ID: 613 / 52

Category: Symposia

Track: Pending

Proposed Symposium Title: BIOGEOGRAPHIC HISTORY AND ECOLOGICAL PROCESSES OF THE ASIA-AUSTRALASIA FLORISTIC EXCHANGE

Abstract: Interchanges among biotas have shaped and are continuing to shape the global biodiversity, and the biotic exchange between Asia and Australasia is one of the most attractive topics. The rich floras of Asia and Australasia converge at the unique Wallacea transition zone, which is noted for the well-known Wallace's Line and its outstanding tropical biodiversity. The Asian plate to the north with a Laurasian ancestry, the Australian plate to the south with a Gondwanan ancestry, and a chain of islands across Malesia after the collision of the Asian and Australian plates, all together constitute a complex geologic background. The region provides a natural laboratory to study the biogeographic history and underlying ecological processes of floristic exchange across continents through deep time. Since the early 19th century, critical insights have been proposed concerning the extent, timing, and routes of the Asia-Australasia floristic exchange, as well as characteristics of the exchanged elements and ecological filters of the exchange processes. This symposium will invite colleagues to share their broad perspectives and research results, from the early exchanges dated to the supercontinent, to the recent affinities during the Quaternary glacial fluctuation, and even the invasive biotic dynamics in the Anthropocene. The symposium is expected to bring together colleagues with expertise in molecular systematics, paleobotany, geology, and paleoclimatology and will highlight the novel contributions with recent innovative methods.

Speaker 1: • Name: Zhiduan Chen • Institutional Affiliation: Institute of Botany, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100093, China • E-mail: zhiduan@ibcas.ac.cn • Tentative Talk Title: Biogeographic history and ecological processes of the Asia-Australasia floristic exchange: History, progress and prospect

Speaker 2: • Name: Jun Wen • Institutional Affiliation: Department of Botany, National Museum of Natural History, MRC 166, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, D.C. 20013-7012, USA • Email: wenj@si.edu • Tentative Talk Title: Timing and mode of evolution of Asian and Australasian biogeographic exchanges in seed plants

Speaker 3: • Name: Russell Barrett • Institutional Affiliation: National Herbarium of New South Wales, Australian Botanic Garden, Locked Bag 6002, Mount Annan 2567, New South Wales, Australia • E-mail: Russell.Barrett@rbgsyd.nsw.gov.au • Tentative Talk Title: The Sahul-Sunda floristic exchange: patterns in Australian tropical plant diversity

Topics (Up to three): Biogeography / Phylogeography

Topic 2: Macroevolution

Topic 3: Floristics

Justification: The Asia-Australasia floristic exchanges have long attracted the attention from evolutionary biologists with its complex geologic background and remarkable associated biodiversity. A symposium gathering broad discussions will facilitate and stimulate the research on floristic exchanges between Asia and Australasia and therefore advance the reconstruction of this unique biogeographic pattern. Comprehensive studies on this case of biotic interchange are also expected to shed light on further collaborations and facilitate plans of biodiversity conservation and biosecurity.