BES Macro 2023

• Weds 12th - Thurs13th July 2023.
• Location: University of Birmingham, UK. Specifically, the Geography building (Google Maps).
• Organising committee led by SIG Chair, Joseph Bailey. Local organising team led by Laura Graham.
• We will start at 9:00 on the 12th, with arrivals from 08:30. It would be great if you can arrive the evening before (11th July) because we are hoping to plan an informal social/networking outing. More to come on that.
• On the 12th, there will be a social/networking outing in the evening.
• We will finish by 17:00 on the 13th.
• In-person registration deadline: 31st May, 17:00. We do have limited in-person spaces, so register early to avoid disappointment ?
• Student plenary registration and submission deadline: 4th May, 17:00.
• If you have any queries, please email [email protected].
• Note that all timings associated with this meeting use British Summer Time, which is UTC + 1.

Anyone of any career stage who is interested in generalisable ecological or evolutionary patterns over broad spatial and/or temporal and/or taxonomic scales! We aim to be highly inclusive and welcoming. We particularly encourage postgraduates and early career researchers to attend. We also have virtual lower income country tickets available.

Some of the best moments at Macro meetings come from connecting people at different career stages, to everyone’s benefit, so we want to see a great range of people in attendance.

We look forward to seeing you!

Joe Bailey (Chair), on behalf of the whole SIG committee and local organisers.

If you attended our Sheffield meeting in 2022, you can expect a similar format. It will be hybrid to increase our reach and, even more importantly, ensure inclusivity, but with in person attendance strongly encouraged whenever this is possible.

We invite attendees to apply to present short talks (5 minutes + questions), long talks (10 minutes + questions), and posters.

The hybrid format will be made possible via a dedicated Slack workspace and YouTube channel. All speakers will need to upload a version of their talk to our YouTube channel (details to follow) in advance of the conference. We will not be live streaming any of the talks, but virtual attendees will be encouraged to watch the uploaded talks as they are happening live, so they can join in Q & As via Slack. However, having the recordings means all attendees (in person or online) can watch the talks at any time.

Speakers are welcome to omit parts of their talks (e.g. containing unpublished results), but we encourage presenters to pre-record the talk as fully-formed as possible. We appreciate that this requires more work from presenters, but recording talks in advance worked incredibly well last time and ensures greater reach for your research. Everyone attending in person will be expected to present in person.

We will also have a poster session this year! Posters will need to be available in print and as PDFs, which we will store in a Google Drive folder for all to see. The in-print format should be A1 or smaller (any orientation). Feel free to tessellate a couple of A3 sheets if that’s easier/cheaper for you! We’re fairly easy-going with this: as long as it gets your message across, it’s the content and conversations that matter for BES Macro! There will not be a poster competition.

Those attending online will see the full range of talks via the recordings and be able to engage with other participants via Slack but we do not plan on streaming networking events (including the poster session). We may be able to live stream workshops, depending on the technology available - updates to follow.

You can find information on ticket types below.

If you are attending online, you can apply for a talk and poster, which will be shared in the same space as the recordings of in-person talks (YouTube) and posters (Google Drive). We may be able to feature a few recordings as part of the in-person programme, but most will be available for viewing online only, with in-person talks prioritised for the in-person event.

Are you likely to be attending online as part of a group? Last year, we had ‘watch parties’ joining the conference virtually from Brazil, India, and elsewhere. We completely encourage these again! They were excellent and we really appreciated that enthusiasm, so if you have a group of people, please form a watch party! We have provided new ticket options to cater specifically for this, including options for lower-income countries, which you can read about when selecting your ticket option.

The student plenary is a staple of BES Macro! Any student in the final years of their PhD (or who has recently completed) should apply for this prestigious in-person talk. It provides an extended platform for you to share your work with the BES Macro network, so please apply! The talk will be 30-minutes long plus a 15-minute Q & A, and unlike for short and long talks, we require a title and abstract from student plenary applicants (all other talks require only a title to apply). These will be reviewed anonymously by the organising committee to choose the winner.

We will be able to offer some financial support to the student plenary speaker on our relatively modest budget, but may not be able to cover all costs, depending on where you are traveling from. We require student plenary applications before the main registration deadline, Thurs May 4th (Star Wars Day!), to allow for sufficient time to process applications, contact the winner, and make arrangements. Please share this opportunity widely.

We have two incredible plenary speakers lined up! They will each be 45-minutes in length, with a Q & A to follow. Our thanks to both speakers for their contributions.

Professor Cang Hui, Chair in Mathematical and Theoretical Physical Biosciences, Department of Mathematical Sciences, Stellenbosch University, South Africa.

Title: Formulating species turnover and accumulation with zeta diversity.

Abstract. Biodiversity is a complex and multi-dimensional concept, with its components varying across scales and sampling efforts. Macroecology aims to understand the variation and interrelations among these components. Set theory provides a mathematical framework to elucidate the relationships among the scale-dependent diversity partitions. While the standard scheme of biodiversity partitioning focuses on alpha and beta components, it is insufficient to provide a complete picture of biodiversity. Instead, zeta diversity is a powerful tool that can explain patterns of biodiversity components such as turnover, occupancy frequency, endemism, distance decay, and accumulation. Zeta diversity of order n simply describes the number of species common to n sites and declines along its orders. The regression of zeta diversity components against candidate assembly processes can help tease apart drivers of species turnover and accumulation and differentiate those contributed largely by rare versus increasingly common species. I provide an overview of zeta diversity and its applications in understanding biodiversity patterns and community dynamics, and end with a research agenda on how biodiversity patterns can be related to open ecological communities in transition with trait-mediated interactions under environmental change.

Dr Shan Huang, Assistant Professor in Paleobiology, School of Geography, Earth and Environmental Sciences, University of Birmingham, UK.

Title: The use (and fun) of fossil insights in understanding biodiversity and its future.

Abstract. Fossils are not just natural wonders to marvel at, but also a powerful tool for ecologists. We macroecologists are particularly concerned about the global biodiversity crisis today which can only be mitigated based on a deep understanding of biodiversity dynamics in relation to changes in the environment. The fossil record provides a direct window to a long history of biodiversity dynamics in space and time, including pervasive extinction events, under a variety of environmental changes. We can thus use fossil insights to build a baseline expectation of biological responses to projected global changes. In this talk, I will share some of my work that examines the fossil record in a biogeographic context and tries to provide insights for how biodiversity might change in the future. This general theme of my research is not taxon specific, although I will focus on two classic model systems where the frontline might be pushed the hardest: the terrestrial mammals and the marine bivalves. With some case studies, I hope to help promote discussions among ecologists, evolutionary biologists and paleobiologists to develop more integrative approaches to biodiversity research.

There will be one workshop on how your research can be used towards policy and impact led by the BES Policy team, an R/coding ‘open mic’/troubleshooting session, and perhaps a third (TBC).

All event information (e.g. online joining instructions, programme of events) will be communicated via our mailing list and files in a shared Google Drive folder a few weeks before the conference. Ensure you are signed up to our mailing list here.

Our thanks in advance to the host team at the University of Birmingham, our plenary speakers, and Methods in Ecology and Evolution for sponsoring the poster session.

Our range of tickets caters for in-person, virtual, BES member, non-member, student/concession, as well as lower income country pricing.

If you are interested in becoming a BES member to purchase the BES member rate ticket, you can find out more information and join here. Membership starts from £25, or you can get 12-months free membership if you are an undergraduate, masters, or first year PhD student.

Our ticketing works on an honesty system, while ensuring the conference is as inclusive and supportive as possible with our virtual and watch party options. Everyone buying the correct tickets ensures that the conference is successful, and able to continue in future years.

Your ticket will get you access to a fantastic range of talks, posters, workshops (to be confirmed whether workshops will be available virtually), and networking opportunities. In-person attendees will also receive vegetarian refreshments, lunches, and soft and alcoholic drinks at the poster session. Anyone attending in person will also get access to all online resources.

Depending on the number of people applying for short vs long talks, we may need to adjust your selection, but we will try to give everyone their preference.

Please be aware that in requesting a refund you will be reimbursed the event ticket price, subject to our refund policy, but unfortunately you will not be reimbursed the Eventbrite fee.

To view the British Ecological Society’s privacy policy please click here.

You can find useful information on and via the University of Birmingham website. There are good transport links between the city and campus.

Event Venue & Nearby Stays

University of Birmingham, Edgbaston, Birmingham, United Kingdom