2018 First International Meeting

of the

Freshwater Mollusk Conservation Society in Europe

Verbania, Italy September 16 – 20, 2018 The 2018

For all information please visit the following web-site:

https://molluskconservation.org/EVENTS/2018-INTNL/2018_FMCS-INTNLMeet.html#Scope

Conservation of freshwater mollusks is essential to maintain the important ecosystem functions and services they provide. Nonetheless, they are at risk as evidenced by their rapid and extensive global decline due to multiple causes, mainly of anthropic origin. Conservation strategies to stop this negative trend and maximize current biodiversity are urgently needed but are hampered by the lack of key information. Although in recent decades there have been an increasing number of studies on the ecology and conservation of these animals, the integration of knowledge acquired by different research groups is a key step for improving our efforts. Such integration would also help policy makers establish guidelines which can be applied in conservation management of these animals and their natural habitats.

The Freshwater Mollusk Conservation Society (FMCS) can be a reference for everyone but, to date, the Society is primarily serving members in the United States and Canada. This recognition prompted the idea of expanding the Society's role on other continents, starting in Europe. Europe has been chosen because of the large number of active freshwater malacologists working in a number of countries. The organization of a FMCS Meeting outside of North America aims to expand the membership, share research and data with international colleagues, and foster wider collaboration. It is under this perspective that we want to introduce the upcoming 2018 meeting in Italy – hopefully, the first of a series of FMCS-sponsored international meetings.

The goals of this first international meeting are:

1.To start bringing together international experts in the biology and conservation of freshwater mollusks that will create a network of knowledge with the final goal of developing collaborative projects and, eventually, global directives for the protection and conservation of this important faunal group.

2. To provide, with this first step, an incentive for non-North American freshwater malacologists to become members of FMCS and participate in planned activities, Symposia, publications, and Workshops.

3. To start organizing local malacologists -- e.g. initially from Europe, but to be expanded to other continents around the world to provide structure and communication about resources, questions, advocacy, and collaboration. This will facilitate developing techniques to address similar problems encountered across freshwater molluscan research.

4. To start holding international meetings focused on all freshwater mollusks around the world. The two recent international freshwater bivalve meetings (Bragança, Portugal in 2012 and Buffalo, New York in 2015) were both exciting and fun with good participation. With this 2018 meeting in Europe, we want to start building an international network that includes all freshwater mollusks.

We have planned for three days of presentations on a variety of topics that cover all aspects of Malacology, targeting the latest research advances in both theoretical and applied issues. A number of internationally recognized keynote speakers will present the state of current research on these topics and, we expect, will spark debate and interest on research needs concerning the many ways mollusks affect society and ecosystems.