ID: 613 / 189

Category: Symposia

Track: Pending

Proposed Symposium Title: THE ORIGIN AND EVOLUTION OF MODERN PLANT DIVERSITY: INSIGHTS FROM MULTIPLE DISCIPLINES

Abstract: Modern plant diversity is unevenly distributed globally, and the processes leading to this pattern are a matter of ongoing research. Since when were floristic assemblages comparable to modern vegetation? What were driving factors shaping modern plant diversity patterns? Research progress in the past years had shed new light on questions such as those, and showed that, e.g., mountain building played an important role for the high levels of plant species diversity in the Andes; the evolution of the Asian monsoonal climate was a major factor shaping regional plant diversity; models indicate that the growth of the Tibetan Plateau contributed to the formation of subtropical evergreen forests in East Asia. Until now, many studies relating to these topics focus on limited evidence, and there is a lack of cross validation. If more evidence from different disciplines was integrated, a better understanding of the evolutionary history of modern plant diversity could be achieved. This symposium intends to fill this gap and will invite colleagues with different research backgrounds, ranging from palaeobotany, molecular phylogenetics, to modeling, and others. During this symposium, the timely exchange of ideas with cutting-edge research includes, but is not limited to, novel fossil discovery, analyses of large molecular datasets, as well as high resolution simulation. It will not only promote future international cooperation, but also improve our understanding of the history of modern plant diversity and the driving factors behind.

Speaker 1: Professor Alexandra N. Muellner-Riehl Leipzig University, Germany muellner-riehl@uni-leipzig.de Tentative Talk Title: Fossil and molecular evidence for the origin and evolution of angiosperms: insights, contradictions and possible solutions

Speaker 2: Dr. Gaurav Srivastava Birbal Sahni Institute of Palaeosciences, India gaurav_jan10@yahoo.co.in Tentative Talk Title: Paleogene monsoon and vegetation evolution in South Asia

Speaker 3: Dr. Agathe Toumoulin Masaryk University, Czech Republic agathe.toumoulin@gmail.com Tentative Talk Title: Evolution of European fossil leaf traits over the last 50 million years: what does it reflect?

Topics (Up to three): Biogeography / Phylogeography

Topic 2: Macroevolution

Topic 3: Ecology and Plant Communities

Justification: The symposium fits the scopes of the congress quite well, we believe this symposium is cutting-edge and will be of great interest for participants. Speakers in this symposium are from different disciplines such as palaeobotany, molecular phylogenetics, to modeling; moreover, they are a good mix of gender, age, and nationalities.