INTECOL Conference: Towards the end of the week

Today the focus of the talks I attended were based around climatic modelling and landscape ecology. Two topics which I am yet to find out much about, but should form a fundamental part if my research towards the end of year 2-3.

Landscape ecology is a fairly new science and it is one which is becoming increasingly integrated with social sciences to understand what influences humans are having on the ecosystem at a landscape scale (i.e. smaller than a global scale but larger than an individual scale). I particularly enjoyed meeting people based in the Amazon, Australia, USA, Tasmania, UK, The Basque Country and France spanning fields as wide as ecological professor to biological photographer.

Tomorrow…bat walk in the nearby forest…

INTECOL Conference: The second day...

Day two of the conference: the big highlights from today were the sessions on ‘ecological networks and global change’ as well as ‘food webs and trophic interactions’, this involved plenty of running around between various seminar rooms to sit in on all the relevant talks.

The poster session towards the end of the day provided the opportunity for reading a little about other work going on (a lot of student work) and was a good chance to meet a few academics whose research I had read a lot about. A number of my colleagues at both Imperial College and the University of Canterbury were presenting today (see video). One of the interesting things about events such as these is that you get an impression of the various styles and most effective means of presenting in different media which is useful particularly for a scientist early on in a research career.

So Brisbane convention centre kindly issued permission for me to film a video extract amongst the conference infrastructure… enter me walking clumsily around the main exhibit hall…

INTECOL Conference

My first conference...


INTECOL is the International Association for Ecology. They hold conferences every four years and this years meeting is held in the Southern Hemisphere and hosted by the ecological societies of New Zealand and Australia.

As a researcher it is important to keep up to date with recent developments in your area of interest. Conferences are an excellent opportunity to learn about other scientists work, present your own findings and meet other academics.

I will be attending this year’s conference in Brisbane on 'Ecology in a Changing Climate' as it is highly relevant to the work I am doing. There will be a mixture of talks and posters presented ranging from how climate impacts biodiversity directly to how to conserve ecosystems given certain climate predictions.

Keep your eyes peeled for the up-and-coming video blogs that will soon be uploaded with news from the event….

Hello

Hey, so welcome to my blog page. I’m Poppy, a PhD student from the UK studying in New Zealand and this blog will follow the progress of my research. I’ve recorded a quick hello and brief introduction to my work which you can find under the video tab. So all that’s left to say for now is enjoy, and feel free to message me with any questions and/or comments.