2020 ARCHIVES: Special Symposia
We’re pleased to announce the following special symposia will be offered as part of the technical program at the annual conference. An Organized Symposium is a series of integrated presentations that address aspects of a single topic or theme.
(S-01) Integrated approaches for transdisciplinary landscape modelling
Contact: Jennifer Costanza, NC State University, [email protected]
Co-Organizers: Marie Josée Fortin, University of Toronto, [email protected]; Bronwyn Rayfield, ApexRMS, [email protected]
Overview: Forecasting the state of landscapes and ecosystem services under future scenarios for climate, land use, and other global change drivers require integration of information across disciplines and across spatial and temporal scales. These cross-scale, transdisciplinary projections are often highly uncertain, yet they play an essential role in robust decision making to identify landscape management actions that manage risk under a range of scenarios. The approaches and tools available for future forecasts have progressed significantly such that models from different disciplines can be linked, and integrated assessments of landscapes and ecosystem services can now be made. This symposium will showcase research that applies integrated modelling approaches to policy-relevant questions such as: what are the climate mitigation benefits and costs of specific land management interventions?, which areas of the landscape should we protect now to maintain landscape connectivity in the future?, and how might landscape change affect the provision and management of ecosystem services? A common theme of talks in this symposium will be characterizing and partitioning uncertainty within and across linked models to improve decision-making. Several talks will also discuss the technical requirements for linking models and managing data to facilitate integrated modelling. By bringing together talks about the tools and application of integrated landscape modelling approaches we hope to foster transdisciplinary assessments of the consequences of landscape management decisions.
Contact: Jennifer Costanza, NC State University, [email protected]
Co-Organizers: Marie Josée Fortin, University of Toronto, [email protected]; Bronwyn Rayfield, ApexRMS, [email protected]
Overview: Forecasting the state of landscapes and ecosystem services under future scenarios for climate, land use, and other global change drivers require integration of information across disciplines and across spatial and temporal scales. These cross-scale, transdisciplinary projections are often highly uncertain, yet they play an essential role in robust decision making to identify landscape management actions that manage risk under a range of scenarios. The approaches and tools available for future forecasts have progressed significantly such that models from different disciplines can be linked, and integrated assessments of landscapes and ecosystem services can now be made. This symposium will showcase research that applies integrated modelling approaches to policy-relevant questions such as: what are the climate mitigation benefits and costs of specific land management interventions?, which areas of the landscape should we protect now to maintain landscape connectivity in the future?, and how might landscape change affect the provision and management of ecosystem services? A common theme of talks in this symposium will be characterizing and partitioning uncertainty within and across linked models to improve decision-making. Several talks will also discuss the technical requirements for linking models and managing data to facilitate integrated modelling. By bringing together talks about the tools and application of integrated landscape modelling approaches we hope to foster transdisciplinary assessments of the consequences of landscape management decisions.
(S-02) 20 Years of BES and the Future of Urban LTERs
Contact: Elsa Anderson, Cary Institute for Ecosystem Studies, [email protected]
Overview: The Baltimore Ecosystem Study Long Term Ecological Research (BES LTER) site was founded in 1998 to address questions of structure, function, and human dimensions of the urban ecosystem in Baltimore, Maryland. In addition to being one of only two urban LTER sites, BES was among the first NSF-funded LTER sites to directly incorporate human induced changes, human-environmental interactions, and integration with education systems. In short, BES was founded and has grown on a deliberate intersection of environmental and social processes. In this vein, BES has made remarkable strides towards comprehensive urban theory by emphasizing the integration of ecological and social sciences in a heterogeneous and dynamic ecosystem. The data from long-term BES projects focusing on stress and disturbance, watersheds, and patch dynamics in social and biophysical realms comprise an invaluable resource and have allowed scientists to establish new theoretical understanding of the structure and function of urban areas. Notably, BES has resulted in scientific advances including the engineered stream continuum, ecological complexity, and environmental justice, to name a few.
This symposium looks back on the scientific and educational course and impact of BES and focuses on the growth and future of urban ecology as a discipline, the disproportionate value of urban LTER sites, and the hard-won wisdom gained over the last two decades. As urban populations continue to grow worldwide, it is critical that cities become hubs of multi-disciplinary socio-ecological understanding and conservation activity.This symposium will bring together academic and non-academic professionals and students who have interacted with BES over the past 20 years, offering perspectives on a range of topics generally grouped into three themes: 1) the beginnings of the project and the evolution of the efforts and theoretical frameworks, 2) the educational goals, methods, and outcomes built into the program, and 3) the long-term implications and future directions of urban social and ecological science in Baltimore and beyond.
Contact: Elsa Anderson, Cary Institute for Ecosystem Studies, [email protected]
Overview: The Baltimore Ecosystem Study Long Term Ecological Research (BES LTER) site was founded in 1998 to address questions of structure, function, and human dimensions of the urban ecosystem in Baltimore, Maryland. In addition to being one of only two urban LTER sites, BES was among the first NSF-funded LTER sites to directly incorporate human induced changes, human-environmental interactions, and integration with education systems. In short, BES was founded and has grown on a deliberate intersection of environmental and social processes. In this vein, BES has made remarkable strides towards comprehensive urban theory by emphasizing the integration of ecological and social sciences in a heterogeneous and dynamic ecosystem. The data from long-term BES projects focusing on stress and disturbance, watersheds, and patch dynamics in social and biophysical realms comprise an invaluable resource and have allowed scientists to establish new theoretical understanding of the structure and function of urban areas. Notably, BES has resulted in scientific advances including the engineered stream continuum, ecological complexity, and environmental justice, to name a few.
This symposium looks back on the scientific and educational course and impact of BES and focuses on the growth and future of urban ecology as a discipline, the disproportionate value of urban LTER sites, and the hard-won wisdom gained over the last two decades. As urban populations continue to grow worldwide, it is critical that cities become hubs of multi-disciplinary socio-ecological understanding and conservation activity.This symposium will bring together academic and non-academic professionals and students who have interacted with BES over the past 20 years, offering perspectives on a range of topics generally grouped into three themes: 1) the beginnings of the project and the evolution of the efforts and theoretical frameworks, 2) the educational goals, methods, and outcomes built into the program, and 3) the long-term implications and future directions of urban social and ecological science in Baltimore and beyond.
(S-03) Borderless landscapes: Envisioning resilient urban/rural mixed landscapes with agri-activities/lands
Contact: Makoto Yokohari, The University of Tokyo, [email protected]
Co-Organizers: Andre Sorensen, University of Toronto (Canada), Matthew Pottiger, SUNY (USA), Andre Viljoen, Brighton University (UK), Hideki Koizumi, University of Tokyo (Japan)
Overview: One of key concepts of modern urban planning, which was initiated in Western Europe at the dawn of the 20th Century, was to clearly separate urban fabrics from surrounding rural areas ensuring efficiencies both in urban developments in the city and agricultural productions in rural areas. Most of cities in the world have been following this modern planning theory based on the dichotomous land use concept. However, re-introducing agri-activities and lands are now commonly identified in cities throughout the world including NYC, Toronto, London, Berlin, Copenhagen and Tokyo. By having growing concern on natural disasters as a result of the global climate change, cities in the world are now seeking for a new planning concept which may enhance resiliency of the city. Agri-activities/lands, including community gardens on vacant lots, entrepreneurial agriculture on rooftops, and traditional agriculture remaining in the fringe of cities, are multi-functional by not only producing food but providing ecosystem services and restoring deteriorated urban communities, and thus strongly contribute to make the city resilient.
By inviting speakers from various parts of the world who have been studying urban/rural mixed landscapes both from biophysical and social perspectives, this symposium aims to envision the potential of borderless landscapes with urban/rural mixture created by agri-activities/lands in urban fabrics.
Contact: Makoto Yokohari, The University of Tokyo, [email protected]
Co-Organizers: Andre Sorensen, University of Toronto (Canada), Matthew Pottiger, SUNY (USA), Andre Viljoen, Brighton University (UK), Hideki Koizumi, University of Tokyo (Japan)
Overview: One of key concepts of modern urban planning, which was initiated in Western Europe at the dawn of the 20th Century, was to clearly separate urban fabrics from surrounding rural areas ensuring efficiencies both in urban developments in the city and agricultural productions in rural areas. Most of cities in the world have been following this modern planning theory based on the dichotomous land use concept. However, re-introducing agri-activities and lands are now commonly identified in cities throughout the world including NYC, Toronto, London, Berlin, Copenhagen and Tokyo. By having growing concern on natural disasters as a result of the global climate change, cities in the world are now seeking for a new planning concept which may enhance resiliency of the city. Agri-activities/lands, including community gardens on vacant lots, entrepreneurial agriculture on rooftops, and traditional agriculture remaining in the fringe of cities, are multi-functional by not only producing food but providing ecosystem services and restoring deteriorated urban communities, and thus strongly contribute to make the city resilient.
By inviting speakers from various parts of the world who have been studying urban/rural mixed landscapes both from biophysical and social perspectives, this symposium aims to envision the potential of borderless landscapes with urban/rural mixture created by agri-activities/lands in urban fabrics.
(S-04) Social-Ecological Dynamics in Urban Ecosystems: Multi-Scalar Interactions and Implications for Biodiversity
Contact: Kelli Larson, Arizona State University, [email protected]
Co-Organizers: Riley Andrade, Arizona State University, School of Geographical Sciences and Urban Planning; Megan M. Wheeler, Arizona State University, School of Life Sciences
Overview: Research incorporating social and ecological dynamics in urban ecosystems has highlighted how both social and biophysical factors drive changes in ecological structure and function across multiple scales. Ecological patterns and process, such as biodiversity, occur across local patches connected throughout the landscape. Likewise, human decisions operate at multiple scales, from homeowners and neighborhoods to local municipalities and broader political-economic forces, research that addresses cross-scalar drivers and outcomes is critical. Although both social and ecological dynamics are multi-scalar, the effects of land management decisions do not necessarily match the scale of the ecological effects. Yet despite the importance of these multi-scalar interactions, much work tends to focus on single scales, such as parcel, city, or regional levels. Challenges remain to undertaking social-ecological work at multiple scales, limiting our ability to fully understand how people affect ecosystems and how ecosystem dynamics in turn influence human decision making and outcomes. For example, how do we ‘scale up’ from parcels to continents, and how can we link landscape patterns to individual decisions made at local scales? The goal of this session is to bring together researchers working on these questions in order to advance the theoretical and methodological frontiers of social-ecological research in heterogeneous landscapes, especially cities. We also seek to explore the implications of multi-scalar interactions for supporting biodiversity conservation and ecosystem service provisioning.
Contact: Kelli Larson, Arizona State University, [email protected]
Co-Organizers: Riley Andrade, Arizona State University, School of Geographical Sciences and Urban Planning; Megan M. Wheeler, Arizona State University, School of Life Sciences
Overview: Research incorporating social and ecological dynamics in urban ecosystems has highlighted how both social and biophysical factors drive changes in ecological structure and function across multiple scales. Ecological patterns and process, such as biodiversity, occur across local patches connected throughout the landscape. Likewise, human decisions operate at multiple scales, from homeowners and neighborhoods to local municipalities and broader political-economic forces, research that addresses cross-scalar drivers and outcomes is critical. Although both social and ecological dynamics are multi-scalar, the effects of land management decisions do not necessarily match the scale of the ecological effects. Yet despite the importance of these multi-scalar interactions, much work tends to focus on single scales, such as parcel, city, or regional levels. Challenges remain to undertaking social-ecological work at multiple scales, limiting our ability to fully understand how people affect ecosystems and how ecosystem dynamics in turn influence human decision making and outcomes. For example, how do we ‘scale up’ from parcels to continents, and how can we link landscape patterns to individual decisions made at local scales? The goal of this session is to bring together researchers working on these questions in order to advance the theoretical and methodological frontiers of social-ecological research in heterogeneous landscapes, especially cities. We also seek to explore the implications of multi-scalar interactions for supporting biodiversity conservation and ecosystem service provisioning.
(S-05) Road ecology in times of global infrastructure tsunami: Recent advances and rising challenges
Contact: Jochen Jaeger, Concordia University Montreal, [email protected]
Overview: Roads and railroads have become ubiquitous features in landscapes around the world. The unprecedented rate of ongoing and planned road construction has been termed a “global infrastructure tsunami”. A major example is the Belt-and-Road Initiative (BRI) launched by China in 2013, which involves a large-scale expansion of land transportation infrastructure. The negative effects of roads on wildlife include road mortality, barriers to movement, habitat loss, subdivision of populations into smaller and less viable sub-populations, pollution (noise, light, chemicals), loss of roadless areas, spread of invasive species, and easier access for poachers, among others. To address this rapidly increasing problem, there is an urgent need for mitigation measures and more robust knowledge about their effectiveness, in particular at the population level, and for protection of roadless areas. Otherwise, the installation of mitigation measures is used to justify road construction everywhere, including sensitive areas, while in fact the effectiveness of these mitigation measures is highly questionable. Road ecology will need to better connect with connectivity conservation. The symposium will address the following questions, among others: What are the thresholds in the effects of road density on wildlife populations? How long are response times of wildlife populations to the construction of new roads? What is the state of the art in road mitigation measures? How effective are they? Are wildlife passages or wildlife fences more important? How long should wildlife fences be? How does the fence-end effect depend on fence length? To what degree do animals use existing crossings structures under roads, and how does their use depend on human activity levels? What study designs, monitoring schemes, and measurement endpoints will be effective at evaluating road mitigation measures? The symposium connects well to the conference theme because roads and railroads affect ecosystems across borders.
Contact: Jochen Jaeger, Concordia University Montreal, [email protected]
Overview: Roads and railroads have become ubiquitous features in landscapes around the world. The unprecedented rate of ongoing and planned road construction has been termed a “global infrastructure tsunami”. A major example is the Belt-and-Road Initiative (BRI) launched by China in 2013, which involves a large-scale expansion of land transportation infrastructure. The negative effects of roads on wildlife include road mortality, barriers to movement, habitat loss, subdivision of populations into smaller and less viable sub-populations, pollution (noise, light, chemicals), loss of roadless areas, spread of invasive species, and easier access for poachers, among others. To address this rapidly increasing problem, there is an urgent need for mitigation measures and more robust knowledge about their effectiveness, in particular at the population level, and for protection of roadless areas. Otherwise, the installation of mitigation measures is used to justify road construction everywhere, including sensitive areas, while in fact the effectiveness of these mitigation measures is highly questionable. Road ecology will need to better connect with connectivity conservation. The symposium will address the following questions, among others: What are the thresholds in the effects of road density on wildlife populations? How long are response times of wildlife populations to the construction of new roads? What is the state of the art in road mitigation measures? How effective are they? Are wildlife passages or wildlife fences more important? How long should wildlife fences be? How does the fence-end effect depend on fence length? To what degree do animals use existing crossings structures under roads, and how does their use depend on human activity levels? What study designs, monitoring schemes, and measurement endpoints will be effective at evaluating road mitigation measures? The symposium connects well to the conference theme because roads and railroads affect ecosystems across borders.
(S-06) Measuring and monitoring urban sprawl: How can it improve planning scenarios and policy making?
Contact: Jochen Jaeger, Concordia University Montreal, [email protected]
Overview: Landscapes in many countries have been strongly altered by urban sprawl, which is clearly not in accordance with the principles and the spirit of sustainability. Urban sprawl causes loss of fertile farmland and wildlife habitats, soil sealing, loss of ecological soil functions, increase landscape fragmentation, spread of invasive species, and degradation of various ecosystem services. The awareness of the many negative impacts has grown considerably in recent years. In discuss this issue on a quantitative basis, however, methods and data have only recently become available for monitoring and comparing regions and time periods. There is an urgent need for improved landscape management approaches that consider insights from landscape ecology. Monitoring of urban sprawl would allow for establishing targets and limits to urban sprawl, similar to other environmental sectors. Legal requirements could then be developed. However, little is known about the effectiveness of these measures and their long-term effects on the landscape. Landscape and urban planning can apply lessons and principles from landscape ecology. The symposium will address the following questions, among others: What is the state of the art regarding measures of urban sprawl? How strong are the various effects of urban sprawl, e.g., on ecosystem services? How can landscape ecology support planners in the their efforts to control urban sprawl? What urban sprawl management policies can be proposed from a landscape ecology perspective? What policies are preferable over others from a landscape ecology perspective? Can landscape ecology provide a knowledge base for the establishment of targets and limits through the identification of thresholds? The symposium is strongly related to the conference theme because urban sprawl often advances across borders, e.g., in Geneva (from Switzerland into France).
Contact: Jochen Jaeger, Concordia University Montreal, [email protected]
Overview: Landscapes in many countries have been strongly altered by urban sprawl, which is clearly not in accordance with the principles and the spirit of sustainability. Urban sprawl causes loss of fertile farmland and wildlife habitats, soil sealing, loss of ecological soil functions, increase landscape fragmentation, spread of invasive species, and degradation of various ecosystem services. The awareness of the many negative impacts has grown considerably in recent years. In discuss this issue on a quantitative basis, however, methods and data have only recently become available for monitoring and comparing regions and time periods. There is an urgent need for improved landscape management approaches that consider insights from landscape ecology. Monitoring of urban sprawl would allow for establishing targets and limits to urban sprawl, similar to other environmental sectors. Legal requirements could then be developed. However, little is known about the effectiveness of these measures and their long-term effects on the landscape. Landscape and urban planning can apply lessons and principles from landscape ecology. The symposium will address the following questions, among others: What is the state of the art regarding measures of urban sprawl? How strong are the various effects of urban sprawl, e.g., on ecosystem services? How can landscape ecology support planners in the their efforts to control urban sprawl? What urban sprawl management policies can be proposed from a landscape ecology perspective? What policies are preferable over others from a landscape ecology perspective? Can landscape ecology provide a knowledge base for the establishment of targets and limits through the identification of thresholds? The symposium is strongly related to the conference theme because urban sprawl often advances across borders, e.g., in Geneva (from Switzerland into France).
(S-07) Entropy for landscape ecology: models, computation, and applications
Contact: Peichao Gao, Beijing Normal University, [email protected]
Co-Organizers: Jakub Nowosad, Adam Mickiewicz University, Poland
Overview: Landscape ecology is the “science of heterogeneity” (Wu 2006), where the central focus is on characterizing and understanding the heterogeneity of landscapes. This heterogeneity is believed to be ultimately governed, controlled, and directed by thermodynamics; thus, a link between them has long been sought in research, and entropy has been extensively used as that link. Therefore, entropy plays a fundamentally important role in studying landscape ecology. It has long been used in this field, primarily in the model of Shannon entropy (or information entropy) developed in information theory in the middle of the 20th century. An alternative model of entropy, Boltzmann entropy (or thermodynamic entropy), originated in thermodynamics in the late 19th century but was not applicable to landscape patterns until recent years. Facing these two models, we have many questions to consider. For example, are these two models consistent in nature? How should they be computed? Which model should we use? A recent review (Vranken et al. 2015) questioned the interpretations of entropy in landscape ecology; how can we act on the interpretations? This symposium aims to gather landscape entropy researchers from all over the world, for a discussion of the issues relating to the models, computation, and applications of entropy for landscape ecology.
Contact: Peichao Gao, Beijing Normal University, [email protected]
Co-Organizers: Jakub Nowosad, Adam Mickiewicz University, Poland
Overview: Landscape ecology is the “science of heterogeneity” (Wu 2006), where the central focus is on characterizing and understanding the heterogeneity of landscapes. This heterogeneity is believed to be ultimately governed, controlled, and directed by thermodynamics; thus, a link between them has long been sought in research, and entropy has been extensively used as that link. Therefore, entropy plays a fundamentally important role in studying landscape ecology. It has long been used in this field, primarily in the model of Shannon entropy (or information entropy) developed in information theory in the middle of the 20th century. An alternative model of entropy, Boltzmann entropy (or thermodynamic entropy), originated in thermodynamics in the late 19th century but was not applicable to landscape patterns until recent years. Facing these two models, we have many questions to consider. For example, are these two models consistent in nature? How should they be computed? Which model should we use? A recent review (Vranken et al. 2015) questioned the interpretations of entropy in landscape ecology; how can we act on the interpretations? This symposium aims to gather landscape entropy researchers from all over the world, for a discussion of the issues relating to the models, computation, and applications of entropy for landscape ecology.
(S-09) Landscape ecology research in neotropical landscapes: lessons learned, challenges, and perspectives
Contact: Yessica Rico, CONACYT, Instituto de Ecología, A. C., [email protected]
Co-Organizers: Carlos Andrés Cultid Medina, CONACYT, Instituto de Ecología A.C.
Overview: Tropical landscapes in Latin America are characterized by their rich cultural and biological diversity, while also are large contributors to food production worldwide. However, accelerated rates of deforestation and habitat transformation by the continuous expansion of agriculture, livestock grazing, and urban development are changing the spatial configuration and compositional heterogeneity of tropical landscapes. The short and long-term effects of such human land-use changes for biodiversity conservation and agricultural production are still poorly understood, and even further away for predicting. Although landscape ecology and landscape genetics offer theoretical and applied frameworks to address those problems, research efforts are still scarce in neotropical landscapes compared to temperate regions; this largely due by: (i) the need to consider the fine-grain of agricultural mosaics with varying forms of traditional and contemporary land-use, (ii) poor knowledge and historical records of land-use by native and non-indigenous groups, (iii) high incidence of variegated landscapes, (iv) limited or null access of cartography databases of high temporal and spatial quality, (v) lack of long-term and multi-scale studies, and the (vi) poor link between scientific research and landscape government policy, planning, and development. This presentation series highlight research studies in varying ecosystems in neotropical landscapes to expose the lessons learned and the challenges of conducting landscape ecology research in such complex landscapes. Our goal is to open a dialogue among researchers interested in working in neotropical landscapes to share their research experiences and future perspectives.
Contact: Yessica Rico, CONACYT, Instituto de Ecología, A. C., [email protected]
Co-Organizers: Carlos Andrés Cultid Medina, CONACYT, Instituto de Ecología A.C.
Overview: Tropical landscapes in Latin America are characterized by their rich cultural and biological diversity, while also are large contributors to food production worldwide. However, accelerated rates of deforestation and habitat transformation by the continuous expansion of agriculture, livestock grazing, and urban development are changing the spatial configuration and compositional heterogeneity of tropical landscapes. The short and long-term effects of such human land-use changes for biodiversity conservation and agricultural production are still poorly understood, and even further away for predicting. Although landscape ecology and landscape genetics offer theoretical and applied frameworks to address those problems, research efforts are still scarce in neotropical landscapes compared to temperate regions; this largely due by: (i) the need to consider the fine-grain of agricultural mosaics with varying forms of traditional and contemporary land-use, (ii) poor knowledge and historical records of land-use by native and non-indigenous groups, (iii) high incidence of variegated landscapes, (iv) limited or null access of cartography databases of high temporal and spatial quality, (v) lack of long-term and multi-scale studies, and the (vi) poor link between scientific research and landscape government policy, planning, and development. This presentation series highlight research studies in varying ecosystems in neotropical landscapes to expose the lessons learned and the challenges of conducting landscape ecology research in such complex landscapes. Our goal is to open a dialogue among researchers interested in working in neotropical landscapes to share their research experiences and future perspectives.
(S-10) Weaving Stakeholder Narratives into Quantitative Models of Environmental Change
Contact: Lindsey Smart, Center for Geospatial Analytics, North Carolina State University, [email protected]
Co-Organizers: Dr. Jelena Vukomanovic, Department of Parks, Recreation, and Tourism Management, Center for Geospatial Analytics, North Carolina State University
Overview: To better understand the potential impacts of different conservation, climate adaptation, or urban growth strategies, we often rely on quantitative models of landscape change. In most cases, scenario development and model parameterization are completed by technical experts. To realize the full potential of these models for policy and global change solutions, we must integrate stakeholder opinions and preferences into quantitative models, with the understanding that a failure to do so can lead to unpopular and ineffective initiatives. Stakeholder narratives, elicited via participatory approaches, are qualitative descriptions of plausible futures that incorporate environmental, socio-economic, and policy measures. Translating qualitative narratives into quantitative scenarios and integrating them into models not only improves the models themselves but also increases legitimacy by engaging stakeholders throughout the process. In this session, we will explore frontiers in participatory approaches to scenario development and narrative translation. We will identify ways that stakeholder narratives can provide novel insights and enhance the quality of decision-making processes. The talks in this session will demonstrate ways that participatory approaches to scenario development can promote inclusivity and diversity of opinion, encourage innovative strategies, and foster interdisciplinarity while simultaneously providing quantitative modeling outcomes. We especially encourage dialogue about how including stakeholder-derived scenarios provides opportunities to improve the transparency of modeling, increase the legitimacy of the process, and ultimately lend agency to interested and impacted stakeholders.
Contact: Lindsey Smart, Center for Geospatial Analytics, North Carolina State University, [email protected]
Co-Organizers: Dr. Jelena Vukomanovic, Department of Parks, Recreation, and Tourism Management, Center for Geospatial Analytics, North Carolina State University
Overview: To better understand the potential impacts of different conservation, climate adaptation, or urban growth strategies, we often rely on quantitative models of landscape change. In most cases, scenario development and model parameterization are completed by technical experts. To realize the full potential of these models for policy and global change solutions, we must integrate stakeholder opinions and preferences into quantitative models, with the understanding that a failure to do so can lead to unpopular and ineffective initiatives. Stakeholder narratives, elicited via participatory approaches, are qualitative descriptions of plausible futures that incorporate environmental, socio-economic, and policy measures. Translating qualitative narratives into quantitative scenarios and integrating them into models not only improves the models themselves but also increases legitimacy by engaging stakeholders throughout the process. In this session, we will explore frontiers in participatory approaches to scenario development and narrative translation. We will identify ways that stakeholder narratives can provide novel insights and enhance the quality of decision-making processes. The talks in this session will demonstrate ways that participatory approaches to scenario development can promote inclusivity and diversity of opinion, encourage innovative strategies, and foster interdisciplinarity while simultaneously providing quantitative modeling outcomes. We especially encourage dialogue about how including stakeholder-derived scenarios provides opportunities to improve the transparency of modeling, increase the legitimacy of the process, and ultimately lend agency to interested and impacted stakeholders.
(S-11) Google Earth Engine in Landscape Ecology
Contact: Jeffrey Cardille, McGill University, [email protected]
Co-Organizers: Morgan Crowley, PhD Student
Overview: This symposium will survey the range of applications of Google Earth Engine within landscape ecology studies. Google Earth Engine provides users with two things that have been obstacles to the wider use of remote-sensing data within landscape ecology. First, it provides a unified repository of the world’s free satellite data, beginning in the 1970s and continuing up through today, across a very wide array of sensors. Second, it provides a computing platform that allows registered users to run resource-demanding analyses right on Google’s servers. Within remote sensing, this has greatly expanded the range of what is possible—for example, one of the marquee applications of Earth Engine is a multi-decade record of forest loss and gain, scored through time for each 30m pixel across the entire Earth. While great advances have been made in image analysis to provide groundbreaking products, much less has been done with Earth Engine to date within landscape ecology.
Speakers will explore current applications, current limits, and upcoming planned developments of Earth Engine within landscape ecology. For example, there are currently only rudimentary pattern-analysis tools within the baseline tool, but landscape ecologists have recently written and shared such tools within Earth Engine, and more are planned by Google in upcoming releases. By collecting talks into this symposium, we hope to provide a session of sustained learning where users can envision their own future application of Google Earth Engine. We also hope to create an Earth Engine working group to share tips and tricks for using Earth Engine for landscape ecology.
Contact: Jeffrey Cardille, McGill University, [email protected]
Co-Organizers: Morgan Crowley, PhD Student
Overview: This symposium will survey the range of applications of Google Earth Engine within landscape ecology studies. Google Earth Engine provides users with two things that have been obstacles to the wider use of remote-sensing data within landscape ecology. First, it provides a unified repository of the world’s free satellite data, beginning in the 1970s and continuing up through today, across a very wide array of sensors. Second, it provides a computing platform that allows registered users to run resource-demanding analyses right on Google’s servers. Within remote sensing, this has greatly expanded the range of what is possible—for example, one of the marquee applications of Earth Engine is a multi-decade record of forest loss and gain, scored through time for each 30m pixel across the entire Earth. While great advances have been made in image analysis to provide groundbreaking products, much less has been done with Earth Engine to date within landscape ecology.
Speakers will explore current applications, current limits, and upcoming planned developments of Earth Engine within landscape ecology. For example, there are currently only rudimentary pattern-analysis tools within the baseline tool, but landscape ecologists have recently written and shared such tools within Earth Engine, and more are planned by Google in upcoming releases. By collecting talks into this symposium, we hope to provide a session of sustained learning where users can envision their own future application of Google Earth Engine. We also hope to create an Earth Engine working group to share tips and tricks for using Earth Engine for landscape ecology.
(S-12) Science-policy gaps and their impact on landscape-scale management
Contact: Audrey Mayer, Michigan Technological University, [email protected]
Overview: Natural disasters such as fires and floods are incurring an increasing toll on human societies, as climate change, habitat conversion, and the spread of invasive species drive increasing frequencies and severities of such events. The landscape context, e.g. the extent of tree cover within a flood-prone watershed, can exacerbate/mitigate disasters. However, the scale(s) of the policies/guidelines for natural disaster management that govern land use (e.g., zoning ordinances), natural resource management (e.g., forest harvests, wetland conservation, grazing on rangelands), and disaster recovery (e.g., availability of insurance) may be misaligned with the scale(s) at which the landscape context affects the frequency/severity of a natural disaster. Additionally, policies which end at political borders are rarely effective for cross-boundary disturbances. This collection of talks will focus on the science of natural disaster risks and existing policies addressing them, highlighting science-policy gaps where more research or policy work is needed.
Contact: Audrey Mayer, Michigan Technological University, [email protected]
Overview: Natural disasters such as fires and floods are incurring an increasing toll on human societies, as climate change, habitat conversion, and the spread of invasive species drive increasing frequencies and severities of such events. The landscape context, e.g. the extent of tree cover within a flood-prone watershed, can exacerbate/mitigate disasters. However, the scale(s) of the policies/guidelines for natural disaster management that govern land use (e.g., zoning ordinances), natural resource management (e.g., forest harvests, wetland conservation, grazing on rangelands), and disaster recovery (e.g., availability of insurance) may be misaligned with the scale(s) at which the landscape context affects the frequency/severity of a natural disaster. Additionally, policies which end at political borders are rarely effective for cross-boundary disturbances. This collection of talks will focus on the science of natural disaster risks and existing policies addressing them, highlighting science-policy gaps where more research or policy work is needed.
(S-13) Addressing scientific & methodological challenges in connectivity conservation planning
Contact: Richard Pither, Environment & Climate Change Canada, [email protected]
Co-Organizers: Josie Hughes, Ilona Naujokaitis-Lewis, and Micheline Manseau - ECCC
Overview: Connectivity conservation has made great strides in recent years, gaining traction with the public and benefiting from the development of numerous user-friendly analytical tools. However, scientific and methodological challenges remain: movement data is available for only a limited number of species, model parameter estimation & validation are difficult, as is objectively weighing connectivity considerations against other conservation priorities. With land managers becoming increasingly interested in enabling connectivity conservation, the time is right for a special session that will bring practitioners and methodology innovators together to discuss the current state and future possibilities for connectivity conservation planning. The first part will feature case studies from Canada and the United States, highlighting both successes and limitations of existing methods. The second part will highlight work that may help address methodological & technical challenges associated with integrating connectivity considerations into planning processes. The symposium will conclude with a panel discussion on priorities for future work on connectivity conservation planning methods.
Contact: Richard Pither, Environment & Climate Change Canada, [email protected]
Co-Organizers: Josie Hughes, Ilona Naujokaitis-Lewis, and Micheline Manseau - ECCC
Overview: Connectivity conservation has made great strides in recent years, gaining traction with the public and benefiting from the development of numerous user-friendly analytical tools. However, scientific and methodological challenges remain: movement data is available for only a limited number of species, model parameter estimation & validation are difficult, as is objectively weighing connectivity considerations against other conservation priorities. With land managers becoming increasingly interested in enabling connectivity conservation, the time is right for a special session that will bring practitioners and methodology innovators together to discuss the current state and future possibilities for connectivity conservation planning. The first part will feature case studies from Canada and the United States, highlighting both successes and limitations of existing methods. The second part will highlight work that may help address methodological & technical challenges associated with integrating connectivity considerations into planning processes. The symposium will conclude with a panel discussion on priorities for future work on connectivity conservation planning methods.
(S-14) Green infrastructure in the urban landscape: spatial patterns and ecological processes
Contact: Joanna Solins, University of California, Davis, [email protected]
Co-Organizers: Mary Cadenasso, University of California, Davis
Overview: Green infrastructure is widely promoted as a valuable approach for addressing multiple issues associated with urban development, and it is increasingly being incorporated into urban design and management strategies. Features such as rain gardens, green roofs, constructed wetlands, and bioretention facilities are often specifically designed to mitigate stormwater runoff, but they are particularly advocated for the additional ecosystem services they can provide, including increased habitat availability, urban heat island mitigation, and improved aesthetic, recreation, and health outcomes. However, green infrastructure can also be associated with disservices such as facilitating the spread of invasive species or disease vectors, accumulating refuse, or increasing airborne allergens. This symposium will explore a variety of ecological processes and landscape patterns associated with the use of green infrastructure in cities, as well as implications for urban residents. Heterogeneity in the extent, design, configuration, and management of green infrastructure across the urban landscape influences its function and its impact, and a better understanding of these dynamics is key for guiding effective urban planning.
Contact: Joanna Solins, University of California, Davis, [email protected]
Co-Organizers: Mary Cadenasso, University of California, Davis
Overview: Green infrastructure is widely promoted as a valuable approach for addressing multiple issues associated with urban development, and it is increasingly being incorporated into urban design and management strategies. Features such as rain gardens, green roofs, constructed wetlands, and bioretention facilities are often specifically designed to mitigate stormwater runoff, but they are particularly advocated for the additional ecosystem services they can provide, including increased habitat availability, urban heat island mitigation, and improved aesthetic, recreation, and health outcomes. However, green infrastructure can also be associated with disservices such as facilitating the spread of invasive species or disease vectors, accumulating refuse, or increasing airborne allergens. This symposium will explore a variety of ecological processes and landscape patterns associated with the use of green infrastructure in cities, as well as implications for urban residents. Heterogeneity in the extent, design, configuration, and management of green infrastructure across the urban landscape influences its function and its impact, and a better understanding of these dynamics is key for guiding effective urban planning.
(S-15) Building resilient ecological systems in dynamic urban and peri-urban landscapes
Contact: Namrata Shrestha, Toronto and Region Conservation Authority, [email protected]
Co-Organizers: Jonathan Ruppert, Toronto and Region Conservation Authority
Overview: Land cover and land use changes related to urbanization often poses critical challenge to maintain ecosystem structure, function, and associated services that are important for ecological health and human well-being. Currently close to 55% of the world’s population lives in urban areas and future predictions estimate this amount to increase to 68% by 2050. With ever-increasing urbanization and land cover and land use changes there is a critical need for improved understanding of the processes that impacts and are impacted by these changes, especially in the face of changing climate. This will help inform strategic and integrated management of grey, blue, and green infrastructure that makes up the urban landscape mosaic such that it is able to support a sustainable and resilient ecological system.
This symposium integrates both theoretical and applied perspectives in urban ecology, landscape ecology, conservation science, and others to demonstrate the issues surrounding ecosystem conservation in and around urban landscapes.
Contact: Namrata Shrestha, Toronto and Region Conservation Authority, [email protected]
Co-Organizers: Jonathan Ruppert, Toronto and Region Conservation Authority
Overview: Land cover and land use changes related to urbanization often poses critical challenge to maintain ecosystem structure, function, and associated services that are important for ecological health and human well-being. Currently close to 55% of the world’s population lives in urban areas and future predictions estimate this amount to increase to 68% by 2050. With ever-increasing urbanization and land cover and land use changes there is a critical need for improved understanding of the processes that impacts and are impacted by these changes, especially in the face of changing climate. This will help inform strategic and integrated management of grey, blue, and green infrastructure that makes up the urban landscape mosaic such that it is able to support a sustainable and resilient ecological system.
This symposium integrates both theoretical and applied perspectives in urban ecology, landscape ecology, conservation science, and others to demonstrate the issues surrounding ecosystem conservation in and around urban landscapes.
- The first session will include talks focused on the theoretical underpinnings of urban ecological systems including the structural (composition and configuration) and functional elements of urban ecosystem, current and future conditions under land use and climate scenarios, terrestrial landscapes and aquatic riverscapes, and the human elements of the socio-ecological systems that dominate the urban and peri-urban landscapes.
- The second session focuses on talks that provide insights on direct and indirect threats or challenges to urban ecosystems, opportunities for conservation through traditional restoration and more innovative approaches to green infrastructure implementation, and emerging ideas on reframing urban ecosystems through various ecosystem function and service lenses.
(S-18) Novel digital technologies, big data and geovisualization approaches for understanding landscapes
Contact: Derek Van Berkel, School for Environment and Sustainability, University of Michigan and , [email protected]
Co-Organizers: Mark Lindquist and Joan Nassauer (Moderator) - School for Environment and Sustainability, University of Michigan
Overview: The study of landscape ecology has a long tradition of utilizing remote-sensing, simulation models and separate field-based surveys and participatory methods for understanding how we impact and drive spatial patterns and processes. However, challenges related to accelerating urbanization, climate change, and biodiversity loss likely necessitate better measures that capture the socio-ecological processes driving these changes. Spatially explicit measures that are timely, cross-boundary and engaging for stakeholders would help better understand the human drivers of these complex systems. Digital technologies, big data and geovisualizations are emerging as novel techniques to address these sustainability issues. For example, data science approaches (e.g. machine learning and computer vision) to social media and Google Street View (GSV) databases are increasingly being utilized at scale to better understand human-environment interactions, especially how humans perceive and benefit from the local ecosystems. Immersive technologies including virtual and augmented reality have likewise added greater perceptual and behavioral understanding of the landscape by facilitating increasingly realistic multisensory experiences of remote or imagined places. Likewise, new agent-centric models (e.g agent-based and 3D models) and physiological experiments (e.g biometric sensors) have raised the profile and understanding of how we shape, perceive and are impacted by the environment. In combination with spatial analysis and geovisualization, these new tools can add greater spatially-explicit insights across landscape domains and promote innovative solutions to environmental degradation.
The talks in this session will demonstrate examples of emerging digital technologies that are of newly critical importance for landscape research. We seek and will showcase presentations by a diversity of participants, including career stage, disciplinary background, and experience in different sectors. Our goal is to encourage dialogue about how these technologies can be successfully integrated in landscape and management studies. Special attention will be placed on the subjective and perceptive measures that contribute to affective and psychological impacts urban landscape, as well as strategies for better planning and increasing the impact of urban greenspace on community resilience.
Contact: Derek Van Berkel, School for Environment and Sustainability, University of Michigan and , [email protected]
Co-Organizers: Mark Lindquist and Joan Nassauer (Moderator) - School for Environment and Sustainability, University of Michigan
Overview: The study of landscape ecology has a long tradition of utilizing remote-sensing, simulation models and separate field-based surveys and participatory methods for understanding how we impact and drive spatial patterns and processes. However, challenges related to accelerating urbanization, climate change, and biodiversity loss likely necessitate better measures that capture the socio-ecological processes driving these changes. Spatially explicit measures that are timely, cross-boundary and engaging for stakeholders would help better understand the human drivers of these complex systems. Digital technologies, big data and geovisualizations are emerging as novel techniques to address these sustainability issues. For example, data science approaches (e.g. machine learning and computer vision) to social media and Google Street View (GSV) databases are increasingly being utilized at scale to better understand human-environment interactions, especially how humans perceive and benefit from the local ecosystems. Immersive technologies including virtual and augmented reality have likewise added greater perceptual and behavioral understanding of the landscape by facilitating increasingly realistic multisensory experiences of remote or imagined places. Likewise, new agent-centric models (e.g agent-based and 3D models) and physiological experiments (e.g biometric sensors) have raised the profile and understanding of how we shape, perceive and are impacted by the environment. In combination with spatial analysis and geovisualization, these new tools can add greater spatially-explicit insights across landscape domains and promote innovative solutions to environmental degradation.
The talks in this session will demonstrate examples of emerging digital technologies that are of newly critical importance for landscape research. We seek and will showcase presentations by a diversity of participants, including career stage, disciplinary background, and experience in different sectors. Our goal is to encourage dialogue about how these technologies can be successfully integrated in landscape and management studies. Special attention will be placed on the subjective and perceptive measures that contribute to affective and psychological impacts urban landscape, as well as strategies for better planning and increasing the impact of urban greenspace on community resilience.
(S-19) Taking the Macroscale View to Understand Invasion Dynamics across North America
Contact: Kevin Potter, North Carolina State University, [email protected]
Co-Organizers: Songlin Fei, Purdue University; Qinfeng Guo, USDA Forest Service
Overview: The invasion of nonnative species threatens a wide variety of natural communities across North America, including forests, grasslands and aquatic systems. These invasions both degrade ecosystems and cause extensive economic impacts. Ongoing work at macroscales indicates that invasion patterns are the result of complex cross-scale interactions among invading species, recipient systems, and invasion drivers such as disturbance and introduction pathways. Managing current and future invasions will require better understanding of how the abiotic and biotic complexities of recipient systems may facilitate or resist invasion, how interacting natural and socioeconomic drivers promote invasion, and how interactions among invasion drivers and the complexities of recipient systems promote or limit invasion. In this session, presenters from the United States and Canada will explore ongoing work aiming to address these research needs at broad scales. Speakers will include researchers who have been working to better understand species invasions at landscape to regional to international scales.
Contact: Kevin Potter, North Carolina State University, [email protected]
Co-Organizers: Songlin Fei, Purdue University; Qinfeng Guo, USDA Forest Service
Overview: The invasion of nonnative species threatens a wide variety of natural communities across North America, including forests, grasslands and aquatic systems. These invasions both degrade ecosystems and cause extensive economic impacts. Ongoing work at macroscales indicates that invasion patterns are the result of complex cross-scale interactions among invading species, recipient systems, and invasion drivers such as disturbance and introduction pathways. Managing current and future invasions will require better understanding of how the abiotic and biotic complexities of recipient systems may facilitate or resist invasion, how interacting natural and socioeconomic drivers promote invasion, and how interactions among invasion drivers and the complexities of recipient systems promote or limit invasion. In this session, presenters from the United States and Canada will explore ongoing work aiming to address these research needs at broad scales. Speakers will include researchers who have been working to better understand species invasions at landscape to regional to international scales.
(S-20) Monitoring, modelling, and managing ecosystem services across Canada
Contact: Elena Bennett, MccGill University, [email protected]
Co-Organizers: Klara Winkler, McGill University
Overview: A future of shared health and prosperity will depend on our ability to manage ecosystems and all the services they provide for human well-being now and in the future. In working landscapes – land actively used for production of resources such as food, fish, energy, and forest products – the focus has typically been on the cheap, reliable, and efficient production of individual services such as food, energy, or timber. However, these efforts often overlook the fact that landscapes simultaneously produce multiple ecosystem services that interact in complex, dynamic ways across space and time, leading to increases in a few services (e.g., food, timber, energy) at the cost of declines in many other services (e.g., flood control, recreation, carbon storage), which we call trade-offs. Reaching consensus about how to provide for present and future human ecosystem service needs equitably, while safeguarding sustainable ecosystems for the future, requires evidence-based management strategies and a scalable natural resource science that embraces the complexity of social-ecological systems Surprisingly, the data and knowledge needed for such evidence-based management of working landscapes has remained out of reach. In part, what has been missing has been a focus on the implications of ecosystem service interactions across space and time in terms of governance and management.
This symposium will present the first year of research results from a new Canadian Strategic Network, ResNet, that is working to transform Canada’s capacity to monitor, model, and manage its working landscapes and all the ES they provide in a way that reflects their fundamental inter-relationships, and thus fundamentally improve integrated decision-making for working landscapes across the country.
Contact: Elena Bennett, MccGill University, [email protected]
Co-Organizers: Klara Winkler, McGill University
Overview: A future of shared health and prosperity will depend on our ability to manage ecosystems and all the services they provide for human well-being now and in the future. In working landscapes – land actively used for production of resources such as food, fish, energy, and forest products – the focus has typically been on the cheap, reliable, and efficient production of individual services such as food, energy, or timber. However, these efforts often overlook the fact that landscapes simultaneously produce multiple ecosystem services that interact in complex, dynamic ways across space and time, leading to increases in a few services (e.g., food, timber, energy) at the cost of declines in many other services (e.g., flood control, recreation, carbon storage), which we call trade-offs. Reaching consensus about how to provide for present and future human ecosystem service needs equitably, while safeguarding sustainable ecosystems for the future, requires evidence-based management strategies and a scalable natural resource science that embraces the complexity of social-ecological systems Surprisingly, the data and knowledge needed for such evidence-based management of working landscapes has remained out of reach. In part, what has been missing has been a focus on the implications of ecosystem service interactions across space and time in terms of governance and management.
This symposium will present the first year of research results from a new Canadian Strategic Network, ResNet, that is working to transform Canada’s capacity to monitor, model, and manage its working landscapes and all the ES they provide in a way that reflects their fundamental inter-relationships, and thus fundamentally improve integrated decision-making for working landscapes across the country.
(S-21) Landscape genetics as a tool for managing human-impacted landscapes
Contact: Hossam E. Abdel Moniem, University of Toronto - Centre for Urban Environment, [email protected]
Co-Organizers: Lindsay Miles, Postdoctoral Fellow, Department of Biology, University of Toronto-Mississauga; Sophie Breitbart, PhD student, Department of Biology, University of Toronto-Mississauga
Overview: By linking landscape ecology and population genetics, the interdisciplinary field of landscape genetics enables us to understand how landscape patterns and ecological processes can shape species population structures. In our rapidly changing landscapes, the human footprint can dramatically affect the connectivity of our natural resources and influence dispersal for species and their genes at the landscape scale. Consequently, we may lose genetic and biological diversity, which is crucial for maintaining ecosystem services and biodiversity markets. Studying how landscape structure and function affect both genetic diversity and spatial distribution of natural populations in complex landscapes has an increasing demand when we try to link research, application, and policy to manage our urban and urbanizing landscapes. Currently, landscape genetics in urban and urbanizing ecosystems is gaining the attention of researchers as a growing field of study. The goals of this symposium are to present current landscape genetics research on different taxa and discuss how this research can inform policy and practices to better manage our landscapes.
Contact: Hossam E. Abdel Moniem, University of Toronto - Centre for Urban Environment, [email protected]
Co-Organizers: Lindsay Miles, Postdoctoral Fellow, Department of Biology, University of Toronto-Mississauga; Sophie Breitbart, PhD student, Department of Biology, University of Toronto-Mississauga
Overview: By linking landscape ecology and population genetics, the interdisciplinary field of landscape genetics enables us to understand how landscape patterns and ecological processes can shape species population structures. In our rapidly changing landscapes, the human footprint can dramatically affect the connectivity of our natural resources and influence dispersal for species and their genes at the landscape scale. Consequently, we may lose genetic and biological diversity, which is crucial for maintaining ecosystem services and biodiversity markets. Studying how landscape structure and function affect both genetic diversity and spatial distribution of natural populations in complex landscapes has an increasing demand when we try to link research, application, and policy to manage our urban and urbanizing landscapes. Currently, landscape genetics in urban and urbanizing ecosystems is gaining the attention of researchers as a growing field of study. The goals of this symposium are to present current landscape genetics research on different taxa and discuss how this research can inform policy and practices to better manage our landscapes.
(S-22) Genomic Approaches for Investigating Spatial Processes in Aquatic Systems
Contact: Ryan Franckowiak, Queen's University, [email protected]
Overview: Landscape genomic approaches have been increasingly applied in aquatic systems to investigate the importance of environmental factors in determining population structure, dispersal patterns, and local adaptation. The application of these methods to aquatic species poses a number of unique challenges since the characteristics of marine and freshwater environments differ considerably from terrestrial landscapes. Aquatic landscapes exhibit tremendous spatio-temporal variability in habitat complexity and physical connectivity that distinguish them from terrestrial habitats. Moreover, marine and freshwater environments are highly dynamic, exhibiting both seasonal and diel fluctuations in oceanographic or hydrologic conditions. A variety of statistical approaches that integrate genomic and environmental data have been proposed to overcome these challenges. As a result, research in this field is rapidly moving beyond exploratory analysis towards hypothesis-driven investigations of patterns and processes of population connectivity and adaptation. Statistical approaches for testing relationships between aquatic conditions and population genomic patterns are, however, still in their infancy with no single approach able to capture all relevant considerations. Due to the multiple disciplinary nature of landscape genomic analysis, it is important to bring together leading experts the field to discuss the considerable potential of these analytical approaches while identifying their inferential limits.
Contact: Ryan Franckowiak, Queen's University, [email protected]
Overview: Landscape genomic approaches have been increasingly applied in aquatic systems to investigate the importance of environmental factors in determining population structure, dispersal patterns, and local adaptation. The application of these methods to aquatic species poses a number of unique challenges since the characteristics of marine and freshwater environments differ considerably from terrestrial landscapes. Aquatic landscapes exhibit tremendous spatio-temporal variability in habitat complexity and physical connectivity that distinguish them from terrestrial habitats. Moreover, marine and freshwater environments are highly dynamic, exhibiting both seasonal and diel fluctuations in oceanographic or hydrologic conditions. A variety of statistical approaches that integrate genomic and environmental data have been proposed to overcome these challenges. As a result, research in this field is rapidly moving beyond exploratory analysis towards hypothesis-driven investigations of patterns and processes of population connectivity and adaptation. Statistical approaches for testing relationships between aquatic conditions and population genomic patterns are, however, still in their infancy with no single approach able to capture all relevant considerations. Due to the multiple disciplinary nature of landscape genomic analysis, it is important to bring together leading experts the field to discuss the considerable potential of these analytical approaches while identifying their inferential limits.