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INTECOLe-Bulletin

Message from the President of INTECOL

A very warm welcome to the second number of our new e-Bulletin! As I write this I am on a short visit to the United States and it is just past the Chinese's New Year. So first of all every good wish to our Chinese members for the year of the Rat, and second belated good wishes for 2008 to all our members in now 93 different countries around the world. I hope that you will have both personal success and continued success also in advancing the science of ecology and its application.

Our membership continues to grow, and the Board is very keen to see this growth continue, so please encourage your colleagues to join if they haven't already done so. The Board is also keen to get more members participating in our activities. I know that the Bulletin editor Dr Sun-Kee Hong would be very pleased to receive potential contributions, so if you have an

interesting idea for an article, please contact him directly.

This year we have the International Wetlands meeting in Brazil in July which I hope will attract many of our members with interest in this important field, and planning continues apace for the International Congress in Australia next year. I am always interested to hear of new ideas or potential developments which can help us advance INTECOL, so please don't hesitate to contact me (j.a.lee@sheffield.ac.uk). I look forward to hearing from you, but in the mean time I hope you will enjoy this issue and be well set on a most productive year.

John A. LeePresident, INTECOL

Global Forum

greatest. Assessing the impacts of winter climatic change, however, represents a particular challenge to scientists since winter Arctic conditions make the logistics of field work or running field manipulation experiments particularly challenging, a problem that is made none-the-easier by the fact that only a very few Arctic field research stations are open during winter months. However, those challenges need to be met if we are to obtain much needed understanding of the impacts of winter climatic change in Arctic regions.

Some of the largest increases in temperature are predicted to occur at high northern latitudes resulting in significant impacts on ecosystems in the boreal and Arctic zones, and particularly the sub-Arctic regions between them. Importantly, predictions also forecast greater climate change in winter than in summer, yet to date, almost all knowledge of climate change impacts in Arctic regions comes from studies undertaken during summer months. This means that there is a particular dearth of scientific knowledge of climatic change impacts during the period when changes will be

Extreme Arctic Climate Change: challenges in assessing the impacts of extreme warming events

Vol.2 No.1 28 February 2008

Download of this e-Bulletin is available at INTECOL Web-site (www.intecol.net)

International Association for Ecology

http://www.intecol.netmailto:lee@sheffield.ac.uk

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Vol.2 No.1 28 February 2008INTECOL e-BulletinGlobal Forum

ecosystems of the Arctic therefore has direct implications for biodiversity and conservation, both for the vegetation itself and herbivore species reliant on these ecosystems for food. In addition to the potentially damaging impacts on plants and animals, concern is heightened further since extreme winter warming events may result in positive feedbacks to global warming should they result in net release of CO2 from the ecosystem through stimulation of soil respiration or reduced primary productivity by vegetation damaged or killed. Positive feedback could also result from reduced cooling of the lower albedo "thawed" landscape (compared to a snow covered landscape). Actually, these events are not new phenomena, and the acute warm periods in Arctic mid-winters seen in long-term climate records are testimony to this. However, a major worry is that the frequency of extreme weather events such as these is predicted to increase as a result of climate change. Intriguingly, valuable long-term climate records at one leading sub-Arctic research Station (the Abisko Scientific Research Station in northern Sweden) shows that the frequency of events from 1997 to 2004 (averaging one event per year) is unprecedented in records dating back to 1913.

New ResearchTo tackle the challenge of understanding the impacts of extreme winter warming events, an international team of scientists from the UK, Norway, Sweden, USA, Finland and The Netherlands have established the first field warming systems that simulate such events (the pilot study of which has previously been reported in a Nature news feature, Vol. 441, p. 146). Using infra-red heating lamps combined with soil warming cables, acute increases in air and soil temperatures (and resulting snow melt) are being simulated in the grounds of the Abisko Scientific Research Station in Sweden on dwarf shrub heathland - a community of deciduous and evergreen dwarf shrubs that (together with graminoids, mosses and lichens) occupy the open forest understory throughout much of Fennoscandia. Should this work confirm fears that extreme winter warming will result in significant levels of plant damage, altered community structure, reduced primary productivity and increased emission of CO2, this will go a long way to confirming the importance of winter climatic change and the need to greatly increase our understanding of climate change impacts during the Arctic winter (Dr. Gareth K Phoenix, Department of Animal and Plant Sciences, University of Sheffield, UK, Contact: G.Phoenix@sheffield.ac.uk).

Extreme WarmingPerhaps the most profound of winter climatic changes are extreme winter warming events. During these events, temperatures increase rapidly to well above freezing (for example a change from -20˚C to +5/+10˚C in just 24 hours) and may remain so for typically a week long period. Such warming events can result in near complete snow thaw at the landscape scale. Return of freezing temperatures can also be rapid, leaving ecosystems -unprotected from lack of snow cover- exposed to extreme cold. Exposure to extreme cold can damage vegetation either directly (through freezing or winter desiccation) or indirectly through ice-encasement by refreezing of melted snow. This ice-encasement can also make food plants inaccessible to herbivores and indeed, these events have already been implicated in the population crashes of some plants, and also voles, reindeer and musk ox. An understanding of the damaging effects of these events on the pristine

Ice encased Empetrum hermaphroditum

Lamp arrays warming exposed dwarf-shrub vegetation in winter

mailto:Phoenix@sheffield.ac.uk

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Vol.2 No.1 28 February 2008INTECOL e-BulletinMeeting Report

plants. For the future especially a deeper understanding in between classical and newer molecular-biological methods, the exchange of latest information on trace element and organic compound research and the common education of interested students in the field of biotechnologies were identified as welcomed exercises. After two days of intensive scientific discussions, a special field trip around the Negev desert invited the participants to realize the problems of the South of Israel between water consumption and plant water use efficiency. The excursion turned us to Advat - an ancient Nabatean Roman city with a view on a reconstructed Nabatean run-off farm, that had used an interesting technology of rain water storage in the field more than 2000 years before, furthermore to the Kibbutz Neot Smadar as an example for a constructed wetland in the desert and to date palm production using irrigation with saline water.

The local scientists were able to mitigate the detrimental effects of Boron on plant health by adjusting optimum

EU COST (European CO-operation in the field of Scientific and Technical Research) is an important intergovernmental framework that allows the coordination of nationally funded research on a European level. Herein COST Action 859 is a network on phytotechnologies to promote sustainable land use and to improve food safety. The activities of COST 859 are divided into 4 interlinking working groups (WGs), in which WG1 is related to plant uptake/exclusion and translocation of nutrients and contaminants, WG2 concentrates on exploiting "omics"-approaches in phytotechnologies, WG3 provides concepts for improving nutritional quality and safety of food crops and WG 4 deals with the integration and application of phytotechnologies (http://w3.gre.ac.uk/cost859/working -groups.html). In the frame of COST-Action 859, an interdisciplinary workshop of WG1 and WG3 was held from Tuesday 23nd to Thursday 25th of October 2007 in Israel. The workshop was hosted by the Ben Gurion University of the Negev, the Jacob Blaustein Institutes for Desert Research (BIDR) at the Sede-Boqer Campus. The working group coordinators had invited the WG members to contribute to the important topic of "Nutrient Biofortification and Exclusion of Pollutants in Food Plants" and had foreseen four scientific sessions as well as a professional field trip for the COST delegates.

Highly interesting plenary talks have given an excellent insight into hot topics of this COST action. Charlotte Poschenrieder from Barcelona, Spain, reported on "heavy metals and plant secondary metabolism and its relevance for plant defense and medical herb quality". Yona Chen from Jerusalem, Israel, presented "the role of Iron and its stimulatory effects of humic substances on plant growth". Martin Broadley from Nottingham, UK, focussed his talk on "improving the micronutrient content of crops using agronomic and genetic approaches with special reference to Selenium" and Jonathan Gressel from Rehovot, Israel, opened us "potential biotechnological solutions to tropical mycotoxin and natural contaminations". Around 20 additional lectures and 40 posters of high quality forced the goal to support human health by nutrient biofortification and the exclusion of pollutants in food

EU COST 859 Workshop on Nutrient Biofortification and Exclusion of Pollutants in Food Plants (Sede Boqer Campus, Israel, October 23-25, 2007)

http://w3.gre.ac.uk/cost859/working-groups.htmlhttp://w3.gre.ac.uk/cost859/working-groups.html

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Umweltverfahrenstechnik, 02763 Zittau, Deutschland, at present: Fliederweg 17, D-49733 Haren/Erika, Germany, 2Department Microbe-Plant Interactions, GSF National Research Center for Environment and Health, Neuherberg, Ingolstaedter Landstrasse 1, D-85758 Neuherberg, Germany, 3Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, the Jacob Blaustein Institutes for Desert Research, Albert Katz Department of Dryland Biotechnologies, Sede Boqer Campus 84990, Israel, 4Laboratory for Environmental Biotechnology (LBE), Swiss Federal Institute of Technology, Lausanne (EPFL), CH-1015 Lausanne, Switzerland, Corresponding author: markert@schlundmail.de; an INTECOL Board Member)

saline concentrations for the irrigation. Additionally the effect of Radon on alfalfa and the effect of different use of nitrogen compounds on the growth of tomato plants were demonstrated by the agronomists of this Kibbuz. After this impressive excursion, the scientific and intercultural discussions between the participants of the meeting could even not be stopped during a Bedouin "Hafla" Dinner and a dip in the hot water springs of the Neve Midbar Spa. All participants left the conference with the feeling that Israel for sure is a place for coming back. (Bernd Markert1a, Peter Schroeder2, Avi Golan-Goldhirsh3 and Jean Paul Schwitzguebel4, 1Internationales Hochschulinstitut, Lehrstuhl fur ¨

mailto:markert@schlundmail.de

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Next Congress & MeetingsVol.2 No.1 28 February 2008INTECOL e-Bulletin

Book now! Poster submission now opens. Industrial processes have been shaping the landscape for many thousands of years and have had far reaching consequences for the ecology of all environmental media. Recent developments in legislation have put

ecology at the centre of environmental protection (e.g. The European Union Water Framework Directive) however; this has raised several important questions. For more details, please use the link below.

II. BES Annual Symposium on Remediation, Restoration and Preservation (Austin Court, Birmingham, UK, 7 - 8 April 2008)

Web site: http://www.britishecologicalsociety.org/meetings/current/2008annualsymp/

Web site: http://www.eureco-gfoe2008.ufz.de/index.php?en=15079

Web site: http://www.europeanecology.org/

The EEF's 2008 symposium on "Biodiversity in an Ecosystem Context" will take place in Leipzig,

Germany, from 15-19 September 2008. Find out how to register for the conference at

New website: The new website of the European Ecological Federation is launched at the end of January. Access the site for information on ecological meetings

across Europe, postdoctoral and other job opportunities and information on available European research funding.

I. The European Ecological Federation (EURECO-GFOE 2008)

III. 8th INTECOL International Wetlands Conference, Brazil (20-25 July 2008)

http://www.eureco-gfoe2008.ufz.de/index.php?en=15079http://www.europeanecology.orghttp://www.britishecologicalsociety.org/meetings/current/2008annualsymp

Vol.2 No.1 28 February 2008

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Information:

Web site: http://www.britishecologicalsociety.org/meetings/current/2008annualmeeting/

The BES is pleased to announce that the 2008 Annual Meeting will be held at Imperial College London, UK. We will be adding more information including

registration and abstract opening dates, so please visit the following link regularly:

V. BES Annual Meeting 2008, Imperial College London, UK, 3 - 5 September 2008

Deadlines for submissionWorkshops : 1 June 2008Abstract : 1 May 2008

Centro de Pesquisa do PantanalAv. Fernando Correa da Costa, Campus da UFMT - Bloco CCBSIII Sala 210/213 - 1˚Andar CEP: 78060-900

Cuiaba - Mato Grosso - BrasilTel: +55 65 3615 8285www.cppantanal.org.br8thintecol@cppantanal.org.br

VI. 6th European Conference on Ecological Restoration (Ghent, Belgium, 8-12 September 2008) for "Towards a sustainable future for European Ecosystems - Providing restoration guidelines for Natura2000 habitats and species"

European Association of Acarologists (EURAAC) organizes in Montpellier, July 2008 the congress "Integrative Acarology" devoted to all aspects of modern knowledge in mite and tick biology,

ecology, genetics, etc. on fundamental or applied research. Scientists are waited from Europe and other continents to share their knowledge.

IV. Integrative Acarology Congress (Montpellier, France, July 2008)

Web site: http://www.montpellier.inra.fr/CBGP/Montpellier2008/

http://www.montpellier.inra.fr/CBGP/Montpellier2008http://www.britishecologicalsociety.org/meetings/current/2008annualmeetinghttp://www.cppantanal.org.brmailto:8thintecol@cppantanal.org.br

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Vol.2 No.1 28 February 2008

and process integration understanding are all developing quickly and new processes are already coming online. A new "paradigm" is emerging, globally. Commercial marketing of recovered nutrients as "green" fertilizers, or recycling of nutrients through biomass production to

Closing the loop for nutrients in wastewaters (municipal sewage, animal wastes, food industry, commercial and other liquid waste streams) is a necessary, sustainable development objective, to reduce resource consumption and greenhouse gas emissions. Chemistry, engineering

VIII. International Conference on Nutrient Recovery from Wastewater Streams (Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, 10-13 May 2009)

Web site: http://www.natur.cuni.cz/hydroeco2009/index.php

The aim of the 6th European conference on Ecological restoration is to present the state of the art in ecological restoration in Europe and to bring together scientists, policy makers, practitioners and stakeholders. Through lectures, workshops, poster sessions and excursions the conference offers an unique opportunity for the

exchange of knowledge, experiences and good practices in ecological restoration and nature conservation in the Natura 2000 framework.

Web site: http://www.ser2008.beContact: SER2008@inbo.be

VII. International Multidisciplinary Conference on Hydrology and Ecology Ecosystems Interfacing with Groundwater and Surface Water (Vienna, Austria, 20-23 April 2009)

Objectives and Scope

Many ecological systems owe their existence to physical/chemical properties of groundwater and surface water, and can be damaged if water flow or water properties are changed by anthropogenic or natural processes. The ecological systems may be (1) the terrestrial ecosystems we see every day, such as the riparian systems along the rivers, and wetlands found in headwaters as well as in low land areas or (2) the subsurface ecological systems that maintain the groundwater that sustains so many people.

To address the resulting issues, this conference brings together engineers and researchers from engineering and ecological disciplines. The disciplines include, but are not limited to, hydrology, ecology, environmental engineering, biology, chemistry, geochemistry, environmental biogeochemistry, and subsurface microbiology. The unifying theme is the interaction between groundwater and (or) /surface water and ecological systems. A typical example is the hyporheic

zone in riparian areas, where the ecological system interacts with water and chemical flows between surface and groundwater.

The goals of the conference are (1) to provide information that will help that interactions between groundwater, surface water and ecology are better understood, measured, simulated, and managed, and (2) to improve the technological basis for policy decisions (including WFD implementation) related to the reconstruction of ecologically valuable environments and the use of water resources in these environments.

This congress will be convened by Universitat fur Bodenkultur Wien (BOKU), University of Natural Resources and Applied Life Sciences, Vienna, International Commission on Groundwater (ICGW), of the International Association of Hydrological Sciences (IAHS), and Charles University, Prague, Czech Republic. The Conference provides a contribution to the implementation of UNESCO's International Hydrological Programme (IHP).

Abstract submission by 5 September 2008

¨ ¨

http://www.natur.cuni.cz/hydroeco2009/index.phphttp://www.ser2008.bemailto:SER2008@inbo.be

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Vol.2 No.1 28 February 2008

recovery process) recently commissioned in municipal sewage works in Edmonton, Alberta.

ABSTRACT DEADLINE: March 28th, 2008. Please send abstract submissions to (2-page single-spaced maximum, with additional 2 pages of tables or figures): Venue West Conference Services Ltd., Conference Secretariat - Nutrient Recovery, 2009, #100-873 Beatty Street - Vancouver, B.C. - V6B 2M6 - Canada

Fax: 604 681-2503Contact: mmori@venuewest.com

This conference is hosted by the Department of Civil Engineering of the University of British Columbia (UBC) and chaired by Dr. D.S. Mavinic, Professor of Civil and Environmental Engineering, UBC. Sponsors include:

ㆍThe University of British Columbia (UBC): http://www.civil.ubc.ca/pcwm/ ㆍGlobal Phosphate Forum: www.phosphate-forum.org ㆍThe Chartered Institution of Water and Environmental Management: (CIWEM) www.ciwem.org ㆍOstara Research Foundation (ORF): www.ostara.com

new outlets such as bio-fuels, is starting to happen.

This conference will bring together the various waste stream industries, regulators, researchers, R/D and process engineers and commercial managers, to develop inter-sectorial understanding and joint projects for phosphorus and nitrogen recovery and reuse from waste waters.

Abstracts are solicited in particular in the following areas:ㆍPhosphorus and nitrogen recovery from different

wastewater sourcesㆍProcess design and plant integrationㆍMarketing and use of recovered nutrient productsㆍStruvite, K-Struvite and calcium phosphate

precipitationㆍIon exchange nutrient recovery processesㆍP-recovery from biosolids incineration ashesㆍLeading-edge research and innovative technology

In addition, there will be an Open Session, devoted to "new thinking" for this emerging paradigm, in concert with an expert panel discussion. Dr. James L. Barnard (2007 Clarke Prize) will be the Keynote Speaker and will address the audience during the Plenary Session, on the opening day of the conference.

The Conference Programme will also offer visits to phosphorus recovery installations (Ostara/UBC struvite

for an international audience Australia and New Zealand's flourishing efforts in ecological science and its applications, as well as its unique biota. Delegates will have an unparalleled opportunity to hear about the latest ecological work, across the full range of ecological thought, organisms, and ecosystem types. A

In 2009, the Ecological Society of Australia, jointly with the New Zealand Ecological Society, will be hosting the first INTECOL Congress to be held in the southern hemisphere (www.intecol10.org).

The Congress will provide an opportunity to showcase

VIIII. The 10th INTECOL Congress, Brisbane, Australia (16-21 August 2009)

mailto:mmori@venuewest.comhttp://www.civil.ubc.ca/pcwmhttp://www.phosphate-forum.orghttp://www.ciwem.orghttp://www.ostara.comhttp://www.intecol10.org

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Brisbane, a City of INTECOL Congress South Bank, Area of the Venue Exterior of Brisbane Convention Centre

Zealand's diverse ecosystems.

INTECOL Program timelineCall for Symposia: January - August 2008 Call for Abstracts: June 2008 - March 2009Registration Open: June 2008 Abstract Acceptance letters sent: April 2009Early Bird Registration closes: June 2009

The ESA and the ESNZ are working hard to promote INTECOL to the world and would appreciate any assistance. If you or your colleagues are traveling to or participating in conferences where it would be appropriate to promote INTECOL 2009, please contact Larelle, the ESA Executive Officer and she'll send you some promotional material to take along with you- executiveofficer@ecolsoc.org.au

INTECOL 2009 will immediately precede the SERI 2009 - 19th Conference of the Society for Ecological Restoration International, held in Perth, Western Australia from 23 - 28 August 2009. For international delegates, this provides an ideal opportunity to attend both meetings while in Australia.http://www.seri2009.com.au

local conference organizing committee, chaired by previous ESA President Craig James, is developing the meeting format.

An exciting Scientific Program is taking shape under the guidance of an international panel of experts, chaired by Mike Bull. A varied array of meeting styles, meeting venues, opportunities for discussion and social options will help ensure this is a memorable event.

IMPORTANT INFORMATION ITEMS:

1. A call for symposium proposals is now open. We encourage ecologists from around the world to submit proposals for conference symposia on important or exciting internationally-relevant themes. Proposals should follow the guidelines on the INTECOL website www.intecol10.org. The deadline for proposals is August 2008.

2 There will be many opportunities for students to participate in the conference. Keep an eye on the website as the year progresses.

3. A range of interesting field trips and tours are being organized for INTECOL, providing the perfect opportunity to visit some of Australia and New

mailto:executiveofficer@ecolsoc.org.auhttp://www.seri2009.com.auhttp://www.intecol10.org

Deadline for sending information of next e-Bulletins

10INTECOLe-Bulletin

Vol.2 No.1 28 February 2008Institute and Job Search

INTECOL, International Association for Ecology

International Programme, 'M.Sc. Landscape Ecology and Nature Conservation'

This bulletin of Vol. 2 (1) in 2008 is combindly edited with Vol. 1 (2) in 2007

Web-site: http://www.intecol.netBulletin Editor: Sun-Kee Hong (intecol.bulletin@gmail.com;landhong@yahoo.co.kr)

The 2-year programme is held in English and addressed to postgraduates (M.Sc. or comparable degree) and well-trained graduates (B.Sc.) with practical work experience from all parts of the world. Based on multi-disciplinarity and individual mentoring, students will be prepared for careers in international administration and organisations as well as in research institutes and private companies. Start

of next study period: 1st of October 2008.

For more information including application and further funding options please check: http://www.botanik.uni-greifswald.de/msclenc or write an e-mail to the programme coordinator Dr. Tiemo Timmermann (tiemo@uni-greifswald.de).

INTECOL is affiliated with the ICSU family of scientific organizations as the section responsible for general ecology within the International Union of Biological Sciences (IUBS). The association will assist and/or support the development of the science of ecology and the application of ecological principles to global problems, especially by assisting international cooperation; the collection, evaluation and distribution of information about ecology; national, regional and international actions which will serve ecological research, training of personal, coordination of general publications of ecological principles and the recognition of the importance of ecology for economy and society; the organization of conferences, meetings, symposia, programs and projects, conduct of speaking-series, publication of manuscripts, and measures which are deemed necessary to reach the goals of the association.

Officers and Executive Board Members President: John A. Lee (j.a.lee@sheffield.ac.uk)Past President: Akira Miyawaki (miyawaki-29@jise.jp)Vice President: Craig D. James (craig.james@csiro.au)Secretary General: Eun-Shik Kim (kimeuns@kookmin.ac.kr)Treasurer: Azim U. Mallik (azim.mallik@gmail.com)Executive Board: Alan P. Covich (alanc@uga.edu), Almo Farina (farina@uniurb.it), Bojie Fu (bjfu@cashq.ac.cn), Executive Board: John Grace (j.grace@ed.ac.uk), Sun-Kee Hong (landhong@yahoo.co.kr), Pavel Krestov (krestov@vtc.ru), Executive Board: Bernd Markert (markert@schlundmail.de), Dan L. Perlman (perlman@brandeis.edu), Executive Board: Rebecca R. Sharitz (sharitz@srel.edu), Patrick Silan (psilan.sfe@univ-montp2.fr), Executive Board: R. Eugene Turner (euturne@lsu.edu), Jos T. A. Verhoeven (j.t.a.verhoeven@bio.uu.nl),

Vol. 2 No. 2: 30 April 2008

International postgraduate programme "M.Sc. Landscape Ecology and Nature Conservation" at Greifswald University (Germany) qualifies experts in the analysis and solution of the environmental challenges of today and tomorrow.

http://www.intecol.netmailto:bulletin@gmail.commailto:landhong@yahoo.co.krhttp://www.botanik.uni-greifswald.de/msclencmailto:tiemo@uni-greifswald.demailto:lee@sheffield.ac.ukmailto:29@jise.jpmailto:james@csiro.aumailto:kimeuns@kookmin.ac.krmailto:mallik@gmail.commailto:alanc@uga.edumailto:farina@uniurb.itmailto:bjfu@cashq.ac.cnmailto:grace@ed.ac.ukmailto:landhong@yahoo.co.krmailto:krestov@vtc.rumailto:markert@schlundmail.demailto:perlman@brandeis.edumailto:sharitz@srel.edumailto:sfe@univ-montp2.frmailto:euturne@lsu.edumailto:verhoeven@bio.uu.nl

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