Announcing ATBI Conference 2012- Call for Presentations

We are proud to extend this call for presentations for the 15^th installment of the All Taxa Biodiversity Inventory (ATBI) Conference 2012, presented by Discover Life In America. The purpose of this conference is to highlight the research, conservation and educational efforts being made to understand, manage and restore the unique biological diversity of Great Smoky Mountains National Park and beyond. In response to growing interest in the national ATBI movement, the scope of the meeting has been broadened to include representatives from across the region, continent and world.

You are invited to join us in Gatlinburg, Tennessee for Discover Life in America’s 2012 All Taxa Biodiversity Inventory Conference. Please consider presenting a paper, sharing your expertise in biodiversity, and/or being an active guest. We invite proposals for presentations, posters, and science, education and /or technology workshops on a broad array of topics pertinent to our professional community.

The Great Smoky Mountains National Park is considered by some to be one of the most biodiverse places in North America. It is here, in the midst of such species richness, that Discover Life in America (DLIA) is conducting an ongoing project to inventory all species that exist in the Park. The All Taxa Biodiversity Inventory (ATBI) seeks to inventory every species of living organisms in Great Smoky Mountains National Park. The project continues to develop checklists, reports, maps, databases, GIS tools, and natural history profiles that describe the biology of this rich landscape to a wide audience. The species level of biological diversity is central to the ATBI, but the project also emphasizes exploration of this diversity in the context of broader ecological, conservation, and genetic relationships. While biodiversity research in the Great Smoky Mountains is the central theme of DLIA, 2012 conference participants are invited to present broadly on a variety of topics of related to the goals of the ATBI. These may include:

• Studies of Great Smoky Mountains taxa
• Biodiversity studies of other National Parks and protected areas
• Role of biodiversity research in conservation and education
• Species inventory and climate change
• The human footprint and change to biodiversity and community composition
• Application of technology, communication, and education in general biodiversity research

Be sure to share this email with your colleagues, partners, students—anyone actively involved in biodiversity science, education and conservation!

Abstracts (250 words) are due by February 3, 2012.

Submit your presentation proposal today by emailing the DLIA office: todd@dlia.org

For further information, please contact our office at 865-430-4756

Or email: Todd P. Witcher (todd@dlia.org) or Heather MacCulloch (heather@dlia.org)