Forewords

Abstract

The “1st International Palaeobiogeography Symposium” was held in Paris from 10th to the 13th of July 2007 at the Universite Pierre et Marie Curie (UPMC) and organized by the CNRS research unit UMR 5143 “Paleobiodiversite et Paleoenvironnements”, which gathers scientists based at both UPMC and Museum National d’Histoire Naturelle (MNHN). More than 120 participants attended the symposium and 24 countries were represented. These numbers highlight the interest on palaeobiogeographic subjects that we wanted to rejuvenate through the symposium. The latter was based on two distinct lines of reasoning: Paris on one hand and the need of bringing together the communities of neontologists and palaeontologists on the other. Paris is the home of Biogeography. It is here that Lamarck and De Candolle created the first biogeographic map in 1805 (the distribution and boundaries of floristic regions of France). Moreover, the oldest Biogeographical Society in the world (Societe Francaise de Biogeographie) is also based in Paris. The most important theoretical concepts of biogeography (including palaeobiogeography) have been …