9506411 Harcombe This proposal seeks funding for a two-day conference meeting in conjunction with the 38th Symposium of the International Association of Vegetation Scientists to be held in June 1995, in Houston, Texas. The focus of the conference will be opportunities for basic research arising from efforts by federal agencies and non-governmental organizations to classify and map vegetation associations in large areas of the United States. The main goals of the conference are to catalyze collaborations to take advantage of newly available data, to provide critical communication among scientists, to improve national vegetation classification efforts, and possibly to help fine-tune ongoing classification and mapping efforts. The conference will focus the research agenda by addressing three questions: 1) How can academic ecologists respond to the national scientific need to address problems encountered in the national vegetation classification and mapping process? 2) What breakthroughs will become possible as a consequence of the rapid proliferation of information engendered by national classification and mapping efforts? 3) What new analytical, data management, and administrative tools will be necessary to ensure full realization of the potential afforded by the dramatic increase in ecological data? The timing of this conference is ideal. The IAVS meetings are the only ones in the world likely to bring together people doing cutting-edge research from many different, and somewhat isolated, areas and perspectives. Hence they constitute a unique forum for discussion and dialog. In fostering dialog between academic ecologists and resource managers, the conference will ensure that data are collected in such a way as to maximize their scientific utility, as well as their applied value.
