La cumbre inaugural tuvo lugar en el Arizona-Sonora Desert Museum en Tucson, Arizona del 18 al 20 de abril de 2012. Noventa personas atendieron dicho encuentro, 49 provenientes de México y 41 de Estados Unidos. Dieciséis disciplinas estuvieron representadas y 37 instituciones, 11 de México y 26 de los Estados Unidos. El formato de la reunión se basó en una (des)conferencia, también conocido como de tecnología de espacio abierto (open space technology). Dicho formato promueve un discurso espontáneo e plenamente incluyente guiado por los mismos participantes de la reunión; este formato fue un éxito y se le reconoció como superior al formato estándar tradicional de las conferencias.
La cumbre de tres días consistió en 22 sesiones enfocadas en las disciplinas de aspecto físico, social y biológico que representan un espectro amplio e incluyente de las labores de investigación y conservación que actualmente se llevan a cabo y que caracterizan a la región del Desierto Sonorense.
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Resúmenes de Sesiones
A manera de introducción, esta sesión se enfocó en conocer el conocimiento o “des” conocimiento de la entomofauna del Desierto Sonorense, con la justificación de que los insectos son parte fundamental de los ecosistemas por diversas razones y que tener conocimiento de varios aspectos acerca de su diversidad, biología e importancia.
We mostly focused on buffelgrass, although Tom Bowen brought up his plans to rid the islands he works with of tamarisk at the end of the discussion.
Plant-animal and plant-microbe interactions are fundamental components of biodiversity and are vital to ecosystem functioning. Given the extreme conditions of desert environments, plants and animals face great challenges to survival, and their interactions appear particularly dramatic and crucial.
We started by briefly summarizing some of the next-generation DNA sequencing technologies as 454 pyrosequencing, Illumina and Ion Torrent, in terms of data output and cost.
We began with a series of questions that participants had about oases, posed to thegroup to be answered in turn or to lead to further research
Discussion will focus on the current state of binational research pertaining to the 4-D geologic evolution of the Gulf of California (in both time (1- D) and space (3-D)).
Despite the long history in the region, there is a need to better understand the connections of those working to conserve and understand the Sonoran Desert. The goal of this session was to propose a social network analysis of the participants of the Next Generation Sonoran Desert Researchers (Un)Conference.
The joint discussion of what could and should be the products of this Summit revolved around three main topics: (1) publications, (2) digital communication, and (3) additional products.
Ecosystem-based management has been growing in popularity in recent years as the most effective way to manage habitats, resources, and human interactions within the ecosystem. Protected areas, in particular, are seen as an important tool in ecosystem-based management, although they are not the only way.
La conservación del patrimonio natural y cultural en el Desierto de Sonora está íntimamente ligada con las actividades humanas que se dan en ambos lados de los grandes Estados-Nación que comparten este desierto.
Acceder a cualquier lugar para hacer estudios de campo, asociados a investigaciones científicas y/o sociales, requiere siempre de estrategias particulares y muy dependientes del lugar donde se realicen.
Seth and Ray Turner gave a general powerpoint presentation on long-term monitoring of vegetation in the Sonoran Desert, with emphasis on the Desert Laboratory. Examples of the advantages of using a cross-site approach to address research questions at broad spatial scales were also presented.
We organized a session on the relationship between the Colorado River and the health of the delta ecosystem and the Upper Gulf of California, with a diversity of perspectives: marine productivity and fisheries, wetland restoration, bird conservation, protection of native plants, the presence of contaminants, public health and the alternatives to improve the conditions of the area.
A partir de la coincidencia de algunos participantes sobre la temática de la relación entre comunidades indígenas, sus problemáticas históricas y su (cosmo)visión del medio ambiente y los recursos naturales fue como se preparó esta mesa. Se inició con dos casos específicos de grupos indígenas binacionales: los Tohono O’odham de Arizona y Sonora y los grupos yumanos en Baja California en México y los de California y Arizona en E.U.
En esta sesión se reconoció el valor del patrimonio arqueológico de la región del desierto de Sonora, que es muestra de la continuidad cultural de los grupos costeros en la región en los últimos milenios, se destacaron los sitios arqueológicos tipo conchero, en los que es posible estudiar la historia del ambiente.
This session aimed to continue the discussion initiated by Dr. Bowen on the inherent challenges to incorporate different scientific paradigms in our daily practices as scholars.
Undocumented migration and smuggling across the Mexico-U.S. border poses challenges and creates new opportunities for Sonoran Desert researchers. Human/drug smuggling organizations and law enforcement are locked into an arms race where each side tries to gain advantage over the other.
This group of 11, with varied lengths of experience of working with the Seri community from their whole lives (Cathy Moser Marlett) to a few years (several of us) met to begin to discuss our shared experiences of working in the Seri community. We would like to stress the unfortunate fact that no Seris were able to participate in 2012 NextGen Summit due to the logistical difficulties of visas and passports.
The original title of the session was “Seeing the Gulf of California through the Eyes of Colleagues” and one of the suggested topics of discussion was to resurrect the multidisciplinary scientific shipboard voyages of the early twentieth century.
This small session was convened to discuss the political ecology of urban spaces in the Sonoran Desert. As cities in this region continue to expand, it is important to incorporate the built environment and urban resource users into our realm of study –be it in the life sciences or the social sciences.
