Mini-symposium on Island Biogeography 19 May 2008

Pre-announcement

On 19 MAY 2008

IBED-UvA, Naturalis and Dodo Research Programme

organise a

Mini-symposium on Island Biogeography: Origin of island Biodiversity and Species Resilience

The programme with invited speakers will be soon announced at http://science.naturalis.nl/research/news. Everybody is welcome! Please register before 13th May 2008 via Martijn Egas: Egas@science.uva.nl or Kenneth Rijsdijk: Rijsdijk@naturalis.nl

In light of The International Day for Biological Diversity (Thursday, 22 May 2008; theme: Biodiversity and Agriculture), the Dodo Research Programme organizes a mini-symposium on island biodiversity, in collaboration with the Institute for Biodiversity and Ecosystem Dynamics (IBED; University of Amsterdam) and The National Museum of Natural History (Naturalis). The mini-symposium will take place on Monday, 19 May 2008. The aim of the mini-symposium is to generate discussions on the origins of biodiversity and ecosystem resilience in island situations by bringing together scientists from paleontology, ecology, genetics, and evolutionary biology. Invited speakers will provide an overview of current insights from these fields.

Generally, islands hold a significant proportion of current biodiversity. The biodiversity of these islands is under increasing threat due to rising pressure of expanding agricultural activities. It is therefore important to understand how biodiversity came into existence on islands and how vulnerable it is to natural and human change. During this symposium, we look into the origin of biodiversity and ecosystem resilience. Main questions that will be addressed are: Does biodiversity increase by allopatric or rather by sympatric speciation, and what are the main drivers (genetic drift, trophic interactions, or external drivers such as climate change, catastrophes, or tectonic drift). And are isolated island ecosystems necessarily more vulnerable (less resilient) to environmental change or human impact than continental ecosystems?

The Dodo Research Programme (DRP) is an international research initiative on island biodiversity that aims to utilise the dodo (Raphus cucullatus), the icon of human-induced species extinction, to generate research and public awareness on the vulnerability of island biodiversity. The DRP was initiated by Naturalis (link), IBED (http://www.science.uva.nl/ibed), and the Geological survey of the Netherlands (http://www.tno.nl/) after the discovery in 2005 of a major mass grave in Mauritius comprising a nearly complete fossil ecosystem of the dodo.

The programme with invited speakers will be soon announced at http://science.naturalis.nl/research/news. Everybody is welcome! Please register before 13th May 2008 via Martijn Egas: Egas@science.uva.nl or Kenneth Rijsdijk: Rijsdijk@naturalis.nl