Conference on Invasive Plants in Natural and Managed Systems: Linking Science and Management and 7th International Conference on Ecology and Management of Alien Plant Invasions

Ecological Society Of America, Washington DC

Investigators

Abstract

ABSTRACT There is substantial current interest in the global environmental problem of invasive non-native species. Concerns about the ecology and management of invasive plants are shared by an array of scientific disciplines and a spectrum of local, state, and federal resource management agencies. Interest in invasive plant problems has been growing steadily over the past decade, but only in the past three years, since the signing of Executive Order 13112, has the problem received broad public recognition and government attention. Previously, there has been little impetus or opportunity for scientists and resource managers to communicate beyond the boundaries of their specific disciplines and training. Now, with significant escalation in both scientific inquiry and management activity occurring, it is an opportune time to foster broad collaborations between scientific disciplines and between scientists and resource managers. To address this need for communication and collaboration, a number of scientific societies, non- governmental organizations, academic institutions, and federal agencies are collaborating on a major conference, Invasive Plants in Natural and Managed Systems: Linking Science and Management, to be held in conjunction with the 7 th International Conference on the Ecology and Management of Alien Plant Invasions. This Conference, which is scheduled for November 3-7, 2003, in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, will have regional, national and international significance. This award is co-funded by NSF's Office of International Science and Engineering. It is the first conference of such magnitude to have a specific goal of bridging the science-management gap to creatively address the environmental crisis caused by invasive exotic species. Even as the problem is global in scope and origin, so are the negative impacts acutely local, presenting challenges to resource managers everywhere. Scientists want to understand the process; managers need to stop it. They are charged with conserving native ecosystems or managing for a harvestable product and the invasion process exacerbates these efforts. The Conference is particularly timely with respect to both public awareness and scientific development of the field of invasion biology. The three primary goals of the Conference are: 1) To promote interdisciplinary exchange of scientific information among researchers working with harmful invasive plants in both managed and natural ecosystems. 2) To enhance dialogue between scientists and resource managers for the purpose of identifying research gaps and of accelerating implementation of new science for the management of invasive plants. 3) To foster broad cooperation on the science and management of invasive plants. To our knowledge previous meetings on invasion biology have not approached the breadth or depth of the conference that is now being planned. By and large, earlier meetings were limited in their scope of science, geography or target audience. None have had the stated or apparent objective of being a national/international meeting to integrate multiple scientific disciplines or enhance dialogue between scientists and resource managers.