u/ecologicalsociety

We've heard that folks are unaware of the support options we have for the ESA Annual Meeting, and with one major deadline hitting on 5/21 it made sense to share the info more broadly.

From ESA: Applications for registration (value of early-bird registration) and dependent care grants are open till tomorrow, 5/21.

From sections and chapters: Some opportunities have passed, but we still have these options open and anticipate more being available in the next couple weeks:

• Registration grants from Coastal and Marine Ecology, Open Science, Soil Ecology and Urban Ecosystems Ecology
• General funding support from Microbial Ecology, Long Term Studies and Plant Population Ecology
• Presentation and publication awards from Plant Population Ecology and Vegetation

Take a look and see what might work for you! https://esa.org/saltlake2026/esa-support/funding-support/

As a reminder, early-bird registration savings run through June 18, and housing reservations in our block are open. We also offer visa support and subsidized on-site child care.

Animals inhabiting the Brazilian Pantanal, one of the world’s largest tropical wetland regions, often modify their behavior when encountering latrines created by giant otters, suggests a new study.

The shared otter latrines serve as pungent territorial boundary markers, the otter version of posting “keep out” signs. To study their effects, researchers deployed motion-activated camera traps across flooded grasslands and forests, tracking wildlife activity before and after new latrines formed and comparing those sites to nearby control areas.

The results showed that the latrines act as both attractants and repellants to other animals. Although slightly more species were recorded after latrine establishment, visits were dominated by a few frequent users. Scavenging birds like curassows, caracaras and vultures were especially common, attracted by abundant insects drawn to the otter waste and by undigested fish remains in otter feces.

Once on the threshold of extinction, giant otters are now on the road to recovery, and their expanding populations may add an odiferous new twist to species interactions in Pantanal ecosystems.

Read the open access article in Ecosphere: Vertebrate community composition and activity at giant otter latrines in the northern Pantanal

Image credit: C.E. Eriksson

Can bird strikes by airplanes be minimized, if not avoided altogether? That question drives a new study in Ecological Applications that adapts years of research on animals’ antipredator behavior to aviation safety.

Building on models originally developed to explain how prey escape approaching predators, and later cars, the researchers created a two-phase framework to predict bird-aircraft collisions. First, the model asks whether a bird has enough time to escape an airplane’s path. If not, a second phase estimates collision risk based on the size and shape of the plane and the bird’s position within the flight trajectory.

Applied to encounters between Canada geese and a Boeing-737, the model predicts that when a goose is within an aircraft’s course, the chances of a collision are nearly 50/50, with highest risk when the goose is in the very center of the plane’s trajectory. The model also shows how antipredator responses can be exploited to reduce that risk. Onboard signal lights reduce the odds of a collision, with blue lights (tuned to the Canada goose visual system) cutting risk by 32%.

By translating predator-prey theory into an aviation context, the study offers a flexible framework for designing bird-strike mitigation strategies across aircraft types and bird species.

Image credit: Alex Galt, USFWS | Public Domain

Exploring Careers in Ecology

Tuesday, May 12, 4:00 PM ET

Our host is going in the hot seat! Aaron says:

Enough people have asked me, "why don't you talk about your career?" Fair question. Honestly, I started this webinar to learn about others. Also, I didn't want to talk about my own career. It has had its ups and downs (like everyone else), and some of it is a bit difficult for me to discuss. But...hell. Let's do it.

For the first time since starting this webinar, I'll talk about my own career. I'll talk about moving through six majors as an undergraduate, internships I hated, graduate school that made me fall in love with science, fallouts, academic burnout, rekindling passion for ecology, discovering parts of the world and society that I never knew existed, and candid advice on how self-care in the work environment.

This time around, I WILL accept questions throughout the webinar. I'm highly distractable...so I'll probably just stop everything and answer whatever questions come my way.

The conversation will be informal and aimed to help career seekers. The webinar will be held LIVE on May 12th from 4-5 PM EST and will be recorded for your viewing / listening pleasure! If you join live, you can ask me questions. If you don't join live, you can still ask me questions.

Failure is a natural part of life, and certainly part of the scientific process -- it's how you respond to failure that matters. Sometimes, it helps to connect with your community!

On April 30, the ESA Education Committee facilitated this open discussion of failure. Professional ecologists shared their experiences with failure ... and how they persevered to reach future successes.

Check out this recording, and then -> Share your own story. Seek advice. Ask for the input of others who've been there. This thread is for you!

May 21, 12:00 PM ET

AI, including large language models, are becoming ubiquitous. Join this session by the ESA Open Science Section for a primer on how to apply these tools to your research.

Kelly Kaspar is an interdisciplinary environmental scientist focused on solutions-driven approaches to conservation challenges in coupled human and natural systems. Kelly uses spatial data analysis and statistics to better understand human-wildlife interactions across scales of space and time. Kelly's research interests also include community-engagement, knowledge integration, and reproducible research. 

Julian Venegas is a Research Consultant at the Institute for Cyber-Enabled Research, specializing in Machine Learning and AI. Before joining ICER, Julian received his Ph.D. in Computational Mathematics, Science, and Engineering from Michigan State University, where he studied machine learning, with a research focus on deep learning, integrative learning techniques (transfer-multitask-multimodal learning), graph learning and interpretable machine learning. Julian also has extensive experience as a data scientist and machine learning engineer with experience in the design, development, and optimization of computational methods for complex systems and problems. Julian has experience in various application domains, which include finance/risk, drug-discovery, network analysis, image, and natural language processing.

May 4, 2:00-3:00 PM ET

Building on foundational knowledge, this session explores how method selection, sampling design, and assay capabilities directly influence the quality and reliability of eDNA results. Participants will gain practical insights into designing studies that are fit for purpose, whether for regulatory compliance, biodiversity monitoring, or conservation planning.

Led by scientists from eDNAtec, the webinar highlights key considerations in selecting appropriate methods, optimizing sampling strategies, and understanding the strengths and limitations of different eDNA approaches. Drawing on real-world projects, the session also shares practical lessons learned, including common pitfalls and how to avoid them.

Participation worth 0.25 CEUS toward ESA recertification in Category I(a).

Different approaches for balancing logging and biodiversity in European forests have varying — and sometimes contrasting — impacts on both birds and the insects they feed on, according to a recent study.

Analysis of 1,394 bird surveys conducted across 135 forest plots in southern Germany showed that management practices that create more natural forest conditions, namely variable retention (leaving some living and dead trees and downed logs during harvest) and close-to-nature forestry (replacing uniform evergreen monocultures with uneven-aged stands of a variety of trees) often supported higher abundances of certain bird species, particularly those that nest in cavities or rely on diverse forest structure.

Yet the direction of these responses varied widely among birds, underscoring that no single management strategy benefits all birds and that a mosaic of differently structured forests is likely needed. Invertebrates like insects and spiders also responded to these forestry practices, but bird numbers did not simply track the amount of their prey; rather, birds and invertebrates tended to respond in parallel to features such as higher shares of broadleaf trees or richer understories.

Overall, the results point to the importance of moving beyond evergreen-dominated monocultures to support birds and their prey in Europe’s managed forests.

Read the paper in Ecological Applications: Disentangling the effects of multifunctional forestry practices on the abundances of birds and their invertebrate prey

Personal Stories of Failure in Ecology
April 30, 4:00 PM ET
Facilitated by the ESA Education Committee

Failure is a natural part of life, and certainly part of the scientific process -- it's how you respond to failure that matters. Sometimes, it helps to connect with your community!

Join us April 30 for a conversation on learning from past setbacks, and connect with other ecologists by sharing ideas and advice.

After the live event, we'll launch a thread here on r/EcologicalSociety_USA for folks seeking (and willing to share!) advice.

Integrating Climate Adaptation Research and Practice – A Case Study with Invasive Species

3:00 PM ET
Presented by Bethany Bradley, UMass Amherst
Organized by the ESA Climate Adaptation Section

Climate adaptation science serves a strong practical need – the people who manage our lands and waters need information to support increased ecological resilience in the face of climate change. However, getting needed science into the hands of managers remains a challenge in fields like ecology that suffer from a prominent gap between research and practice (the ‘knowing-doing’ gap).

In this presentation, Bethany will tell the story of the creation of the Northeast Regional Invasive Species & Climate Change (NE RISCC) Management Network, which aims to narrow the knowing-doing gap for invasion science and practice. The NE RISCC Network was founded in 2016 and aims to reduce the compounding effects of invasive species and climate change by synthesizing relevant science, communicating the needs of managers to researchers, building stronger scientist-manager communities, and conducting priority research.

There isn’t an either/or choice between doing climate adaptation science and supporting climate adaptation practice!

Integrating physical evidence with remote-sensing techniques has enabled researchers to map the expansion of beavers into the Canadian Arctic, shedding additional light on the myriad ways they are transforming polar ecosystems.

Natural clues — felled trees, browsed vegetation and altered waterways — left behind by the industrious engineers indicate that beavers have continuously occupied the study region bordering the Arctic Ocean since around 2008. In turn, the use of satellite imagery reveals some of the ways in which beavers are altering northern landscapes, such as rapid formation of ponds upstream from dams, creation of extensive wetland systems and rerouting of waterways.

The results underscore the usefulness of linking different lines of evidence for determining beaver movement into Arctic regions and for anticipating their impacts on fragile tundra environments.

Read the paper in Ecosphere: https://esajournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/ecs2.70557

Image credit: Georgia Melodie Hole