Workshop summary: Biodiversity Synthesis meeting on the biogeography of Melanesia

Abstract

ISSN 1948-6596 news and update workshop summary Biodiversity Synthesis meeting on the biogeography of Melane- sia A Multi-Taxa Approach Towards the Biogeography of Melanesia: Higher Order Science to In- form Conservation – Suva, Fiji, 11-15th August 2009 The islands of Melanesia (New Guinea, The Solo- mon Islands, Vanuatu, Fiji and New Caledonia) present a unique challenge to biogeographers. They possess a recondite geologic history where ancient and modern forces interact to create enig- matic patters of species diversity. Melanesia has served as the laboratory from which some of the greatest works of biogeography have been launched, including seminal works on the biologi- cal species concept (Mayr 1947), the island bio- geography (MacArthur and Wilson 1963) and is- land speciation (Diamond 1974). Despite the importance of Melanesia, there is a lack of knowledge pertaining to the large- scale, multi-taxa biogeographic trends in the re- gion. The lack of work on concordant biogeogra- phy is regrettable, as it has hamstrung the devel- opment of a synthetic approach towards bio- geographic research, and its corollary identifica- tion of conservation management units. For ex- ample, although a recent biogeographic study of a multi-taxa patterns of marine biodiversity (Roberts et al. 2002) has invigorated research into the processes underlying its evolution (Barber & Bellwood 2005; Carpenter & Springer 2005; De Boer et al. 2008) none of these papers have incor- porated salient work from the ornithological (Filardi & Moyle 2005; Mayr & Diamond 2001) or entomological (Wilson 1959) literature (although see Drew et al. 2008). To address these shortcomings we con- vened a workshop entitled “A Multi-Taxa Ap- proach Towards the Biogeography of Melanesia: Higher Order Science to Inform Conservation” in August 2009 in Suva, Fiji. This workshop, funded by the Biodiversity Synthesis Center, a component of the Encyclopedia of Life housed at the Field Museum of Natural History (http:// synthesis.eol.org/), brought together researchers who focus on a variety of taxa, ranging from vas- cular plants to coral reef fish. The goal was to identify what patterns of distribution are recapitu- lated across taxonomic boundaries, and what bio- logical differences are key to influencing the geo- graphic distribution of life. The majority of these researchers showed a pattern of decreasing species diversity and en- demism as one moves away from the center of diversity in Papua New Guinea. This generality of this pattern was difficult to assess because of vari- ances in sampling effort. In particular Fiji, which has been relatively better studied appeared to have more species of ants and flies than the Solo- mon Islands, however with further research within the Solomons this pattern is most likely to be re- versed. Another relatively common pattern was that in no areas had species discovery curves reached saturation. In short, despite 150 years of serious collections based research in the region, we have not yet adequately characterized the di- versity of life in Melanesia. Another common theme throughout the meeting was the need to encourage stronger rela- tionships between local students and interna- tional researchers. As in many places, working within the local culture can vastly improve a re- search project’s success and increase awareness of the area’s biodiversity. Given the complex tap- estry of national and local and traditional govern- ments, the prevalence of place based communal property rights and management and the intrica- cies of marine tenure, working without local ex- pertise bound to hinder research projects. On the other hand, many regional students are hindered by lack of formal expertise, mentorships and ac- cess to research materials. There is clearly an op- portunity for win-win partnerships for biodiversity research to be developed within this region. Finally, with the generous support of the International Biogeography Society, we were able frontiers of biogeography 1.1, 2009 — © 2009 the authors; journal compilation © 2009 The International Biogeography Society