IBS Special Meeting on the Geography of Species Associations

IBS Special Meeting on the Geography of Species Associations
November 15th – 17th, 2013
Montreal, Canada.

Recent advances in macroecology and macroevolution have contributed much to our understanding of the origin and distribution of biodiversity. At the same time, community ecology has been informed by the inclusion of more sophisticated null models and phylogenetic methods, providing new insights into community structure and function, as well as the processes driving species distributions and their patterns of co-occurrence and association. This special meeting of the International Biogeography Society will explore the intersection between these fields and how they have contributed to the study of biogeography.

The meeting will include 6 contributed oral sessions organised around the following themes:
·         Biogeographic perspectives on ecosystem function and services
·         Deconstructing biodiversity
·         The geography of hyperdiverse and neglected organisms
·         Community assembly over evolutionary time scales
Keynote speakers include: Pierre Legendre (University of Montreal), Nick Gotelli (University of Vermont), Rosemary Gillespie (University of California, Berkeley) and Mark McPeek (Dartmouth).

An interactive roundtable discussion will focus on the past, present and future applications of null models in biogeography. We have also invited editors-in-chief and associate editors of Journal of Biogeography, Global Ecology and Biogeography and/or Ecography to host a second roundtable on the peer review process and publishing opportunities in biogeography.

The meeting will be held at the University of Quebec in Montreal (UQAM) located in the heart of downtown Montreal, and will accommodate up to 150 attendees. Montreal offers an incomparable cultural experience and heritage, being the only fully bilingual city in North America. Whilst Montreal is a vibrant and cosmopolitan metropolis, it offers the feeling of a relatively small city for its size due to its organization into small and well‐defined neighborhoods with distinct ethnic and architectural features. Montreal has a major international airport with several daily direct flights from major cities in North and South America and Europe. A multitude of hotels, restaurants and bars are within minutes walk from the venue. Participants will have the opportunity to participate in field trips to McGill's Gault Nature Reserve and Montreal Botanical Garden.

More information and registration details will be posted on the meeting website:
http://ibsmontreal.webs.com/

Local organizing committee:
Pedro Peres-Neto (UQAM)
Jonathan Davies (McGill)
Jean-Philippe Lessard (McGill)