Two Conferences In February 2010

These conferences will continue, and expand on, the theme of the very successful island ecosystem management conferences held in 1989 - Ecological Restoration of New Zealand Islands - and 2001 - Eradication of Island Invasives and Ecology of Insular Biotas.

This early notice is intended to give authors time to prepare their papers and participants time to plan their travels.  There will be a call for abstracts of papers to be presented in March 2009 with a closing date of 31 August 2009.  Registrations to attend will open in June 2009.

These conferences are intended to bring together people from around the world and all aspects of the conference themes.  Activities and discussions which help these people to share their knowledge, experiences, and future work will be encouraged.  Satellite meetings before and after the conference will be encouraged; field trips will be arranged as part of the conference plans.

-Ecology of Insular Biotas II

An international conference to be held in Wellington, New Zealand from 1-5 February 2010, www.victoria.ac.nz/islandconference.

The conference will focus on ecological patterns and processes of particular importance to isolated biotas, including true islands, natural habitat islands (eg., ponds), and artificial habitat islands (eg. reserves). Topics of particular interest will include: dispersal and gene flow within and among isolated populations; ecology of small populations; ecological and evolutionary dynamics of disharmonic floras and faunas; the relevance of island biogeography principles in conservation; islands as model ecosystems; comparative ecology of true islands vs. habitat islands.

We are hoping to have selected manuscripts published in full as part of a special issue of a key journal, similar to publication of the last Insular Biotas conference in Journal of Biogeography 2002, vol 29, numbers 5/6.

Conference Directors:  Drs Nicky Nelson, Phil Lester and Kevin Burns, School of Biological Sciences, Victoria University of Wellington, P.O. Box 600, Wellington, New Zealand. Contact at fax: 64-4-463-5331, e-mail: islandconference@vuw.ac.nz

-Island Invasives: Eradication and Management

An international conference to be held at Tamaki Campus, University of Auckland, New Zealand, from 8 to 12 February 2010 by the Centre for Biodiversity and Biosecurity (University of Auckland & Landcare Research), in collaboration with the IUCN/SSC Invasive Species Specialist Group. Visit CBB website here.

For the 2010 conference we will continue to have "islands" and "eradication of invasive species" as the focus, with emphasis on the work done and results or learning achieved.  The conference will endeavour to cover the full breadth of this work and this may be broken down to: Gaining political, community, financial, and physical support; Eradication techniques tested and used; The immediate results of eradication operations; The longer-term outcomes as seen in the biota of the island and among communities involved; Biosecurity measures for such islands from planning to implementation.

All people who make a verbal presentation at the conference will be required to supply a publishable paper prior to their presentation.  These will be assembled to create a proceedings of the conference.  There will be space for poster papers and the authors of those papers may choose to publish in the conference proceedings.

Note: The term 'eradication' includes complete removal of an invasive species; work to remove invasive species where complete eradication is some time away but the methods used are achieving positive results; or providing a significant learning experience.  The term 'island' includes true islands, natural habitat islands (eg ponds), remnant and artificial habitat islands (eg reserves), or new invasions of natural ecosystems where eradication is deemed feasible.

If you wish to be put on the email list for direct information about the Island Invasives conference please contact Dick Veitch, phone +64 9 298 5775, email dveitch@kiwilink.co.nz and advise him whether you wish to be a presenter or participant.  This announcement, future notices, and conference registration, will be available via the CBB website here.