Conference Program

Please note the draft program below is subject to change without notice

Thursday 5 December

1000-2100	Field Trip: Wilsons Promontory National Park (4-day pre-conference Field Trip)

0730-0900	ESA 2024 Registration / Arrival tea and coffee
0900	OPENING PLENARY SESSION
0900-0930	Welcome to Country and Conference Opening
0930-1000	KEYNOTE PRESENTATION - Professor Emily Nicholson, The University of Melbourne
1000-1030	KEYNOTE PRESENTATION - Joe Morrisson, CEO, Indigenous Land and Sea Corporation
1030-1100	Morning tea
1100-1300	SYMPOSIUM: Designing for Nature in Cities	SYMPOSIUM: Forgotten Species: Current Knowledge and Future Directions	SYMPOSIUM: Indigenous ecological knowledge	SYMPOSIUM: Plant-soil microbial interactions in an era of rapid change: challenges and opportunities	SYMPOSIUM: From Antarctica and Southern Ocean to Australia: Current Ecological Research and Conservation Challenges	SYMPOSIUM (part 1): From risk to recovery: measuring the status of ecosystems	OPEN FORUM: Animal Ecology	SYMPOSIUM (part 1): Wind energy and wildlife – achieving conservation outcomes in Australia’s era of energy transition	OPEN FORUM: Community Ecology
1300-1400	Lunch
1400-1530	SYMPOSIUM: Nature in Cities (part 1)	OPEN FORUM: Cool Threatened Species	SYMPOSIUM (part 1): Ecology and policy in the Murray-Darling Basin	SYMPOSIUM: Fundamental and applied mycology: a global nexus for cross-kingdom interactions	SYMPOSIUM (part 1): Introducing the Resist-Accept-Direct adaptive-management framework and exploring its applications	SYMPOSIUM (part 2): From risk to recovery: measuring the status of ecosystems	OPEN FORUM: Restoration Ecology (1)	SYMPOSIUM (part 2): Wind energy and wildlife – achieving conservation outcomes in Australia’s era of energy transition	OPEN FORUM: Methods in Ecology (1)
1530-1600	Afternoon tea
1600-1730	SYMPOSIUM: Nature in Cities (part 2)	OPEN FORUM: Conservation Planning (1)	SYMPOSIUM (part 2): Ecology and policy in the Murray-Darling Basin	SYMPOSIUM: Phytophthora Dieback: Beyond immediate impacts	SYMPOSIUM (part 2): Exploring Resist-Accept-Direct-type case studies for conservation intervention, planning, and action	OPEN FORUM: Methods in Ecology (2)	SYMPOSIUM (part 1): Nature Positive 1: the importance of robust ecological evidence and rigorous science	OPEN FORUM: Invasive Species	OPEN FORUM: Restoration Ecology (2)
1745-1900	Barbara Rice Memorial Poster Session
1900-2030	Movie - "Follow the Rain"

Tuesday 10 December

0900	TUESDAY MORNING PLENARY SESSION
0900-0930	KEYNOTE PRESENTATION - Dr Kylie Soanes, The University of Melbourne
0930-1000	KEYOTE PRESENTATION - Dr Paul Sunnucks, Monash University
1000-1030	Morning tea
1030-1230	SYMPOSIUM (part 1): Practitioner Engagement: Ecological Connections between Practitioners and Researchers	SYMPOSIUM: Planning for Nature in Cities	SYMPOSIUM (part 1): Conservation management of wildlife populations guided by genetics	SYMPOSIUM: Forests against the Machine: facilitating persistence and conservation in dieback-affected native forests and woodlands	SYMPOSIUM: Trends in invasion ecology and biosecurity measures	OPEN FORUM: Fire Ecology (1)	SYMPOSIUM (part 2): Nature Positive 1: the importance of robust ecological evidence and rigorous science	OPEN FORUM: Plant Ecology	OPEN FORUM: Plant Traits
1230-1330	Lunch
1230-1330	Field Trip: Birrarung Trial Floating Wetlands Lunchtime walking tour during Conference.
1330	TUESDAY AFTERNOON PLENARY SESSION and STUDENT AWARDS
1330-1350	ESA President's address
1350-1405	Jill Landsberg Applied Ecology Scholarship 2023 Presentation
1405-1410	Jill Landsberg Applied Ecology Scholarship 2024
1410-1425	ESA 2024 Applied Forest Ecology Scholarship presentation
1425-1440	ESA 2023 Fundamental Ecology Award Presentation - Joshua Lee, Western Sydney University
1440-1510	AERA AWARD WINNER PRESENTATION
1510-1530	Afternoon tea
1530-1730	SYMPOSIUM (part 2): Practitioner Engagement: Ecological Connections between Practitioners and Researchers	OPEN FORUM: Fire Ecology (2)	SYMPOSIUM (part 2): Conservation management of wildlife populations guided by genetics	SYMPOSIUM: Using detection dogs in ecological research and monitoring	SYMPOSIUM: Advancing ecological theory and management with near-term forecasts: an Australasian synthesis	SYMPOSIUM: Carbon dynamics from leaf to landscape under climate change: life in a warmer, drier world	SYMPOSIUM: Nature Positive 2: the strengths and weaknesses of emerging policy tools in delivering positive biodiversity outcomes	OPEN FORUM: Climate change	SYMPOSIUM: Australian Peatlands - Undiscovered and Unique Ecosystems
1745-1900	Barbara Rice Memorial Poster Session

Wednesday 11 December

0900	WEDNESDAY MORNING PLENARY SESSION
0900-0930	KEYNOTE PRESENTATION - Dr Phil Zylstra, Adjunct Associate Professor, Curtin University; Visiting Fellow, Australian National University
0930-1000	KEYNOTE PRESENTATION - Dr Rachael Nolan, Western Sydney University
1000-1030	Morning tea
1030-1230	SYMPOSIUM (part 1): Advances in Fire Ecology Science: Species and Community Responses	SYMPOSIUM: Getting your start: understanding plant establishment to predict vegetation change and the success of restoration and conservation interventions	SYMPOSIUM (part 1): Completing the adaptive learning cycle: linking monitoring to management for improved conservation outcomes	SYMPOSIUM: Nature market mechanisms - one year on	SYMPOSIUM (part 1): Getting it right in a changing climate: Climate sensitivity informing plant conservation	SYMPOSIUM (part 1): Functional traits, physiology and future climates	SYMPOSIUM (part 1): Beyond Boundaries: Technological Innovations and Advancements in Ecological Monitoring and Conservation	OPEN FORUM: Ecological disturbance, Wetland birds	OPEN FORUM: Animal Behaviour
1230-1330	Lunch
1230-1330	Field Trip: Birrarung Trial Floating Wetlands Lunchtime walking tour during Conference.
1330-1500	SYMPOSIUM (part 2): Advances in Fire Ecology Science: Management and Planning	SYMPOSIUM: Spanners, connectors, catalysts, and levers for biodiversity: Tensions and opportunities for transformational systems change	SYMPOSIUM (part 2): Completing the adaptive learning cycle: linking monitoring to management for improved conservation outcomes	SYMPOSIUM: Advances and applications of Bayesian Network analyses in ecology	SYMPOSIUM (part 2): Getting it right in a changing climate: Climate sensitivity informing animal conservation	SYMPOSIUM (part 2): Functional traits, physiology and future climates	SYMPOSIUM (part 2): Beyond Boundaries: Technological Innovations and Advancements in Ecological Monitoring and Conservation	OPEN FORUM: Eat, be eaten or infected and stress out about it	OPEN FORUM: Conservation Practice
1500-1530	Afternoon tea
1530-1730	SYMPOSIUM (part 3): Advances in Fire Ecology Science: Determining and Achieving Desirable States	SYMPOSIUM: The value of benchtop ecology: Diverse uses of omic-based techniques that explore ecological responses to extreme events	SYMPOSIUM: Understanding and predicting the impacts of global and local economic activity on nature using Integrated Assessment Models (IAMs)	OPEN FORUM: Conservation Planning (2)	SYMPOSIUM (part 3): Getting it right in a changing climate: Adaptation interventions for ecosystem restoration	SYMPOSIUM (part 3): Functional traits, physiology and future climates	SYMPOSIUM (part 3): Beyond Boundaries: Technological Innovations and Advancements in Ecological Monitoring and Conservation	OPEN FORUM: Hot threatened species	ECE Careers Forum
1735-1900	Pre-Dinner Melbourne Zoo Tours
1730-1800	ECE Careers Networking Session
1745-1830	Holsworth Alumni Networking Drinks
1900-2230	Conference Dinner

Thursday 12 December

0900	THURSDAY MORNING PLENARY SESSION
0900-0930	KEYNOTE PRESENTATION - ESA NEXT GENERATION AWARD PRESENTATION
0930-1000	KEYNOTE PRESENTATION - ESA ECOLOGICAL IMPACT AWARD PRESENTATION
1000-1030	Morning tea
1030-1230	SYMPOSIUM: Connecting pyrodiversity, biodiversity and people in Australian landscapes	SYMPOSIUM (part 1): Pathways to biodiversity-friendly farmlands: knowledge, barriers and opportunities	SYMPOSIUM (part 1): Habitat by Design: Artificial Habitat for Recovery, Restoration, and Rewilding	SYMPOSIUM: Integrated Species Distribution Models (ISDMs): From data collection through to Inference/Prediction	SYMPOSIUM (part 1): Advancing Theory in Community Ecology	SYMPOSIUM: Towards powerful, generalised trait-based models of fundamental and realised niches	SYMPOSIUM (part 4): Beyond Boundaries: Technological Innovations and Advancements in Ecological Monitoring and Conservation	OPEN FORUM: Movement Ecology	DISCUSSION/ THINKTANK: Creating authentic learning experiences in the ecology classroom using Artificial Intelligence
1230-1330	Lunch
1230-1330	Field Trip: Birrarung Trial Floating Wetlands Lunchtime walking tour during Conference.
1330-1530	SYMPOSIUM: Wildfire Futures - Interdisciplinary challenges and opportunities in understanding and exploring future fire regimes	SYMPOSIUM (part 2): Pathways to biodiversity-friendly farmlands: knowledge, barriers and opportunities	SYMPOSIUM (part 2): Habitat by Design: Artificial Habitat for Recovery, Restoration, and Rewilding	SYMPOSIUM: Nature-dependent ecosystem services in agricultural landscapes	SYMPOSIUM (part 2): Advancing Theory in Community Ecology	OPEN FORUM	OPEN FORUM: Landscape Ecology, Urban Ecology	OPEN FORUM: Pollination	Workshop: Children's ecological stories: Engaging eager minds
1530-1600	Afternoon tea
1600	ESA 2024 CLOSING SESSION
1600-1630	KEYNOTE PRESENTATION - ESA GOLD MEDAL WINNER
1630-1700	Announcement of Prizes and Awards plus Closing Remarks

Friday 13 December

Field Trips
0530-1000	Field Trip: Nangak Tamboree Wildlife Sanctuary, La Trobe University – Breakfast with the Birds
0745-1815	Field Trip: Wild Otways Initiative: Conserving threatened species in the Otways through landscape-scale integrated threat management practices (Phytophthora cinnamomi and vertebrate pests)
0900-1700	Field Trip: Western Treatment Plant, Werribee
0900-1700	Field Trip: Starvation Creek (Forest Global Earth Observatory Network Site)
0930-1030	Field Trip: Koorie Heritage Trust Scar Tree Walk

Workshops
0900-1200	Workshop: How to ACTUALLY make a difference: connecting ecology, policy and law to influence decision-making for a better future
0900-1300	Workshop: Build Your Own Call Recogniser: Integrating Passive Acoustic Monitoring with AI for Scalable Biodiversity Tracking
0900-1600	Workshop: Articles for Action: how to write research papers useful to land managers, practitioners, policy-makers and the public
0930-1130	Workshop: Sharing biodiversity data using the ‘galaxias’ R package
0930-1230	Workshop: Ecological Time Series Analysis and Forecasting in R
0930-1600	Workshop: Modelling heat and activity stress in plants and animals with NicheMapR
1000-1200	Workshop: Capturing Conservation – Lessons in taking and using images for conservation advocacy and action
1000-1400	Workshop: Nature Writing
1300-1500	Workshop: Using science communication to increase impact: A practical workshop
1300-1600	Workshop: Species Distribution Models for Environmental, Ecological, and Conservation Applications with EcoCommons Australia
1300-1600	Workshop: Whys and Hows of Interdisciplinary Collaboration