The Gordon Research Seminar on Unifying Ecology Across Scales is a unique forum for graduate students, post-docs, and other scientists with comparable levels of experience and education to present and exchange new data and cutting edge ideas.
At this meeting, we aim to answer the question: What measurable features of ecological systems operating at one scale emerge in the structure and dynamics operating at other spatial, temporal, and organizational scales?
The search for general principles is particularly challenging in ecology given the incredible diversity of systems, taxa, and processes operating on different spatial, temporal, and organizational scales. Remarkable generality exists in broad patterns such as latitudinal diversity gradients and metabolic scaling relationships. But understanding the mechanisms producing these patterns requires linking processes across scales. These cross-scale comparisons may reveal general constraints that operate in ecological systems, or they may provide insights into ecological strategies that allow organisms to escape constraints, producing variation around broad patterns. We aim to figure out which ecological processes and features mechanistically link processes across scales. To do this, we will bring together diverse perspectives from fields including physiology, evolutionary biology, ecological stoichiometry, macroecology, and metabolic scaling.
Application Instructions
The seminar will feature approximately 10 talks and 2 poster sessions. All attendees are expected to actively participate in the GRS, either by giving an oral presentation or presenting a poster. Therefore, all applications must include an abstract.
The seminar chair will select speakers from abstracts submitted by May 1, 2022. Those applicants who are not chosen for talks and those who apply after the deadline to be considered for an oral presentation will be expected to present a poster. In order to participate, you must submit an application by the date indicated in the Application Information section above.
Program Format
Gordon Research Seminars are 2-day meetings which take place on the Saturday and Sunday just prior to the start of the associated GRC. The GRS opens with a 1-hour introductory session on Saturday afternoon, followed by a poster session, dinner and a 2-hour session in the evening. Sunday morning begins with breakfast and is followed by another 2-hour session, a second poster session, and lunch. A final 1-hour session takes place just after lunch, and the associated GRC begins later that evening.