ESA 2024 Recap: Modeling, Community, and Skill-building for fledgling ecologists

The Ecological Society of America (ESA) recently hosted its annual conference in Long Beach, California. The meeting brought together researchers, students, and practitioners to share their findings and propel the field of ecology forward. I was lucky enough to attend #ESA2024 with the support of the BU URBAN Program and presented my work in collaboration with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s National Marine Fisheries Service. For me, the highlights of the conference were 1) attending talks in the new Coastal and Marine Ecology section, 2) attending career panels and networking events and 3) building community and skills through workshops.

The Coastal and Marine Ecology Section featured talks and posters ranging in scale and methodology: from mathematical modeling and metadata analyses to genomics. The various metadata talks leveraged existing datasets to explore range shifts, regime shifts, and other large-scale ecological phenomena. 

Modeling was another key theme of the conference, with many talks considering how to use computational methods to explain and forecast population size, water quality, fish recruitment, and coral cover, to name a few. As is often the case with modeling talks, it was a bit of alphabet soup! I learned so many different modeling acronyms including individual-based models (IBMs), state-space models (SSMs), species distribution models (SDMs), boosted regression trees (BRTs), and artificial neural networks (ANN). The focus on modeling at the conference underscored the importance of quantitative skills in modern ecology. While such talks can often be intimidating, I found it extremely helpful to do some offline research on the model framework and call on quantitatively-minded friends to explain the model structure to me!

One interesting talk I attended focused on the ecological impacts of offshore wind (OFW) structures on the populations of invertebrates. It has been well documented that OFW structures can have unequal impacts on invertebrate communities (Degraer et al. 2020). Authors in this study from the National Center for Ecological Analysis and Synthesis found that the structure can act as artificial substrates for invertebrates, leading to an overall increase in invertebrate populations. However, the effects were not uniform—sponges and bryozoans, in particular, seemed to thrive on these structures. The talk also raised important considerations about how increases in human activity around OFW sites could increase fishing pressure in these areas, potentially offsetting some ecological benefits. As offshore wind becomes ubiquitous on our coasts and we are asked to weigh the pros of renewable energy with potential ecological impacts, such studies will be crucial to effective marine planning and governance.

I presented my research talk “Understanding the impacts of water quality on Atlantic Menhaden presence in an urbanized estuary” in the “Finishing Management and Models” session. This project is in collaboration with Drs. Randi Rotjan and Ethan Deyle from Boston University, and Drs. Kim Hyde, Scott Large, Conor McManus, and Laurel Smith from NOAA Northeast Fisheries Science Center. I discussed how Atlantic menhaden, lipid-rich forage fish that are used in consumer products such as pet food, omega-3 fatty acid pills, and fish meal, are particularly vulnerable to fish kills due to poor water quality conditions in the estuaries where they reside. One such urbanized estuary is Narragansett Bay, downstream from Providence, Rhode Island. The Bay has a well-established history of nutrient pollution and poor water quality (Oczkowski et al. 2018), as well as an active menhaden fishery. In my study, I paired Atlantic menhaden presence data from the Rhode Island Department of Environmental Management (RI DEM) Atlantic Menhaden Monitoring Program (a spotter pilot aerial survey) with water quality from the Narragansett Bay Fixed-Site Monitoring Network in discrete spatial “zones” around the bay. The overarching question of my study was, “Is the abundance of Atlantic menhaden in Narragansett Bay driven by water quality?” To this end, I conducted various modeling simulations using generalized additive models and an Empirical Dynamic Modeling framework to connect the number of schools observed in each zone of the bay to water quality conditions such as pH, salinity, dissolved oxygen, chlorophyll, and temperature. Interestingly, my results indicate that water quality does not reliably predict the abundance of Atlantic menhaden in Narragansett Bay, but that an autoregressive time series structure shows explanatory promise. I received some great feedback and questions from audience members that will propel me into the next phase of my research to improve model performance!

From a community-building and career perspective, ESA had lots of resources for early-career scientists, including a "Careers in Marine Science" panel, and a “Marine and Coastal Ecology Mixer” for socializing with fellow marine ecologists. From an activism perspective, the Scientist Rebellion organization had a strong presence at the conference. Their talks emphasized the role of scientists in addressing climate anxiety through action, urging researchers to engage in advocacy and policy work.

Finally, I also had the opportunity to attend a science communication workshop hosted by the non-profit organization Compass. The workshop provided practical tips for effectively communicating scientific research, including their “Message Box” tool to organize and distill research for communication. Key takeaways were to focus on a few (3-5) main messages, understand your audience before you try to communicate with them, start with shared values, and prioritize connection over content.

Overall, the ESA conference in Long Beach was an enriching experience, blending rigorous scientific discussions with opportunities for personal and professional growth. It was a great event for anyone looking to enhance their quantitative skills, engage with new ideas, and connect with a community of passionate ecologists! Looking forward to #ESA2025 in Baltimore, MD.

Works Cited:

Degraer, S., Carey, D. A., Coolen, J. W. P., Hutchison, Z. L., Kerckhof, F., Rumes, B., & Vanaverbeke, J. (2020). OFFSHORE WIND FARM ARTIFICIAL REEFS AFFECT ECOSYSTEM STRUCTURE AND FUNCTIONING: A Synthesis. Oceanography, 33(4), 48–57. https://www.jstor.org/stable/26965749

Oczkowski, A., Schmidt, C., Santos, E., Miller, K., Hanson, A., Cobb, D., Krumholz, J., Pimenta, A., Heffner, L., Robinson, S., Chaves, J., & McKinney, R. (2018). How the distribution of anthropogenic nitrogen has changed in Narragansett Bay (RI, USA) following major reductions in nutrient loads. Estuaries and Coasts, 41(8), 2260–2276. https://doi.org/10.1007/s12237-018-0435-2