Pre-Conference Workshops: January 8th,
2009
Workshop #1: Spatial Analysis in Macroecology
Jose Felizola Diniz-Filho - Universidade
Federal de Golas
Richard Field - University
of Nottingham, UK
Thiago Rangel - University
of Connecticut, USA
Spatial Analysis in Macroecology (SAM)
was developed as user-friendly software
to perform different types of exploratory
spatial analysis and spatial modeling,
which have been applied in different fields
of macroecology and biogeography. It is
now in its third version, and two levels
of workshops will be available in Merida.
Basic SAM (morning) - For those without
experience with SAM, we will briefly discuss
how available techniques can be applied
and interpreted, and we will provide simple
examples of how to run them in SAM. Practical
classes in SAM will show how to input data
and how to perform basic techniques, such
as exploratory spatial autocorrelation
using correlograms, basics on statistical
inference, spatial correlation, and different
techniques of spatial regression, including
autoregressive models.
Advanced SAM (afternoon) - For those with
some experience with SAM or spatial analysis,
we will discuss new developments in spatial
analysis as applied to macroecology and
biogeography, including comparison of multiple
forms of spatial regression, eigenvector-based
spatial filtering, geographically weighted
regression, multi-model inference, and
autologistic methods. We also will show
how the new routines of SAM 3.0 allow one
to use these techniques.
Each session will be a half-day, pre-conference
workshop (8 January 2009), each limited
to 40 participants. If there is sufficient
interest, we may be able to offer an additional
half-day session (basic or advanced) for
up to 20 people. Cost is $50 US for each
session, or $75 US for both sessions.
Alexandre Diniz-Filho, Thiago Rangel,
and Mauricio Bini have presented over 20
courses on spatial statistics in graduate
courses and at conferences worldwide, using
the SAM software that they developed. Along
with Richard Field, they presented the
initial tests of SAM version 2.0 at two
very popular workshops organized by Richard
and Lindsay Banin at the 2007 IBS meeting
in Tenerife, and will be using the newly
released SAM 3.0 in Merida. For further
information, please see their guest article
in the Summer 2007 issue of the IBS newsletter.
Please bring your own laptop computer
if you have one.
Workshop #2: Visualizing Evolution in
Space and Time
Davis M. Kidd - National Evolutionary
Center (NESCent), Durham, NC, USA
Geophylogenies are geographically referenced
phylogenetic trees. This workshop will
introduce the geophylogenetic data model
and software to create and visualize them.
Particular attention will be paid to using
'Geophylobuilder for ArcGIS' (https://www.nescent.org/wg_EvoViz/GeoPhyloBuilder)
and 3D visualization with ArcScene, including
the output of 'fly-by' movies. The use
of KML and earth browsers will also be
considered. Experience of GIS is desirable
but not essential.
This will be a full-day, pre-conference
workshop (8 January 2009), limited to the
first 40 people who sign up. Cost is $75
US.
Dave Kidd and Xianhua
Liu designed and implemented 'Geophylobuilder
for ArcGIS,'
and Dave and Michael Ritchie presented
a "manifesto" for GIS application
in evolutionary science in a guest editorial
in the Journal of Biogeography (2006, 33:
1851 - 1865). For futher background information,
please see Dave's guest article, "Geophylogenies-Uniting
Space and Time" in the Summer 2007
issue of the IBS Newsletter.
Workshop #3: Communicating Biogeography
Rob Whittaker - Oxford
University, UK
Richard Ladle - Oxford University,
UK
The workshop will provide an overview
of how to put together a paper for journal
submission (adopting an appropriate writing
style, organization of material, structuring
a convincing narrative, pace of referencing,
importance of identifying core questions/hypotheses,
use of tables, figures, etc), what happens
in the peer review process, what reviewers
and editors are looking for, the role of
co-authors, etc. Participants will be give
some draft manuscript material and specific
taskts to work on (e.g. how to write Aims
statements, writing abstracts, editing
texts, preparing legends). The template
for the excercises will be the Journal
of Biogeography format and guidelines,
but the workshop is intended to be of general
value in how to prepare manuscripts for
submission to any scientific journal.
This will be a half-day, pre-conference
workshop (8 January 2009), limited to 20
participants. It is intended primarily
for postgraduates and those who have completed
their doctorates in the last 2-3 years.
If there is sufficient interest, we may
be able to offer an additional, half-day
session to 20 people. Cost is $50 US.
Rob Whittaker was
sole editor and then editor-in-chief
of Global Ecology and Biogeography
from 1995 to 2004, and has been editor-in-chief
of the Journal of Biogeography since
2004. He takes a keen interest in assisting
writers,
particularly graduated students, to improve
their ability to communicate their research
through publication. Please see his article "Outreach-Communicating
Our Research" in the Winter 2007
issue of the IBS newsletter.
Richard Ladle is course director for
the
Biodiversity, Conservation and Management
MSc a the Oxford University Centre for
the Environment. He has a special interest
in science communication (see, e.g. Ladle,
R.J. [2008] Catching fairies and the
public representation of biogeography.
Journal
of Biogeography 35: 388-391).
