[LTER-All-lter] Fwd: ASM 2015 Metacommunity working group

[Robert Waide]

-------- Forwarded Message --------
Subject: 	ASM 2015 Metacommunity working group
Date: 	Fri, 14 Aug 2015 14:37:54 -0400
From: 	Eric Sokol <sokole at gmail.com>
To: 	Bob Waide <rwaide at lternet.edu>



Hi Bob,

Can you circulate the following the listserv?

Dear LTER colleagues,

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).

URL for working group info:

http://asm2015.lternet.edu/working-groups/using-metacommunity-concept-synthesize-biodiversity-patterns-across-lter-sites

BACKGOUND

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.

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.

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.


A tentative working group agenda is attached.

Best regards,

Eric Sokol


MCM and NWT LTER sites

INSTAAR

University of Colorado, Boulder

email: sokole at gmail.com <mailto:sokole at gmail.com>





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