Call for papers for the 5th National Symposium on the Ecology, Status, and Conservation of the Diamondback Terrapin

Call for papers for the 5th National Symposium on the Ecology, Status, and Conservation of the Diamondback Terrapin
LUMCON W. J. DeFelice Marine Center
Chauvin, LA, 12-14 November 2010

The Diamondback Terrapin Working Group is made up of individuals from academic, scientific, regulatory and private institutions/organizations working to promote the conservation of the diamondback terrapin, the preservation of intact, wild terrapin populations and their associated ecosystems throughout their range. DTWG is committed to and supports research, management, conservation, and education efforts with the above goals in mind. This conference is a forum for the presentation of current information on terrapin research and conservation. In addition to updating colleagues on current research, the conference can serve as a forum to identify research needs, foster friendships, and rekindle interest in terrapins by bringing people with diverse backgrounds together. All interested individuals are invited.

We are accepting abstracts for oral papers and posters from now until 1 October 2010. We encourage posters wherever possible due to the limited time available for talks, and we may change a proposed talk to a poster. Posters will be on display on Friday, Saturday, and Sunday morning. The poster session will be on Saturday afternoon. Presentations are planned to be 20 minutes in total length (15 min. presentation, 5 min. questions).

Abstract instructions:
1. Remember the theme of this meeting, in recognition of the great state of Louisiana, is EVOLUTION.
2. The title should be short and informative.
3. Abstracts should state briefly and clearly the purpose, methods, results and conclusions of the work. The abstract must be a single paragraph that is no more than 200 words.
4. Be sure all authors approve of the abstract before submission
5. List all affiliations and authors. The affiliations include Institution name, city, state/region, and country. The order of affiliation must match the order of author (i.e., affiliation 1 is for author 1, affiliations 2 is for author 2 and author 3, affiliation 3 is for author 4, etc.).
6. Indicate whether you would prefer your presentation to be a talk or a poster.
7. Send your abstract as a Word file attachment to biorlb@hofstra.edu

The setting: The LUMCON W. J. DeFelice Marine Center is approximately 85 miles southwest of New Orleans. It is situated in the heart of the estuarine wetland complex of the Mississippi River deltaic plain, between Atchafalaya River and the Mississippi. This site provides ready field access to the most productive estuaries in the United States, including vast salt, brackish and freshwater marshes, barrier islands, and offshore environments of the northern Gulf of Mexico. It will be a spectacular location for our meeting.

The facility (http://www.lumcon.edu/facilities/marinecenter/): The W. J. DeFelice Marine Center is a modern, 75,000 square foot complex of research, instructional, housing, and support facilities. It has 26,000 square feet of laboratory, classroom, office, and library space, and 8 laboratories equipped with running sea water. We will be using their cafeteria/ general meeting room in the center of the complex, and their 99-seat auditorium.

Housing: The W. J. DeFelice Marine Center has 72 beds in dorm rooms and 20 beds in
apartments, which are further broken down as one 2 bedroom apt with five beds, two 1 bedroom apts that each have 4 beds, a 1 bedroom apt with 5 beds, and a 1 bedroom apt with 2 beds. These will be filled on a first come-first served basis; call the LUMCOM receptionist, Ms. Cindy Sevin at (985) 851-2800 ext. 0 to reserve your room. If you want to arrive early or stay later to enjoy the Marine Center's excellent facilities, you can arrange that with Ms. Sevin. If we fill the facility there is very likely to be space at the Coco Marina (hotel) (1-800-648-2626, < 1/4 mile down the road, ask to speak with Joan Glover). See the visitor handbook at (http://www.lumcon.edu/facilities/MarineCenter/VisitorHandbook.pdf).

Meals: We will have an informal reception Friday night, and a banquet featuring shrimp okra gumbo (with vegetarian option) with a guest speaker Saturday night. All meals (breakfasts & lunches Saturday and Sunday, banquet Saturday night) will be on site.

The Banquet speaker: we are fortunate enough to have Dr. Peter Lindeman, Professor of (Turtle) Biology at Edinboro University of Pennsylvania, addressing our symposium theme with a talk entitled: "Shaking the Graptemys Tree: How Phylogeny Elucidates Ecology in the Map Turtles and Sawbacks and Diamondback Terrapins"

Costs: I am still working out details, but I suspect that housing, meals, reception, banquet, shuttle service to/from New Orleans airport combined will be about $110.

Dr. Russell Burke, Department of Biology, Hofstra University, 516.463.5521, biorlb@hofstra.edu.