 | DFC2018: Desert Fishes Council 50th Annual Meeting Death Valley, California USA Furnace Creek, CA, United States, November 14-18, 2018 |
| Conference website | https://www.desertfishes.org/2018-meeting-in-death-valley/ |
| Submission link | https://easychair.org/conferences/?conf=dfc2018 |
| Conference program | https://easychair.org/smart-program/DFC2018/ |
| Abstract registration deadline | September 30, 2018 |
| Membership and early meeting registration payment | September 30, 2018 |
| Submission deadline | September 30, 2018 |
Announcement and Call for Papers
Here you will find everything needed to participate, submit abstracts for oral and poster presentations, make hotel reservations, get the program, and plan your travel.
Check this page frequently for details as they evolve, and subscribe to the Council’s email discussion list (DFC-L) to be advised by email of all future meeting-related news.
Venue
The meeting will be hosted by the U.S. National Park Service at Furnace Creek Visitor Center in Death Valley National Park, with accommodations in The Oasis at Death Valley. UPDATE: As of 8/21/2018, The Oasis at Death Valley, is completely booked, so please reserve a room at one of the following hotels:
- Amargosa Opera House at Death Valley Junction (30 miles from meeting): historic hotel with rooms starting at $85/night
- Longstreet Inn and Casino at Amargosa Valley (38 miles from meeting): large casino with rooms starting at $81/night
Because these hotels are located roughly 30 minutes from the conference venue, we are exploring how we can provide a shuttle service between the hotels and Furnace Creek. If you will not have your own transportation, or would prefer to ride in a shuttle so you can enjoy evening activities and not worry about driving afterward, please add your name, contact information, and hotel booking to this list:
We will follow up with carpool options in the coming weeks, when we know how many people may be interested in taking advantage of such a shuttle service.
Additionally, there are several low-cost lodging options (starting at $69/night) available in the town of Beatty, NV, which is located 41 miles from the meeting. We may not be able to provide a shuttle service to and from Beatty, NV, but we can definitely help organize carpooling those who choose to book in Beatty. Details on various hotel options in Beatty can be found here:
Finally, cheaper RV and tent camping is also available, but primarily in two first-come, first-served campgrounds at Furnace Creek (Texas Spring and Sunset). The Furnace Creek campground, which allows advance reservations, was nearly full as of 8/21/2018. RV camping is also available at the Longstreet Inn and Casino, for those who would prefer to stay in an RV there and take a shuttle to the meeting.
Dining
Dining options are very limited in Death Valley, and costs are moderate to moderately-high, so if you want to keep your costs down you should bring some of your own food. Remember, there will be a variety of snacks served outside of the auditorium during the meeting, and of course the banquet on Friday night. Restaurant options at Furnace Creek are: The 19th Hole which opens late morning and closes at 7pm; The 1849, which is a buffet where breakfast costs $15, lunch is $18, and dinner is $30; and The Date Grove Diner, which may not be open yet. At the nearby Inn at Death Valley, there are two restaurant options: The Inn Pool Cafe, and The Inn Dining Room, which has breakfast, lunch, and dinner.
Travel
The nearest major airport is McCarran International Airport in Las Vegas, Nevada. Public transportation to the meeting site, about 2.5 hours drive from Las Vegas, is limited and most participants will travel by car from there. Watch for updates of this section and subscribe to DFC-L for information about opportunities for ridesharing.
Meeting Schedule
The schedule of meeting events is in the DFC Calendar (click forward to November) which will be periodically updated, but on-site registration will begin on Wednesday afternoon with an informal cash bar mixer held in the hotel pub that evening. Oral and poster technical sessions will begin on Thursday and continue on Friday and Saturday. The DFC Business Meeting will be on Friday afternoon followed by a barbecue on Friday evening. Field trips will be on Sunday - details below.
The DFC 2018 Short Program is now available; updated Oct 31, 2018. Follow this link to view a web version of the Long Program, which can also be accessed by following the link across from 'Conference Program' at the top of this Call For Papers page. A pdf version of the DFC2018 Long Program is now available; posted November 01, 2018. All of these files may be updated, so check back here periodically.
A detailed program including the full schedule of events and paper and poster presentations to be published in the calendar once finalized (about 1 month after deadline for abstracts).
Registration
Payment of registration fees is required of all who attend, and only current members of DFC can present papers. See DFC's meeting web page for links to register to attend and to pay DFC membership dues. Deadlines for those payments are at the top of this page.
Abstract Submission
All papers must be original and not simultaneously submitted to another journal or conference. As always, to be considered for presentation, all contributions, whether orally presented papers, or posters, must be relevant to the mission of the Desert Fishes Council (DFC): "...to preserve the biological integrity of desert aquatic ecosystems and their associated life forms, to hold symposia to report related research and management endeavors, and to effect rapid dissemination of information concerning activities of the Council and its members."
Before starting to write your abstract, please read and comply with our general instructions to authors, then to submit it, follow the link at the top of this page to the submission form and submit by the deadline (at top of page). You will need to first establish an account with Easychair.org. See our simple instructions for that. Complete your EasyChair profile (content of which is used in your abstract submission), and read the instructions provided in the form before entering your content. Submission of an abstract will notify not only the DFC officers responsible for processing the content, but all co-authors will be notified of the submission via email (using the address you input for them). If they too have (or get) an Easychair account they will also be able to edit the abstract. Editing of content will be possible until October 15, 2018.
Oral presentations are allotted 15 minutes (including questions and responses). Each presenter is limited to a single oral presentation, but poster presentations are less limited and are encouraged. Program space is limited so order of reciept will determine acceptance and programming of presentations; except for symposia which have a predetermined order.
Area Reports - We invite anyone with relevant conservation or research projects to contribute to the Area or Regional reports that aggregate content. If you don't have time or desire to present a full paper or poster on your work, please provide at least a brief account for the appropriate Area Report that the Area Coordinator will present.
Special Symposia
The editors of the current DFC book project are organizing a special symposium to present content of that book. Another group of presentations will honor and memorialize the life of Lee Simons, and as much as possible, papers about Río Yaqui fishes and their habitats and management will be scheduled together.
Socials
The Wednesday night social location is the Oasis Room, at the Inn At Death Valley (the hotel about 1 mile southwest on Highway 190 from Furnace Creek).
Presentations
Posters should be standard research poster dimensions, but preferably no larger than 4 x 4 feet. Large posters will be pinned on the walls or taped to the windows. We have twelve 30 x 40 inch foam boards that some people could use to pin the smaller posters to; these will be set up on easels that we purchased. If you have already put your poster on a foam board, that is fine; bring it and we will find a place to put it.
File format for oral presentations should be PowerPoint (ppt, .pptx, .pps, .ppsx) or Adobe Acrobat (.pdf ). To ensure your presentation is loaded into the correct directory on the meeting laptop please use the following format for your filename. Date_Time_LastName.ppt. Time should be in 24-hour format without a colon. Example: Nov15_1130_Doppy.pptx. Refer to the Short Program to make sure you get the date and time correct. Please bring the file on a flash drive and transfer it to the meeting computer after you arrive at Death Valley.
Travel Grants
DFC offers travel grants to support meeting participation by any members needing such assistance. Note also the conservation grants program that helps support research.
Committees and Contacts
Local Committee
- The local host, Phil Pister, is assisted by the DFC Executive Committee.
Program Committee
- Chair - Tony Robinson
Field Trips
The field trip will be to Amargosa River where participants will hike along the wild and scenic reach in Tecopa. Participants will depart from Furnace Creek at 8 am and drive to Tecopa, hike (and view pupfish and dace) till 12 noon. Afterwards, will drink and eat food at the brewery (owned by the landowner granting us access). Follow this link to an external (google docs) DFC 2018 Field Trip Sign-up sheet
Publication
Abstracts from DFC2018 will be added to the Council's online published index of abstracts.