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SIBECOL 2019: the 1st Iberian Ecological Society Meeting

Earlier in February in sunny Barcelona more than 700 Ecologists gathered to celebrate the First Iberian Ecological Society meeting.

This is a great achievement for science at large, as more than ever we need strong societies that can catalyze high-level research and help transfer this knowledge to society. I think that ecology should play a key role in shaping the future and for that we need to be well organized. For historical reasons, Iberian ecologists were scattered among different sub-disciplines (terrestrial, marine, limnology, evolution…) and different countries (Spain and also Portugal), but collaboration is essential to face scientific and social challenges in an optimal way, and especially challenges related to global change. Hence, the long need for a joint society for southern Europe ecologists has been filled by SIBECOL and the first meeting was an amazing experience.

The plenary talks were led by a diverse and balanced mix of top young and senior researchers from different disciplines. To highlight a few, Carlos Duarte’s talk on how we can save the oceans was an inspiring and positive note for conservationists, and Sara Magalhaes and Oscar Godoy provided strong evidence that young researchers are advancing ecological theory at impressive rates. Another session that I enjoyed was the full-day on multiplex networks with lots of cutting-edge ideas on how to understand species interactions in space and time.

Follow SIBECOL closely, and make sure to attend the next meeting (Aveiro, Portugal, 2021) for more top-notch science. The sunny weather and great food are only value added.

Ignasi Bartomeus, Associate Editor of Journal of Ecology

Follow Sociedad Ibérica Ecología: @SIBECOL