WoodStoick 2004
The Present and Future of Ecological Stoichiometry
What: A capstone event for the CAS group on ecological stoichiometry. This will be a
novel 5-day free-form workshop seeking to disseminate the findings of the CAS working
group and to organize and synergize young ecologists working on ecological / biological
stoichiometry in diverse ecosystems. Participation will be by invitation and / or reviewed
application only.
Why:
• -To communicate the primary findings of the CAS working group on ecological
stoichiometry.
• -To produce a novel, peer-reviewed, rapidly published, set of “idea / concept
papers” whose design, content and execution will be evolved before and during
the workshop. See detailed description of content, execution, and venue that
follows.
• -To establish an international network of interactions among young ecologists
working on ecological stoichiometry so that this “next generation” can carry this
field forward.
• -To invent a new form of scientific collaboration and exchange.
When: 15 – 19 August 2004
Who: The participants will be international and in 3 categories:
•
•
•
-Postdoctoral researchers and PhD students with active ongoing projects
involving ecological stoichiometry.
-Various members of the CAS group who will give keynote talks highlighting key
findings of the year’s work.
-Senior ecologists who did not participate in the CAS group who will offer
independent reactions and insights during the workshop.
Where: At the alpine biological station in Finse, Norway
(http://biologi.uio.no/fellesavdelinger/finse/). In addition to its beautiful location and
excellent housing and meeting facilities, the station has Internet access so that
participants can access the extensive on-line journal collection of the University of Oslo.
How: The main organizers will be Dag Hessen (U of Oslo) and Jim Elser (Arizona State
Univeristy) working with Jaenikke Moe (NCEAS, Santa Barbara) as a scientific
coordinator and with CAS and biological station support staff for practical logistics.
Funding for participant travel and expenses will come via the CAS working group on
Stoichiometry and Population Dynamics.
The Product
While certainly a live album and a documentary film seem to be in order, we instead plan
on publishing a series (3-4?) of peer-reviewed idea/concept articles in a venue that will
allow rapid dissemination. The process by which these articles will be produced,
reviewed, and published will evolve during the time prior to (and during!) the workshop,
but the general scheme is as follows.
The papers will be short (6-8 pages in manuscript form, ~1-2 figures, ~1-2 tables),
conceptual, and forward-looking. Their goal is to highlight key recent findings and point
to frontiers for new research in ecological / biological stoichiometry in several main topic
areas:
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
Evolution, ecology, and stoichiometry.
Behavioral, physiological, and metabolic mechanisms in stoichiometry.
Stoichiometry and the dynamics and organization of populations and communities.
Big stoichiometry: watersheds, landscapes, regions, and biosphere.
Applications of stoichiometric theory to biological problems.
A basic scheme for producing the papers is as follows. NB: in this approach, the peer
review will be handled with the same rigor as in a normal process of scientific
publication but with a greatly accelerated schedule.
Manuscript generation
• - The scientific steering committee will consist of 5 postdoctoral researchers (one for
each topic area, for which he/she will serve as “facilitator”) working with Hessen and
Elser. The committee will develop a set of 3-4 sub-questions within each topic area.
These questions will form the basis of the papers that will evolve.
• - One month prior to the workshop, we will communicate to all participants this list of
topic areas and request that each participant indicate their level of interest in each.
Based on those responses, the organizers will assign participants to each topic,
seeking to balance expertise according to different disciplines and perspectives.
• - Once assigned, each participant will be asked to prepare a one-paragraph answer to
each of 3-4 key questions associated with each topic area. One month prior to the
Finse meeting, these answers will be posted on an Internet newsgroup board to which
all meeting participants have access. All participants will be invited to view the
postings and discuss, criticize, elaborate, and refine the ideas expressed. This process
will allow the contributions some time to develop and mature prior to the in-person
discussions, consensus development, and writing.
• - During the first two days of the workshop in Finse, break-out groups for each topic
area will meet to discuss their ideas and answers, seeking to develop a consensus that
will be expressed in manuscript form by the end of the 2nd day.
Manuscript review
• - There are several options for how the editorial handling of manuscripts might
proceed:
Option A: The organizers (Hessen, Elser) will act as the editors
Option B: The organizers (Hessen, Elser) in conjunction with an associate editor of the
targeted journal will act as the editors.
Option C: The editorial decisions will be handled by an associate editor entirely
separate from the enterprise and assigned by the targeted journal.
Option D: The editing will be handled by one, or more, of the senior external invitees.
Option E: The editing will be handled by one, or more, of the senior external invitees in
conjunction with an associate editor of the targeted journal.
• - Prior to the meeting, the organizers / editors will arrange for peer reviewers for
each prospective paper. Each paper will receive at least two peer reviews and at
least one of the peer reviewers will be a scientist not directly associated with the
CAS working group on ecological stoichiometry. IMPORTANT: each peer
reviewer will have agreed to complete their review within 24 h of receipt.
• - In the morning of the 3rd day of the meeting, the draft manuscripts will be
communicated to the peer reviewers via email. Reviews will be returned within 24 h
via email.
• - In the morning of the 4th day of the meeting, the editors will consider the peer
reviews and make decisions regarding acceptance, revision, or rejection.
Manuscript completion and publication
• - Authors of manuscripts that are not rejected will have an opportunity to revise
them, with the goal of doing this by the end of the workshop (day 5).
• - If necessary, revised manuscripts will be returned to reviewers for a second review
(<24 h again) and final editorial decision.
• - All editorial decisions will be completed, therefore, within 1 week of the start of
the conference.
• - Final manuscripts will then be electronically communicated to the target journal for
official publication.
We anticipate that the papers produced will appear in the scientific literature within 4
months of the conference itself (if not sooner), an unprecedented outcome.