Introduction

History of the Conferences

The INTECOL Wetland Working Group (WWG) formed at the International Congress of Ecology in Jerusalem, 1978, to encourage research, information sharing and scientific exchanges within the general area of wetland sciences. About 40 people attended the first meeting. At the time there were no internationally based wetland ecology societies, journals or specialty meetings comparable to that available for other biomes like forests, oceans or grasslands (with exception of the International Peat Congresses, which tended to focused geographically and in terms of discipline interests). V. J. Chapman chaired subsequent administrative efforts to organize an international meeting. The major functions of the WWG has been to organize an international meeting every 4 years, and to join the main body of INTECOL at that larger meeting in the years 2 years between.

The attendance at the meetings is shown in Figure 1.

Figure 1. Attendance at the international wetland meetings supported by INTECOL.

1980, New Delhi, India. The First International Wetlands Conference took place from 10-17 September 1980 in New Delhi with the assistance of several international and national sponsors. Approximately 90 people from 20 countries attended 10 days of meeting and field trips. US scientific participation for 12 persons was guaranteed through a PL410 grant to the conferences organizers, D. Whigham, Principal Investigator. The meeting format consisted of daily conference papers, a mid-week tour to local wetlands and a half-day wrap-up session to write consensus position papers on wetland research needs. Two book volumes (Gopal, B., R. E. Turner, R. G. Wetzel, and D. F. Whigham (editors.) 1982. Wetlands: Ecology and Management. International Scientific Publications, Jaipur, India. Vol. 1/2. 514 pp. and 156 pp., respectively) and one conference recommendation and several journal articles resulted. Several conference participants subsequently returned to India for research with colleagues contacted at that first conference.

1984, Trebon, Czechoslovakia. The IIrd International Wetlands Conference was in Trebon, Czechoslovakia, June 13-23, 1984. It was hosted by Prof. Jan Kvet and organized by the Department of Hydrobotany, Czechoslovakian Academy of Sciences. Approximately 210 people from 26 countries attended a one-week meeting. The meeting included plenary sessions, shorter afternoon and evening presentations, poster sessions, round-table discussions and field trips. Two conference proceedings has been published based on papers presented at that meeting One is a special issue of a journal (Pokorny, J., O. Lhotsky, P. Denny and R. E. Turner (editors) 1987. Waterplants and wetland processes. Archiv Fur Hydrobiologie Vol. 27) and two books (Mitsch, W.J., M. Straskraba, and S.E. Jørgensen (editors). 1988. Wetland Modelling. Elsevier, Amsterdam.; D. Whigham (ed.) Springer-Verlag, publishers) as well as a whole issue of Aquatic Botany.

1988, Rennes, France. The IIIrd International Wetlands Conference was held September 19-23, 1988, at Rennes, France, under the aegis of the University of Rennes and the National Museum of Natural History. It was sponsored by INTECOL, the International Union for the Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources, World Wildlife Fund and in France by the Ministry of Environment, UNESCO/MAB, the National Institute of Agricultural Research, the National Center for Scientific Research. The organizing committee was chaired by Professor J. C. Lefeuvre from the National Museum of Natural History. This third conference was different from the others in several ways. The theme of the 3rd conference was “Conservation and Development: the sustainable use of wetland resources”. This theme was chosen to draw interest from developing countries, conservation organizations and to reflect the member's interest in wetlands as a natural resource. The member's interests are strongly scientific as compared to primarily managerial, so scientific endeavors dominated the program. Morning plenary sessions (invited), afternoon 15-20 minutes presentations, poster sessions and evening specialty topics were scheduled, as were workshops for a mid-week "hands-on" training session on at least four techniques (Eh measurements, wetland evaluations, and the cotton strip and balsa wood method for measuring microorganism activities). The purpose of the workshops was to allow participants the opportunity to learn a technique well enough to develop expertise on their own. Total registration was about 400 representing 37 countries. Excellent field trips were scheduled before and after the main meeting dates. Publication from materials presented at the conference included post-conference publication of extended abstracts from the poster sessions, a book by the French National Center of Scientific Research (CNFS) and submissions to specialty journals (e.g. Wetlands Ecology and Management). There was a definite emphasis on publishing peerreviewed articles and to avoid symposium-style publications.

1992, Columbus, Ohio. The IVth International Wetlands Conference was held at Ohio State University, 13-17 September 1992. It was sponsored by several US national federal and state agencies, and, by numerous international wetland resource agencies (NGO and federal). There were 15 symposia, more than 900 participants and 52 countries represented, making it the largest wetland meeting ever. Environmental education sessions were fully represented in a major way. Several books and collections of papers in journals are complete as a result of that meeting. The format of organized symposium, workshops, posters and specialized topics developing into collected journal articles was set for future meetings.

1996, Perth, Australia. The Vth INTECOL Wetland Symposium was held at Perth, Australia in September, 1996, and hosted by Western Australia University and Murdoch University, by A.J. McComb and J. Davis. It was sponsored by several US national federal and state agencies, and, by numerous international wetland resource agencies (NGO and federal) and several Australian Institutions. There were dozens of symposia and several great tours and workshops before and after the meeting. Approximately 550 participants and 60 countries were represented. Several books and collections of papers in journals were completed as a result of that meeting. 2000, Quebec City, Canada. The VIth INTECOL Wetland Symposium was held in Quebec City, Canada on 6-12 August, 2000. The meeting was hosted by C. Rubec, B. Belangér and G. Hood and held jointly with the International Peat Society, International Mire Conservation Group, and Society for Wetland Scientists as the "Quebec 2000: A Global Celebration of Wetlands". Twenty concurrent sessions were held over 5 days with a mid-week field trip. Pre- and postmeeting tours sent delegates to the Pacific and Atlantic coast, Hudson Bay and inland. There were 59 symposium and 72 sessions. Seventy-two countries were represented by 2,068 delegates making this the largest wetland meeting ever. The WWG presented awards to several members and held a business meeting on the last day. A resolution was passed supporting the conservation of the Nakaikema wetland (Japan) and discussion of by-laws for the WWG. Offers for the 2004 WWG meeting came from India, The Netherlands, and Spain, and from Mexico for the 2008 meeting.

2004, Utrecht, The Netherlands. The VIIth INTECOL Wetland Symposium was held 25-30 July, 2004, in Utrecht, The Netherlands, under the guidance of Prof. Jos Verhoeven, University of Utrecht. The web site is at: http://www.bio.uu.nl/intecol/. The conference mission highlighted the newest developments in Wetland Science with all its major disciplines and reviewed this knowledge in the perspective of integrated water resources management world-wide. There were 787 registered participants from 62 countries. There were 68 oral symposia and sessions, as well as 25 field excursions, all in the centrally located city of Utrecht. A total of 550 oral presentations and 263 poster presentations were made.

2008, Cuiaba, Brazil. The VIIIth INTECOL Wetland Symposium will be held in Cuiabá, Mato Grosso, Brazil, from 20-25 July, 2006. The host institution is the Universidade Federal de Mato Grosso, and the organizing committee is headed up by Prof. Paulo Teixeira de Sousa Jr. This is the first meeting of the WWG in South America, which is expected to stimulate international and continental-scale interactions, promote wetland education, research and management throughout the region, and give rise to the largest wetland meeting in Latin America. A major field attraction is the Pantanal of Mato Grosso, an excellent example of international cooperation in research and development of wetlands, bordered by three countries. The city of Cuiabá is the gateway to the Pantanal as well as being the state capital, and there is an adequate convention center and modestly-priced housing available. A special effort is being made to facilitate student participation and for international exchanges. See http://www.cppantanal.org.br/intecol/eng/venue_cuiaba.php.

Notes from Prof. Jan Kvet

“It may be mentioned that the Czechs, Poles and Romanians started a large scale series of international collaboration in wetlands ecology during the IBP Program, namely at the meetings in Tulcea (Romania) in 1970, and at Mikolajki (Poland) in 1972. The final outcome of this collaboration was the book "Production Ecology of Wetlands", edited by D. F. Westlake, J. Kvet and A. Szczepanski. In the fall 1977 Kvet met with Turner in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, and they came to the conclusion that, after the end of the IBP, the international collaboration in wetlands ecology should best continue within the framework of INTECOL. This proposal materialized at the 1978 International Ecology Congress of INTECOL in Jerusalem (which, unfortunately, no Czechoslovakian could attend for political reasons). Dr. V.J. Chapman came to similar conclusions and took the lead in organizing the then-fledgling organizational efforts while at that meeting. I suspect neither of us then expected this collaboration would eventually develop on such a large scale as it has developed.”

Major Publications of Groups of Papers Originating from the WWG Symposiums

1980-India
Gopal, B., R. E. Turner, R. G. Wetzel, and D. F. Whigham (Editors.) 1982. Wetlands: Ecology and Management. International Scientific Publications, Jaipur, India. Vol. 1. 514 pp.
Gopal, B., R.E. Turner, R.G. Wetzel, and D.F. Whigham (editors.) 1982. Wetlands: Ecology and Management. International Scientific Publications, Jaipur, India. Vol. 2. 156 pp.

1984-Czechoslovakia
Pokorny, J., O. Lhotsky, P. Denny and R. E. Turner (editors) 1987. Waterplants and wetland processes. Archiv Fur Hydrobiologie Vol. 27.
Whigham, D. F., Dykyjová, D. and Hejny' (eds.). (1993) Wetlands of the World: Inventory, Ecology and Management. Volume 1. Africa, Australia, Canada and Greenland, Mediterranean, Mexico, Papua New Guinea, South Asia, Tropical South America, United States. Kluwer Academic Publishers. Trends in Ecology and Evolution. 9:114-115.
Mitsch, W.J., M. Straskraba, and S.E. Jørgensen (editors). 1988. Wetland Modelling. Elsevier, Amsterdam
Aquatic Botany Issue on Wetlands, 1989.

1988-France
Bulletin d'Ecologie 21(3).
Book from French National Center of Scientific Research (CNFS)

1992-USA
Finlayson, C. M. and A. G. van der Valk. 1995. Classification and Inventory of the World's wetlands. Sp. Issue Vegetatio.118:1-192); reprinted by Kluwer Academic Publishers, Dordrecht, The Nethrlands, 192 pp.
Gopal, B. and W. J. Mitsch (ed.) 1995. The role of vegetation in created and restored wetlands. Sp. Issue Ecological Engineering 5:1-121.
Jorgensen, S.E. (ed). 1995. Wetlands: Interactions with watersheds, lakes, and riparian zones. Sp. issue Wetlands Ecology and Management 3:79-137.
Mitsch, W. J. (ed.), 1994. Global Wetlands: Old World and New. Elsevier Science, B.V. Amsterdam, The Netherlands.
Mitsch, W. J. 1993. Intecol's IV International Wetlands Conference: A report. International Journal of Ecology and Environmental Sciences 19:129-134.
Wetzel, R. G., R. G. Van der Valk, R. E. Turner, W. J. Mitsch and B. Gopal (Editors). 1994. Recent Studies on Ecology and Management of Wetlands. International Journal of Ecology and Environmental Sciences 20(1-2). 254 pp.

1996-Australia
McComb, A. J. and J. A. Davis (eds.) 1998. Wetlands for the Future. Gleneagles Publ. Adelaide, Australia.
Tanner, C.D., G. Raisin, G. Ho, and W.J. Mitsch. 1999. Constructed and natural wetlands for pol lution control. Sp. Issue of Ecological Engineering 12: 1-170.
Zedler, J. and N. Rhea. 1998. Ecology and Management of Wetland Plant Invasions Special issue of Wetlands Ecology and Management Vol. 5:3.

2000 – Quebec
6 special issues of journals

2004 – Utrecht
3 special issues of journals
Wetlands as a Natural Resource. Ecological Studies Vols. 190, 191. Springer Verlag.

Organization:

Information:

Centro de Pesquisa do Pantanal
Av. Fernando Correa da Costa,
Campus da UFMT – Bloco CCBSIII
Sala 210/213 – 1º Andar
CEP: 78060-900
Cuiabá - Mato Grosso - Brasil
Tel: +55 65 3615 8285
www.cppantanal.org.br
8thintecol@cppantanal.org.br

Photos: Izan Petterle
www.izanpetterle.com