Università della Valle d'Aosta
Université de la vallée d'Aoste

Marmot in a changing world: research and action.

The VI International Conference will be held in Cogne, Valle d’Aosta Italy, from 3 to 5 September 2008.

Official language will be English..

A free excursion in the Gran Paradiso National Park will follow the next day.

Contact: Local Organiser, Daniela Lenti Boero; [email protected]

Reference site for the conference: http://www.cons-dev.org/ (better with Internet explorer)

Scientific Committee:

Ken Armitage, University of Kansas, US ; Dan Blumstein, University of California, UCLA, US ; Walter Arnold, University of Wien, EU ; Dominique Allainé, Université de Lyon, EU ; Raymond Ramousse, Université de Lyon, EU ; Michel Le Berre, Université de Lyon, EU ; Aleksander Nikolskii, Academy of Sciences, Russia ; Oleg Brandler, N.K.Koltzov Institute of Developmental Biology Russian Academy of Sciences, Russia ; Alexander Ezipov, Chatkal Reserve, Uzbekistan ; Elena Bikova, University of Tashkent, Uzbekistan ; Daniela Lenti Boero, Université de la Vallée d’Aoste, EU ; Giuseppe Barbiero, Université de la Vallée d’Aoste, EU ; Paolo Tongiorgi, Università di Modena, EU ; Andrea Cardini, Università di Modena ; Bruno Bassano, Parco Nazionale del Gran Paradiso, EU.

Registration Fees (in Euros)

Early birds: Payment before 15/4/2008: 120 Euros (50 students*)

Payment after 15/4/2007: 180 euros. (80 students**)

* Students need to provide evidence of their status when they register for the conference. A current student identification card showing their student status or a certified letter from the student's Head of School confirming their student status will be required.
** To receive the early registration discount, the registration form and payment must be post/date-marked and faxed, airmailed, or emailed on or before June 30, 2008.

Conference dinner

The conference dinner is not included in the registration fee.

A bank account will be notified as soon as possible.

Conference Awards

Marmot Conference Awards are intended to enable researchers from foreign countries, especially East Europe and Asia, to attend and present their research at the VI marmot conference, through meeting the fee and contributing to the costs of travel and subsistence, and according to the local funding opportunities.
Applicants should tick the award box on the application form if they wish to be considered for a Marmot Conference Award.
They should also indicate: the amount of funding that they are seeking, their status: student/unwaged/waged and their nationality and current address, including email.
Requests will be evaluated by the scientific committee.

Call for proposals:

Σ Phylogeny&Taxonomy;
Σ Marmot behavior
Σ Marmot physiology
Σ Population dynamic and vitality of population
Σ Marmot ecology
Σ Marmot biodiversity, conservation management & education
Σ Marmot in captivity
Σ Marmot taxonomy
Σ Paleoecology
Σ Marmots and Health
Σ Marmots in folklore and popular traditions

Σ Workshop:
Marmots in a changing world: research and action (for this workshop simultaneous translation will be available).

In future years global climate changes will affect fauna and flora in alpine environments in unpredictable ways; also human activities will face major challenges. Many marmot species live in alpine environments, and even species now not endangered might find problems caused by rising of the timberline (in the Alps), or from abandonment of pastures from traditional agropastural activities (Himalaya). A challenge for specialists could be to foresee problematic factors, and at least try to find the best solutions for conservation and protection of the genus. For this reason the VI International Conference on the genus “Marmota” is entitled “Marmots in a changing world: research and action”. An effort will be made to integrate basic research with conservation and educational aspects.
Thus participants in all fields of marmot biology, conservation, both outside and within protected areas, and education are welcome to send their contributions.

Contribution for presentation, posters and workshop should be sent within 15/4/2008.

Proposal submissions

Participants are invited to submit a 250 word abstract.
1. Spoken papers
Spoken papers will be allocated 20 minutes, consisting of 15 minutes for presentation and 5 minutes for questions and discussion.

2. Posters
Posters will be allocated one or two time slots (depending on the numbers) .

3. Workshop Marmot in a changing world:
Presentations are allowed at most 25 minutes, (although variations will be considered), including demonstrations of didactic materials, like films, PDF presentations, experience reports, as well as theoretical contribution etc. The aim is to build a common knowledge, and possibly exchange of didactic material.

Abstract Submission

A Conference Proposal form must accompany each abstract submission and include the full contact details of the first author (i.e. full name, affiliation, postal address for correspondence, email address, phone number, fax number). Authors should also indicate on the submission form a general theme under which the paper might be grouped. This can be taken from the list of conference themes above, or a new theme may be proposed.

Please complete the following Conference Proposal Form and return it as an attached file by 15 April 2008 to: [email protected] .

Authors will be notified of acceptance of their paper by mid June 2008.

How to reach Cogne:

The nearest International airport is Torino (Turin) Caselle, from where you could reach Aosta via bus or train (about 2.30 hours), other airports are Milano (Milan) Malpensa or Milano Linate. From Malpensa it takes about 60 min to reach Milano Central Station, from where you can find trains to Chivasso, then change for Aosta, it takes about 3.30/ 4 hours, depending on available connection.
To get information about train connections from Torino and/ or Milano please consult the official Italian railway site:
http://www.ferroviedellostato.it/

In field “da dove vuoi partire?” Digit the starting station (Torino or Milano). In field : “dove vuoi arrivare?” digit Aosta.

To get information about bus connections from Torino (To) and/ or Milano please consult the site of the Company Savda, connecting Aosta to main International (internazionali), National (nazionali), and local (regionali), including Cogne:
http://www.savda.it, then clic on orari and tariffe.
Or http://www.regione.vda.it/trasporti/orariolinea_i.asp?codlinea=62 line Aosta Cogne, or digit with google : Pullman Aosta Cogne

Most important: remember that during Summer (including the first half of September) time tables might be modified due to legal hours, and more local connections are possibly available to touristic sites such as Cogne.

In the same site http://www.regione.vda.it ,you may find more information about Region Valle d’Aosta.

The official site of Cogne is: www.cogne.org where you can find any information about the village of Cogne, and about guest houses and hotels. For the latter more details will be given in next future.