From the society: News from the January IBS meeting in Crete

Abstract

membership corner ISSN 1948-6596 from the society News from the January IBS meeting in Crete The 5th Biennial Meeting of the International Bio- geography Society is now less than one year away. The meeting will be held in Irakleion, Crete, on the finally agreed dates of 7-11 January, 2011. The meeting will be built around four suc- cessive symposia (8-9 January) on established key and new cutting-edge topics and approaches in biogeography and macroecology, each with a suite of leading international scientists as well as openings for contributed papers: (1) Mediterranean Biogeography: Where History Meets Ecology Across Scales, organized by Spyros Sfenthourakis and Remy J. Petit The Mediterranean is a highly species-rich and complex biogeographic region. It has a composite tectonic history, has experienced the impacts of human civilization for more than 8 millennia, hosts numerous islands, and exhibits remarkable topographic diversity. This symposium explores novel perspectives on Mediterranean biogeogra- phy across spatial and temporal scales. (2) New Perspectives on Comparative Phy- logeography – Novel Integrative Approaches and Challenges, organized by Ana Carnaval and Mike Hickerson The boundaries of classic comparative phy- logeography are expanding by increasing connec- tions with new and emerging fields such as ge- nomics, spatial information systems, climate mod- eling, community-scale DNA barcoding, host– parasite interactions etc. This symposium will ex- plore innovative, integrative studies in the field, while discussing novel methodologies to circum- vent current and foreseen challenges. (3) Biogeography and Ecology: Two Lenses in One Telescope, organized by Dave Jenkins and Bob Ricklefs Biogeography views nature through a large-scale lens, while ecology views nature through a lens built from local-scale evidence. Yet both disci- plines focus on processes causing natural patterns and are approaching each other at intermediate spatial and temporal scales. The symposium brings together biogeographers and ecologists to discuss the shared key subjects: niche, compara- tive/macro-ecology, community assembly, and diversity. Different and shared conceptual do- mains will be addressed within and among eight talks (two per subject), plus a synthesis. (4) Analytical Advancements in Macroecology and Biogeography, organized by Alexandre Diniz- Filho and Carsten Rahbek The continuous development of computing capac- ity and increasing data generation allow ever more sophisticated analyses, enabling novel in- sights about biodiversity patterns. This develop- ment depends upon continuous input from other fields in terms of methods and theory. This sym- posium presents the new advancements within spatial analyses, phylogenetic reconstruction, and computer simulation modeling. In addition to the four symposia with in- vited speakers, on January 10th the meeting will have six sessions of contributed papers on core topics in biogeography: (i) Island biogeography, (ii) Climate change biogeography, (iii) Conservation biogeography, (iv) Palaeoecology, (v) Marine bio- geography, and (vii) Hot topics in Biogeography. On the days just before and after the con- ference (7 and 11 January), there will be field ex- cursions to a number of Crete’s most exciting loca- tions, historically and biologically (and biogeo- graphically). In addition, on January 7th, a series of workshops will be held, covering spatial analy- sis in macroecology, phylogenetic analysis in macro-ecology, and communicating biogeogra- phy. The registration for the meeting will open in June 2010. For more updated information, please check http://www.biogeography. org/html/ Meetings/2011/index.html. Jens-Christian Svenning V. P. for Conferences Spyros Sfenthourakis Local Organizing Committee of the 2011 IBS meeting Did you know that any member who has retired and who has twenty years of continuous membership in IBS shall be eligible for Emeritus membership? frontiers of biogeography 2.1, 2010 — © 2010 the authors; journal compilation © 2010 The International Biogeography Society