Workshop Details
Adaptive conservation management
Program (for the two days):
I. Lectures/ seminar: Fundamentals of adaptation in natural systems. History and principles of adaptive management. (ca. 10%)
II. Lectures and practical exercises: The CMP (Conservation Measures Partnership), Open Standards for the Practice of Conservation (http://www.conservationmeasures.org/) and MIRADI software (https://miradi.org/). Conceptualising conservation projects (scope, vision, targets, conceptual models, threats, strategies, results chains etc.). (ca. 80%)
III. Lectures/ seminar: Adaptive management and adaptation to environmental change. Open standards, vulnerability analyses and risk management. (ca. 10%)
Taking the pain out of writing scientific papers and how to write science proposals
Effective communication, by conservation biologists within and outside the discipline is rightly considered important by SCB. This course builds on the successful precedent at previous ECCB conferences. Course content (see below) covers the main areas of technical communication, written and oral, and because of the instructors’ professional background, uses practical examples that are relevant to conservation biology/ecology. After feedback from the Student Committee, we have now inserted a module on how to write proposals.
Course content:
- On learning and note-taking. Mind maps. How to increase learning efficiency?
- The scientific publication 'industry'. Primary, non-primary publications, journal types, scientometrics, citations, citation indices. How to judge a journal and how to decide where to send a manuscript?
- Writing the main parts: introduction, material and methods, results, discussion
- Graphical tools of data exploration and designing figures & tables
- What can figures do that no other form conveys? The theory of graphical information.
- Scientific graphs: theory and examples. Clarity, economy, and integrity as guiding principles. The “minimizing ink” principle.
- Collating and preparation for submitting a manuscript. Electronic submissions.
- How to follow the MS through the editorial system?
- How to deal with the scientific editor? How to handle rejection, requests for review, revisions.
- How to deal with the production editor? Proofreading, legal aspects, copyright, reprint orders, distributing the paper, etc.
- At the end of the course, the participants are expected:
- to understand the importance of publishing scientific-technical information
- to know the main types of publications, and how to assess their quality
- how to write a primary scientific paper, a review paper, a conference proceedings paper, a book chapter, and other types of short publications
- how to use graphical tools to analyse data and present technical evidence
- to have an overview of the manuscript handling and publication process, from the submission to final publication
- how to submit their work for publication, on paper or electronically, and how to
- track it through the editorial system
- how to interact with editors, how to review/revise their own and others’ work - A one-day course to assist PhD students and early career scientists, particularly those from non-English speaking countries. The aim is not to teach grammar or style but to illustrate how to go about writing scientific paper for publication in refereed journals.
- In the last module, writing applications for funding is discussed.
Introduction to meta-analysis and research synthesis in ecology
This course offers an introduction to the basic ideas of meta-analysis of ecological data, including types of effect sizes in ecology, statistical methods for combining results from different studies, and possible biases in the research findings.
The course will provide the participants with a working knowledge of basic methods of meta-analysis, their strength and their pitfalls. Participants will learn about practical aspects of meta-analyses and the statistical underpinnings. The participants will use the methods in practical problems and will learn how to perform the necessary computations using the statistical language R.
This course is aimed at researchers in the environmental sciences. It may also be of interest to postgraduate students and academics. Participants will learn about practical aspects of meta-analyses and the statistical underpinnings. The participants should be able to handle the standard problems by themselves and have at least an idea about how to handle nonstandard situations. Some knowledge of statistics, equivalent to the standard undergraduate level, will be assumed. The participants would benefit from some knowledge of the statistical language R.
Bayesian statistical methods using R and Winbugs
Bayesian statistical methods are increasingly used to evaluate models and hypotheses in life sciences. Highly flexible model building, the possibility to incorporate prior knowledge and the easier inference of obtained results comprise the principal advantages of carrying out analyses within a Bayesian framework.
These set of methods are based on a substantially different theorem compared to conventional frequentist statistics; Bayesian methods calculate the probability of the null hypothesis given the obtained data, as opposed to calculating the probability of the data given the null hypothesis.
This short course is intended for those who want to learn about theory and the implementation of Bayesian models in the freely available Winbugs software through the R2WinBUGS package of the R program. The material will be presented at an applied level, understandable for those with intermediate statistical knowledge and are familiar with the usage of the R environment.
The course will address Bayesian approaches of analysing averages, frequencies, carrying out regressions and analysis of variance through realistic biological examples. All stages of Bayesian model building processes will be considered, starting with problem definition and ending with model evaluation.
Introduction to Systematic Review
A systematic review (SR) is a comprehensive report which gathers, appraises and summarizes primary research to assess the strength and weight of evidence relevant to a specified question. A SR aims to provide the best available evidence relevant to the needs of policy and to inform decision making. SR stands at the cutting edge of environmental science, there is currently no other reviewing technique that provides the same independent, unbiased and objective assessment of primary evidence. This workshop aims to meet the recent demand for training in systematic reviews (generated by recent calls for systematic reviews in environmental management). The workshop is provided by the CEBC and accredited by the Collaboration for Environmental Evidence (CEE).
This introductory workshop is a one day event aimed at a wide audience, ranging from review commissioners, stakeholders, potential SR authors and anyone interested in finding out more about the methodology, purpose and uses of SR in environmental management.
Learning outcomes:
- the importance of objective and comprehensive assessments of evidence in informing policy and practice;
- when it is appropriate to commission/conduct a SR and how quality can be assured;
- the importance of formulating a specific and answerable SR question;
- an understanding of the main elements of a SR;
- role of the CEE in providing quality assurance, support and submissions to the online Environmental Evidence library
Introductory multivariate analysis in R
Length of the course: 3 hours
The open-source R package is increasingly becoming the statistical language of choice for ecology with a large number of bespoke packages available for effective analysis of data. The package has many packages that can be used to handle multivariate data including ordination and classification techniques. This course is for beginners, new to multivariate analysis, and will introduce the use of the ‘vegan’ package for simple ordination analysis and will cover:
| 1. | How to read your data in. |
| 2. | How to transform it. |
| 3. | How to carry out four types of ordination analysis |
| a. NMDS | |
| b. Decorana | |
| c. PCA | |
| d. CA\Reciprocal averaging | |
| 4. | How to link environmental factors to the species ordination on an |
| a. Unconstrained ordination and | |
| b. Constrained ordination (CCA/RDA). | |
| 5. | A hint on how to produce good quality graphical output. |
Analysis could be of provided data or the participant’s own data. Participants must bring their own Laptop with them with WiFi capability.
This course is non-mathematical, it is a how to do course.
The course will provide an insight into the analysis of complex multivariate data and hence part of the scientific approach to conservation biology.
The Zonation v3 conservation prioritization framework and software - hands on
Zonation is a framework and software for large-scale high-resolution spatial conservation prioritization; it is a decision support tool for spatial conservation planning. It can identify priority areas based on a large number of biodiversity features, accounting for considerations such as complementarity and connectivity. Zonation provides a platform for integrating conservation science into real life spatial planning. See appendix for recent Zonation applications.
Objective: To teach participants the basic operational principles of the Zonation conservation prioritization framework and software. To give possibility to the participants to do hands-on analyses using the software with the developers of the software and documentation as teachers. Zonation methods have been published in >15 scientific papers, and the v3 manual is ~300 pages long. Attending this workshop shortens the learning curve to Zonation.
The International Long Term Ecological Research network for students
The international Long Term Ecological Research network (LTER) enables cooperation between scientists from different countries and facilitates interdisciplinary and comparative studies. At each of the network’s sites data is collected through the use of predetermined protocols. These data are uploaded onto the web and made available to diverse users.
LTER-EDU is an educational project that offers school students a chance to be partners in a global monitoring effort. The students collect meteorological data and monitor vegetation, arthropods, butterflies, birds and other data. The monitoring takes place at Ramat Hanadiv Nature Park and at the surroundings of schools from all over Israel.
Students collect and upload ecological data onto an educational website, enabling other students to participate in data analysis and to draw conclusions based on all the data gathered.
Long-term climatic-ecological monitoring and cooperation with students who gather data and study their environment in different sites, supports the development of various dimensions of ecological literacy, particularly the temporal and spatial dimensions. Building educational monitoring networks and understanding the complexity of ecological systems may contribute to sharing responsibly for a change.
The LTER-EDU program will be introduced in an innovative and interactive way using the web. Participants will be offered to join the collaborative monitoring effort in their countries.
This introductory workshop is a half day event aimed at a wide audience, scientists, educators and anyone interested in finding out more about the purpose, methodology, and educational potential of the LTER-EDU project.
Legal basis and implementation of EU Conservation Directives
The purpose of this training session is to familiarize conservation biology students in particular with the legal framework for nature conservation in the EU. The legal perspective is often not offered in biology curricula, or even as a stand-alone course, but it provides the basis for an effective implementation of conservation knowledge and research. Thus, this class is an exceptional opportunity to learn first-hand the theory and practice of conservation directives. The contents of the class integrate a wide spectrum of conservation sciences, and provide a European-focus on conservation. This training session is also targeted at practitioners working in small / medium NGO’s.
Course content:
• Introduction to the EU conservation legislation (Habitats Directive, Birds Directive, relevant components of the Water Framework Directive).
• Relevance for planning and management practices
• Ecological and legal interpretation of key elements – case examples (designation of Natura 2000 sites, favorable conservation status, required assessment procedures, role of precautionary principle, derogation clause, compensation, species protection)
• The process of filing lawsuits and complaints; problems associated with the process and the outcomes.
• Case examples (presented by instructors and students)
• Analysis of the case examples presented and related legal processes – filing a complaint.
Course outcomes:
• At the end of the course, the participants are expected:
- to understand the basic provisions of the EU conservation Directives
- to be able to interpret case examples with respect to possible legal infringements
- to be able to file an infringement complaint with the EU
Communicating science to different audiences
In this dynamic, interactive and fun four-hour training course, we will highlight a range of strategies for communicating your scientific results to different audiences and help to make an impact on the general public as well as on the policy arena. The training course is divided into two parts. Part 1 is a mini-seminar of 20 minutes talks by speakers used to communicating to different audiences. These talks will highlight a variety of approaches, for example, for engaging journalists, getting broader recognition for your work, helping policy-makers reach more informed decisions, and becoming a science and conservation leader. Part is an interactive practical session in which the participants will put in practice what they have learnt in the first part of the Training Course. In small groups, they will prepare flash presentations for various audiences and get feedback from the lecturers. After the Training Course, the participants will have a better understanding about what is essential when reaching out different audiences.
The first part of the Training Course will consist on three lecturers (20 minutes with 10 minutes for questions and interaction with the participants). Speakers from different sectors will be invited to participate in this part and explain how to bridge the communication gap between people with different backgrounds. This part will include one speaker experienced with the policy area, another from the public media and finally a researcher with experience in communicating science.
Duration: 1:40h
Second part will consist of a practical exercise, following feedback and discussion. A scientific article will be sent by email to participants in advance. Participants will be divided in groups of five people and they will have to prepare three flash presentations of 3 minutes summarizing the article information. The first presentation will be oriented to a scientific audience, the second presentation to a media audience and finally the third presentation to a policy maker audience. Each group will have 10 minutes to present the three flash presentations and then 5 minutes will be given for feedback from the lecturers and the rest of participants from the other groups.
Duration: 2h
Expected outcomes:
The participants will learn how to:
- communicate the results to different audiences
- summarize their research in a simple way
- get in contact with media, practitioners and policy makers
- communicate the uncertainty related to scientific results
- avoid mistakes and misinterpretations of their research when getting in contact with journalists