In about a week, 800 health experts from around the world will gather in Sacramento to discuss the condition of just one patient. But the experts won't all be physicians and you won't find this patient in a hospital bed. Instead, the doctors--as well as the entomologists, hydrologists, ecologists, policy makers and business people--will focus on a case of global importance: the troubled Earth and its myriad ecosystems. During this International Congress for Ecosystem Health, to be held the week of Aug. 15 at the Sacramento Convention Center, experts from scores of different disciplines will put their heads together in an attempt to develop better ways to predict, prevent and diagnose ecological problems. And they'll be trying to better understand the relationships between ecosystem health and human health. The congress, being held for the first time in the United States, is hosted by UC Davis and sponsored by the International Society for Ecosystem Health, an organization founded in 1994 and headquartered at the University of Guelph in Canada. Bill Lasley, a professor in the School of Veterinary Medicine, is a convenor of the congress. Serving as secretariat is the UC Genetic Resources Conservation Program, directed by Cal Qualset, a professor emeritus of agronomy and range science. "We're anticipating that the congress will produce a broad range of modern thinking related to ecosystem health and innovative management techniques that can be implemented to restore damaged ecosystems," Qualset said. The concept of ecosystem health was developed during the last decade as a new approach to environmental issues, he explained. Instead of looking at the fitness of one individual or even one species, ecosystem health takes an integrated approach and asks how well all of the plants and animals of a given habitat are faring. A healthy ecosystem is vigorous and resilient, able to withstand and rebound from disturbances, while an ailing ecosystem may exhibit symptoms such as soil erosion or loss of soil fertility, abnormalities in the quantity or quality of water, population explosions among certain species and even sudden extinction of other species. Focusing on regional and global issues During 41 technical sessions to be held Monday through Wednesday, Aug. 16-18, participants will focus on both regional and global problems. California issues will be highlighted during sessions on the California-Federal Bay-Delta Program, Lake Tahoe, Clear Lake, Colorado River Delta, the fuel additive MTBE, coastal and marine ecosystems, sustainable agriculture and livestock grazing. Global issues will be tackled during sessions such as those involving culture and tradition, mining activities, agriculture in developing countries, climate change, and the politics of environmental health. One session coordinated by NASA will look at how satellite monitoring can be used to predict and track infectious disease problems around the world. "California is an ideal place to hold the congress because we have most of the major types of ecosystems, ranging from coastal to desert," Qualset said. "And the state is heavily invested in environmental mitigation efforts. "We hope that our international guests as well as congress participants from elsewhere in the nation will be able to spend some time and see how California is coping with environmental problems," he added. Plenary speakers will include Kenneth Olden, director of the U.S. National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences; Robert Watson, director for environment at the World Bank; Ambassador Ola Ullsten of Sweden; Douglas Wheeler, former secretary of resources for California; and UC Davis' own Charles Goldman, an internationally recognized expert on freshwater lakes. During the Aug. 17 banquet, New York Newsday science writer Laurie Garrett will discuss outbreaks of infectious diseases around the world, the topic of her book The Coming Plague. Also included will be 14 forums during which discussions will be held to develop consensus on controversial issues and provide recommendations for action. The conclusions will be reported Wednesday, Aug. 18, at 3 p.m. Concurrent with the congress will be an Aug. 17 town hall meeting in the Sacramento Convention Center following the theme of "Environmental Health on the Ag/Urban Frontier." The meeting will be open to the public free of charge and is sponsored by the campus's Center for Environmental Health Sciences. Field trips will be offered Aug. 19-20 to the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta, San Francisco Bay, Clear Lake, the Napa and Sonoma wine region, sustainable agriculture operations and wetlands.