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Program (PDF) is available.

Deadline for submission of your presentation file is 17:00 (JST), Mar. 14, 2016.

Abstracts are now available online!

Program (HTML version) is now available!
Abstract submission will open on 25 Dec. 2015.

Meeting information | overview

The 63rd Annual Meeting of Ecological Society of Japan (ESJ63) will be held as follows.

Period

March 20 (Sun) – 24 (Thu), 2016

Main venue

Sendai International Center, Sendai, Miyagi (March 21–24)

Auxiliary venue

Sendai City Information & Industrial Plaza (March 20)

Schedule (tentative)

Organizing Committee of ESJ63

Tohru NAKASHIZUKA, Chair of Organizing Committee
Jotaro URABE, Secretary General of Organizing Committee
_{Graduate School of Life Sciences, Tohoku University}

Deadlines

For presenters and organizers who are currently not ESJ members

Membership application (including re-application of previously withdrawn members):17:00 (JST), Thu., 22 Oct. 2015.
Payment of 2016 membership fee: 17:00 (JST), Thu., 22 Oct. 2015.
For admission procedure, please visit: ESJ webpage

For presenters and session organizers

Proposals for symposia have been closed
Proposals for organized sessions: 17:00 (JST), Thu., Nov. 5, 2015
Proposals for workshops: 17:00 (JST), Thu., Nov. 5, 2015
Applications for oral/poster presentations: 17:00 (JST), Thu., Nov. 5, 2015
Abstract submissions: 17:00 (JST), Wed., 3 Feb. 2016
Presentation file submissions : 17:00 (JST), 14 Mar. 2016

We are accepting a new membership application (see below for the detail). Other applications listed above will be open one month before each their deadline. No changes and additions will be accepted after the deadlines.

Fees and payment

Participation Fees

By Tuesday, February 2, 2016:
Regular attendees (including non-ESJ-members) 10,000 yen
Graduate students (including non-ESJ-members) 6,000 yen

By Monday, February 29, 2016:
Regular attendees (including non-ESJ-members) 11,000 yen
Graduate students (including non-ESJ-members) 6,500 yen

On site:
Regular attendees (including non-ESJ-members) 12,000 yen
Graduate students (including non-ESJ-members) 7,000 yen
Undergraduate and high school students (including non-ESJ-members): free (students must show their student ID cards at the on-site reception)

Notes: The early registration fee is applicable to those who complete the payment by each due date. Please complete your payment before February 28, 2015 through the online payment system operated by JTB AMARYS (https://amarys-jtb.jp/esj63/?&g=1). After that, please pay the fees at the on-site reception in the venue.

Banquet Fees

Regular attendees (including non-ESJ-members) 7,000 yen
Students (including non-ESJ-members) 4,500 yen

Advance registration is necessary to attend the banquet (by February 29, 2016). We do not planning to have on-site registration. Please do not forget the advance registration.
Student rates will be applied to the participation and banquet fees for those who are young members without regular income as well. For members certified as “the young members without regular income in 2016”, please state that in the registration.
You can cancel free of charge by February 29, 2016. After that time, no refunds will be made.

Registration page

Looking forward to seeing you at Sendai!

Membership fees

Deadline: October 22, 2015

Non-ESJ-members: fee for 2016 membership**
ESJ members: renewal fee for 2015 membership (members who do not pay the fee will lose his/her membership).

(Please refer to: http://www.esj.ne.jp/esj/e_member.html)

** For admission (or re-admission) to the society to participate in ESJ63, apply for 2016 ESJ membership, and pay the membership fee by Thursday, October 22, 2015.
** Payment for the 2015 membership is required once you apply for membership. Admission cannot be cancelled, and we do not refund membership fees.
Note: the payee of membership fees is different from that of the meeting fees.

Application for admission

After application from the following URL, please pay fees for 2016 membership in accordance with the instruction e-mail (deadline punctuality). It will take about one week to verify the payment of membership fees. Please note, if there is no entry number written in the postal transfer paper, it will delay processing of issuing membership number, which is necessary to registration.

Inquiries about admission (not for about the annual meeting matters)
1-8 Koyamanishihanaike cho Kita-ku Kyoto, 603-8148, Japan
Ecological Society of Japan
http://www.esj.ne.jp/office/member/index.html
TEL & FAX +81-75-384-0250

Visa application

Passport holders of China, India, Russia, Philippine, Indonesia, NIS countries and other nationalities that do not have visa exemption agreements with Japan require entry visa to Japan. Check to see if you require visa through “Guide to Japanese Visa” at the website of Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Japan.
http://www.mofa.go.jp/j_info/visit/visa/index.html

Notice that the standard processing period for Visa application is five working days. For the documents to be provided from Japan, ESJ office will provide necessary support. If you require a letter of invitation to support your visa application, you must first register to attend the 63rd Annual Meeting of the Ecological Society of Japan (JTB Amarys).
Once you receive a registration confirmation email, please send your request for a letter of invitation by email to the ESJ Office (office@mail.esj.ne.jp).

The documents that are required for the visa application vary depending
on the nationality of the applicants. Please check the following website
of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
http://www.mofa.go.jp/j_info/visit/visa/index.html

ESJ office will only issue the documents, "Reasons for Invitation" and
"Itinerary", for the participants who need to get a visa.

For inquiries and assistance, please contact ESJ Office
(office@mail.esj.ne.jp).

Registration

Please carefully read the following explanations and complete the application procedures according to the following application chart.
Presenters and organizers should register your sessions or presentations on the website (http://www.esj.ne.jp/meeting/63/english.html). Registered data will be used to compile the Program Book and Book of Abstracts.
If you are an audience member (i.e. having no presentation), the registration of presentations is not required. The registered information will be used to create the meeting program and abstracts.
Please conduct the participation application and the payment for the participation and banquet fees on the JTB AMARYS.

Oral and Poster presentations

The speaker (or main contributor at poster sessions) of each presentation has to be a member of ESJ. ESJ members should pay the membership fee for 2015 by October 22, 2014. If you are not an ESJ member, but would like to give a presentation, please apply for an ESJ membership before October 22, 2015.
Presenters should register your presentation on the official website by the deadline. Then, please conduct the application procedures and the payment for the participation fees on the JTB AMARYS.
The registration number issued in the registration is necessary for submission of abstract. Please keep the registration number as well as password set by yourself.

Symposia

Symposium speakers should complete some procedures according to the symposium organizer’s instructions (see also the registration chart).
Symposium speakers are limited only to ESJ members who have paid the ESJ membership fee by October 22, 2015, except for invited non-member speakers approved by the ESJ63 Organizing Committee.
Please register your presentation on the official website to receive your registration number. In this procedure, please skip the title submission by checking “No (Check this if you are to contribute to symposia / organized sessions / workshops)”. The presenters should give the registration number and the title of the presentation to the symposia organizer(s). The symposium organizer(s) will submit the titles all together.
Presenters, except for the invited speakers, should conduct the application procedures and the payment for the participation fees on the JTB AMARYS.
The reception has started at 5th October.

Organized sessions

Speakers of organized sessions are limited only to ESJ members who have paid the ESJ membership fee by October 22, 2015, except for invited non-member speakers approved by the ESJ63 Organizing Committee.
Please register your presentation on the official website to receive your registration number. In this procedure, please skip the title submission by checking “No (Check this if you are to contribute to symposia / organized sessions / workshops)”. Presenters should give the registration number and the title of the presentation to the session organizer(s). The session organizer(s) will submit the titles all together.
Speakers should register from JTB AMARYS and complete the payment for the registration fee, as well as registration of your presentation.
For the invited non-member speakers, it is necessary to also perform the application procedures and the payment for the participation fees.

Workshops

Workshops are conducted on the responsibility of organizers who are ESJ members, but speakers of workshops are not limited to ESJ members. For people who participate only in workshops (including speakers), no participation fee is required.

Participating as an audience member

Please conduct the participation application and the payment for the participation fee on the JTB AMARYS. On-site application will also be accepted.
Non-ESJ-members can join the meeting as an audience member by paying the participation fee.
The participation fee is not required for undergraduate and younger students (junior high school and high school) if they attend as audience members (No need for provisional online registration. Please come to the reception counter at the meeting, and show your student ID card). The participation fee is also not required for participating in the presentations by high school students. However, for students planning to make a presentation in other sessions, such as contributed presentations, it is necessary to conduct the participation application including the payment of the fee.

Qualifications for applications

The qualifications for ESJ-members and non-ESJ-members are as follows. The qualification for non-ESJ-members is restricted. We hope you can join the ESJ this time. For limitation of duplicate presentations, please see details of each organized session and contributed presentations.

Membership	ESJ member	Non-member
Contributed oral and poster presenter	✓
Symposium organizer	✓
Symposium presenter	✓	✓
Commentator for symposium, organized sessions and workshops*¹	✓	✓
Organized session organizer	✓
Organized session presenter	✓	✓*²
Workshop organizer	✓
Workshop presenter	✓	✓

*1: Commentators without abstract registration. Commentators with abstract follow the same qualification rules as presenters.

*2: Only one presentation for an organized session is allowed and the presentation approvals from both the organizing committee and the planning committee are required.

Those who are currently non-ESJ-members but are to be a presenter and/or organizer should apply and pay for the 2016 membership before Thursday, 22 October, 2015. This deadline also applies to those who wish to rejoin ESJ due to failing to pay the membership fee in previous years.
As for “poster presentations by high school students”, please check details in that section.
Non-ESJ-members can be a part of the audience of any session only after paying the participation fee.

Registration Chart

Name tags

To avoid congestion at reception on the meeting days, participants in Japan who have completed payment by February 29, will be sent their name tag to the address registered in JTB AMARYS. Please bring it to the meeting venue and directly enter to it without stopping at the reception.
If you forget your name tag, please stop at the reception.
If you do not receive your name tag by March 14 (Monday), please contact us from this page.

How to join ESJ

Please apply for ESJ membership on the following website and follow the instructions sent to you by e-mail to complete the payment by October 22, 2015.
For joining the Ecological Society of Japan,
refer to http://www.esj.ne.jp/esj/e_member.html or Contact to ESJ office.

The Ecological Society of Japan
1-8 Koyama Nishihanaike-cho, Kita-ku, Kyoto, 606-8148, Japan
TEL/FAX: +81-75-384-0250
(For inquiries regarding membership only)

Notice on the registration of your presentation

The registration number issued in the procedure of registration is necessary for the later registration of abstract. Please keep the registration number as well as your password by yourself.
If you are a presenter at a workshop or forum, registration of your presentation is not necessary, because your session organizer will register your presentation on your behalf. However, if you are a speaker (including non-ESJ-members) at a symposium or an organized session, please apply for the registration on the ESJ63 official website (http://www.esj.ne.jp/meeting/63/) and obtain a registration number (your session organizer needs it for the registration of your presentation).
No changes and additions due to improper input or garbled characters will be accepted after the deadline.

Program Book

The Program Book (electric version) will be available on the official website around January 2016.
The Program Book of the meeting will be sent around February 2016 to all ESJ members who have paid the membership fee. Please pay the fees in advance by October 22, 2015 to receive the book.
Non-ESJ-members can purchase the Program Book at the on-site registration for 500 yen.

Book of abstracts (HTML version only)

The book of abstract will not be printed or edited as PDF. Only HTML version will be available in February 2015 on the official website (http://www.esj.ne.jp/meeting/63/english.html) including a mobile phone version. All abstracts, including those in the previous meetings are available on the ESJ official website as compressed ZIP files. After decompression, you will be able to browse and search for schedules, presenters and keywords.

Call for organized sessions and workshops

Proposals for symposia have been closed.
The following points should be confirmed when submitting your proposals.
Please refer to “Organized sessions” and “Forums”, before submitting your proposals of organized sessions and forums.
Proposals of the organized sessions and workshops must be submitted by 17:00 (JST) on November 5, 2015, and the registered contents will be used for the Program Book and Book of abstracts. No changes and additions of the proposals will be accepted after the deadline.
An ESJ membership is required to be an organizer of either an organized session or a workshop. Both sessions are about 2 hours long. The organizing committee will not modify the contents of proposals except if slander exists against any individual and/or organizations.

Organized sessions

Individual abstracts in each session will appear in the abstract page of the official website of ESJ63. Session introductions and summaries will appear on both of the program book and the book of abstract on the above website.
An organizer or speaker of an organized session may not serve as an organizer or speaker in a symposium or another organized session.
An organizer or speaker of an organized session may not serve as a contributed oral or poster presenter.
In general, speakers for organized sessions are limited only to ESJ members. As an exception, one non-ESJ member can be a speaker in each organized session, but justification for the exception should be included in the session proposal. The exception does not apply for an individual who has served as a session speaker for two consecutive years.
If the introduction or comment for an organized session has an abstract, the speaker will be considered as a regular speaker and a “one presentation rule” will be enforced.
For efficient use of time and space available, an organized oral session should consist of at least three speakers.

Workshops

Workshops have traditionally been valued in ESJ annual meetings as a means to promote free discussions on innovative topics, some of which can even step beyond the framework of ecology. However, workshops are not considered as an official function of the meeting, and those who only attend workshops will not be considered as participants of the ESJ meeting.
The introduction and summary of a workshop will appear in both the program and the abstract web page so individual abstracts from the speakers will not be accepted.
A speaker in a workshop may present in other sessions or contributed talks/posters. However, the organizing committee will not, in principle, make arrangement of the schedules.
Since workshops are not considered as an official function of the meeting, we kindly ask organizers to manage the room responsibly.
Workshops are likely held concurrently with business meetings on the first day of ESJ63. The organizing committee will not, in principle, make arrangement of the schedules for those who are members of these meetings.

Proposal submission

Proposals for organized sessions and workshops including their outlines must be received at the official website by Thursday, November 5, 2015, at 17:00 (JST). A proposal for an organized session must include a session summary, a full list of speakers and their co-authors, and a presentation title.
Session or workshop organizers and all speakers in organized sessions should register as participants and obtain a registration number before submitting a proposal.
The registered contents will be used for the Program Book and Book of abstracts. No changes and additions of the proposals will be accepted after the deadline.

Non-ESJ-member speakers at organized sessions

Organizers should enter the name of non-ESJ member presenter and the reasons for the presentation in the space provided for “presentation proposals by non-ESJ-members” on the registration system.
Non-ESJ member presenters should obtain their registration number through the same procedure as other presenters.
The deadline for the above is 17:00 (JST), Thursday, November 6, 2014. Organizers will receive e-mail notifying a decision on non-ESJ member presentation by Thursday, November 5, 2015.

Acceptance of proposals

Proposals for organized session will receive higher priority over workshop proposals. In case there are not enough meeting rooms for the proposed organized sessions even after cancelling all workshops, we will decide the proposals for organized session by drawing lots.
If the number of workshop proposals exceeds the capacity of the venue, we will first decline workshop proposals from proposers who submit more than one session and/or workshop proposals, and then those from proposers who submit a symposium proposal. If the space is still not enough, decisions will be made by lot.
To make best use of limited space and time, those who have submitted proposals for symposium and other sessions as an organizer are requested to not apply for a workshop. An individual is not allowed to submit more than two proposals.
Decisions on approved workshops will be made by November 17, 2015.

Comparison of symposium, organized session and workshop

	Symposium	Organized session	Workshop
Feature	Centerpiece, core topics and official functions	Highlighted topics and official functions	Various topics and unofficial functions
Time limitation	ca. 3 hours	ca. 2 hours	ca. 2 hours
Priority in the meeting	Top	Middle	Low
Priority in the program schedule	Top	Middle	Low
Involvement by the organizing committee	Yes	No (only in case of any slander)	No (only in case of any slander)
Organizer qualification	ESJ member	ESJ member	ESJ member
Presentation by non-ESJ member	Encouraged (registration fee may be waived for invited speakers)	One speaker per session but not allowed for two consecutive years, registration fee needed.	Possible, registration fee not needed if participating only in workshop
Waived registration fee for invited speakers abroad	Yes, but only limited individual	No	No
Presentations in contributed oral/poster sessions (one presentation rule)	Not allowed	Not allowed	Allowed
Presentations in other sessions (one presentation rule)	Allowed only in workshop or forum	Allowed only in workshop or forum	Allowed only in workshop or forum
Deadline for proposal	Aug. 27, 2015	Nov. 5, 2015	Nov. 5, 2015
Deadline for registration including summary, titles and speaker information	Nov. 5, 2015	Nov. 5, 2015	Nov. 5, 2015
Session summary and individual abstracts	Summary appears in the printed and online program, and individual abstracts in the online program.	Summary appears in the printed and online program, and individual abstracts in the online program.	Only summary appears in the printed and online programs

Forums

Forums are organized by the ESJ committee and are aimed at inviting opinions on issues related to ecology. ESJ is addressing, promoting and sharing information among ESJ members, and developing agreement in ESJ by widespread discussion. Organizing and providing topics are exempt from the “one presentation rule”. Representatives for each committee of ESJ should apply.

Oral and poster sessions

ESJ members are invited to give a presentation in either oral or poster sessions. Please choose your preference for the presentation style (oral or poster). However, due to limitation in space and time, we may ask you to change your presentation style (oral or poster).
For assigning room and time for oral presentations and sorting poster presentations appropriately by topic, we ask you to choose sections from the below list that matches your presentation when applying for presentation. Due to application numbers and limitation in space, we may ask you to change your topic. The following is the list of presentation topics.

Plant community / Plant population / Plant ecophysiology / Plant reproduction / Life history of plants / Microbial ecology / Landscape ecology / Succession/Regeneration / Animal-plant interactions / Evolution / Species diversity / Mathematical ecology / Animal community / Animal reproduction / Animal population / Life history of animals / Behavior / Conservation / Ecosystem management / Invasive species / Material cycling / Education and popularization of ecology

Notice

Speaker (or main contributor at poster sessions) of each presentation has to be a member of ESJ (co-authors need not be ESJ members).
Each ESJ member is allowed to represent only one oral or poster presentation as a presenter (she/he can co-present more than one).
Oral and poster presentations are closed to organizers and speakers in symposia and organized sessions.
These restrictions are imposed for sharing limited space and time.

Preparing oral presentations

Oral presentations are made by devices equipped in the room in either Microsoft Power Point or PDF format. The use of your own PC is not acceptable. Procedures on how to register files for presentation will be announced in due course. Details will be posted on the official website.
If you use handouts instead of the use of PC, please prepare enough. In that case, please notify on the inquiry form of the official website.

Preparing poster presentations

Each poster will be mounted on a 90 cm width by 210 cm height poster board. Poster session will be conducted in two sections. About 1000 posters are expected to be accepted. We may ask you to move to oral presentation if the applications for poster presentation exceed the capacity.
Please bring drawing pins to stick your poster.

Poster Award

The Ecological Society of Japan (ESJ) will award young researchers presenting excellent posters. Please refer to the following qualification requirements. Details for poster presentations will be posted on the official website. Please prepare your poster, referring to the points shown on the website.

Poster award qualifications

Each winner must be the primary author of the poster presentation. In addition, the following criteria will be applied:

Undergraduate, graduate students, or those young scientists without a doctoral degree before November 5, 2015 are eligible to apply for Poster Award ESJ63.
Previous poster award winners (including those from the joint annual meetings with EAFES) cannot apply for the award.

Poster award criteria

Below are the criteria used to select excellent posters. Please prepare your poster, referring to the points below.

(A) Clarity of the poster
In poster presentation it is important to show the contents of your research clearly. The following will be necessary: 1) Good title, 2) Simple abstract, 3) Making efforts to draw attention, 4) Making efforts to convey the outline. Figures and tables should be easy to read from a distance, avoid information overload and of understandable outline without explanation will also be important.

(B) Quality of the study
1) Originality and innovativeness, 2) Quality and quantity of data, 3) Validity of analyzing methods, 4) Validity of discussion and conclusion, will be evaluated.
We have excluded “presentation technique” which had been a criterion for judgment, from evaluation since the 61st meeting because excellent posters are often understandable just by reading them. The increased burden on judges due to the review of a large number of applications is also one of the reasons. For items which are difficult to assess by just observing, judges might evaluate them by listening to the presentation and asking questions.
As the ESJ is promoting international communication, we put an emphasis on posters that make consideration to those who do not understand Japanese. During the review process, only the contents of the posters are evaluated regardless of language. However, if two or more posters have tied scores, the priority will be given to the posters understandable in English those that promote international communication.

“Posters understandable in English” means at least title, introduction and conclusion are written in English so that the outline of the research can be understood by reading them, or by the prepared English translation.
If you have the English translation (document), please display it beside your poster.

English Presentation Award

The English Presentation Award will be given in ESJ63. For details, please refer to the official website of the English Presentation Award:
https://sites.google.com/site/esj63engpresenawardjp/english

Selection policy

This award is aimed to promote “science communication” in English at ESJ annual meetings. The English Presentation Award is not for the purpose of an English speech competition, each speaker thus should not only aim to demonstrate his/her proficiency in English. Instead, he/she is expected to pay serious effort in giving a presentation effectively communicating the science to the audience. It is assumed that most of the audience members are not native speakers of English, and that they have diverse scientific backgrounds. The efforts should be made to make it easy for such an audience to clearly understand the research content and its significance. Even when the communication between a speaker and the audience is not perfect, his/her efforts to communicate will be positively evaluated. In addition, we are going to invite general oral presentations in EPA sessions as well as nominated presentations to the award. Your participation will greatly contribute to the encouragement of English communication in ESJ annual meeting.

Public Lecture

Changes in ecosystems after the 2011 Tohoku earthquake and tsunami

The 2011 Tohoku earthquake and tsunami had large impacts on various ecosystems in coastal areas of the Tohoku region in Japan. Furthermore, Fukushima Daiichi nuclear disaster caused a release of substantial amount of radioactive materials. Due to the nucleic pollution, peoples are still not allowed to live in some areas, where nature and wildlife are often out of control by humans. In this lecture, ecologists in the Tohoku region will report changes in ecosystems due to and after the earthquake and discuss how we should face future earthquakes to maintain ecosystem services and biodiversity.

Date and time

13:00–16:00, Sunday, 20 March 2016

Venue

endai City Information & Industrial Plaza
5th floor of AER, 3-1, Chuo 1-chome, Aoba-ku, Sendai, Miyagi
Tel. 022-724-1200 / Fax. 022-724-1210
http://www.siip.city.sendai.jp/netu/english.html

Program

Opening remarks:
Tohru NAKASHIZUKA (Tohoku University)

Lectures:
Jun YOKOYAMA (Yamagata University)
Yoshihiko HIRABUKI (Tohoku Gakuin University)
Takahide KUROSAWA (Fukushima University)
Takao SUZUKI (Tohoku University)
Yuji ONODERA (Utsunomiya University)

Banquet

Please enjoy the banquet at the Sendai Kokusai Hotel on Tuesday, March 23, 2016. The banquet will start at 18:30. We are planning to serve “Sake” (rice wine) of Tohoku district. We welcome all participants.
For the registration and payment, please visit the website of JTB AMARYS (https://amarys-jtb.jp/esj63/?&g=1).

Day-care

A day-care center will be open at International Center of Sendai in March 21–24, 2016. Details on the available time and application are on the official website (in Japanese). If you need information in English, please feel free to contact the organizing Committee from the inquiry form.

Deadline for application: Feb. 19, 2016

Ecocup 2016 in Sendai

A competition of Futsal games (five on five soccer games), Ecocup 2016 is planned as a satellite program. Ecocup 2016 will be held in 12:00 of March 19, 2016 (the day before the opening day of the annual meeting) at Wasse Sendai. Details will be posted on the official website

Accommodation and Access to the venue

Please prepare your own accommodations. The website of JTB AMARYS will provide information about accommodations. Although there are many accommodations in the city of Sendai, please make sure to book your accommodations early, as many visitors will be expected.
Please come to the public lecture hall (Sendai City Information & Industrial Plaza) from JR Sendai Station, to the main venue (Sendai International Center) from "International Center Station" of the Subway Tozai Line. It is about 20 minutes on foot from the downtown, such as Kokubunji-cho, to Sendai International Center.
From Sendai airport, Sendai Airport Access line to JR Sendai station is available. (Travel time: 30 minutes)

Access to Sendai by air

Access to Sendai and to main venue.

Map around the venues

Inquiry/comments

The organizing Committee of ESJ63 is always open to accept your opinions on running the meeting. Please submit your opinions in the inquiry form. Before contact us, read FAQ.