Apologies for cross-mailing! Dear colleagues, We would like to draw your attention to a session on environmental biomonitoring held at the Climate and Fisheries conference (Impacts, Uncertainty and Responses of Ecosystems and Communities) in Victoria, BC, Canada from 26-28 October 2005. The session is entitled "Innovative biomonitoring techniques for aquatic ecosystems". For a brief description of the session objectives see below. Additional information on the meeting may be obtained here: http://www.fishclimate.ca/climatefisheries-2005.htm We would like to encourage you to attend the conference and submit an abstract for our session. Direct your abstract to the following email address and refer to the session title below: [log in to unmask] (Program Chair, Mark Johannes). We look forward to meeting you in Victoria, BC. Please spread the word to people that might be interested in joining the session. Thank you! Best regards Bernd Schöne Nick A. Page Important dates: Deadline for abstract submissions: 31 August 2005 Deadline for early bird registration: 15 September 2005 Deadline for reduced accommodation rates: 25 September 2005 Innovative biomonitoring techniques for aquatic ecosystems Convenors: (1) Bernd R. SCHÖNE, Institute for Geology and Paleontology, BioIncrements Research Group, University of Frankfurt, Senckenberganlage 32-34, 60325 Frankfurt a.M., Germany; Phone: +49 69 798 22863; Fax: +49 69 798 22958; Email: [log in to unmask] (2) Nicholas A. PAGE, Raincoast Applied Ecology, #102 - 1661 West 2nd Avenue, Vancouver, B.C. V6J 1H3, Canada; Phone: +1 604 742 9890; Fax: +1 604 742 1339; Email: [log in to unmask] Description: Critical assessment of the effect of human-induced environmental and climate changes on aquatic ecosystems requires long-term and high-resolution records of past conditions and monitoring of the current state. Such data can help decision makers understand natural variability, define baseline conditions for biomonitoring, and set targets for restoration. During recent years, substantial progress has been made in inferring environmental conditions in marine, freshwater, and terrestrial ecosystems using tree-rings, shells of bivalve mollusks, fish otoliths, sediments, etc. For example, periodically grown biogenic hard parts of many organisms provide valuable source material for multi-proxy environmental and climate reconstructions. Variations in growth rate and geochemical properties of biogenic skeletons function as ultra-high resolution, i.e. annually, monthly and even daily archives of environmental change. These records of previous environmental conditions indicate that ecosystems are rarely stable but often respond to cyclic changes in regional climate over time. This session will bring people of various disciplines together and provide an overview of new analytical techniques currently available for environmental hind- and nowcasting in the Pacific Northwest.