The following “Thematic Tracks” have been defined to encourage the submission of proposals & abstracts of an interdisciplinary nature and of interest to both conservation and restoration practitioners.
1) Strengthening conservation and restoration outcomes through participatory science, community action, and cross-cultural scientific knowledge exchanges.
Description: This theme highlights innovative ways communities and scientists collaborate to advance conservation and restoration through intergenerational partnerships. Contributions may address shared stewardship, cross-cultural knowledge exchange, or co-created practices that improve ecological outcomes while strengthening social connections, resilience, and equity across landscapes and communities.
2) Conservation and restoration in emerging climates and human-influenced ecosystems.
Description: This theme examines conservation and restoration practices in ecosystems substantially reshaped by human influence, disturbance, or rapid environmental change. We welcome perspectives that address ecological novelty (e.g. non-analog conditions), adaptive management, and long-term stewardship, emphasizing innovative strategies that navigate uncertainty while sustaining biodiversity, ecosystem function, and human–nature relationships across diverse landscapes.
3) Enhancing collaborations in conservation and restoration through cross-cultural exchanges in the humanities, arts, and storytelling.
Description: This theme explores how arts, humanities, and storytelling strengthen cross-cultural collaborations in conservation and restoration. By highlighting creative practices and diverse ways of knowing, we invite contributions that foster dialogue, mutual understanding, and shared stewardship across communities, bridging ecological science with cultural expression and lived experience.
4) Integrating conventional and emerging technologies for conservation and restoration.
Description: This theme explores how innovative uses of established and emerging technologies (tools, approaches, and methods) are transforming conservation and restoration. We invite contributions that adapt, combine, or repurpose conventional or newer technologies to advance ecological understanding, strengthen management practices, and foster more effective, resilient stewardship across diverse landscapes and communities.
5) Braiding knowledge systems: the importance of Indigenous contributions in modern conservation and restoration.
Description: This theme highlights the essential role of Indigenous perspectives and participation in shaping conservation and restoration. We invite contributions integrating diverse knowledge systems and honoring multiple ways of knowing, exploring approaches that foster reciprocity, cultural respect, and collaborative stewardship, advancing both ecological integrity and community resilience across landscapes.
6) Leveraging social and behavioral sciences for conservation and restoration.
Description: This theme examines how social and behavioral sciences can be applied to strengthen conservation and restoration outcomes. We invite contributions that focus on strategies that encourage behavior change, foster public engagement, and build broad societal support, highlighting approaches that align human decision-making with ecological goals for lasting impact.
7) Balancing conservation and restoration with development, sustainability, and economic agendas
Description: This theme explores how ecological stewardship often unfolds within the pressures of development, sustainability goals, and economic agendas. We invite contributions highlighting research and practice that navigates these intersections, showcasing strategies to balance trade-offs, build synergies, and promote pathways where conservation and restoration support both ecological integrity and human well-being.
8) Bridging gaps between theory and practice in conservation and restoration.
Description: This theme explores how insights from ecological and other scientific theory translate into effective conservation and restoration practice, and how theory is informed by evaluating the outcomes of practice. We welcome contributions that bridge research and application, highlight lessons learned from implementation, and showcase strategies for integrating scientific understanding with on-the-ground action to achieve more impactful, durable ecological outcomes. Landscape-scale, multi-site, and trans-boundary advances aiming to improve habitat functions, species populations, ecosystem structures and functions, and ecosystem services are welcomed.
9) From urban to wilderness: tailoring conservation and restoration strategies to human population density.
Description: This theme examines how conservation and restoration take different forms across gradients of human population density, from urban centers to sparsely inhabited landscapes. We welcome contributions on how context shapes strategies, highlighting similarities, differences, and innovations that emerge when aligning ecological goals with social realities across urban, suburban, rural, and wilderness settings.
10) The Great Lakes: solutions for people and nature in terrestrial and aquatic ecosystems.
Description: This theme examines conservation and restoration in the Great Lakes region and comparable ecosystems where land and water intersect. We invite contributions with emphasis on solutions that address both ecological and social needs, highlighting integrated approaches that sustain biodiversity, support communities, and foster resilience across interconnected terrestrial and aquatic systems.
11) Exploring and managing human-wildlife interactions to protect and sustain biodiversity in terrestrial and aquatic ecosystems
Description: This theme examines how human–wildlife interactions influence biodiversity across terrestrial and aquatic ecosystems. We welcome contributions that explore coexistence, address conflict, and advance management strategies. Emphasis is on approaches that sustain ecological integrity while supporting human well-being, balancing conservation priorities within diverse social and ecological contexts.
12) Prioritizing the Landscape, Riverscape, and Seascape scales in restoration and conservation planning and evaluation.
Description: This theme examines the increase of large-scale ecosystem perspectives in the science of ecological restoration over the last decade, and how this intersects with conservation planning and concurrent development across landscapes. The scope includes traditional terrestrial landscapes, as well as aquatic and mixed terrestrial-aquatic areas. Emphasis is on approaches to the planning, monitoring and assessment of outcomes at greater geographic scales. Measurements of a wide range of indicators including species populations, ecosystem structure and function, and ecosystem services for human communities are relevant.
