VP Elections 2025

cristian echeverria

I am honored to submit my candidacy for the position of Vice President of IALE. My motivation stems from a strong commitment to advancing the discipline of landscape ecology globally, with a particular emphasis on strengthening its presence and capacity in Latin America (LA). If re-elected, I will continue to (i) foster and expand capacity-building efforts across LA, (ii) promote academic exchange between LA and other regions—particularly supporting students and early-career researchers, and (iii) contribute to the global scientific dialogue on the role of landscape ecology in advancing sustainability science. During my tenure as Vice President, I have worked to connect IALE with regional efforts such as the 20x20 Initiative on landscape restoration in Latin America and to incorporate landscape ecological principles into global standards for ecological restoration.

I envision a more inclusive and interconnected IALE, where regional chapters from Latin America and beyond play a leading role in shaping the future of our discipline. I believe landscape ecology is essential for driving transformative change in our societies—locally, regionally, and globally—by providing integrative, spatially explicit, and interdisciplinary approaches to address pressing environmental and societal challenges. My contribution to this vision includes building bridges between regions, enhancing the visibility of our field through platforms such as Landscape Ecology and the Springer Landscape Series (where I serve as associate editor), and ensuring that IALE remains at the forefront of both scientific innovation and applied practice.

I bring over 20 years of academic and professional experience in landscape ecology, forest biodiversity conservation, ecosystem service assessment, and spatial modelling. I am a Full Professor at the Faculty of Forest Sciences, University of Concepción, Chile, where I direct the Landscape Ecology Lab. I am also past President and co-founder of IALE-Chile (2016), and Vice President of IALE-World since 2019. I currently lead a pioneering institutional project to develop a new campus focused on biodiversity conservation, ecological restoration, and human well-being—rooted in a landscape ecology perspective. I am committed to continuing my service to IALE and to furthering its mission as a global community of landscape ecologists working toward sustainable and resilient landscapes.

G. DaRREL JENERETTE

Professional background: I am a Professor of Landscape Ecology and Director of the Center for Conservation Biology at the University of California Riverside, USA. For over 25 years I have participated in our regional chapter, now named IALE-North America. At the first IALE conference I attended I remember well a symposium that raised the question of the continued importance of Landscape Ecology – with the broader adoption within ecology and geography of the perspectives and tools of landscape ecology has its mission been fulfilled? I have come away with an enduring yes. More than ever, we need a strong landscape ecological discipline and a vibrant society. While other fields borrow from landscape ecology, our discipline remains focused on fundamental issues of pattern-process relationships, scale, coupled human-natural interactions, and design while also advancing tools for research through applications of GIS, remote sensing, modeling, and spatial analyses. In my research I have used landscape ecological approaches to study issues associated with urbanization, agriculture, and vegetation responses to climate changes and identifying pathways towards more sustainable landscapes. In supporting my regional chapter of IALE, I have served as a councilor at large, chaired the site selection committee, participated in the awards committee, chaired the host committee for the 2023 annual meeting, and serve on the editorial board of our journal – Landscape Ecology. I am well versed in the importance of a strong scientific society and how new ideas can be brought forward to benefit the members.

Mission Statement: I am committed to advancing the field of landscape ecology by fostering interdisciplinary collaboration, promoting inclusivity, and enhancing the practical application of research to address pressing environmental challenges. If elected to the IALE Executive Board, I will focus on key priorities to help our society grow. Foremost, I will enhance global engagement by expanding IALE's reach to support the development of regional chapters, particularly in underrepresented areas, and their capacity to network globally participation and knowledge exchange. As a component of this I will work to strengthen interdisciplinary collaborations across regions to encourage partnerships among ecologists, planners, geographers, and other related professionals to integrate diverse perspectives and methodologies in landscape ecology research and practice. I will promote education and capacity building by helping to identify initiatives aimed at mentoring early-career researchers and practitioners that span international borders. Finally, as a cornerstone of all these priorities I will champion diversity, equity, and inclusion especially in regard to programming, leadership, and membership. Working to ensure the growth of scientific societies, especially including IALE, is important in these times of rapid cultural and ecological changes.

Laura R. musacchio

IALE has been an invaluable opportunity for me to connect with and meet fellow researchers and educators from around the world. Now, I respectfully submit my qualifications for Vice President of IALE by taking the next step by serving the worldwide community of landscape ecologists. If you elect me as Vice President, I want to expand opportunities for students, scientists, and researchers to participate in IALE especially at the World Congresses. As an internationally oriented researcher and educator, I want to expand opportunities for all these groups to participate in cutting edge topics integrating landscape ecology and landscape sustainability science in interdisciplinary and transdisciplinary collaborations across continents. My goal is to expand scientific cooperation and exchanges, so barriers can be reduced to facilitate collaboration and networking opportunities. I do have significant leadership experience that I can draw on to achieve these results.

Currently, I am an Associate Professor in the School of Landscape Architecture and a Fellow at the Institute on the Environment at the University of Minnesota Twin Cities (US). I am also an affiliate faculty member with the MS/Ph.D. Program of Conservation Science, Master of Geographic Information Science, and Humphrey Institute of Public Affairs. I am also Director of the Restorative Environmental and Biocultural Design Lab. My passion is to cultivate “green” minds and thumbs by exploring new frontiers in evidence-based landscape ecology, design, and planning. I encourage people to think “green” with multisensory nature and biodiversity experiences and use GIS and Geodesign for participatory design and planning projects. My knowledge, skills and abilities are honed to design and plan biophilic spaces and nature-based solutions. I have taught graduates and undergraduate students in applied landscape ecology courses that attract students from natural resource management, conservation science, landscape architecture, architecture, planning, and urban studies.

My contributions to landscape ecology include leadership activities in IALE as well as to publishing activities and editorial board membership. In the United States Chapter of IALE (now the North American Chapter), I served in several capacities: (1) Councilor-at-Large (2002–2004), (2) Program Coordinator (along with Dr. Jianguo Wu) for the 16th Annual Meeting (2001), (3) Member, National Strategic Planning Committee (2003–2004), (4) Member, Nominating Committee (2003–2004), (5) Member, Sponsorship Committee (2008–2012). More recently, I was the U.S. Representative, Executive Committee, Society for Urban Ecology (2010–2015). I have been involved in landscape ecology in several ways including being a Coordinating Editor and Editorial Board Member for Landscape Ecology (2007–2017) as well as being an Editorial Board Member of Landscape and Urban Planning (2007–2015, 2022–present) and Emeritus Editorial Board Member (2007–2015). I have been a Guest Editor three times: (1) two special issues about landscape sustainability for Landscape Ecology (2009 & 2013) and (2) one special issue about landscape-scale collaborative research in Urban Ecosystems (2004).

marketa santruckova

As an active IALE member, I am interested in landscape ecology and its role in science and society. I studied geography and history (MSc.) and geography and geoecology (Ph.D.) at the Charles University in Prague, Czech Republic. Since 2007, I work as a senior researcher in the Landscape Research Institute (public research institute) in Průhonice near Prague and I leaded or collaborated on several projects focused on the cultural landscape, social aspects of landscape ecology and landscape management. I teach at the Faculty of Architecture of the Czech Technical University in Prague, Czech Republic since 2022 (courses focused on the cultural landscape). In my research I focus on landscape structures created by a man, their diversity, stability/changes, and importance for biodiversity. I aim mainly to small-scale landscape structures connected with traditional and local knowledge and praxis that are endangered by unification or abandonment.

I am a member of the IALE since 2006 when I became a member of the Czech national chapter. I joined the Historical Landscape Ecology Working Group after it was established. I worked as a secretary (2016–2020) and then president (2020–2024) of the Czech chapter (IALE-CZ). Since 2021, I honoured to serve as vice president and executive committee member for the IALE International. I am responsible for the working groups coordination. I do the editor work for the IALE flagship journal Landscape Ecology and were involved in the preparation of the IALE World Congress in Kenya in 2023 and IALE Europe Congress in Bratislava in 2025 (scientific and organizing committees member). I feel the work for IALE as service for the international community of the landscape ecologist.

I am delighted to be again nominated for IALE VP and would like to continue in the contribution to IALE´s mission at the global level. I believe that IALE is perfect platform for practising landscape ecology. I would like to facilitate the discussion about the role of the cultural landscape and the traditional small-scale landscape structures for the landscape ecology and to open themes of the biocultural biodiversity as a part of the landscape ecology. I would like to contribute to create a platform and networking researchers, knowledge, papers and books for studying and discussing questions connected with landscape ecological consequences on the global, national, and local level and to connect people from different world regions and countries. I would like to continue in work for IALE working groups (help to establish a new working group, support the work of the existing groups) and to support researchers and their activities by IALE grants.