The below is subject to change. The final IOCongress programme will be published at the end of June 2022.
Nico Arcilla, International Bird Conservation Partnership, Storövägen 13, Huddinge, Sweden
Many endangered and vulnerable bird species including vultures, other raptors, and hornbills persist predominantly in protected areas in Africa, as do many range-restricted and wintering migratory birds. Bird species richness and abundance are often considerably higher inside protected areas with ranger patrols compared to other areas. Empirical evaluations of conservation strategies are rare but urgently needed to mitigate and reverse current declines. Protected areas constitute a longstanding strategy for nature conservation, and targeted research assessing their successes and failures is essential to inform management decisions, such as where best to focus limited funding to protect biodiversity. Bird populations and communities make valuable indicators of protected area conservation effectiveness and also serve as excellent “ambassadors for biodiversity” that bring conservation benefits to areas where they occur and so help protect many other taxa.
What can bird research teach us about the success or failure of protected area management strategies, and how can we apply these lessons to improve conservation effectiveness on the ground? What are the biggest challenges and needs for bird conservation in protected areas? In this round table, we will review and compare research and experiences with the conservation status of birds in protected areas with different management strategies, particularly in Africa, site of the 28th IOCongress. The round table will kick off with four short (5-10 minute) presentations on the conservation status of birds in African protected areas, including in Togo, Ghana, and Cameroon. We will then open the floor to all round table participants to contribute and discuss lessons and observations from their own research and experiences experience with birds in protected areas in Africa and around the world. We will follow with questions and moderated discussion on priorities for future directions in research and conservation with a focus on opportunities for collaboration. We will summarize the group discussion in a document that will be distributed to participants after the congress.
Coordinators: Pr. S. Imad Cherkaoui, Ibn Tofail University, Morocco, Pr. Yossi Leshem, Tel-Aviv University and Pr. Alexandre Roulin, Lausanne University
Birds create a link between people, ecosystems and nations. They symbolize peace and interconnectedness around the globe. The epic journeys of Migratory birds inspire people of all ages, all over the world. In the 20th century, a white dove holding an olive branch in its beak is a symbol of peace. Birds are fascinating and inspiring beings. They provide essential ecosystem services. They pollinate plants, disperse seeds and help control pests. As an example, Barn owls (Tyto alba) are pest-control agents and an environmentally-friendly means that can help farmers fight against rodents. Beyond this role, although the barn owl is traditionally been regarded as a bad omen, it becomes a symbol of peace in the very tense Middle East that substitutes the classic “white dove”. In fact, amid the seemingly endless failed attempts to bring peace in the region, the bird has been transformed into a symbol of hope that the bitter hatreds between different people can be overcome. In the Jordan Valley, Israeli, Palestinian and Jordanian farmers and, regardless of their religions, beliefs and traditions are working together to improve the pest control service provided by the Barn Owls, and to utilize them also as a rodent-outbreak detector. Such an example of the bird as a peace-maker that brings connectivity and cohabitation should be promoted and disseminated across the world.
The objective of this round-table is to bring interested researchers, to discuss further how birds can be utilized to improve connectivity between people and advance peace and cohabitation, as the name of the project we initiated 2 decades ago was: Birds Know No Boundaries.
Conveners:
Alan Lee (School of Life Sciences, UKZN, South Africa)
Adams Chaskda (APLORI, Nigeria)
Krista Oswald (Canada)
Scope and Aims
Home to 2700 or so species of birds, Africa is a special continent with a range of habitats and unique species. It can also be an extremely challenging continent to work on, with perhaps a greater range of threats to birds and researchers compared to any other continent. With a rapidly growing human population on the continent, ornithologists play a vital voice for the species they represent and their conservation. Yet, the continuing lack of ornithological research capacity across almost all Africa is a challenge to the people and wildlife of the continent. The roles of funding, culture, safety, political instability, and opportunity contributing to this situation are still poorly understood.
Is African based research getting the international attention it deserves? There may be an unconscious bias against ornithology stemming from the continent, as an analysis of prestige rankings shows journals with ‘Africa’ in the title have significantly lower scores compared to those with ‘American’. In this age of #BLM, it is time to identify and address conscious and unconscious bias against research conducted on the continent and advertise the multitude of research opportunities and partnerships available to local and international ornithologists.
Regional challenges may differ, so we welcome a range of stake-holders to offer their viewpoints on the subject.
This round table aims to:
- Identify barriers to entry into ornithology in order to propose solutions which advance ornithological research in Africa.
- Identify partners and opportunities which will strengthen collaboration between African and International organizations and institutions.
- Identify key gaps in African ornithological research to give direction to future and emerging researchers.
- Identify bias and actions steps to address these.
- The outcomes of this workshop will be synthesized in a short paper to be submitted to a suitable (African) journal.
Link to pre roundtable workshop survey:
The study of migration and other forms of animal movement has largely, if not wholly, resorted to the attachment of objects or devices that aid in the latter identification of or data acquisition about that individual’s movement. In a rapidly changing world, information about the life-history of species is essential in directing conservation action. However, it is necessary to review the understanding that underpins the essential science of movement ecology. This round-table discussion provides a platform for open and interactive discussions with biologging practitioners, enthusiasts and the general scientific community.
Note: Round Table 9 is now part of Round Table 21.
Convenors:
Dr Gabriel A. Jamie1,2
Dr Chima Nwaogu2
1Department of Zoology, University of Cambridge
2FitzPatrick Institute of African Ornithology, University of Cape Town
Introduction:
Moult is an essential process in a bird’s annual cycle. Yet its study has generally lagged behind that of other key aspects of avian life history such as breeding and migration. This is particularly true for tropical species which account for the majority of avian biodiversity and whose annual cycle organisation may be better understood by giving centre stage to the study of moult. What barriers have historically limited the study of moult? How is the study of moult relevant beyond ornithology? How can we use new technologies, datasets and analytic tools to overcome these? What are the most important questions we should be using the study of moult to address? What should be the focus of moult studies? Is a shift in terminology necessary to deepen our understanding? In this workshop we will discuss the outstanding research challenges and priorities in the study of avian moult with a particular emphasis on tropical species.
Format:
An introductory presentation by convenors Dr Gabriel Jamie and Dr Chima Nwaogu followed by a chaired discussion with participants as outlined in the “Introduction” section above. The goal will be to come out with a list of challenges and research priorities relating to the study of avian moult. If successful, this could form the basis of an opinion/perspective article outlining a research program for moult studies in the coming years.
Convenor: Les Christidis. Southern Cross University Coffs Harbour Australia.
Co-convenor: Frank E. Rheindt, National University of Singapore, Singapore.
The International Ornithologists’ Union (IOU) has formed the Working Group on Avian Checklists (WGAC) whose primary purpose is to produce and maintain a web-based and open-access global checklist of birds and intended to serve as the benchmark reference for all taxa of the class Aves. It will classify the Aves from class to subspecies based on up-to-date, corroborative information on the phylogeny of birds and the differentiation of species and subspecies. It will also provide authors and references to the original description of all taxa of all ranks covered by the International Code of Zoological Nomenclature (ICZN). Type localities for species and subspecies, and type taxa for all ranks from subgenus to superfamily will be specified. Sources for taxonomic and nomenclatural decisions also will be referenced. The first stage of this ambitious project is to assess and reconcile different taxonomic treatments in the four extant major checklists: eBird/Clements, IOC Checklist, BirdLife/HBW and Howard and Moore.
This Round Table will provide presentations of progress to date from team WGAC leaders and the process for reconciling the different treatments. The first stage is to produce a single consolidated list. Issue to be discussed in the Round Table will include: next steps; how to expand input assessing new taxonomic/systematic information for incorporation into the global list, potential roles of regional list aggregators, engagement with users and producers of taxonomic information. Input from professional ornithologists, citizen scientists, conservationists, policy makers and students is essential for the ongoing relevance of the Global List.
Links to further information:
https://www.
https://avibase.ca/
https://ebird.org
https://www.worldbirdnames.org/
https://www.birdlife.org
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/
Convenors: Apoorva Kulkarni, Anant Deshwal & Andrew Gosler
Ethno-ornithology is the formal study of the relationships between birds and humans. It is therefore intrinsically interdisciplinary, drawing its methodology from ornithology, anthropology and linguistics. While practitioner bias may lead us to frame it as a sub-discipline within ornithology, anthropology or indeed linguistics, ethno-ornithology is emerging as a discipline in its own right, with specific relevance to bird and nature conservation. This is because the extinction of species (biodiversity) globally is bound up with the extinction of local languages (biocultural diversity) of people whose practices have effectively managed and conserved nature in the local cultural context.
Detailed individual studies are compelling. Nevertheless, we lack the large-scale overview that in ornithology has been facilitated by citizen science approaches. In this workshop we aim to start a conversation on the prospects for such a program based on the Ethno-ornithology World Atlas: www.ewatlas.net considering methods available to assess the state of knowledge, and some of the linguistic and cultural challenges for mass participation in such a program.
Please share a little about your interest here (no personal information is being collected)
Convenor bios:
Apoorva Kulkarni is a doctoral student at the Edward Grey Institute (EGI), University of Oxford, U.K. She has extensive experience working with local communities in India, and her research explores the potential for the inclusion of traditional ecological knowledge alongside scientific ecological knowledge in conservation: https://www.some.ox.ac.uk/our-people/apoorva-kulkarni/
Anant Deshwal is Assistant Professor of Biology at Bradley University, U.S.A. An experienced ecologist and ornithologist, his research focuses on the conservation of avian communities through the conservation of indigenous cultures and traditions. He is also Director of community programming for EWA : https://ewatlas.net/who-we-are
Andrew Gosler is Professor of Ethno-ornithology in the EGI and Institute of Human Sciences, University of Oxford, U.K. and Research Director of EWA. An experienced teacher of field ornithology, his research focuses on the causes and consequences of the growing disconnection of people from nature. http://egi.zoo.ox.ac.uk/members/dr-andrew-gosler/
Workshop: “Living in the Extremes: Digging deeper into the effects of global climate change on the Arctic and Antarctic avifauna”
Isabella B. R. Scheiber
Dept. of Behavioral and Cognitive Biology
University of Vienna
Biology Building (UBB)
Djerassiplatz 1
1030 Vienna
Austria
and
Noah T. Ashley
Dept. of Biology
Western Kentucky University
1906 College Heights Blvd.
Bowling Green, KY 42101-1800
USA
The Arctic and Antarctica are indicators of global climate change as they are extremely sensitive and vulnerable ecosystems. Although at a first glance, there are similarities between both regions in their physical and chemical characteristics, they differ essentially in one fundamental point: Antarctica is an isolated continent, the Arctic is a sea, surrounded by the edges of the continents of America, Europe and Asia. As a result, the effects of global climate change are quite different. Since about the 1980’s, and earlier than anywhere else in the world, the negative impacts of climate change were recognized in the Arctic. The region is, therefore, still considered the hotspot of climate warming. The loss of see ice and melting of the Greenland ice sheet are well documented, but also subtler consequences such as permafrost thaw, are recorded. In Antarctica, the loss of sea ice in some regions has not been noticed until about 20 years ago, therefore there is still a lot less known about the complex relationship between climate change and the Antarctic ice sheet. What is well established, however, is that the Antarctic Circumpolar Current, the strongest ocean current on Earth, which keeps Antarctica cool and frozen, is warming more rapidly that the global oceans as a whole. Climate change, therefore, has brought both poles out of balance, compromising also the rest of the planet. In our concomitant symposium we have introduced studies of the negative effects of global climate change on the avifauna in both regions, going along with observed population declines in some species. In this workshop we hope for a continued lively discussion of the topic by posing further questions in order to identify not only important knowledge gaps for directing future studies, but also suggestions as to what might need to happen in the here and now in an attempt to stop species declines.
The conveners will give an introduction about the Working Group of Bird Marking (IOU), why it is needed on an international level. Some talks will be given about bird-marking programs in different areas of the world, their problems and needs. In the final discussion, we will focus on the establishment of a network of bird marking for future communication and coordination, sharing of tools, data, best practices and other achievements.
Topics of the meeting:
- of the document “Bird-marking Programs: Standards Guidance” available at https://docs.google.com/document/d/1LOfoS9aOTcWqxmc67eLQHUATaGcd_Mgf/edit
- Discussion of the current and future role of the Working Group
Please could you RSVP to judit.szabo@cdu.edu.au if you have an interest in participating.
Jörn Theuerkauf1, Camila P. Villavicencio2 and Alfredo Attisano1
1 Museum and Institute of Zoology, Polish Academy of Sciences, Warsaw, Poland
2 Institute of Ecology and Biodiversity, Departamento de Ciencias Ecológicas, Facultad de Ciencias Universidad de Chile, Santiago, Chile
The Gondwanan Ornithology Working Group has been established in 2018 within the International Ornithologists’ Union as a platform to (1) promote the exchange of information among researchers working in the Southern Hemisphere, (2) propose, promote, and establish cooperative intra- and trans-hemispheric research, (3) identify cases in which Southern Hemisphere birds offer alternative models for the investigation of fundamental ecological, biological or evolutionary questions, and (4) identify gaps in the knowledge of Southern Hemisphere birds to further advance the understanding of avian biology and support initiatives for conservation. The round table will start with a report by the co-chairs on the activity of the working group for the last four years. We plan to follow with a discussion on the focus of the working group for the years to come. The round table is open not only to current members of the working group but to all interested in promoting research and cooperation in the Southern Hemisphere.
WGAO contact person Prof. Gang Song
Email: songgang@ioz.ac.cn
The Working Group on Asian Ornithology (WGAO) of the International Ornithologists’ Union (IOU) was conceptualized during the 26th International Ornithological Congress in Japan. The Aims and functions of WGAO include promoting research cooperation, data sharing, conservation management, research fund raising, future conferences, a newsletter, and knowledge promotion and sharing. WGAO aims at building and linking an ornithological network spanning all of Asia, and additional ornithologists in Asia are welcome to join WGAO. WGAO has now been formally affiliated under the umbrella of the IOU.
The missions of WGAO are
1) To promote scientific research and cooperation among Asian partners and to collaborate with members in other regions;
2) To establish research needs and conservation strategies for the Asian region;
3) To identify barriers in effective research and conservation of threatened birds in Asia, and explore possible solutions;
4) Through the activities of WGAO, to attract more Asian ornithologists to join the IOU, especially from developing and less developed countries.
Since the establishment in Tokyo, the WGAO have achieved significant improvement with the support from IOU and colleagues from Asia and other parts of the world. More than 50 delegates from over than 20 countries participated in a WGAO RTD during the IOC2018, Vancouver. The WGAO also chaired the 1st Asian Ornithological Conference in November 2021, with more than 150 delegates from twenty countries and regions. We also set four RTDs among other academic sessions during the 1st AOC, the topics covering the waterbirds migration and conservation, Yellow-breast Bunting conservation, and the development of the Asian Ornithological association.
The topics for this RTD will be a retrospective on the growth of ornithological studies in Asian countries over the last four years, bird study and conservation achievements in Asia, and importantly the discussions on how to improve the process of establishment of the Asian Ornithological Alliance following the initiative and tasks and of the successful 1st AOC for contribution to the development of IOU.
During the meeting, participants and representatives from all Asian countries will discuss the details regarding the achievements of ornithology in Asian, and organization and operation structure of the WGAO, including its Chair, vice chair, regional coordinators as committee members, homepage portal, working network, the establishment of joint research projects, regular or irregular workshops, training sessions, etc.
Intended participants
WGAO currently has a Chair (Prof. Fumin Lei, China), Vice-Chair (Prof. Frank Rheindt, Singapore), Secretary (Prof. Gang Song), and country fellows from China (Mainland, Taiwan, and Hong Kong) (Fumin Lei, Lucia Liu Severinghaus, Lei Cao, Dongming Li, Changqing Ding, Ping Ding, Shou-Hsien Li, Yanhua Qu, Zhengwang Zhang), Kazakhstan (Andrey Gavrilov), India (Asha Chandola-Saklani, Dinesh Bhatt), Indonesia (Dewi Malia Prawiradilaga), Japan (Hiroyoshi Higuchi, Keisuke Ueda, Isao Nishiumi), Korea (Jin-Won Lee), Malaysia (Mohamed Zakaria Hussin, Puan Chongleong), Russia (Alexander Shestopalov), Mongolia (Nyambayar Batbayar), Singapore (Frank Rheindt), Thailand (Pilai Poonswad, Phil Round) and Vietnam (Le Manh Hung).
Conveners: Prof. Andrei V. Zinoviev, Prof. Ron A. Meyers
The purpose of the RTD is to bring the attention of the morphologists and all interested in the avian morphology to the WGAM. Established during IOC26 held in Japan in 2014, the WGAM is aimed to create and maintain a platform for (1) coordinating of studies in avian morphology worldwide from both basic and applied perspectives; (2) establishing and maintaining an Internet library for the exchange of publications among the members; (3) translating publications into English; and (4) updating a standardized nomenclature of avian anatomical terms.
Aim of the RTD
To strengthen the links and sharing of experience between researchers on land birds in Asian, African-European and American flyways
11:00 Welcome and Introduction
Ivan Maggini chair of MLSG (Migratory Landbird Study Group)
11:05 Part 1:
Land Bird Monitoring and Study in the Old World – linking up the Eastern Asian and Africa-Eurasian flyways
Simba Chan & Hankyu Kim
- Simba Chan
Associate Researcher, Japan Bird Research Association
Mailing address: Room 302, Shinozaki Bldg. 1-4-28 Higashi, Kunitachi-shi, Tokyo, Japan 186-0002
E-mail: simba2018reborn@gmail.com
- Hankyu Kim
Research Associate, Department of Forest and Wildlife Ecology, University of Wisconsin-Madison
E-mail: cyaneus87@gmail.com
There will be 5 short presentations on studies of land birds in Asia, Europe and Africa. Then a general discussion on how to establish closer linkage between bird monitoring schemes in East Asia and the AEMLAP projects.
Case studies to illustrate the need for integration;
- Yellow-breasted bunting
- Land Bird Monitoring and Breeding Bird Atlas in Japan
- Study on the decline of landbirds in the Korean peninsula
- Hair-crested Drongo migration study in China
- Ortolan Bunting study in Ethiopia
Discussion of research requirements within a flyway and ways to better integrate within and between the Asian flyway and other flyways
12:05 The need to integrate researchers within and between flyways
The MLSG, what it is and how it works
Ivan Maggini ivan.maggini@vetmeduni.ac.at
12:15 Part 2:
Establishing the similarities and differences between global landbird flyways
Wieland Heim wieland.heim@posteo.de & Judit Szabo judit.szabo@cdu.edu.au
We will discuss the structure of a systematic review during this roundtable. With participants from all over the world, we aim to compare the major flyways systems e.g. regarding prevailing migration patterns, recent changes, threats and knowledge gaps. We will discuss tricky questions such as the flyway-specific definition of short- and long-distance migrants and migration barriers. The symposium is a follow-up to the symposium on global landbird flyways (symposium 16) and we aim to use the Round Table Discussion to stimulate and start to organise the production of two review papers comparing the global flyways in:
- Ecological and biogeographical terms
- Research capacity and policy terms
13:15 Part 3: General discussion and prospects
Wieland Heim & Judit Szabo
Aim to organise the next stage of the reviews
- Research integration, capacity and policy review comment/short paper – to stress the need for better within and between flyway coordination and how this might be done
- Ecological review
Identification of people who would like to be involved and with what
The timetable
Organising a follow up meeting(s)
13:25 Thanks and end of meeting Ivan Maggini