ID: 613 / 15

Category: Symposia

Track: Pending

Proposed Symposium Title: THE ANGIOSPERM REPRODUCTIVE SPECTRUM FROM FLOWERS TO SEEDS

Abstract: Life in terrestrial ecosystems is largely shaped by flowering plants (angiosperms). One main reason for the evolutionary success of angiosperms is the diversity of their reproductive structures (flowers, fruits, seeds). Several traits of flowers, fruits, and seeds are ecologically and functionally integrated, but most studies have traditionally been focused on a single reproductive structure, or a single event occurring during the complex series of events occurring between flower production and seed germination. Thus, even though macroevolutionary studies have provided insights about the evolution of flowers and seeds, there are numerous questions than remain unaddressed. By bringing together recent advances in research of key stages in the life cycle of angiosperms (flowering, fruiting, seed dispersal, persistence, germination), this symposium will provide an integrated view of angiosperm sexual reproduction and stimulate further research in the field. To achieve this, the symposium will cover topics related to the evolution of flowers, fruits and seeds by exploring their morphological and functional diversity, including paleobotanical evidence, and conducting macroevolutionary studies across lineages and biogeographical regions. The symposium will be the ideal setting to reinforce the constitution of research networks and initiatives to develop tools for the generation, archiving, and retrieval of data necessary to elucidate angiosperm reproductive biology as a whole from flowers to seeds.

Speaker 1: name: Rocío Deanna affiliation: University of Colorado at Boulder, US; Instituto Multidisciplinario de Biología Vegetal, Argentina e-mail: rocio.deanna@colorado.edu talk title: Evolution of fruits and seeds of Solanaceae, from extinct to extant diversity

Speaker 2: name: Hervé Sauquet affiliation: Royal Botanic Gardens and Domain Trust, Sydney, Australia e-mail: herve.sauquet@botanicgardens.nsw.gov.au talk title: Evolution and diversity of reproductive structures in angiosperms

Speaker 3: name: Filip Vandelook affiliation: Botanic Garden Meise, Belgium e-mail: filip.vandelook@plantentuinmeise.be title: Embryo and seed size evolution in angiosperms

Topics (Up to three): Biogeography

Topic 2: Macroevolution

Topic 3: Reproductive Biology

Justification: This symposium will include novel and diverse views of angiosperm sexual reproduction, which would highlight the necessity of integrated studies from flowers to seeds. The multi-disciplinary scope of the symposium bridges the study of morphological and functional traits, and merges field and laboratory-based studies with comparative approaches. The symposium will present advances in the growth of large-scale, open-science databases of trait data. We are interested that the symposium incorporates diversity in speakers, as well as in research topics (Biogeography/Macroevolution/Reproductive Biology), that is why we are considering gender equity, diverse backgrounds, academic stages and geographic coverage (3 continents).