ESA 2026 Annual Meeting to Spotlight Wildlife Ecology in Media Tip Sheet

The 2026 Ecological Society of America (ESA) Annual Meeting will be held in Salt Lake City, Utah, July 26–31, bringing thousands of researchers together to report how wildlife is responding to rapid environmental change. Across terrestrial, freshwater, and marine systems, teams will present emerging results on ecological relationships among animals, habitats, and the expanding footprint of human activities. For the first time, the meeting’s press coverage will emphasize high-throughput field approaches—ranging from long-term monitoring to animal-borne sensors—that help link ecosystem shifts to measurable biological outcomes.

Featured talks and posters spotlight predator recovery and its cascading effects, documented declines in vulnerable taxa, and rewilding experiments that test ecological resilience. Researchers will also tackle wildlife disease dynamics, including how outbreaks can emerge and spread in complex environments. Sessions cover animal behavior and human-wildlife interactions, with attention to factors such as roads, habitat development, anthropogenic noise, and anthropogenic heat.

The program ranges from megafauna to small, conservation-critical species. Studies include how elephant carcasses can alter soil chemistry and downstream plant physiology, seeding success, and herbivory patterns across savannas. Other contributions examine persistent vegetation decline following large-carnivore restoration in northern Yellowstone, testing whether trophic recovery can stabilize plant communities over time. In freshwater systems, researchers will report on endangered suckers nearing extirpation in Upper Klamath Lake, where monitoring context is essential for identifying thresholds for recovery.

Marine and coastal research will highlight multi-decadal surveillance for avian influenza linked to marine mammals, using years of observational data to interpret outbreak timing and ecological connectivity. Additional work examines how salmon carcasses deliver marine-derived nitrogen that reshapes soil microbial communities in temperate rainforests. Together, these studies illustrate how cross-ecosystem subsidies can reorganize ecological networks.

Urban ecology sessions will explore the behavioral consequences of domestic cats and dogs on wildlife movement patterns, using spatial and temporal analysis to quantify risk. Global-change research also appears in work assessing how shoreline development influences nesting habitat selection in common loons, providing a measurable bridge between land use and reproductive outcomes.

Conference attendees can register free as media participants, and ESA press resources will offer access to scientific sessions plus a dedicated press room with internet, printing, and interview space. ESA invites eligible journalists and institutional communications staff to coordinate through its media contact and credential policy.