The 2012 inaugural Summit was held at the Arizona-Sonora Desert Museum in Tucson, Arizona from April 18 to 20. Ninety individuals attended the three-day gathering, 49 participants from Mexico and 41 from the United States. Sixteen distinct disciplines were represented as well as 37 different institutions, 11 from Mexico and 26 from the United States. An (un)conference or Open Space Technology approach was used, which encourages spontaneous discourse and all-inclusive interaction driven by the participants themselves that was found to be far superior to a standard linear conference format.
The three-day summit consisted of 22 sessions focused on physical, social, and biological disciplines that covered a broad spectrum of the important research and conservation issues currently facing the Sonoran Desert region.
See the report for more information
Session Summaries
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.
In this session it was recognized the value of the Sonoran Desert's archaeological heritage as the main evidence for the last millennia of coastal communities' cultural continuity in the region. Shell-middens as archaeological sites are emphasized as areas where it is possible to study the ancient history of coastal environments.
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.
