Abstract Information

Instructions for submitting an abstract are available upon completion of the registration process. Participants will first complete the registration application. Once payment of the registration fee has been processed, participants will receive a confirmation code, which will then enable them to access the abstract submission web page. Each participant may only submit one abstract. The submitter should be the first author and presenter of the talk or poster. A maximum of four additional co-authors will be allowed. Maximum length of the abstract text is 250 words. We recommend using a word processor to compose the abstract text and check the word count. The text will be pasted into text boxes. Submitters will specify their preference for poster or oral presentation, and classify their presentation by topic areas and taxa. Submissions will be closed at 6pm EDT, April 16, 2008.

In the tradition of the Society, all abstracts proposed for posters that represent legitimate behavioral ecological research will be accepted. Since we anticipate receiving more requests for oral presentations than slots available for talks, two behavioral ecology experts in the relevant topic area will review each abstract proposed for oral presentation. As with the journal, reviewing will be done "blind" to the name and institution of the author. Abstracts will be scored on the basis of the following criteria: (1) the assessed impact of the research on the field of behavioral ecology, (2) the degree to which the research question, approach, or findings are novel, and (3) the completeness of the analysis and story described in the abstract. Abstracts with the top review scores will be accepted for oral presentation; the remainder will be accepted for poster presentations. If several individuals from one lab group submit talk abstracts on a similar topic, we will select one for an oral presentation to maximize the diversity of lab group representation.