Interactive Sessions

These new Interactive Sessions, which will feature in our 2018 Annual Meeting programme on the afternoon of Day 2, Tuesday 18 December.

The Interactive Sessions are an exciting and high-profile new initiative, through which session participants and meeting delegates can engage with each other on important topics in an innovative manner, such as, but not limited to:

• Speed presentations on a specific topic, followed by a facilitated discussion
• Panel debates
• World café sessions
• Campfire sessions
• 7-14-28 presentations: the 7-14-28 presentation is a speed showcase of your work. Speakers have a 7 minute time limit for their talk, using a maximum of 14 slides, with a minimum 28-point font size for any text.

Across the aquatic-terrestrial boundary
Björn K.Klatt (Lund University)
Christian M. Alsterberg (Lund University)

Aquatic and terrestrial ecosystems are in an active and constant exchange of energy, material and organisms across boundaries. However, bound by disciplines traditionally separating aquatic and terrestrial research, such interactions across ecosystem boundaries are often neglected in research, albeit having major consequences for ecosystem functions and services in both aquatic and terrestrial ecosystems. Hence, knowledge is not only theoretically and empirically sparse, but we are also in need of a better understanding in how to implement current and forthcoming knowledge in common practice, i.e. within agricultural landscapes, management decisions or ecological intensification. For those reasons the aim of this interactive session is (i) to bring researchers together that are actively working across boundaries which will provide a base of knowledge for (ii) informing researchers that are not yet working across boundaries to develop a common understanding of the research subject as well as induce interdisciplinary collaborations. Thus, our hope and intention is that this session will enable researchers to discuss and expand ideas that explicitly focus on flows across aquatic-terrestrial boundaries and to determine key topics and methodological challenges related to the interactions between terrestrial and aquatic ecosystems.

When and how are land-sparing and land-sharing appropriate for environmental management?
Gavin Siriwardena (British Trust for Ornithology)

Under land-sparing, areas are removed from agricultural production or protected from anthropogenic influence, while production or development is focused elsewhere. Land-sharing sees integration of environmental management with human activity. When and where are these approaches most suitable for biodiversity conservation and other priorities, such as ecosystem service provision and human interactions with nature?

This session will consider how sparing and sharing recommendations are affected by factors such as: (i) whether conservation targets are based upon species abundance or richness; (ii) the importance of direct human experience of nature (cultural services); (iii) priority for wider environmental priorities (soil, water, air, pollinators, predators); (iv) metapopulation context and patch sizes required by target species; (v) spatial scale (field, farm, landscape, regional, national); (vi) landscape context (e.g. extent of landscape modification or presence of primary habitat).

The session will begin with a general introduction and three short presentations giving different perspectives on the issue. These will be followed by a facilitated discussion of the points above, with others suggested by participants before the conference (email: gavin.siriwardena@bto.org). The aim is to reach a consensus as to when to recommend different solutions, avoiding a dogmatic focus on a particular approach, leading to a published output as a “perspectives” piece in People and Nature. Volunteers to get more involved with the session, chairing discussion groups or taking notes, or with preparing the paper afterwards, are welcome.

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