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<th align="RIGHT" nowrap="nowrap" valign="BASELINE">Subject:
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<td>ASM 2015 Metacommunity working group</td>
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<th align="RIGHT" nowrap="nowrap" valign="BASELINE">Date: </th>
<td>Fri, 14 Aug 2015 14:37:54 -0400</td>
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<th align="RIGHT" nowrap="nowrap" valign="BASELINE">From: </th>
<td>Eric Sokol <a class="moz-txt-link-rfc2396E" href="mailto:sokole@gmail.com"><sokole@gmail.com></a></td>
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<th align="RIGHT" nowrap="nowrap" valign="BASELINE">To: </th>
<td>Bob Waide <a class="moz-txt-link-rfc2396E" href="mailto:rwaide@lternet.edu"><rwaide@lternet.edu></a></td>
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<div dir="ltr">Hi Bob,
<div><br>
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<div>Can you circulate the following the listserv?</div>
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<p class="MsoNormal">Dear LTER colleagues,</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Chris Swan and I are organizing a working
group for the ASM
titled “Using the metacommunity concept to synthesize
biodiversity patterns
across LTER sites” and we looking for folks who would be
interested in
participating. Our objectives will be to (1) discuss how the
metacommunity
concept has been applied to interpret biodiversity data at
LTER sites, (2)
discuss how we might expand that approach across taxa and
ecosystems to address
some bigger questions, and (3) produce deliverables (e.g.,
synthesis paper and/or
follow-up proposal to NSF for a workshop).</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal">URL for working group info:</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><a moz-do-not-send="true"
href="http://asm2015.lternet.edu/working-groups/using-metacommunity-concept-synthesize-biodiversity-patterns-across-lter-sites">http://asm2015.lternet.edu/working-groups/using-metacommunity-concept-synthesize-biodiversity-patterns-across-lter-sites</a></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal">BACKGOUND</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">One of the purposes of this working group
will be to provide
a forum for researchers from across the LTER to discuss
their approaches to
using the metacommunity concept to interpret their
biodiversity data, and to
discuss different approaches for comparing patterns and
process across taxa and
ecosystems. For example, we (including some of you who I’m
emailing) have been
working to develop a general metacommunity modeling
framework that can potentially
be used to characterize the community assembly processes
that underlie observed
diversity patterns. A proof of concept using BES data is
published in
Ecological Modelling (Sokol et al. 2015, see link to the
working group), and we
have another manuscript in revision that explores the
sensitivity of various
diversity metrics (e.g., different measures of
beta-diversity) to shifts in
metacommunity properties, such as dispersal, environmental
filtering dynamics,
and the layout of sites in a landscape. </p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Our motivation for organizing a working
group at ASM is to
involve the broader LTER community in this project. When we
meet at ASM, we
hope to identify specific questions we should pursue in a
synthesis project, identify
the best data sets to use in a synthesis, and have a
discussion about how we
might interpret differences and similarities among data sets
collected across
different studies in a synthesis project.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Please email me if you’re interested in
participating and/or
forward this email to colleagues who will be attending ASM
who might be
interested. Also feel free to contact me with any questions
and/or ideas. </p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><br>
</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">A tentative working group agenda is
attached.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Best regards,</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Eric Sokol</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><br>
</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">MCM and NWT LTER sites</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">INSTAAR</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">University of Colorado, Boulder</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">email: <a moz-do-not-send="true"
href="mailto:sokole@gmail.com">sokole@gmail.com</a></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><br>
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