20 — 24 September 2024, Planet Ocean Montpellier, Allée Ulysse, Montpellier, France

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2024 Montpellier, France

Key Info

Conference Dates
20/09/24 — 24/09/24

Registration Dates
01/08/24 — 19/09/24

Abstract Submission Dates
02/05/24 — 30/06/24

Attendance Fees
Members €30.00
Non-Members €30.00

The 2024 IWSG conference will take place in Montpellier, France, from September 20-24th, 2024. We will be welcoming you to join us at Planet Ocean, a complex bringing together an aquarium and a planetarium and fully equipped for conference events.

¡ Specific recommendations!

For this year’s conference, you will have to book your accommodation by yourself. To aid you in choosing somewhere to stay, please find in the dedicated section a list of possible accommodation venues (non-exhaustive). Please be aware that Montpellier is a busy touristic place, so consider booking your accommodation as early as possible to be sure to find a reasonable price and a nice place at this time of the year.

Please also aim for accommodation in the city centre of Montpellier, as this will ensure you have full access to the vast urban transport network (tram, bus, central station) of Montpellier. The conference venue is well served by public transportation: every 6 minutes by tram line 1 (it takes around 20 minutes to reach the central station).

For security reasons, conference participants are requested not to leave any luggage in the conference venue (Planet Ocean) during the conference (including arrival/departure days), so please plan a stop into your hostel before the welcoming cocktail on Friday and on your last day anticipate arrange to leave your luggage with your hotelier/consignment service.

Provisional program

FRIDAY 20 SEPTEMBER

IWSG SIDE EVENTS
- 09:00-11:15 Workshop “Registering and archiving your tracking data with Global Wader” (coord. Josh Nightingale – Global Wader – University of Iceland & CESAM, University of Aveiro -, Martin Beal – CE3C – University of Lisbon – & Wouter Vansteelant – BirdEyes – University of Groningen).

more information, here: https://www.waderstudygroup.org/conferences/2024-montpellier-france/#5 & registration here: https://forms.gle/ZSGt3FBSgS3Nstb98

Grande salle CEFE- campus CNRS, 1919 route de Mende, 34090 Montpellier

- 9:00-17:00 Workshop “Breeding Plovers” (coord. Dominic Cimiotti – NABU)

more information, program and registration here: FlyerMontpellierWS_BreedingPlovers

OFB 125 Imp. Adam Smith, 34470 Pérols

- 13:30-17:30 Conférence sur la conservation des limicoles (coord. Soumaya Belghali – CEFE & Olivier Scher – CEN Occitanie)

in French, open to all French speakers

more information, program and registration here: Flyer_Conf_francophones_conservation_limicoles_20.09.2024

Amphithéâtre DR du CNRS – 1919 Route de Mende 34090 Montpellier

- 13:00-17:00 IWSG Executive Committee meeting

for Exco members

OFB 125 Imp. Adam Smith, 34470 Pérols

REGISTRATION & COCKTAIL RECEPTION WELCOMING
- 18:00-22:00 Welcoming evening

no suitcases allowed

Planet Ocean Montpellier

SATURDAY 21 SEPTEMBER

IWSG CONFERENCE DAY1

Planet Ocean Montpellier

DINNER IN TOWN

(Location coming soon)

SUNDAY 22 SEPTEMBER

IWSG CONFERENCE DAY2

Planet Ocean Montpellier

DINNER IN TOWN

(Location coming soon)

MONDAY 23 SEPTEMBER

IWSG CONFERENCE DAY3
- 08:30-12:30 Talk sessions
- 14:00-17:00 Workshops see dedicated section
- 17:00-18:00 Competition winners & closing of conference
- 18:00-19:00 Free visit of the acquarium
- 19:00-23:00 Gala in the planetarium

Planet Ocean Montpellier

TUESDAY 24 SEPTEMBER

EXCURSIONS see dedicated section
- 08:00-14:00 Étang du Méjean (visit with picnic, return at Montpellier around 14:00)
- 07:00-18:00 Camargue (visit with picnic, return at Montpellier around 18:00)
- 09:30-11:30 Montpellier City (Storytelling visit with a guide)

IWSG is an organisation which is committed to diversity and inclusivity. Everyone is welcome to become a member or to join us at our conferences, irrespective of their age, ethnicity, gender, sexuality, nationality and socio-economic status.

If you have any questions regarding our annual meetings, please contact us via conference@waderstudygroup.org and iwsg2024@gmail.com.

Location

Planet Ocean Montpellier

We will be welcoming you to join us at Planet Ocean, a complex bringing together an aquarium and a planetarium and fully equipped for conference events. Apart from the rooms provided for conferences, you will be welcomed in the various rooms privatized on occasion: the tropical room (for lunch) and its lagoon (welcome cocktail evening), the planetary dome (Monday day) and the universe room (gala). For those who wish, a free hour to visit the site is scheduled for participants.

Montpellier city and its surroundings

Located in the south of France, on the Mediterranean arc, Montpellier is a city where life is good. The city is famous for its rich architecture, its maze of alleys and small squares with terraces, and its surrounding Mediterranean landscape. Located in the Languedoc, ten kilometres north of the Mediterranean Sea, Montpellier’s surrounding landscape is dominated to the north by the Pic Saint-Loup (656 m), to the west by the hills of the Moure, and extends to the east towards the Petite Camargue. Due to its high diversity of habitats (mediterranean lagunes, scrubland, Causses, cliffs, wine plains, …) the area is ideal for birdwatching. During the post breeding periods, there is an influx of raptors and passerines and there can be impressive sights when waterbirds settle on the surrounding coastal marshes and ponds.

If you have the possibility, please consider environmentally friendly ways to join the conference.

Montpellier is only about:

5 hours by train/TGV from Paris (or 3 hours from Barcelona).
±10 hours by bus from Paris.
44 hours by bike from Paris and 68 hours from Amsterdam.

The Montpellier Tourist Office had developed a simulator to assess your carbon impact of your chosen mode of transport, more information here: https://montpellier-france.com/traveller-information/access-and-transportation/travel-to-montpellier/.

Central train station, bus and airport locations

Urban transport network in the city (bus & tram)

Montpellier is covered by a dense public transportation network (named TAM). To buy your tickets (free for residents of the city) you have several choices explained here with link to TAM’ network map: https://www.montpellier-france.com/traveller-information/access-and-transportation/how-to-get-around-in-montpellier/by-tramway/.

To cover all your travels during the conference you can buy a 10-trip ticket for a reasonable price (10 Euros).

Bus/tram station of Planet Ocean/meeting place is named “Place de France”: Tram Line 1 in the direction “Odysseum” (you need to take the penultimate stop; every 5 minutes & around 20 mintues from the central station).

Places of Interest around (Download a detail map)

Please aim to select accommodation in the city centre of Montpellier so that your travels during the meeting, as well as your arrival and departure, will be easier. Also dinners on Saturday and Sunday will be in the city centre of Montpellier.

Tourism Office reservation centre: https://www.montpellier-france.com/traveller-information/book-your-activities/.

Youth hostels:

JOST Hotel Montpellier: https://www.jost-hotel-montpellier.com/en/.
LE MAJE HOSTEL: https://www.welcometomaje.com/.

1/The “étang du Méjean”

Located 8km from Montpellier in the commune of Lattes, the protected natural site of Néjean is embedded in the large Languedoc lagoon complex. From there, several trails allow you to discover a mosaic landscape composed of reed beds, marshes, sansouïres and ponds, ideal to observed waterbird species common this type of Mediterranean wetlands: Greater Flamingo, Green sandpiper, Western Swamphen, Grebes, Common Snipes, numerous Ardeidae, Laridae, …

Departure time from Montpellier (more to come on the precise location later) 8 am / Return at Montpellier around 14 pm

https://www.montpellier-france.com/stay/leisure-and-activities/parks-gardens-and-natural-sites/etang-du-mejean-lattes-en-3835254/

2/The Camargue

Located at one hour west of Montpellier, the Camargue is western Europe’s largest river delta and wetland. It is a vast plain comprising large brine lagoons, cut off from the sea by sandbars and encircled by reed-covered marshes. There you will go for a long/moderate walk to visit the earth of the Camargue Nature Reserve, l’”étang du Vaccarès”, continue toward the south to reach the protective dike against the sea and discover along the way numerous lagoons and marshes/sansouïres welcoming typical ornithological richness: Moustached Warbler, Red-crested Pochard, Little Bittern, Pied Avocet, Green Sandpiper, Glossy Ibis, Black-winged Stilt, Kentish Plover, Greater Flamingo, …

(Departure time from Montpellier (more to come on the precise location later) around 7 am / Return at Montpellier around 18 pm)

https://www.snpn.com/reservedecamargue/

3/Storytelling visit around Montpellier City

Created in 985 by the Guilhem family, Montpellier is one of the most outstanding cities in Europe, notably with the medecine faculty and the botanical garden who are among the oldest (1220). Discover his architecture and his history through tales, myths and legends during a walk between his medievals streets and remarkable landmarks. Starting from the Jean Jaurès square in the heart of the city, you will go on a stroll for 1h45/2 hours in the historic pedestrian centre. The most original way to discover Montpellier and its legends !

9:30 Meeting point in Montpellier Place Jean Jaurès

length: 1.30/2 hours

https://www.taliesin-tourisme.com/

Workshop 1 – Using drones to survey shorebirds

Workshop animators: Emmanuel Joyeux (OFB), Dan Gornall (WWT) & Olivier Scher (CEN Occitanie).

Contact: emmanuel.joyeux@ofb.gouv.fr

The drone is an increasingly popular tool in the world of waders enthusiasts. But what can it be used for? We propose to list several types of use: counting, mapping, nest detection… We’ll discuss the advantages and constraints, so that every waderologist can have as many criteria as possible to help the scientists, the managers.

The workshop will be organized in three stages:

A general presentation of the use of the drone in terms of monitoring for waders and the questions that arise (disturbance, evolution of the equipment) ;
Small “flash” presentations on concrete examples: counting, modeling, nest monitoring & maps ;
A summary of the advantages/disadvantages with the formation of a drone exchange group at WSG.

Workshop 2 – Management of shorebirds and their environments in the context of global change

Workshop animator: Elie Gaget (Tour du Valat)

Contact : gaget@tourduvalat.org

Climate change affects species and challenges biodiversity conservation. Temperature increase forces species to move their distribution polewards, while precipitation changes, sea level rise and extreme climate events might directly or indirectly impact waterbirds. Climate change adaptation strategies for biodiversity conservation aim at protecting species by integrating climate change as a driver of biodiversity changes in the long terme. Pragmatically, we know that some areas will be unsuitable for some species in the future (vulnerabilities) while other areas will be more suitable (opportunities). Consequently, we need to set dynamic conservation targets to improve species adaptation to new environmental conditions, in space and time. For instance, facilitating distribution changes to avoid the accumulation of a climatic debt. Or conversely, improving microclimate refugia to prevent extirpations of some populations. The Resist-Accept-Direct approach offers a conceptual framework to plan climate adaptation strategies at international scales, and implement them at local scale (for example in protected areas). So far, we know little about what would be the best management actions that can help to reduce the negative effects of climate change on waders. This workshop could be a good way to, not only discuss species vulnerability to climate change, but also which (and where) management actions could be used to help species to cope with climate change at international scale.

Here a reference on the Resist-Accept-Adapt framework: https://academic.oup.com/bioscience/article/72/1/16/6429752

And a LIFE project using in it in protected areas: https://naturadapt.com/

Side-event Workshop “Registering and archiving your tracking data with Global Wader”

Friday 20th September – 09:00-11:15

Workshop animator: Josh Nightingale (Global Wader – University of Iceland & CESAM, University of Aveiro), Martin Beal (CE3C – University of Lisbon) and Wouter Vansteelant (BirdEyes – University of Groningen).

Contact: globalwader@waderstudygroup.org

Increasing numbers of teams are equipping waders with tracking devices, creating a diversity of datasets with huge value for science and conservation, both independently and when combined. Deciding how best to manage such datasets appropriately, to ensure they remain useful over time, is an emerging art.

In this interactive workshop, the Global Wader team and colleagues will give an overview of progress in the project’s first year, and of the exciting developments in store. We will then do a walk-through of the process of registering your hard-won tracking data with Global Wader and archiving it using Movebank, with a focus on maximising its future security and usefulness. We will conclude with a discussion of how separate datasets can be combined for participating in bigger-picture analyses, highlighting some aspects of data storage and annotation that make such collaborations more effective.

more information about the Global Wader Tracking Data Project here: https://www.waderstudygroup.org/projects/global-wader-tracking-database-project/.

Official website: https://www.globalwader.org/.