https://www.leibniz-izw-akademie.com/seminare/demographic-resilience-workshop-2024

Resilience is a central concept in ecological theory, and diverse approaches have been developed to quantify it on empirically-collected data. Quantifying demographic resilience, a recently formally defined concept, is at least as important because many management actions target the population level of organization.

In this course, after briefly learning about the historical development of stability concepts in the field of community ecology, participants will be introduced to the demographic resilience framework and the different metrics that are used to quantify it. We will first demonstrate the use of the currently prevalent time-invariant approach and next present the R package we have developed for applying the time-varying approach.

Our workshop aims at students and early-career scientists (PhDs, early-career post-docs) who work in the field of population ecology and are interested in quantifying population stability. The workshop will be organised in lecture sessions, practical walk-throughs and hands-on exercises in R. The workshop also includes group work, based on the data brought by participants or supplied by us.
Lecturers

Julie Louvrier, Viktoriia Radchuk, Adam Clark
Leibniz Institute for Zoo and Wildlife Research, Berlin, Germany
Institute of Biology, University of Graz, Graz, Austria
Requirements

The participants are expected to have background in population ecology (e.g. relevant Bachelor or Master level). The method for quantifying demographic resilience builds on matrix population models (MPM) and therefore previous background on MPM and experience working with them in R is required. Basic knowledge and experience working with R is a prerequisite. We strongly encourage participants to use RStudio.
Details and Registration

Number of participants: 15

When: 28th - 30th May 2024

Where: The course will be offered in person at the Leibniz Institute for Zoo and Wildlife Research (IZW) in Berlin (see address below).

Costs: The workshop is free of charge! We will provide coffee and snacks for the coffee breaks and lunch. Accommodation, travel costs and other food expenses must be covered by participants.

We offer funding support to cover travel (up to 300 EUR per person) and accommodation expenses (up to four nights) for a limited number of participants. To apply for this funding please send us a short (max. 1 page) motivation letter explaining why you require financial support.

To register:

Please send an email to akademie@izw-berlin.de by March 18th 2024 with a brief explanation (max. 300 words) of why you would like to join.

If you are also applying for funding support for travel and accommodation, please also attach your motivation letter (max. 1 page, see above) to the email.

You will be informed of your participation in the workshop in the week of the 25th of March, latest by the 29th of March. Please check your emails regularly within this period as we expect you to confirm your participation within the three working days after receiving the note of participation.

If you have any questions, do not hesitate to contact us.
Workshop venue

Leibniz Institute for Zoo and Wildlife Research (IZW)
Alfred-Kowalke-Str. 17
10315 Berlin
Germany