Happy New Year to all!
The results of the ATBC election are in! Our new President-Elect is Yadvinder Malhi, Professor of Ecosystem Science at the University of Oxford and Director of the Oxford Centre for Tropical Forests. His work focuses on understanding the ecosystem ecology of tropical forests, and how this will change in the context of global atmospheric change and direct anthropogenic change. Yadvinder has been an active Councilor and strong contributor to ATBC and we welcome him in his new leadership capacity. We bid farewell to Jaboury Ghazoul for his many years of service to ATBC.
We also welcome four new Councilors were elected to serve on the ATBC Council from 2017 to 2019: Liza Comita (Yale University, USA), Alice C. Hughes (Xishuangbanna Tropical Botanical Garden, Chinese Academy of Sciences, CHINA), Juan Manuel Posada (University of el Rosario, Bogotá, Colombia), and Corine Vriesendorp, (Field Museum of Natural History, Chicago, USA). We acknowledge all of the outstanding candidates for their enthusiastic participation in the election.
Nominations are now open for ATBC Honorary Fellow 2017. Each year ATBC recognizes an individual who has conducted and inspired foundational work in tropical biology and conservation. The Honorary Fellow Award will be presented at the 2017 Annual Meeting in Mérida, 9-14 July. Please submit nomination letters to Past President Kaoru Kitajima, Chair of the Honorary Fellow Nominating Committee no later than February 15, 2017. Nomination letters should include the nominees's CV and a letter summarizing the individual's contributions and impact on the field. A list of prior Fellows appears here.
We look forward to meeting in Mérida, Yucatán for the 54th Annual Meeting, 9-14 July, 2017, focusing on Ecological and social dimensions of tropical biodiversity conservation.
Start preparing your abstract! The deadline for submission is 28th February. Registration and call for abstracts are open now! This will be another unforgettable meeting, so don't miss it! We are excited to initiate a new mentoring program at the meeting that will continue throughout the year. Stay tuned for more details!
The ATBC Asia-Pacific Chapter 2017 Meeting on Past, Present, and Future of Asian Biodiversity will be held in Xishuangbanna, China on March 25-28th 2017. Deadline for submission of abstracts is quickly approaching. Please contact meeting chair Alice Hughes for more information.
We are pleased to have received 9 applications for the first round of the Navjot Sodhi Conservation Research Award. The first recipient of the award is Dr. Bernardo Flores for his work on "Dispersal limitation as a bottleneck for tree recruitment in burnt Amazonian floodplain forests." Dr. Flores will receive a cash award of $500 for his project.
With the approval of Council, a new executive position of Membership Coordinator has been established to focus more attention on member engagement, retention, and recruitment. Council member Jennifer Powers has been appointed to this position. If
STAY CONNECTED:
If you have ideas about how to increase membership or wish to serve on the membership engagement committee, please contact Jennifer.
Finally, thank you for renewing your membership! And, if you have forgotten to renew, it is not too late!
And, if you would like to help sponsor members who cannot afford membership fees, please consider making a donation to ATBC or joining as a Sponsoring Member.
Tropically yours,
Robin Chazdon Executive Director