[Aqualist] Call for papers: INQUA session H10 "Identifying the Initial Period of Human Activity in Palaeoecological Records"

[Simon Haberle]

Dear colleagues,

The next INQUA Congress will be held in Nagoya (Japan) between July 27 and August 2, 2015, and abstract submission is now open online until December 20 at http://convention.jtbcom.co.jp/inqua2015/call_for_abstracts.html

This is a call for contributions to session H10, titled: Identifying the Initial Period of Human Activity in Palaeoecological Records.

We are pleased to announce that the keynote speaker will be Basil Davis (Institute of Earth Surface Dynamics, Université de Lausanne).

We have also approached the online journal Frontiers in Ecology and Evolution who have indicated their interest in publishing a special online collection of papers derived from this meeting (details regarding submission of papers to this special issue will be available closer to the time of the INQUA congress).

Session Title:
Identifying the Initial Period of Human Activity in Palaeoecological Records

Session abstract:
Palaeoecological techniques have long been used to identify and characterize the onset of human activity in different settings worldwide, as well as to gain a better understanding of human-climate-disturbance interactions over varying scales of time and space. Despite the undeniable evidence that humans have now transformed many, if not all, of the Earth's ecosystems, the antiquity, extent and pace at which humans altered the environment through time is hotly debated. At local to regional scales this makes the implementation of appropriate management practices a major challenge; at the global scale, identification of the timing and extent of human impact is critical for understanding biome functioning and human-environment interactions during the Holocene. In the recent assessment of 50 priority research questions in palaeoecology (Seddon et al. 2014), one of the key challenges posed for palaeoecologists is to improve our understanding of when specific human activities, including hunting, land clearing and agriculture, began altering ecosystems at regional as well as global scales and to clarify how ecosystems responded [Q1-7]. In this symposium participants are invited to present palaeoecological records and techniques that help identify the timing and ecological consequences of the initial period of human activity at subregional to global scales and to highlight new approaches that contribute to our understanding of the onset of human influence. [Seddon, A.W.R. et al., 2014. Looking forward through the past: identification of 50 priority research questions in palaeoecology Journal of Ecology, 102(1), pp.256-267.]

Please contacts one of the conveners if you require further information about this session or simply go to the INQUA website and submit your abstract.

Abstracts can be submitted online before December 20, 2014, at: http://convention.jtbcom.co.jp/inqua2015/call_for_abstracts.html

Latest information is also available from Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/INQUA2015

Regards, your session Conveners

Prof Simon Haberle (simon.haberle at anu.edu.au)
Dr Alistair Seddon (alistair.seddon at bio.uib.no)
Dr Dave McWethy (dmcwethy at montana.edu)