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2008 ANNUAL MEETING 13-17 JULY, CHATTANOOGA, TENNESSEE, USA

CALL FOR CONTRIBUTED ORAL, POSTER, AND SPEED PRESENTATIONS

The 22nd annual meeting of the Society for Conservation Biology, From the Mountains to the Sea, will be held from 13-17 July 2008 in Chattanooga, Tennessee, USA. Abstracts must be submitted electronically by 16 January 2008. The call for proposals for symposia, workshops, organized discussions, and short courses was issued previously; the deadline was 29 October 2007.

SCB expects to make decisions by mid February. Notifications will be sent by email only. Please make sure that the one email address you provide is your primary email address and is entered correctly. We encourage you to carefully think about the format that best meets your goals (contributed oral, poster, or speed presentation).

The scientific program will include plenary sessions, invited symposia, workshops, organized discussions, short courses, poster sessions, and concurrent sessions of contributed oral presentations and speed presentations. Due to the high level of attendance expected at the meeting and, consequently, limited time and space for oral presentations, poster presentations are strongly encouraged.

CRITERIA FOR SELECTION

Reviewers have access to the entire abstract except the names of the authors. To increase the probability that your abstract will be accepted, and in your preferred format, please consider the following criteria carefully:

1. Scientific merit
2. Application to conservation management
3. Clarity of presentation (e.g., abstract begins with a clear statement of an issue and ends with a substantive conclusion)

AUTHOR REGISTRATION

Presenting authors must register for the meeting by the early deadline of 19 March. Because late cancellation excludes others who might have presented, authors who fail to notify the Local Organizing Committee of their withdrawal by 16 May may be excluded from giving a presentation at the 2009 meeting.

ORAL PRESENTATIONS

Individuals may present only one symposium, oral, speed, or poster presentation. If your name appears on more than one abstract, make sure you are listed as the presenter for only one of them. Oral presentations will be limited to 15 minutes: 12 minutes for presentation and three minutes for questions. Contributed oral presentations will be grouped by topic. Please choose from the list of general topic areas below. This will assist us in selecting an appropriate session for your presentation. If your abstract is accepted but cannot be accommodated as an oral presentation, we may offer you the opportunity to present a poster. All oral presentation rooms will be equipped with a computer and a data projector. Detailed information and instructions on presentations will be available to presenters several months before the meeting.

POSTER PRESENTATIONS

Poster presenters will receive general instructions on poster format in the email notification of acceptance. Posters will be displayed prominently and for the entire meeting. Special sessions dedicated to posters will allow in-depth discussion between authors and attendees.

SPEED PRESENTATIONS

If your topic would be of interest to a wide audience and you would like your presentation to lead to an extended conversation with colleagues, you may wish to submit an abstract for a speed presentation. In the first hour of a speed presentation session, 15 speakers will be given four minutes each to present their key ideas and results. In the second hour, presenters will station themselves at separate tables where they can interact with people who are interested in learning more about their work.

To participate in the speed presentations, simply submit an abstract according to the standard guidelines and indicate that you would like your abstract to be considered for a speed presentation. If your abstract is accepted for a speed presentation, you will be notified by the Local Organizing Committee and asked to prepare a four-minute presentation instead of a traditional (15-minute) presentation. If you abstract is not accepted for a speed presentation, it still will be considered for a traditional oral presentation or poster.

STUDENT AWARD CANDIDATES

Student award candidates (restricted to 15-minute oral presentations; no posters, no speed presentations) must submit two abstracts, an extended abstract and a regular abstract for the meeting. Both abstracts must be submitted online by 16 January and formatted according to the instructions provided.

The extended abstract should have a minimum of 500 words and a maximum of 800 words. The extended abstract must include a maximum of three figures or tables (total, not three figures and three tables). Abstracts that are not submitted according to these guidelines will not be accepted. In recent years, the rejection rate has been approximately 85%. Many students have not been considered for an award simply because they did not follow instructions. Your extended abstract must include the following information.

1. Presentation title
2. Names and complete contact information for all authors. The student applying for the award must be the first author. If the abstract has two or more authors, specify the role that each author played in the work.
3. Degree pursued or, for those who already have received a Ph.D., date of defense. Current students and students with a graduation date of 1 July 2007 or later are eligible to apply.

Please make certain that the name of the student applying for the award and the name of the primary author are identical (e.g., identical surname).

MENTORING PROGRAM

To encourage participation of members whose first language is not English, SCB's Student Affairs Committee offers a mentoring service for students who wish to submit abstracts for oral or poster presentations.

If you want to take advantage of this mentoring program, simply submit an abstract according to the standard guidelines; indicate that you are a student, that English is not your first language, and that you would like your abstract to be mentored. Instructions will be sent to your email address after you submit your abstract.

A mentor will contact you and provide guidance on grammar and clarity of writing. The mentor also will ensure that the abstract meets the technical criteria for submission. Note that it is not the role of the mentor to provide scientific guidance, nor to write the abstract.

INSTRUCTIONS FOR PREPARING ABSTRACTS

Abstracts should be submitted for oral (including speed presentation) and poster presentations and for invited symposia. Abstracts for symposium presentations are by invitation only.

Please follow the instructions carefully, including all requested information and formatting. After you submit your abstract, you will receive a confirmation email containing a link to verify and edit your abstract. It is your responsibility to verify that all information submitted is complete and correct. If you notice errors or omissions, edit your abstract before the submission deadline. No changes will be made after the abstract submission deadline. Early notification of acceptance will give you ample time to take advantage of the early registration rate. Your abstract must include the following information.

1. Name and email address of person submitting the abstract.
2. Student presentation. Indicate whether the presentation will be given by a student (regardless of whether the student is a candidate for a student award).
3. Abstract title. List the title in CAPITAL LETTERS. Titles are limited to 150 characters.
4. Type of presentation. Indicate whether the abstract is intended for an oral, poster, either oral or poster, or an invited symposium presentation, even if you wish to contribute a speed presentation. Symposium presenters already have already received an invitation. If you have not received an invitation, do not check the symposium box.
5. Name of invited symposium, if applicable
6. Topic areas. Please choose from the list of general topic areas to assist us in selecting an appropriate session for your presentation. Indicate your first, second, and third choices. Please indicate three choices even if you wish to contribute a speed presentation.

Disciplines
Biogeography
Communications, outreach, and education
Community-driven conservation
Conservation genetics
Conservation medicine
Ecological restoration
Environmental or ecological economics
Environmental anthropology
Environmental geography
Environmental politics and policy
Environmental sociology
Conservation psychology
Indigenous knowledge and conservation
Landscape ecology
Population dynamics
Social science

Ecosystems
Freshwater conservation
Conservation at the land-water interface
Urban area conservation
Disturbance ecology
Grassland conservation
Rangeland conservation
Marine conservation
Savanna conservation
Sustainable agriculture
Wetland conservation
Forest conservation

Issues
Alien and invasive species
Climate change
Conservation in hotspots
Methods
Adaptive management and monitoring
Protected area planning and design
Conservation capacity building
Conservation GIS
Conservation on private lands
Ecological restoration and reconstruction
Ecosystem / conservation area management
Inventory and monitoring
Land use planning for conservation
Population viability analysis
Conservation modeling
Recovery of endangered species
Risk assessment and uncertainty
Scientists and managers: bridging the gap
Spatial ecology and conservation

7. Abstract. Abstracts may not exceed 1500 characters (approximately 200 words). Begin with a clear statement of the topic or objectives, give brief methods and major results, and end with a substantial conclusion. Do not use vague statements such as "results will be discussed." It is the responsibility of the author to verify the information submitted and to edit any errors or omissions before the submission deadline.

8. Authors. List all authors with the name of the presenting author indicated clearly.

9. Addresses. List the institutional affiliations and addresses, including countries, for each author in the same order as above. For the presenting author only, include an email address in parentheses at the end of the address. If there are multiple addresses, place the initials of the author in parentheses at the end of each address.

Abstracts must be submitted electronically. Web submission is the only format of submission. Complete information on the submission process is available at www.conbio.org/2008/call. Visit the meeting Web site for full details on the scientific program, social events, travel, and special activities.

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