This project will help provide for the unification and continued growth of the field of biogeography, an interdisciplinary study that integrates topics of importance in ecology, evolutionary biology, and conservation biology. It will accomplish this by funding the travel and subsistence costs of 20 US-based graduate students to attend the third biennial conference of the International Biogeography Society, which will be held in the Canary Islands, Spain in January of 2007. At the conference students will participate in a series of networking and professional development activities that will provide many benefits of broader impact to their professional development, as well as enhancing their intellectual development. These students will participate in a number of networking activities designed to cut across age and experience levels, national borders, and traditional academic boundaries. Students will be exposed to and participate in the cutting-edge science now being conducted in a field of study that has been recently rejuvenated by new statistical techniques, advances in technology, and a proliferation of data appropriate for the advancement of the field of biogeography. This project will help to facilitate strong intellectual, professional and networking advances for the participating students. In so doing, this project will help to advance the careers of these students, facilitate additional collaboration and research, and promote the field of biogeography. Through the activities of this conference, and the dissemination of research presented therein, this project should also enhance the information that is available to the lay public, policy makers, and managers on topics of significant concern to conservation in both marine and terrestrial environments.
