ID: 613 / 101

Category: Symposia

Track: Pending

Proposed Symposium Title: SYSTEMATICS, BIOGEOGRAPHY, ADAPTATION AND UTILIZATION OF THE GRAPE FAMILY VITACEAE

Abstract: The grape family (Vitaceae) includes 16 genera and ca. 950 species of lianas with a broad distribution across both tropical and temperate regions. Vitaceae is one of the most well-known plant groups, widely recognized for its economic importance as sources of wine, grapes, and raisins, and has attracted extensive studies of their germplasm resources. The family is also ecologically important with many species as dominant climbers in tropical and temperate forests, savannas, and limestone mountains. Despite progress toward the systematics and taxonomy of Vitaceae in the last decade, much work remains to be done concerning the integrative systematics, biogeographic diversification, conservation and utilization of the family. This symposium will include contributions from internationally-known colleagues using cutting-edge bioinformatic and phylogenomic tools to understand the systematics, diversification, and adaptation of Vitaceae, highlighting recent advances. It will bring together systematists, evolutionary biologists, crop scientists, and paleobotanists, who reflect gender, cultural, and ethnic diversity within our scientific community to share their expertise, encourage discussion, stimulate collaborations, and explore emerging research directions based on these interactions.

Speaker 1: Limin Lu Institute of Botany, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100093 liminlu@ibcas.ac.cn The origin, diversification, and adaptation of the grape family Vitaceae

Speaker 2: Gregory W. Stull National Museum of Natural History, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, DC, USA. stullg@si.edu Vitaceae seed evolution as a window into the global spread and ecological diversification of grapes: new insights from comparative micro-CT datasets of modern and fossil taxa

Speaker 3: Alicia Talavera Department of Botany, National Museum of Natural History, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, DC, USA. talaveraa@si.edu Phylogenomic insights into integrative systematics of North American Vitis

Topics (Up to three): Biogeography / Phylogeography

Topic 2: Crops and Wild Relatives

Topic 3: Phylogenetics and Phylogenomics

Justification: The grape family (Vitaceae) is well-known for the economic importance of grapes and the source of wine. A symposium on the grape family will facilitate the research on its systematics, conservation and utilization of the grape wild relatives. The family is ecologically significant with many species as dominant climbers in tropical and temperate forests. Comprehensive study on diversification history of the family will provide important clues for understanding major biome shifts and shed insights into ecological adaptation of grape wild relatives in light of a changing climate.