Plenary Presentations, Monday, June 22Room: Ballroom C/D Monday, 9:00 AM-Noon |
| 7:50-8:00AM Welcome and Opening Remarks
Becky Abel; WWA and Chris Craft; SWS |
| 8:00-9:00AM Great Lakes, Great Wetlands.
Dr. Carol A. Johnston
Introduction by Dr. Joy Zedler The Great Lakes coastline is home to wetlands of exceptional diversity. Vegetation in Great Lakes wetlands can reveal much about wetland condition, but distinguishing natural from human-induced variation is a challenge in a region that spans 5.5° latitude by 16.2° longitude. An approach for evaluating condition was developed for Great Lakes wetlands, consisting of: (1) a stratified random sample representing the entire range of anthropogenic stress, (2) field data representing a range of water depths within the wetlands sampled, (3) non-metric multidimensional scaling (MDS) to determine a biological condition gradient across the wetlands sampled, (4) hierarchical clustering to interpret the condition results relative to recognizable plant communities, (5) classification and regression tree analysis to relate biological condition to natural and anthropogenic environmental drivers, and (6) mapping the results to display their geographic distribution. Lessons learned from applying this approach can inform wetland condition assessments for large regions elsewhere in the U.S. and the World. |
Room: Ballroom C/D Monday, 4:30-5:10 PM |
| 4:30-5:10PM Cranes and Wetland Conservation Around the World.
Dr. George Archibald
Introduction by Becky Abel On the five continents inhabited by cranes, these charismatic birds are ambassadors for the conservation of wetlands and in many areas are a reflection of the health of wetlands. All the 15 species of cranes are wetland dependent to varying degrees. From these, the three white species are both the most wetland-dependent and the most endangered. In North America, Whooping Cranes of the traditional flock that migrates between Canada and the USA, depend in winter partly on crabs in shallow estuarine waters along the coast of Texas. Cranes and prey flourish with the proper mix of fresh and salt water. On mainland Asia in summer, the Red-crowned Cranes ability to breed is predicated on an abundance of aquatic animals in wide expanses of fresh water wetlands in many locations. If one wetland system fails due to drought, the birds can breed in alternative areas. In winter in south Asia, Siberian Crane have depended on expansive shallow fresh water wetlands where they use their long powerful beaks to extract both plant and animal life from muddy soils. They are powerful symbols for the ecological character of perhaps the most important single wetland in Asia for water birds, Poyang Lake, China. Their ecological counterpart, Wattled Cranes of Africa, are flagships for the conservation of vast floodplains. Because people of all walks of life value cranes, the cranes provide a common interest for highly diverse stakeholders. Consequently, cranes have become a rallying point for the conservation of wetlands. |