Copyright © 2007 SWS Western Chapter
Website Designed and Maintained by Stephanie Kiriakopolos
Symposia
Symposia are pre-arranged sessions in which the presenters generally have been invited to speak by a symposium chair. Each symposium speaker will be allotted 20 to 30 minutes for an oral presentation, questions, and discussion. Symposium presenters must use PowerPoint© as the format for their presentation. Please contact the symposia leader Kathy Boyer (katboyer@sfsu.edu) with any questions.
SWS Sacramento 2007 Symposia:
Vernal Pools and Other
Mare Temporaires
Niall McCarten, AMEC Earth & Environmental (niall.mccarten@amec.com).
An international representation of vernal pool systems
“This symposium presents an international perspective on vernal pools and other seasonal wetlands occurring in Europe, Kenya, Morocco, Northeastern US and the California floristic province. Included are presentations on research on plant and wildlife biology; a broad range of geology, hydrology and soil conditions; climate and endangered species; use of hydrological modelling for restoration; and the development of hydrogeormorphic-based functional wetland assessments for vernal pools.”
San Francisco Bay: 30
Years of Restoration
Steve Crooks, Philip Williams and Associates, San Francisco, California
(S.Crooks@pwa-ltd.com)
Lessons learned and the future of tidal restoration in SF Bay
“San Francisco Bay, is arguably the most active and intensely studied region for tidal wetlands restoration in the US, if not globally. The Bay is the largest embayment on the west coast of the Americas, and has experienced 35 years of coastal restoration. Several thousand acres have been restored and there are ambitious plans for the restoration of thousands of acres more. Planned restorations will build upon the lessons learnt from previous generations of marsh restoration and a rigorous scientific and planning approach. What makes San Francisco Bay so special and what practical lessons can be transferred to guide restoration initiatives in other regions and countries? This symposium draws together implementing agency staff, scientists and engineering to provide an inspirational illustration that estuarine restoration is achievable at the landscape scale, and with public support.”
Professional Ethics for
Wetland Scientists
James E. Perry, Ph.D., PWS Secretary General SWS-PCP, Professor of Marine
Science Department of Biological Sciences, Virginia Institute of Marine
Science (jperry@vims.edu)
Personal and professional values and maintaining high standards among wetland
ecologists
“This symposium will initiate discussion on the role of ethics in the practices of SWS Professional Wetland Scientists and others in the wetland community. Presenters, including a representative from the academic, consultant, development, legal, and regulatory fields, will discuss the formation of the SWS Professional Certification Program ethics criteria and standing rules, importance of ethics criteria to the business and regulatory community, and the legal ramifications involved in enforcing ethic complaints and penalties.”
Tropical and Subtropical
Wetlands of the World
George Lukacs, Australian Center for Tropical Freshwater Research, James
Cook University (george.lukacs@jcu.edu.au)
Ecosystems, processes, and values of tropical wetlands
“This Symposium shares knowledge derived from conceptualizations, inventories, monitoring and experimental programs. With a focus on tropical and subtropical locations in the Americas, Africa and Australia, speakers will describe a variety of scientific studies designed to better understand and manage wetlands in these regions. Discussion on the creation of a tropical wetlands research network (http://www.globalwetlands.org) will also occur at the conclusion of the presentations.”
Global Patterns and
Climate Change
Beth Middleton, US Geological Survey National Wetlands Research Center,
Lafayette, Louisiana (beth_middleton@usgs.gov)
Global patterns in functions such as production, nutrient, and regeneration
dynamics
“Wetland function and distribution is affected by global climates, so that climate change would be predicted to change the function of wetlands across their distributional range. Similarly, the challenges faced by wetland managers would also be affected by climate change. This symposium explores the effects of potential climate change related to changes in temperature, rainfall, CO2 levels and hurricane frequency on the biogeochemical, reassembly, production and accretion/subsidence relationships of various world wetland types. Modeling approaches and ecological/socioecomic indicators for wetland assessment will be discussed to help determine long-term management strategies for land loss and habitat change.”
Wetland Ecology in Southeast
Asia
Isidro Savillo, ISCF, Philippines (isidro_savillo@yahoo.com),
with Wei Ta Fang, Taiwan
Special topics in wetland ecology in Southeast Asia
“This symposium, organized by the Asia Chapter of SWS, will highlight wetland science and management across a number of Asian countries. Topics include conservation and management strategies, biogeochemistry, and ecology of wetland systems in Taiwan, Philippines, Pakistan, India, and Japan.”
Regional Supplements
to the US Army Corps of Engineers Wetland Delineation Manual: An Introduction
to the Arid West Supplement
Jim Wakeley, US Army Engineer Research and Development Center, Vicksburg,
Mississippi (James.S.Wakeley@erdc.usace.army.mil)
Focus on Arid West Regional Supplement for wetland delineation
"For the last four years, the Corps of Engineers has been working to update and regionalize its 1987 wetland delineation manual by developing Regional Supplements. Currently, six of ten planned Regional Supplements are in various stages of development, testing, independent peer review, and implementation by Corps Regulatory offices. This symposium is intended for wetland-delineation practitioners and other interested users. It will provide an overview of the national project, describe the application of Regional Supplements and their relationship to the 1987 Manual, give an overview of indicators for hydrophytic vegetation, hydric soils, and wetland hydrology used in Regional Supplements, and describe procedures for dealing with difficult-to-identify wetland situations, focusing mainly on the recently released Arid West supplement."
Teaching Wetland Ecology
Doug Wilcox, US Geological Survey, Ann Arbor, Michigan (dwilcox@usgs.gov)
Methods and techniques for teaching wetland ecology
“Wetland ecology is a multidisciplinary field of study, and teaching a Wetland Ecology course requires the instructor to cover widely disparate topics adequately. However, most wetland scientists do not have strong backgrounds in all aspects of the subject matter, which can make teaching difficult and can weaken the course. The purpose of this symposium (and follow-up sessions in future years) is to provide insight on means of presenting various topics in Wetland Ecology courses in an engaging manner that allows students to grasp and retain the key concepts. The symposium should be of value to anyone who teaches a wetland course at the undergraduate or graduate level (and does not already know everything).”