It was April Fools' Day yesterday ! As you probably suspected it, the influx of participants in the ATBC conference by 1st April 2012 was not due to climate change, although the reasons for this massive participation are entirely related to tropical ecosystems and their biodiversity world wide, and the urgent need for their conservation given the pressures and the numerous anthropogenic disturbances that are affecting them. Unfortunately, and this was not a joke, over the weekend, our server and payment system had problems (due to a massive number of registrants within the last two days; see Announcement 1st April). We sincerely apologize for any inconvenience this may have created while you were rushing to register to meet the deadline (already postponed, though), and we hope that the situation will be resolved quickly today. Of course, the registration fee remains at the early-bird rate, and the deadline for early registration and abstract submission is 10th April. Then, the normal rates will apply. So far, some 900 participants from 52 countries from all continents are registered. The top ten countries the most represented (based on the location of the scientific institutions) at the meeting are as shown below. Welcome to Bonito !

The June 2011 issue of the Mongabay.com open access scientific journal Tropical Conservation Science (TCS) has been released. The loss of our colleagues, Dr Navjot Sodhi, professor at the National University of Singapore, member of the TCS Editorial Board, as well as councillor of ATBC, plunged the scientific community into mourning. In their editorial, Alejandro Estrada, and Rhett Butler remind everyone that "The field of tropical conservation has lost a great scientist, and our sentiments are with his family, friends, close colleagues and students. Dr. Sodhi was an avid supporter of TCS and contributed in many ways to its inception and development by becoming a member of our editorial board, by acting as associate editor for South East Asia, by helping the executive editor of TCS find reviewers, and assessing the suitability of several manuscripts for our journal. [...] Drs. Lian Pin Kho and Tiem Ming Lee, two of his former students, have kindly written an obituary to honor Dr. Navjot Sodhi."

• Navjot S. Sodhi: the professor who wore his cap backwards by Lian Pin Koh, Tien Ming Lee.

This year, NERCHE is pleased to present the Ernest A. Lynton Award to Dr. Jordan Karubian, Assistant Professor in the Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology at Tulane University in New Orleans, Louisiana. The annual Ernest A. Lynton Award for the Scholarship of Engagement for Early Career Faculty recognizes a faculty member who connects his or her teaching, research, and service to community engagement. The award is designated for either pre-tenure faculty at tenure-granting campuses or early career faculty (i.e., within the first six years) at campuses with long-term contracts. Congratulations to ATBC Member Jordan Karubian.

• Karubian's Lab
• Reserva Bilsa, Ecuador

1st April 2012 was set as the deadline for early registration and submission of abstracts at ATBC2012 in Bonito, Mato Grosso do Sul, Brazil. However, we were obliged to postpone it to 10th April to ensure that we could welcome a mass migration of humans coming from all around the planet. Indeed, during the last months, we unexpectedly noticed a sudden pulse of registrations by scientists, majoritily from Brazil, the rest coming from 50 different countries in all continents, who decided to establish in Southern Brazil in the next couple of months. One most likely explanation of this massive migration is Climate Change.

The new issue of the Mongabay.com open access scientific journal Tropical Conservation Science (TCS) has been released. The first issue of TCS in 2011 marks the beginning of a fourth year of existence of TCS. In their editorial, Alejandro Estrada, Ian McFadden and Rhett Butler highlight that "the fourth volume of TCS also marks the transition of the journal to a new publication platform: Open Journal Systems (OJS). OJS will enable TCS to more efficiently manage manuscripts, especially in light of the rapid growth in submissions". Content of the Volume 4 (1).