This Brisbane convention has a theme of Ecology in a Changing Climate, Two Hemispheres, One Globe. Ecologists from around the world will explore how global climate change has impacted, and will further impact, ecosystems and their vital services to human communities. They will explore unique features of ecosystems in the southern and northern hemispheres but look for common elements in a search for solutions to this looming problem.

Symposia will represent all scales of ecology from individual organisms to landscapes, and report on a diversity of ecosystems from marine to freshwater aquatic systems and terrestrial ecosystems from arid to rainforest and from polar to tropical.

The meeting will bring expert ecological commentary on a range of vital processes including land and water use, sea level change, restoration of ecosystems, biotic invasions, changing water patterns, urban ecology and fire ecology. It will include discussions on long term monitoring of ecosystems, on incorporating ecological knowledge into policy, on integrating indigenous knowledge into conventional science, and on communicating ecological information to a broader community.