Animal Movement Across Scales

A fascinating yet unresolved research question in movement ecology is whether movement processes are conserved across organizational levels and how they emerge across spatio-temporal scales. Understanding the generality of movement will help foster the link movement ecology and other ecological conceptual frameworks. Reaching across scales will form a better understanding of how orientation and movement allow individuals to meet their needs, in terms of physiology, social interactions, or inter-specific relationships; and how movements of individuals, groups or entire populations in ecosystems act as linkages between habitats, influencing biodiversity patterns, resource distribution, ecosystem functions, and gene flow. This conference will also bridge from concepts and theory to applications. Sessions will not only target the behavioral underpinnings of movements from individuals to collectives but also adaptations of movements in the Anthropocene and their conservation implications. Using animal movement for effective conservation increasingly calls not just for monitoring but also for forecasting movements and modern approaches that provide better predictions. Finally, this conference will also include sessions about the state of the field with regard to modeling, tools, science practices, as well as data standards and sharing, as essential steps to advancing groundbreaking science in urgent response to current grand challenges.

PROGRAM IMAGE PHOTO CREDIT: Elliott Hazen, NMFS Permit 21678