ThemembersoftheSocietyforTropicalEcology(gtö)haveelectedanewboardatthegeneralmeetinginParison28.March2018.Wewelcomeallnewboardmembersandthankfortheirwillingness to get actively involved in the society!We are also happy to announce the re-launch of our journal Ecotropica. Starting from May 1st, 2018 you can submit yourmanuscriptsunderhttp://www.ecotropica.eu.Seebelowformoreinformation.Finally, please save thedate for theupcoming European conference for Tropical Ecology inEdinburgh:08.-11.April2019!

PIERRE-MICHELFORGET,President

BIOSKETCH. Tropical Forest Ecologist, Professor of the Muséum Nationald’Histoire Naturelle, Brunoy, Adjunct Director of the CNRS Research UnitMECADEV CNRS-MNHN. PhD University of Paris VI (1988). Fellow at theSmithsonianTropicalResearchInstitute,BCI,Panama(1989-1990).EditorialBoardof Journal of Tropical Ecology (1999-present) and TropicalConservation Science (2008+). Vice-president Society for Tropical Ecology-gtö(2015-2017) Professional Societies: Association for Tropical Biology andConservation (1988+), Society for Tropical Ecology- gtö (2004+). ATBC Councillor(2003),Past-president(2008),gtöVice-president(2015-2017).ResearchInterests:Ecology and conservation of tropical forest, seed fate, fruit seasonality andconsumptionby frugivoresandgranivores, impactofanthropogenicdisturbances

on forest diversity and tree recruitment, harvesting of Non-Timber Forest Products (NTFP) andsustainableuseofforestdiversity.Currentresearchsitesofinterest:Guyane,Nigeria,Malaysia.PERSONAL STATEMENT: During the 2011meeting in Frankfurt, together with the late Eli Kalko, vice-president, and other executive board members, we were dreaming of the day the Gesellschaft fürTropenökologie(gtö)willbecomeeuropean,albeitinternational.Itbecametruein2015inZurich.AfterI’ve been elected vice-President of the Society of Tropical Ecology,my interest has been to promotepartnershipsandexchangesamongscientistsandstudents,firstbyco-organizingtheannualmeetingoftheATBCinMontpellierattendedbymanymembersofoursociety,andthenchairingthe3rdEuropeanConferenceofTropicalEcology,thisyearinParis.AsaPresident,ifelected,mygoalwillbecontinuingtohelp developing the Society for Tropical Ecology, in close collaboration with the executive and thescientific advisory boards, and to promote cooperation between scholars, researchers,environmentalists, and resource managers in an effort to improve education, research, forestconservationandhumandevelopmentinthetropics.IamenormouslyenthusiasticabouttheSocietyofTropical Ecology and its potential to have a positive impact on the fate of biodiversity, as well asmanagementandpreservationoftropicalecosystemsasawhole,forpeoplegoodhealthandwell-being,atbothlocalandglobalscales.

NINAFARWIG,Vice-PresidentBIOSKETCH.ChairofConservationEcology,UniversityofMarburg.PhD(2005)University ofMainz. Research interests: Biodiversitymanagement, functionalbiodiversity research, community ecology, conservation, invasion biology,landscape ecology. Since 2012 Secretary General of the Society for TropicalEcology (gtö); earlier speaker andmember of the advisory board of gtö and(2010-2012)counciloroftheAssociationforTropicalBiologyandConservation(ATBC).PERSONAL STATEMENT. I am interested in the role of biodiversity for

ecosystem functionality and thus in patterns, processes and dynamics of species, communities,interactionsandecosystemsacrossnaturalandhuman-shaped landscapes.Myresearchfocusesonbiotic interactions, interaction networks as well as the relationship between biodiversity andecosystem functions and services in the face of human activities. In my studies I combinefundamental researchquestionswithapplied conservation issues todevelop strategies that assurebothsustainableuseofnaturalresourcesandbiodiversityconservation.IamcurrentlytheSecretaryGeneralofgtöandstandforelectionasaVicePresidentofgtö.Mygoal isto increasethevisibilityandattractivenessofgtöasasocietysothat itbecomesthe“go-to-place”fortropicalecologists inEuropeaswellastoenhancetheinternationalexchangebetweenecologicalSocieties.

VOJTECHNOVOTNY,Vice-PresidentBIOSKETCH.IhaveaPhDinEcologyfromtheCzechAcademyofSciences.IntheCzechRepublic,IamdirectingtheCentreforTropicalBiology,aresearchconsortium of three institutions (the Czech Academy of Sciences, theUniversityofSouthBohemia,andtheCharlesUniversity),activethroughoutthetropics.InPapuaNewGuinea,Ico-foundedandhavebeendirectingtheNewGuineaBinatangResearchCenter,aresearchorganizationactivealsoinrainforest conservation and training of postgraduate students. I am amemberoftheAdvisoryBoardofgtöandservedasacouncilorofATBC.

PERSONAL STATEMENT I am a tropical biologist interested in the ecology of rainforests, particularlytheir food webs. My research, increasingly using field-based experiments, focuses on ecologicalmechanisms of species coexistence of rainforest plants and animals and on ecological drivers ofbiodiversity along succession, latitudinal and altitudinal gradients in forest ecosystems. I am alsointerested in the development of ecological research capacity, from paraecologists to postgraduatestudents,intropicalcountriesandintheconservationoftropicalforests,particularlywithindigenouscommunities.Forthepast20yearsIhavebeendividingmytimeequallybetweenEuropeandPapuaNew Guinea. As a Vice-President I would focus on publishing, conferences, and public outreach inordertoestablishgtöasaplatformforwideranging,andhopefully inspiring,discussionofscientific,conservationandsciencepolicyissues,particularlyfacilitatinginteractionandunderstandingbetweenextra-tropicalandequatorialscientists.

UTERADESPIEL,SecretaryGeneral

BIOSKETCH. Adjunct Professor at the Institute of Zoology, University ofVeterinary Medicine Hanover, Germany. Since I started working onMalagasy lemurs in 1995, I aim to understand the factors that drive theevolution of their social structures, demographic history, ecology,distribution, and the long-term survival of populations. My researchactivities are settled on different spatial scales ranging from the level ofindividuals up to entire species distributions, e.g. to clarify the taxonomicstatusofcrypticspeciesandtounderstandtheirunderlyingradiation.Manyof the nocturnal lemurs have extremely small geographic ranges. These

species and their ecosystems are highly threatened by ongoing habitat fragmentation and otherdisturbances. The understanding of the species-specific habitat requirements, the influence of habitatfragmentationonthegeneticdiversity,geneticstructureandparasiteloadofpopulations,andthereforethe evaluation of their viability are of major conservation concern and form another importantcomponentofmywork.PERSONAL STATEMENT. I joined the gtö Advisory Board in 2015, and I hereby expressmy interest tocontinuemyservicetotheSociety. I feelthatthere isthecontinuousneedforexpertiseregardingtheecological and evolutionary peculiarities of the mini-continent Madagascar and regarding theprimatological perspective in the discipline of tropical ecology. There are many important futureresearch avenues in this field – most of them requiring interdisciplinary collaborations and scientificexchange.Theannualmeetingsofthegtöprovideanidealnetworkingplatformforthispurpose.

HOLGERKURZ,TreasurerBIOSKETCH. Plant taxonomist and pollination ecologist by education. PhD1983, University of Hamburg at Prof. Kubitzki. Research interests:Pollination biology, taxonomy of Neotropical Lauraceae, plant-animalinteractions.Research1973inPeru(collectionofMembracidae),long-termat INPA,Manaus 1979/80 (Polllnation of lauraceous trees in the canopy),1990 in Guatemala (ground proofing of vegetational satellite data in thelowland forest of Petén) for KfW. Since 1981 freelance expert forconservationinGermany,besidesthirtyyears(1978-2007)oflectureshipatUniversity of Hamburg and about 70 excursions for botanists andpharmacistsinEuropeandSouthAmerica.Since1989memberofgtö,since2010memberofATBC,since2009memberofBBN(FederalAssociationforprofessionalsinNatureConservation).

PERSONAL STATEMENT. Being 21 I visited the tropical rain forest for the first time and becameinterestedintropicalecology.AlongsidemyinterestintaxonomyItriedtorelatethediversificationofLauraceaewiththeirpollinationsystem.Ibecameagtömemberin1989.In2005Iwaselectedasgtö’streasurer.Havinganownofficeasfreelanceexpertsince1981,Ifamiliarizedwithbalancesheetsandtaxes.Beingtreasurerismywaytosupportthetropicalecology.

MELANIEDAMMHAHNIamabehaviouralandanimalecologistwith research interestsat theinterface between ecology, behaviour and evolution. Primarily, I aminterestedindriversandlimitsofwithin-speciesvariationinbehaviour,life-history and ecophysiology and their consequences for ecologicalinteractions within and between species. My studies are on a widerange ofmammalian taxa, such as rodents, lemurs, insectivores, batsandcarnivores.Inmyresearch,Icombinedetailedlong-termstudiesofindividuals,populationsandcommunitiesinthefieldwithexperimentalmanipulations under natural, semi-natural, and laboratory conditions,laboratoryanalysesandecologicalmodelling.IhaveongoingprojectsinGermany, France, Canada and Madagascar. Currently, I am interim

professorforanimalecologyattheUniversityofGreifswaldandassociatedresearcherattheUniversityofPotsdam. Ihavebeenactivememberof thegtösince2005andhavebeenactivelyteachingfortheTropicalEcologicalAssociation(TBA)since2004.

BETTINAENGELBRECHT

BIOSKETCH. Professor for Plant Ecology at the University of Bayreuth,Germany (2009 to present) and Research Associate at the SmithsonianTropical Research Institute (STRI) in Panama (2003–present). Service:Member of the advisory board of the Society for Tropical Ecology(gtoe/STE) (2009–present),memberof theboardof theAssociation forTropical Ecology and Conservation (since 2015), Vice- director of theBayreuth Center for Ecological and Environmental Research (2012 –present). Research interests: physiological plant ecology, functionalecology,tropicalecology,communityecology.PERSONAL STATEMENT. The diversity of tropical forests awes me. My

work is explicitly linking plant physiologywith population and community ecology to address pendingquestionsaboutthepast,presentandfutureoftropicalforests.Asamemberoftheboard,Ihavebeenand-ifelected-willcontinueworkingtowardsmakingtheSocietyforTropicalEcologyatrulyEuropeanSociety(ESTE),strengtheningcontactsandcomplementaritywithATBCandotherscientificsocieties,andimprovingtheparticipationofyoungscientistsinshapingtheSociety.

RAFFAELERNSTBIOSKETCH.Currently curator and head of the sectionherpetologyat the Senckenberg NaturalHistory Collections Dresden, 2014 Habilitation (Biodiversity Dynamics & Ecosystem Science) at theTechnische Universität Berlin, Fakultät VI, Institute of Ecology; 2006 PhD at the Julius-Maximilians-UniversityWürzburg,DepartmentofAnimalEcologyandTropicalBiology.Researchinterests:Theoryandapplication of (trait-based) community ecology, community phylogenetics, conservation biology and

taxonomywithaparticularfocusonamphibiansandreptilesandthedevelopment of statistical models and standard methods forassessing and monitoring tropical amphibian communities underglobalchange.Since1996memberofthegtö,since2009memberofthe ATBC, since 2008member of the International HerpetologicalCommittee (Member of the Constitutional & International andRegional Relations Boards), since 2011 scientific advisory boardIwokrama International Centre for Rainforest Conservation andDevelopment.PERSONAL STATEMENT. As a long-time member of gtö andorganismal biologist with a keen interest in tropicalecologyand

conservationwhohasworkedbothatuniversitiesandnon-universityresearchinstitutes,morepreciselynatural historymuseums, I have come to realize that there is still a lack of institutionalized exchangebetweentheseinstitutions.Despitethefactthatbothseemtoconvergetowardscommonresearchgoals and therefore would naturally benefit from the complementary expertise theytraditionally represent. Phylogenetic data and taxonomic expertise traditionally associated withnaturalhistorymuseumsareneededmorethanever inansweringthepressingquestionsinbothbasicandappliedecologyandthisisreflectedincurrentresearchtrendsbutishardlyevermirroredininstitutionalized relations between the different scientific communities. Although the gtötraditionally provides a roof for representatives of both communities the links do not seem to beformalizedinthecurrentstructureofthesociety.AsamemberofthegtöadvisoryboardIwouldseemycentralroleinstrengtheningthelinksatthisinterfacee.g.byestablishingorcontributingtoacommittee that provides an exchange platform for these interestgroupsandaimsat linking thesocietyanditsmemberstomuseumbasedresearchnetworks.

SVENGUENTHERSvenGünterholdsaDiplomaDegreeinForestryfromtheUniversityofMunich,a PhD in tropical silviculture from the University of Göttingen and aprofessorship qualification in forestry with specialization in restoration ofutilization potentials of tropical montane forests from TUMunich. He gainedmorethan20yearsofprofessionalexperienceintropicalforestryincludingtenyears living inBolivia, Ecuador andCostaRica.Bridging the science-policy gapwas a cross-cutting theme for his career at different academic, non-governmental and governmental institutions. After several years as localresearchcoordinatorfora large interdisciplinaryresearchgroup inEcuadorhebecame Co-Director of the “Latin-American Chair of Protected Areas andBiologicalCorridors”atCATIE,CostaRica. IncooperationwithGIZ,he focused

on questions how to integrate conservation and sustainable development in tropical landscapes ofCentral America. In his current position as head of the section “ForestryWorldwide” at the Thünen-Instituteof“InternationalForestryandForestEconomics”inHamburg,Germany,heaimsatdevelopingscience-basedsolutionsforsustainablepoliciesinthefieldofmultipurposeforestry,ecosystemservicesandlivelihoodsintropicalforestlandscapes.Hismajormotivationforparticipationintheadvisoryboardof the Society for Tropical Ecology is helping to bridge the gapbetween solid ecological research and

sustainablemanagementoftropicalforestecosystemsandlivelihoodsofforestdependentpeopleinthetropics.

ECKHARDW.HEYMANNBIOSKETCH. Primate and behavioural ecologist. Senior scientist at theGermanPrimateCenter(DPZ);adjunctprofessoratUniversityofGöttingen.PhD1985,UniversityofGiessen.DirectorofEstaciónBiológicaQda.Blanco(DPZ’sfieldsiteinPeruvianAmazonia).Responsibilities:Regionalcoordinatorof the IUCN-SSC Primate Specialist Group for the Neotropics. Associateeditor of Primates. Memberships: gtö/STE, ATBC, InternationalPrimatologicalSociety.Researchinterests:animal-plantinteractions,primateaut-andsynecology,interspecificassociations.

PERSONAL STATEMENT. Although a primatologist and behavioural ecologist by training, I have alwaystakenabroaderperspectiveandbecameinterestedintropicalecologysincemyfirstprimatefieldstudyin Amazonia in 1985. Therefore, I became a gtö member in 1989. In 1994 I was elected into gtö’sScientificAdvisoryBoard,andhaveservedasco-speakerofthisboardsince2009.Aftercontributingtothe progress in making the society more international, particularly more European, with the 1stEuropeanCongressof Tropical Ecology inGöttingenas amilestone,myaimandmotivationnow is toserve the society as oneof the editors of Ecotropica and to develop it into a renownandprestigiousjournal.

JÜRGENHOMEIERBIOSKETCH.Tropical forestecologistat theDepartmentofPlantEcology,University ofGöttingen. PhD 2004,University of Bielefeld. I am studyingtropical plant species composition, forest structure and forest dynamicsalongenvironmentalgradients. Iam interested in relationshipsbetweenspecies richness, functional diversity and performance of tropical foresttrees.With long-termmonitoring andmanipulation experiments I try tounderstand the effects of global change on forest dynamics andproductivity.

PERSONALSTATEMENT. I ammemberof thegtö scientificadvisoryboardsince2006andwasoneco-organizeroftheconferenceinGöttingen2016.ThemotivationformetobecomeagainamemberofthescientificadvisoryboardistofurtherstrengthentheactiveroleofthegtöastheEuropeanstakeholderintropicalecology,andtocontributewithgtötothedisseminationofknowledgeontropicalecologytothepublicpromotingtheconservationoftropicalbiodiversity.

ALICEHUGHESBIOSKETCH. I am an Associate Professor and lead the Landscape Ecology group at XishuangbannaTropicalBotanicalGarden,ChineseAcademyofSciences. IhaveworkedextensivelyacrosstheTropics,andpreviouslyheldpositionsinThailand,Australia,CostaRica,andtheUKbeforemovingtoChina.Ialsohold Honorary positions at the Universities of Bangor and Groningen and a position at the China

BiodiversityConservationandGreenDevelopment Foundation,and am a “key person” for Alert-Conservation. I am currentlyChair of the ATBC’s Asia-Pacific Chapter and amember of theATBC Council. In addition I hold board positions for the AsiansectionfortheSocietyofConservationBiology,theInternationalNetwork of Next generation ecologists, and the EuropeanTropical Ecology Society, and a number of others. I am alsoleader of the Young professionals network for the IUCN’scommission on ecosystem management, and a SteeringcommitteememberforCoalitionWild.InadditionIamaneditor

forvarious journals.Myworkfocusesonpatternsofbiodiversityanddriversofbiodiversitychange,atvariousspatiotemporalscalesinordertodeveloppro-activemanagementstrategiesthataimtomitigatethe impacts of human activities on biodiversity. My research spans from biogeographic research toconservationprioritizationandmanagement,withaspecialfocusoncriticalecosystemsincludingforestand karst. All our work seeks to better understand natural systems, and to use that information todevelopprioritiesforconservationandmanagement,thisalsoincludesthedevelopmentoftoolssuchasusing bat bioacoustics to rapidly inventory diversity and develop standard methods for surveys tomitigatetheimpactofdevelopmentonbiodiversity.PERSONALSTATEMENT.IwaselectedatthegtöMeetinginZurichwithanaimtohelpinternationalisetheboard. Since this point I havebeen involved in organizing symposiawith awide selectionof non-European based tropical ecologists on a variety of themes. In addition last year saw the first trainingworkshopswithin aGTOE conference, and I lead a very full session on spatial ecology for half a day.CurrentlyIthinkIamoneofthefewboardmembers,thoughEuropeantobeentirelybasedwithintheTropics and outside Europe, and I feel that this provides the capacity to better engage with tropicalecologists based outside Europewhichmay be able to contribute to ourmeetings and build strongerlinkages.IalsoholdanumberofboardpositionsforotherTropicalecologygroups,andIthinkexploringtheopportunityformorecollaborativelinksandsynthesesbetweenthedifferentsocieties,andhowwemay also use DFG to help support more upcoming researchers from tropical areas. As a continuingmember of the Scientific committee I would endeavor to help build more training into our futuremeetings as we did successfully in Brussels and to strengthen our linkages with other societies, andengage more with non-Europe based researchers, and particularly younger researchers based in thetropics.

PATRICKJANSENBIOSKETCH. Community ecologist. Associate professor at WageningenUniversity, the Netherlands, and staff scientist at the SmithsonianTropicalResearch Institute,Panama.PhD2003,WageningenUniversity.Research interests: Plant-animal interactions, hunting impacts, diseaseecology, camera trapping, conservation. Coordinating the ForestGEOVertebrate Program for the Center for Tropical Forest Science (CTFS).Member ofNECOV-NERN (Netherlands), BES (UK), ATBC, and of coursegtö.PERSONALSTATEMENT.When Iwasabiologystudent inWageningen, I

sawaTVshowinwhichbiologistsexploredthecanopyofatropicalrainforestfromabrightlycolouredraft–carriedbyazeppelin–thatsatontopofthetrees.Oneyearlater,in1990,Isatinthatverysamecanopy–intheNouraguesfieldstationinFrenchGuiana–tostudybirdsfeedingonfruitsanddispersingtheseeds.Sincethen,everythinghasrevolvedaroundanimalsinforests.IdidmyPhDinFrenchGuianaonseeddispersalbyrodents,postdocsinPanamaontherolesofmammalsintreerecruitment,andamnow working on vertebrate communities and cascade effects of wildlife extirpation, both in theNetherlandsandwiththeSmithsoniananditsglobalnetworkofforestplots.Ihaveadecentnetwork,afairchunkofcreativityandenthusiasm,andpoliticalexperience.IwouldliketocontinueusingthesetohelpdevelopGTÖintoasocietyforallEuropeantropicalecologists.

CHRISKETTLEAnecologistandgeneticist,ChristopherKettlespecializesintropicalforesttrees, their reproductive ecology and the importance of forest geneticresourcesforresilientlandscapes.SinceAugust2017,ChristopherisleadingBioversity International’s cross-cutting research team working onconservation and sustainable use of socio–economically and ecologicallyimportant trees and their genetic diversity. He holds a joint appointmentandisalsoGroupLeaderinAppliedMolecularEcology, intheDepartmentof Environmental System Science, ETH Zurich, Switzerland. He leadsresearchprogrammesacrossSoutheastAsia,LatinAmericaandAfricaandthe Safeguarding Forest Genetic Resources Cluster of CGIAR’s ResearchProgramonForests,TreesandAgroforestry.

Prior to joining Bioversity International, Christopherwas a Senior Lecturer at the ETH Zurich, (2007 –present), and supervised ten PhD students mostly on tropical forest genetics. He taught TropicalRainforestEcologyand ledanMSconResilienceof Ecological Systems.Prior to thathewasaNaturalEnvironmentResearchCouncilPostdocattheUniversityofAberdeen,UK.

SARAHLUKEBIOSKETCH. I am a postdoc based at the University of Cambridge, UK. I aminterested in the effects of habitat change in the tropics on biodiversity andecosystem functions, and development of possible strategies for conservation.MyworksofarhasbeenlargelybasedinSoutheastAsia,whereIhavestudiedtheimpactsofselective loggingandoilpalmplantationson insectcommunities.Mycurrentresearchfocusesonstrategiesforstrikingabalancebetweenproductionand conservation in oil palm-dominated landscapes, and involves projects thataretestingthevalueofunderstoryvegetation,riparianbufferstrips,anddifferentmethodsforriparianrestoration.

PERSONALSTATEMENT. IthinkthattheSocietyforTropicalEcologyprovidesan importantforumforawiderangeoftropicalecologists,includingthosefrommultiplecountriesanddifferentcareerstages,tomeetanddiscuss ideas. IhaveattendedtheEuropeanConferenceofTropicalEcology for the last fouryears andhave really enjoyed themix of talks, andmeeting somanyother tropical ecologists. I haveparticularlyappreciatedthesupportandencouragementthattheconferencegivestostudentmembers.

Withthisinmind,IwouldliketorunforelectionasaSocietyAdvisoryBoardmembertodowhatIcantohelpsupportthecontinuedworkoftheSocietyandtherunningoftheannualconferences.

EIKELENANEUSCHULZ

BIOSKETCH. Ecologist working on the interactions between plants andanimals; PostDoc (2011 - now) at the Senckenberg Biodiversity andClimate Research Centre Frankfurt, Germany. PhD (2011) Philipps-Universität Marburg. Research interests: patterns of biodiversity andecosystem functions across elevational gradients in temperate andtropical systems, experimental community ecology, understanding themechanismsofecosystemfunctioning.MemberoftheSocietyforTropicalEcology (gtö) since 2009. Currently, co-speaker of the scientific advisoryboard.

PERSONALSTATEMENT.Ijoinedthescientificadvisoryboardofthegtöin2012.Iconsiderincreasingtheattractivenessofthegtötoyoungmembersasaveryimportantissuethatshouldbeaddressedbytheadvisoryboard. Iam involved in thecommunicationbetween theadvisoryboardand themembersofgtö,forinstancebybeingtheeditorofthegtönewsletter.

PABLOOROZCO-TERWENGELBIOSKETCH. IgraduatedwithaBachelordegreewithhonours fromthePontificiaUniversidadJaveriana(graduatedin2003;Bogota,Colombia),having carried out for my final year project the first comprehensiveanalysisofthegeneticvariationinAndeanBearsacrosstheirrangefromVenezuela to Bolivia.My interest in evolutionary biology, ecology andgenetics led me to do a Master in Sciences at the Universiteit vanAmsterdam (graduated in 2005; The Netherlands), where I worked onconservationgeneticsofMadagascanamphibianand reptilians.Formydoctoral studies I joined the Veterinärmedizinisches Universität inVienna (graduated in 2011; Austria) where I used Drosophila

melanogaster to learnabout genomicsandhow to identify the footprintof adaptive selection tonewenvironments.Followingmygraduation, I joinedCardiffUniversityasapost-doctoral research inMikeBruford’s lab, and since 2014 I am a lecturer at Cardiff University. My research group focuses onconservation of wildlife and livestock, using a combination of genetics and genomics to unraveldemographic and adaptive processes leading to the patterns of genetic variation observed inpopulations.PERSONALSTATEMENT.IwasborninColombia,oneofthecountrieswithhighestbiodiversity.Sinceanearly age I have been interested in the naturalworld, and considering the diversity ofmy country oforigin,I’vealsobeeninterestedinfindingoutwaystoconservethatbiodiversity.Myworkhassinceanearlystage focused inunderstandinghowevolutionaryprocesseshaveshapedthegeneticvariationofspeciesthroughoutthetropics,andaimedatusingthatknowledgetoinformmanagementstrategiesforconservationintheregion.Sincetheappearanceofnextgenerationsequences,Ihavestrivedtousethat

information to further understand genetic processes leading to local adaptation, as these provideinsightsonhowspeciesmaybeabletodealwithsomeaspectsofclimatechange.

PIAPAROLINBIOSKETCH. Tropical Ecologist and botanist, Agronomy Research InstituteINRA, France, and Dept. Biodiversity of Plants / Hamburg University,Germany.Habilitation(2002)Max-Planck-InstituteforEvolutionaryBiology;PhD(1997)INPA-Max-Planck,Manaus,Brazil.ResearchInterests:Floodplainecology, plant ecophysiology, primary production, dispersal, regeneration,use of floodplain forests, conservation. Since 2012 Vice-President of theSocietyforTropicalEcology(gtö);earlierSecretaryGeneralandCouncilorofgtö.MemberofConservationCommitteeofAssociationforTropicalBiologyandConservation(ATBC).PERSONALSTATEMENT.Sincemyfirstfieldstudiesasastudent inBrazil in

1986,andmanyyearsspentinSouthAmerica,myresearchexpandedfromafocusonunderstandingtheecology of Amazonian floodplain forests to increasingly broader research projects and comparativestudiesofsystemswhichsufferednaturaloranthropogenicimpacts.IamcurrentlytheVice-Presidentofgtö and active member of the Conservation Committee (CC) of the ATBC. I want to continue mycommitment togtö,butnowasamemberof the scientificadvisoryboard.Mygoal is to increase thestrengthofgtöasasocietythatservesasnetworkingbasisfortropicalecologyinEurope,andtoincreaseinformationflowbetweenecologistsinEuropeandothersocietiesoftropicalecologyworldwide.

SIMONEPFEIFFERBIOSKETCH. I hold a doctoral degree in Ecology from the Friedrich-Schiller-University of Jena, Germany. As scientific coordinator at theCentre of Biodiversity and Sustainable Land Use at the Georg-August-UniversityGöttingen I initiateandcoordinate interdisciplinary researchandteachingprojects intheTropicsandSubtropics.Partofmywork isthe organization of workshops and conferences engaging scientists,alumni, land owners/users, companies, NGOs, and politicians ininterdisciplinarycommunication.

PERSONALSTATEMENT.IjoinedtheGTÖscientificadvisoryboardin2015.Mymaininterestwasandisthe internationalization of the society. One step towards a stronger involvement of scientists fromdeveloping countries was the approval of travel grants for DAAD alumni participating in the societyconference in Göttingen in 2016. I would like to continue as an active member of the congresscommitteeaimingatstrongerinvolvementofstudentsandresearchersworldwide.

MARCOTSCHAPKABIOSKETCH. Associate professor at the Institute of Evolutionary Ecology and Conservation Genomics,UniversityofUlm,Germany.PhD1998,UniversityofErlangen-Nuremberg.Researchinterestscomprise

ecologyandbehaviorofbatsandarachnids,animal-plantinteractions,andtheecologicalbackgroundofemergingdiseases.Memberofgtösince1998,EditorofEcotropicasince2004.

PERSONAL STATEMENT.My first direct contactwith the tropicswas in 1991when I started working on the pollination of bromeliads by nectar-feedingbats.SincethattimeIamfascinatedbythemultitudeofinteractionsoccurringin the Old and New World tropics. Currently I have projects in Panama,Mexico, Costa Rica, Tanzania and Ghana, mostly related to bat ecology. Iprefer working in cooperation with colleagues from tropical countries andorganizedoverthelasttenyearsamutualstudentexchangeprogrambetweentheUniversidaddeCostaRicaandtheUniversityofUlm.Inthecontextofthegtö I see my task in contributing to adapting our journal Ecotropica to thecurrentscientificenvironment.

RE-LAUNCHOFECOTROPICAWearehappytoannouncethere-launchofour journalEcotropica!StartingfromMay1st,2018youcansubmityourmanuscriptsunderhttp://www.ecotropica.euforpublicationinEcotropica.Ecotropicaislookingformanuscriptsonalltopicsrelatedtotropicalecology.Papersreflectresultsoforiginalresearch(articles,shortcommunications)orreviewimportantfieldsintropicalecology.Anewsection - Field station profile - provides the opportunity to present up-to-date information on fieldresearchsites.YourCo-EditorsEckhardW.Heymann&MarcoTschapka