Theme: Integrating
Neotropical Research
Venue:
Montgomery Botanical Center, Coral Gables, Miami, Florida, USA
Date: January
14th, 2013 (immediately after the 6th Biennial meeting of the International Biogeography Society)
Organizers: Christine Bacon and Alexandre Antonelli (http://antonelli-lab.net)
Rationale: Tropical America (the Neotropics) offers a splendid opportunity for
studying evolution and biogeography. The region’s outstanding biodiversity, its
comparatively well-known geological history, the relative ease of travelling
and conducting fieldwork (with Spanish as a lingua franca), and the rapid
increase in highly competent Latin American biologists and well-equipped
institutions, all contribute to making the Neotropics a great research arena
for a new generation of students and established researchers alike.
Despite an increasing amount
of interest, there is limited coordination and interactions among independent
research groups. This is unfortunate given the scientific and spatial
dimensions of Neotropical research and the scarce funding available. This
one-day meeting aims at improving this situation by bringing together representatives
for as many research groups as possible working on Neotropical
biogeography and evolution – regardless of methodology, data source,
spatial/temporal scale, or organismal group studied. Talks will therefore be
welcome from the fields of molecular phylogenetics, paleontology, ecology, etc.
Each research group will be given a time slot (e.g., 20 minutes) to
present their current and planned
activities, which will be followed by discussion for feedback and possible
interactions with the other participants (e.g. joint fieldwork, material
exchange, scholarships, etc). The presentations can be done by each group’s PI
and/or group members.
There is no need to submit an abstract; but you must send a title (preferably the project title) and the number of other
attendees from your lab group to confirm your participation to Christine Bacon
as soon as possible, and by October 31st,
at the latest. Please await a confirmation for the symposium before booking any
extra hotel nights or flights, as the maximum number of participants is
restricted to 60 (due to space constraints).
Transportation will be arranged between the IBC 2013 partner
hotel (Newport Beachside Resort; http://www.newportbeachsideresort.com/) and
the meeting site (Montgomery Botanical Center; http://www.montgomerybotanical.org/).
The meeting fee will be calculated depending on the number of
registered participants but will be kept as low as possible. A separate fee
will apply for the dinner (a Cuban
fiesta to not miss!).
Feel free to distribute this announcement to
anyone who could be potentially interested!
Questions and comments can be
directed to Christine Bacon (christinedbacon [at] gmail.com).
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