Conference programmes can be intimidating, which is how, all too often, we opt for the state of consciousness known as “winging it”. The crux of the problem is choice. This is particularly applicable to the annual Oppenheimer Research Conference, a conference world renowned for its diversity and selection of African and global big-hitters. This year is no exception, with topics ranging from climate change, spider records, the intricacies of meerkat communication, mushrooms, and birds.
While there is something for everyone, what you need is a guide or ranger to exhaust as many animal and natural science references as possible, while taking you through what can be expected at the 13th Oppenheimer Research Conference. This year’s conference, Science Beyond Boundaries, is at Randjesfontein Cricket Ground in Midrand from 9-11 October and it is a masterclass on how intellectual choice paralysis has no boundaries.
Conference twitchers will know that conference delegates can be grouped into archetypes. Firstly, there’s the “Bang for my Buck” delegate who, since pre-registration, has been strategising how to see and do everything. They’re tricky to spot because they move at highlighter speed; unless cornered at a water bottle filling station or toilet. Then there’s the “Grazer” who’ll emerge at the hard-hitting “show face” events, but usually, they appear alongside the muffins or lunch and are the first to ask what time the bar opens. Conference couples travel in packs, with matching totebags, and you’ll hear them arguing about whether or not they’ve made the right decision to be at this particular presentation. The Trophy Hunter is there to network and collect as many people as possible, and you all know the “Budding Enthusiast” who is “more of a commenter than a questioner”, they’ll introduce themselves.
Most of us are common or garden FOMO delegates who feel that whatever we do we are going to make the wrong choice and miss the big cat sighting because we were too busy with the impalas.
Whatever conference delegate you are, the undergrowth of the Conference Programme Highlights has been carefully scouted for titles and abstracts that reflect the wild diversity of the Oppenheimer Research Conference.
Day One
The conference begins at 9:00 and you’ll want to hang around for the full opening session because it’s a bonanza of very impressive CVs. The keynote address is by His Excellency, Prime Minister of Ethiopia from 2012 to 2018, Hailemariam Desalegn, a passionate conservationist and respected African leader. Thereafter, the trailblazing Camille Parmesan, Director of the CNRS Station for Experimental and Theoretical Ecology (SETE, in Moulis, France), will develop the conversation through “Global impacts of climate change on natural systems and consequences for conservation of biodiversity”. The first session will conclude with “Tipping points – making some uncomfortable trade-offs” by Howard Hendriks.
After the morning session, things will invariably get a bit cloudy as your grey matter starts adjusting and you decide about what to do after tea, after lunch, and whether or not you want to be front and centre for the conference photograph.
Session three will confirm that debates about hunting aren’t just for social media slacktivists. Hunting will be interrogated through research-based debates and thought-provoking presentations including “Trophy hunting: from public furore to published figures” (Amy Dickman, Lovemore Sibanda and Darragh Hare), “Leveraging Traditional Ecological Knowledge (TEK) for Conservation: Baka indigenous people and hunting in Central Africa” (Fanny Marcelle Djomkam) and “When will the extinction crisis begin? Notes from the Namib Desert frontline” (Wendy Foden). These presentations segue nicely into “The Business of Conservation” a one-on-one Interview with Jonathan Oppenheimer and facilitated by the formidably charming broadcaster Bongani Bingwa.
And if this all sounds like a lot for a first day you can unwind with a spot of wine tasting from Painted Wolf Wines to keep with the theme and to feel like you’re in a John Varty documentary. Followed by a screening of hightlights from WildEarth and aWildEarth Live Safari.
Day Two
If you were going on a morning game drive you’d be getting up a lot earlier and there would be no guarantee that the proverbial knowledge watering hole would be brimming with activity. The morning kicks off with the plenary by Dr Winnie Kiiru. Her presentation “Transforming Spaces of Research” shouldn’t be judged by its understated title because she’s going to delve into the complexities of what it takes to bridge the gap between regions with abundant natural resources and those with substantial financial resources for research.
For anyone who’s ever gone on a game drive with an impatient father, you’ll know what it means to have to get your eye in quickly. Welcome to the speed presentation session where you’re going to have to fasten your seatbelts for some high-octane five-minute talks. This session covers candidates from the Big Five, “Crouching Leopard, Hidden Camera: Comparing Methods for Estimating Leopard Density in an Enclosed Reserve” (Robi Watkinson), and familiar favourites including the dung beetle, “The effects of elevated atmospheric CO2 levels on dung beetle species (Coleoptera: Scarabaeinae)” (Nthabiseng Mathikge). And if you’d like to earn your stripes there’s, “The role of zebra stripes: Testing possible drivers of geographical variation in stripe patterns” (Amy Chen).
The poster session runs from 9:40-11:00 in the Poster Gallery and comes with the added benefit of morning tea. There are 95 posters that cover everything from ant diversity, bats, cannabis, crustaceans, frogs, fungus, honey, human evolution, invasives, mole-rats, mosquitoes, rhinos, seagrass, sharks, spider records, soil, sugarcane, tourism, pangolins, pollen, woodpeckers, and breaking from alphabetical order there’s a complete guide to South African Indigenous plants.
The second session opens with “Human Exposure to Microplastics and Plastic-related Chemical Contaminants (Gideon Idowu). By 2050 global annual plastic production is set to rise to 590 M mt and Idowu will explain why microplastics are a concern for biodiversity and human health. After that Zoe Jewell will explain a multidisciplinary initiative that aims to monitor biodiversity through technology and AI. The data-driven Footprint Identification Technology identifies small mammalian species and can map and monitor ecosystems through their movement.
The second day closes with a panel discussion to address Africa’s social and environmental challenges exacerbated by climate change and to encourage connections to further the Oppenheimer Programme in African Landscape Systems “OPALS” work.
Day Three
Day three kicks off at 8:30 with the plenary “Personalised Ecology” by Kevin Gaston of the University of Exeter. He will discuss how humans are informed by and interact with nature and how we’re in the midst of an “extinction of experience”. “Changing the conservation narrative: Aligning conservation and development in Africa,” which follows will build on from this by arguing that conservation is not about protecting nature from humans and excluding individuals, but rather how we can be integrated into nature through economic development.
For those who are interested in sociology or animal behaviour, or just have an affinity for meerkats that goes beyond insurance adverts, “The multiple dimensions of information in animal vocalisations and the implications for understanding group dynamics” by Marta Manser will explain how Meerkats coordinate activities through communication and create social cohesion through vocalisations.
If you’re into art, agriculture, and technology then this last session should leave you with butterflies. The session opens with “Rock Art of the Waterberg: Journeys of Transformation” (Lyn Wadley), and then shifts to “100 Years of Biodynamic Agriculture: A Model for Sustainable Farming, Climate Mitigation, and Future Opportunities in Africa” (Helen Van Zyl and André Tranquilini). After this you’ll learn how the Durrell Wildlife Conservation Trust Madagascar is using drones to protect biodiversity, and mitigate anthropogenic threats. And for the lepidopterists “Evolutionary overcompensation for climate change protects butterflies for decades ahead” shows how the butterfly effect may be able to inform us about climate change.
And for those grazers among us, yes there’s lunch on the last day.
The conference will be livestreamed.
Jaqui Hiltermann writes for Jive Media Africa, science communication partner of Oppenheimer Generations Research and Conservation “OGRC”.
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