Proposed Symposium Title: EVOLUTIONARY ECOLOGY OF PLANTS. SESSION 1
Abstract: Evolutionary Ecology is the science that either looks at micro and macroevolutionary patterns through the lenses of the ecological processes pushing evolutionary innovation, or that tries to understand ecology while explicitly considering the evolutionary relationships among species and populations. There is a wealth of traditional and cutting-edge research devoted to this area of plant biology, ranging from the disparate realms of the study of the evolution of floral traits, to understanding how plants have evolved different strategies to deal with water stress. In this symposium we aim to bring together researchers who focus on different questions within plant biology, but who share tools like the phylogenetic comparative method, population genetics, or the analysis of ecological interactions. This symposium is meant for a general audience, and thus will interest diverse attendants among IBC participants.
Speaker 1: - Rachel Spigler
- Temple University
- rachel.spigler@temple.edu
- Constraints on the evolution of floral lifespan in a mixed-mating biennial
Speaker 2: - Gaku Kudo
- Hokkaido University
- gaku@ees.hokudai.ac.jp
- Pre-dispersal seed predation as a selective force on plant mating system and reproductive traits
Speaker 3: - Conchita Alonso
- Estación Biológica de Doñana – CSIC
- conalo@ebd.csic.es
- Plant epigenetics: a contribution to phenotypic variation in changing
environments
Topics (Up to three): Ecology and Plant Communities
Topic 2: Plant, Animal, and Microbe Interactions
Topic 3: Global Change Ecology
Justification: Provided its general character, this symposium will gather the attention of an ample audience in IBC. Also, the set of speakers will be selected following diversity criteria (see e.g. diversity of genders and geographic provenances among the three potential speakers). Finally, this symposium lies at the interface of a number of IB Topics, at least 3, 10, 16, 19 and 24 (Biogeography / Phylogeography, Ecology and Plant Communities, Global Change Ecology, and Macroevolution, Plant, Animal, and Microbe Interactions, respectively).
