[Aqualist] Invitation to present in the palaeo-fire session at the Southern Connections meeting 2013 in Dunedin, New Zealand (Jan 21-25)

[Simon Haberle]

Dear all,

This is just a reminder that abstracts are due for the  the Southern 
Connections meeting 2013 in Dunedin, New Zealand (Jan 21-25) this 
week.... though this is likely to be extended by a couple of weeks....

Cathy Whitlock, Scott Mooney and I are organising a session on at the 
Southern Connections 2013 in Dunedin, South Island, New Zealand (Jan 
21-25). We really hope that you will be able to come along and give an 
oral or poster presentation on your latest research. If you do decide to 
contribute in our session then you need to register and submit an 
abstract online (http://www.otago.ac.nz/V11-southern-connection/).

Note: We would expect that each contribution within the symposium would 
be of 15 minutes duration with 5 minutes for questions.

We look forward to hearing from you. Cheers, Simon


Session details:
24. Ecological thresholds, triggers, and traps in Southern Hemisphere 
forest history
http://www.otago.ac.nz/V11-southern-connection/programme/symposia.html#twentyfour 


Contact:     A/Prof Simon Haberle (Australian National University)
email: simon.haberle at anu.edu.au

Co-convenors:    Prof Cathy Whitlock (Montana State University), Dr 
Scott Mooney (University of New South Wales)
Synopsis:
New paleoenvironmental proxy, detailed high-resolution records, and 
innovative modeling approaches suggest rapid transformation of past 
plant communities in the face of environmental change.  In fact, the 
occurrence of multiple stable states as precursor to change is a common 
feature in the history of many forest ecosystems.  The similarity of 
these dynamics in different forest types and on different continents has 
not been adequately discussed.  This session will explore (1) the rates 
and directions of past forest change in SH temperate forests; (2) the 
role of past climate variability, land-use change, and altered fire 
regimes in major ecological transformations; and (3) the sensitivity of 
ecosystems to perturbations of different magnitude and intensity.  The 
sequence of events that leads from the creation of polyclimax states to 
large-scale ecological transformations will be examined at different 
spatial and temporal scales to provide a perspective on current and 
projected ecological change in Southern Hemisphere forests. 
Paleoecological studies utilizing new and multiple proxy as well as new 
modeling approaches to reconstruct past ecosystem change will be 
encouraged. Presentations will be assembled for publication in a special 
issue of Quaternary Research or Palaeo-3.