R. Silliman, Duke University The session is on room 314 of the Baltimore Convention Center. We hope to see you there! Please feel free to contact myself ([email protected], @diegosotomayor) or Alex Filazzola ([email protected], @alex_filazzola) for any questions. This is the website of the session containing the abstracts: http://eco.confex.com/eco/2015/webprogram/Session10663.html Cheers, Diego A. Sotomayor PhD Candidate York University, Toronto
