Evolution and Biodiversity:

The evolutionary basis of biodiversity and its potential for adaptation to global change

The organisers of the Spanish meeting of the European Platform for Biodiversity Research Strategy (EPBRS) and the BioStrat project coordinators invite you to participate in the electronic conference “Evolution and Biodiversity: The evolutionary basis of biodiversity and its potential for adaptation to global change”. The results of the e-conference will be presented and discussed at the EPBRS delegates meeting in Mallorca , Spain on the 12 th – 15 th April 2010.

Evolutionary processes are ultimately responsible for the generation and maintenance of biodiversity. However, they are rarely considered in management actions and policies aimed at preserving it and making use of the resources and services it provides. Forthcoming policies aimed at reducing the current loss of biodiversity and facing the challenges posed by its interaction with climate change, food security or health security would benefit considerably from an explicit incorporation of current knowledge on evolutionary processes. From a proactive stand, the identification of existing knowledge gaps and sources of uncertainty that limit the incorporation of evolutionary knowledge to biodiversity and global change policies, and addressing them through targeted research programs, would enhance the potential success of such policies.

The e-conference will address three topics, one per week of the conference:

• The evolutionary basis of biodiversity: strategies to manage and preserve evolutionary processes, and their likely impact on biodiversity
• Evolutionary responses to anthropogenic pressures, including global change
• Evolution in complex systems and co-evolutionary networks: managing complexity in the face of uncertainty

This e-conference aims to identify research priorities on the interplay between evolutionary processes, biodiversity patterns and the effect of anthropogenic pressures upon them.

The e-conference will be chaired by Joachim Mergeay, Research Institute for Nature and Forest (INBO), Belgium.

For further information and for a list of confirmed keynote contributors please click here.

To subscribe to the e-conference please click here. Please remember that if you subscribed to the last e-conference, you do not need to repeat the subscription process. You will automatically be logged in for this e-conference. If you have any trouble subscribing to the webboard or to particular sessions please do not hesitate to contact Fiona Grant fian@ceh.ac.uk. If you wish to unsubscribe to the e-conference please contact Fiona Grant fian@ceh.ac.uk

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