Time to submit presentation abstracts for IUFRO 2024 Sessions

We invited you to submit "Resilience of Forest Biodiversity to Climate Change and Pests: Civic Engagement and Conservation in Seed Banks, Public Gardens, and Wild, Urban, and Agroforestry Landscapes". This session is organized by members of the Society of American Foresters, Kew Gardens, Morton Arboretum, and the US Forest Service, and one of eight linked to the International Society of Tropical Foresters. The deadline for abstract submissions is 2 June 2023 (3 weeks from today). The session proposal is included below.

NOTE: Presently, we cannot offer funding for travel and registration; we are exploring options and appreciate any leads you may have.

Session description

To conserve biodiversity, multiple approaches can be taken on the ground. This mini-symposium (Panel, Flash-talks & Posters) represents experts who focus on complementary aspects of conservation and reforestation; threat assessment, seed collecting and banking from wild trees, collective action and civic engagement, the roles of public gardens in conserving genetic resources, developing genetic resistance to pests to conserve biodiversity, and the importance of conserving genetic diversity in the face of pests and climate change.

Seed is the unit by which biodiversity is propagated, and therefore, protected. There is ever increasing pollination disruption with shifting local climate conditions and more fragmented and degraded native ecosystems. As forests and genetic diversity are lost, so are mother trees for seed collection, in a time when people want to greatly scale reforestation efforts. In addition to potential declines in seed crops, global trade, biodiversity loss, and fragmentation increase the threat of emergent insect and pathogen outbreaks, resulting in local or range-wide extinction of iconic tree species. Therefore, there is a global need for threat assessments, seed collection and banking of native tree species.

In the context of the above challenges and solutions, public gardens and arboreta are critical to the resilience of forests and society. In addition to acting as living collections, seed sources, and refugia of tree species, public gardens serve as biodiversity hotspots in cities, and meeting places for public and volunteer conservation efforts and outreach. As sentinels, trees in public gardens can be used to proactively detect emergent disease threats. Through collective action, exchange of information, public engagement, and local expert knowledge, "think global, act local" could be applied to aid proactive efforts to protect forest biodiversity from the next major pests across the world. Local experts and civic ecologists can accomplish this by collecting seed and observing trees in native environments, plantations, public gardens, and urban forests. Breeding or human-directed genetic improvement presents a practical solution for restoration of species that are impacted by emergent pest epidemics, climate change, or other threats. The utility of breeding to protect biodiversity also depends on the prior establishments of seed banks and other germplasm resources. It is critical to generate a prior understanding of the diversity of populations of tree species valued for their ecological, horticultural, or economic and commercial characteristics, the observed or potential effects of threats to those populations, and the role diversity could play in recovery of species.

Topic areas

1: collecting seed, 2: seed banking, 3: assessing threats, 4: think global act local to address threats with civic ecology and urban forests and botanical gardens, 5: public gardens supporting conservation efforts, and 6/7: developing genetic resistance to conserve biodiversity and conserving biodiversity.

Abstract submission details

The call for abstracts for IUFRO 2024 is at https://iufro2024.com/call-for-congress-abstracts/. The abstract announcement is at https://iufro2024.com/wp-content/uploads/IUFRO_2024-Call_for_Abstracts-1-2.pdf. (NOTE THAT THE SESSION ABSTRACT DEADLINE HAS PASSED. THE CALL NOW IS FOR PRESENTATION ABSTRACTS).

Download the book of IUFRO 2024 sessions t https://iufro2024.com/wp-content/uploads/IUFRO_2024-List_of_Sessions-1-1.pdf.

Submit your abstract at https://www.appinconf.com/kas/Abstract?projectName=iufro2024abstracts

Abstract submission instructions

SESSION: (Search for the session of interest)

TITLE: Spell out words, do not use abbreviations. The title or text is not to indicate the country of origin, unless it is pertinent to the topic.

AUTHORS: Names and surnames for each author must be provided. Do not include degrees or titles. The presenting author's name will be published in bold.

AFFILITATIONS: Each author should be listed by University/Hospital, Department and Country. Please make sure to include this complete information in the Affiliation text box.

TEXT: The abstract must be in English, mention one of the topic areas above, and should be a maximum of 300 words, excluding the title. It is the author's responsibility to submit a correct abstract; any errors in spelling, grammar, or scientific fact will be published as typed by the author, if accepted. Poor English may be a cause for rejection. The Programme Committee will accept abstracts for the Scientific Programme (oral or poster presentation) on scientific merit.

"Only Abstracts of registered participants will be printed. At least one of the authors must be registered for the Conference."

We look forward to seeing you in Stockholm for IUFRO 2024.

Regards,

Jill Wagner, Geoff Williams, Denita Hadziabdic-Guerry, Sean Hoban, Lara Salido