The investigators organize a meeting entitled "Everything Disperses to Miami: The Role of Movement and Dispersal in Spatial Ecology, Epidemiology, and Environmental Science" at the University of Miami in December 2012. The investigators invite seven leading experts to give plenary talks highlighting emerging mathematical and applied aspects of movement and dispersal in ecology, epidemiology, and environmental science, augmented by special sessions on the evolution of dispersal, epidemiology through the lens of ecology, non-local dispersal in ecology and epidemiology, the impact of global change in ecology and epidemiology, recent advances in nonlinear analysis and partial differential equations arising from models of dispersal, and recent synergies between state-of-the art empirical and theoretical advances in the study of dispersal. The meeting culminates with a panel discussion of new directions of research at the interface of mathematics and biology on the role of dispersal in ecology, epidemiology, and environmental science. The special sessions include a mix of junior and senior investigators as a means of encouraging the upcoming generation of new researchers to focus on issues related to movement and dispersal in ecology, epidemiology, and environmental science. The scientific outcome of the meeting is the basis for a special issue of the journal Discrete and Continuous Dynamical Systems - Series B, edited by the conference organizers, which will include an essay by the organizers giving an overview of the meeting, including most particularly the key emerging challenges identified in the panel discussion.
The investigators organize a meeting entitled "Everything Disperses to Miami: The Role of Movement and Dispersal in Spatial Ecology, Epidemiology, and Environmental Science" (EDM) to promote research on the role of movement and dispersal in mathematical modeling in ecology, epidemiology, and environmental science, to further intellectual synthesis and integration therein, and to influence the direction of future investigation in these fields and by extension mathematical biology at large. Due to the range and complexity of the potential effects of dispersal, mathematical modeling is essential to the understanding of these effects. Movement and dispersal have long been recognized as crucial features of ecological systems. They influence the persistence and interactions of populations and drive range expansions, biological invasions, and colonization of empty habitats. More recently, as epidemiology has become increasingly understood through the lens of ecology, they have also come to occupy a central place in epidemiological modeling. Consequently, understanding movement and dispersal is indispensable for effective decision-making on numerous significant policy issues related to ecology, epidemiology, and environmental science, such as the conservation of biodiversity as habitats are altered by environmental change, the evaluation of risks of biological invasions by exotic or genetically modified organisms, the impact of human movement on vector-borne diseases, the effect of global movement in communicable diseases, and the development of strategies for controlling pests and disease vectors. The meeting brings together experts and young scientists to enhance the capacity of science to address these important questions.
Normal 0 false false false EN-US X-NONE X-NONE The workshop "Everything Disperses to Miami: The Role of Movement and Dispersal in Ecology, Epidemiology and Environmental Science" (EDM) took place on the Coral Gables campus of the University of Miami December 14-16, 2012. Movement and dispersal are central features of the life histories of most organisms, plant and animal, and as such, have long been recognized as key components of ecological interactions and thus have figured prominently in mathematical models in ecology. More recently, as epidemiology has become increasingly understood through the lens of ecology, dispersal has become an equally important driver in mathematical epidemiology. As a result, understanding the role of movement and dispersal has ramifications for numerous policy issues related to ecology, epidemiology and environmental science, such as the conservation of biodiversity as habitats are altered by environmental change, the evaluation of risks of biological invasions by exotic or genetically modified organisms, the impact of human movement on vector-borne diseases, the effect of global movement in communicable diseases, and the development of strategies for controlling pests and disease vectors. Over 130 mathematical and empirical scientists participated in EDM, bringing together an array of expertise across the interface of mathematical and biological research. The workshop was organized around six plenary lectures, six special sessionscomprised of 79 focused shorter talks and a concluding wide ranging panel discussion. The plenary speakers were Dr. Donald DeAngelis (Department of Biology, the University of Miami and the US Geological Service), Dr. William Fagan (Department of Biology, and the National Socio-Environmental Synthesis Center, the University of Maryland), Dr. Suzanne Lenhart (Department of Mathematics and the National Institute for Mathematical and Biological Synthesis, the University of Tennessee), Dr. Yuan Lou (Department of Mathematics and the Mathematical Biosciences Institute, the Ohio State University), Dr. Wei-Ming Ni (Department of Mathematics, the University of Minnesota and the Department of Mathematics and the Center for Partial Differential Equations , East China Normal University) and Dr. Jianhong Wu (Department of Mathematics and the Centre for Disease Modeling, York University). Special session topics featured cutting edge issues in ecology and epidemiology, including the evolution of dispersal, epidemiology through the lens of ecology, and the impact of global change in ecology and epidemiology. The choice of plenary speakers and special session topics along with the physical intimacy of the workshop setting on the Coral Gables campus of the University of Miami served to facilitate cohesion and common ground among participants in order to promote further synthesis not only between mathematical and empirical approaches to mathematical biology but also between ecology and epidemiology. The workshop is one of a series of prominent sustained international efforts in advancing the integration of mathematical and empirical approaches to ecology, epidemiology and environmental science. It is a natural outgrowth of the 2005 "Workshop on Spatial Ecology" at the University of Miami that lead to the influential 2009 Chapman Hall/CRC volume of essays Spatial Ecology, the 2005-2006 Mathematical Biosciences Institute Emphasis Year Workshop # 4 "Spatial Ecology" and the 2011 Banff International Research Station 5-day workshop "Emerging Challenges at the Interface of Mathematics, Environmental Science and Spatial Ecology". There will be a follow-up mathematically focused meeting entitled "New Mathematical Developments Arising from Ecology, Epidemiology and Environmental Science" in October 2013 at the Beijing International Center for Mathematical Research. EDM also served to promote the development of the mathematical biosciences workforce. Over half of the participants and more than a third of the speakers were junior researchers (assistant professors, postdoctoral associates and advanced graduate students). The setting was intimate with venues for presentations in close proximity and with ample space for side conversations and discussions. The senior researchers present covered a wide range of interdisciplinary expertise and were very open to interaction. The cumulative effect of these factors was to provide an encouraging atmosphere in which junior researchers including significant numbers from groups underrepresented in science could interact with some of the very top researchers in the field, make significant new contacts at various levels and in many cases receive enormously valuable exposure. in addition, there will be two special issues of the leading journal Discrete and Continuous Dynamical Systems-B devoted to the topics of the workshop, which will facilitate their broad dissemination in the mathematical biosciences scientific community.
