Past plant diversity, climate change and mountain conservation

The PAGES-endorsed conference "Past plant diversity, climate change and mountain conservation" will be held from 11-15 March 2019 in Cuenca, Ecuador.

Venue

Universidad de Cuenca
Avenida 12 de Abril y Avenida Loja
Cuenca

Description

This international conference will host the last meeting of a project funded by Belmont Forum that aims to evaluate the impact of climate change on mountain species. This project is expected to forecast potential impacts of future climate change from different perspectives and to consider the importance of microrefugia to the medium-term persistence of biodiversity.

Topics on climate include past and future changes, palaeoecology, ancient and modern DNA, vegetation modeling, agent-based modeling and initiatives for the conservation of mountain tree species.

This conference will bring together scientists from different disciplines (vegetation and climate modelers, geneticists (modern and fossil DNA), palaeoecologists, palaeoclimatologists, conservation biologists) as well as stakeholders. The "backbone discipline" of the conference is the past climate changes and their future impact on the ecosystems.

Aim

The aim of this final conference is two fold: (1) to present the results obtained so far to a wider community and (2) to share with scientists, working on similar topics, ideas and initiatives for species conservation in mountain areas.

Program overview

Session 1: Past and future climate changes
Session 2: Potential role of microrefugia in preserving threatened species
Session 3: Genetics in conservation biology
Session 4: Model simulations of potential habitats for threatened species
Session 5: Practical scenarios for mountain forest conservation

Keynote speakers

- Gabriel Kooperman University of California, USA
- Mark Bush, FIT, Florida, USA
- Pierre Taberlet, LECA, Grenoble, France
- Veerle Vanacker, Université de Louvain, Belgium

Sponsors

More than 10 local organizations in Cuenca (including the University of Cuenca) will sponsor the meeting. Please see: https://www.vulpes-ecuador2019.com/sponsors

Abstracts and poster submission

Abstracts for oral presentations are due 15 February 2019 and 28 February for posters: https://www.vulpes-ecuador2019.com/abstracts

Registration

Registration closes 28 February 2019: https://www.vulpes-ecuador2019.com/registration

Further information

Contact the conference organizer Rachid Cheddadi: vulpes.ecuador.2019@gmail.com

or go to the official website: www.vulpes-ecuador2019.com