5th International Conference on Cormorants

2nd Meeting of Wetlands International Cormorant Research Group

17 - 21 December 2000 - Freising, Germany

Conference Information

Dear Participants,

I am pleased to tell you that your abstract has been accepted for presentation as either a poster or oral presentation at the 5th International Conference on Cormorants in December 2000. In order to find out where your presentation is in the program, please refer to the attached file (presentations.rtf), which lists all presentations by the last name of the first author. If you have any problems receiving or opening this file, please contact me. Please check to make sure the information is correct. ALSO, PLEASE CONFIRM VIA EMAIL THAT YOU UNDERSTAND THE TIME AND DATE OF YOUR PRESENTATION. Otherwise, we will not be sure that you have received this information.

I look forward to seeing you in Freising!

Thomas Keller

Important – Important - Important – Important - Important – Important

Confirmation

(1) Every participant must confirm his/her participation by e-mail, immediately. If you fail to send your confirmation your room reservation will cancelled and your abstract will not be included in the abstracts volume.

(2) Please, check the attached table (reservations.rtf) with your arrival and departure dates. Indicate any changes to your reservation with your confirmation, immediately.

(3) If there is any reason why you feel you will be unable to come to the Conference, or present your work, please let me know immediately that you are canceling so that I may adjust the schedule accordingly.

Important – Important - Important – Important - Important – Important

Meeting Description

The 5th International Conference on Cormorants will be held in Freising, Bavaria (Southern Germany), from 17 to 21 December 2000. It will be the 2nd meeting after the Cormorant Research Group was formalised as a Wetlands International specialist group. There will be five main sessions, one workshop and one round-table discussion. For details see the scientific programme below.

Language

All communication will be in English.

Registration Information

Conference registration fee is DM 225,--. It includes the conference information package and abstracts volume as well as the excursion. In addition, please note that the cost of your registration helps to subsidize the costs of participants from Eastern Europe.

On-site registration will be available at the "Kardinal-Döpfner-Haus" December 17 – 20.

Refund Policy

Cancellations after December 05, 2000 are subject to a 50 % administrative fee. There will be no refund of the registration fee or parts of it for participants leaving the conference early or not attending the excursion.

Venue

City: Historic Freising has been chosen as the location for the 5th International Conference on Cormorants. The town of Freising is located in Southern Bavaria, about 35 km north of Munich. Freising is a typical Old Bavarian country city with peaceful nooks and corners and a prosperous, busy market-place. From its beginnings in the 8th century, the Cathedral Hill of Freising was a centre of faith and culture, a seat of learning and throne of rulers in one. Church, cloisters, library, school, imperial residence - these buildings reflect the importance of the area throughout the centuries and are also a cross-section of all artistic movements since the Romanesque period. Today, Freising is home to one of Germany’s most modern and future-oriented scientific centres, the Biotechnology Department of Weihenstephan, part of the Technical University of Munich (TUM).

For more information on the city of Freising go to the following web site:

http://www.freising.de/stadtbilder/english/Bil_Eng_s2.htm

Freising can be reached fast and conveniently by all modern means of transportation. National highways pass only a few kilometres away from the city. Munich airport links the city with all major destinations throughout the world. And all trains linking Munich with the cities of Regensburg and Passau stop at Freising Railway Station.

Conference venue: The conference will be held at the "Kardinal-Döpfner-Haus" (Address: Domberg 27), the former residence of the Prince-Bishops, today an education centre. It is located on the Cathedral Hill (called "Domberg") in downtown Freising. The historic city with a large variety of shops, bars, and restaurants is within walking distance.

Boarding and Lodging

Costs for full board are DM 127,-- per day. This includes breakfast bar, conference coffee, warm lunch, afternoon coffee and a cold dinner buffet. Vegetarian food will be available on request. Please, indicate with your conference confirmation if you wish vegetarian food! All participants will be accommodated at the "Kardinal-Döpfner-Haus" (Address: Domberg 27). Thus, there will be maximum opportunity for meetings and discussions along the conference. There will be single bed rooms available.

Payment

Payment (cash only) for conference registration and accommodation must be in German funds (DM). All payments must be done at the on-site registration upon arrival.

Transportation

Air Travel: Munich airport (http://www.munich-airport.de/english/index.htm) links the city with all major destinations throughout the world. Freising can be easily reached from Munich Airport by bus and taxi (taxi fare: approx. DM 40,--). Busses (Line 635) run every 20 minutes to the Freising Railway Station. For your convenience, we suggest to walk to the Central Area in Airport Terminal C and board the busses there at bus stop 1 (in German: "Haltestelle 1"). Look for signs "scheduled busses" when walking towards the Central Area in Terminal C. The fare of DM 3,80 can be paid directly at the bus driver. The Freising Railway Station is the last stop of Line 635. From there you can either walk up the hill to the "Kardinal-Döpfner-Haus" or take a taxi (recommended with heavy luggage; taxi fare: approx. DM 10,--). The "Kardinal-Döpfner-Haus" is located on the Cathedral Hill of Freising. You can see the two white towers of the cathedral from the railway station. Alternatively, you can take a city bus (Lines 620 or 638) into downtown Freising and get off at the first bus stop ("Kriegerdenkmal"). But from there it still is a short but rather steep ascend up to the "Kardinal-Döpfner-Haus".

By Train: Freising can be easily reached by train. It is located on the train route from Munich to Regensburg or Passau. For train schedules and fares go to the following web site: http://bahn.hafas.de/bin/query.exe/en. From the railway station you can either walk up the hill to the "Kardinal-Döpfner-Haus" or take a taxi (recommended with heavy luggage; taxi fare: approx. DM 10,--). The "Kardinal-Döpfner-Haus" is located on the Cathedral Hill of Freising. You can see the two white towers of the cathedral from the railway station. Alternatively, you can take a city bus (Lines 620 or 638) into downtown Freising. The fare of DM 1,90 can be paid directly at the bus driver. Get off the bus at the first bus stop ("Kriegerdenkmal"). But from there it still is a short but rather steep ascend up to the "Kardinal-Döpfner-Haus".

By Car: Freising can be easily reached by car, too. It is located on highway A92 (München – Deggendorf) and not far from highway A9 (München – Nürnberg). Leave highway A92 at exit "Freising Mitte" and follow the signs to Freising (approx. 3 km). When travelling on highway A9 leave at exit "Allershausen" and follow the signs to Freising (approx. 12 km). Within Freising follow the signs "Domberg" to the "Kardinal-Döpfner-Haus".

Oral Sessions

The total time for each oral presentation is 20 minutes. Keeping oral sessions on time is very important for all speakers, so please rehearse your presentation so that your talk takes no more than 16 minutes, leaving three minutes for questions, and a full minute for the transition to the next paper. Please plan to arrive at your session at least 20 minutes prior to the starting time of the session, and please find your session chair so that they can introduce you correctly, and rehearse with you the signals that they will use to ensure a timely presentation. The names of session chairs are not currently available, but will be posted on the final printed version of the program prior to the meeting.

Projection information: For PC-based presentations, a projector and screen will be provided. Each presenter is responsible for bringing their own laptop, with their presentation pre-loaded. Overhead projectors, pointers, and 35 mm slide projectors will be available for meeting presenters. For slide presentations, please provide your own slide trays.

Poster Session

All posters will be displayed beginning at 09:00, Monday December 18, and will be the focus of a special evening poster session on Tuesday, December 19, from 19:30 to 21:00. Please plan to stand by your poster to answer questions and field comments during the evening session. We will provide a firm posterboard of 160 x 125 cm size, upon which you can mount your poster materials with pushpins (you need to provide the pushpins to affix your poster). Please put your poster in the numbered space that corresponds to your assigned poster number (poster number follows the name of the first author in the attached list – presentations.rtf).

Social Programme

The conference dinner will take place at 18:00 on Wednesday, December 20. A warm Bavarian Buffet with regional specialities will be offered. The evening will include a presentation on the natural history of Southern Bavaria presented by Sebastian Werner, a well-known Bavarian naturalist. The conference dinner is included in the accommodation costs.

Field Trip

On Thursday, December 21, there will be an excursion to Lake Chiemsee, an IBA/RAMSAR site with a Cormorant colony and roost. The lake is home to an old traditional fishery that mainly relies on whitefish, bream, eel, and pike. A boat trip (closed and heated ferry vessels) to the famous castle of the Bavarian King Ludwig II on the "Herreninsel" island will be included. On our way back to Freising we will drop off participants at the Munich Airport by 15:00.

Scientific Programme

Saturday, December 16

Early Arrival

Sunday, December 17

Arrival of participants

19:00 Film or Slide Presentation

Monday, December 18

09:00 Conference Opening

09:20 Session: Population Development and Dynamics

12:15 Lunch

13:40 Discussion: Population Development and Dynamics

14:20 Session: Diet, Foraging, and Predation

16:40 Discussion: Diet, Foraging, and Predation

18:00 Dinner

19:30 Workshop (Thomas Bregnballe): What regulates the size of a Cormorant population?

Tuesday, December 19

09:00 Session: Human/Cormorant Interactions

11:20 Discussion: Human/Cormorant Interactions

12:15 Lunch

13:40 Session: Cormorant Biology and Ecology

17:00 Discussion: Cormorant Biology and Ecology

18:00 Dinner

19:30 Poster Session

Wednesday, December 20

09:00 Session: Management and Conservation

12:15 Lunch

13:40 Discussion: Management and Conservation

15:20 Round Table (Mennobart R. van Eerden): Future activities of the Cormorant Research Group

18:00 Conference-Dinner

Thursday, December 21

09:00 – 15:00 Excursion to Lake Chiemsee (box lunch provided):

IBA/RAMSAR site with Cormorant colony and roost. Home to an old traditional fishery (whitefish, bream, eel, pike etc.)

Departure of participants

Friday, December 22

Late departure

Proceedings

We are still negotiating the possibility of producing the conference proceedings in 2001. To achieve this goal it is necessary that all authors make their final papers available during the conference.

Note: To facilitate collegiality and communication, we request all participants to wear their name badges to all sessions and events.

I look forward to seeing you in Freising!

Thomas Keller

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