The Comparative - Phylogenetic Method Of Reconstructing Evolutionary History

MORPH-supported travel grants are available ($250 each) for students (graduate and undergraduate), postdoctorals, and junior faculty at U.S. universities to attend this symposium.

Organizers

William (Ned) Friedman

Location

The Botanical Society of America
California State University - Chico
Chico, CA
July 31st, 2006

Description

Briefly, this symposium will involve developmental biologists with expertise in phylogenetic theory and phylogeneticists with expertise in structural character evolution.  The goal will be to examine how comparative developmental information (from molecular to cell biological to organ and organismic levels) from diverse plant taxa can be analyzed to infer evolutionary history.  What are the current limitations of phylogenetic inference and hypothesis generation for developmental transformations?  Which key groups of land plants are currently best situated (from phylogenetic and molecular genetic perspectives) to be used as “model systems” to examine long-standing questions of evolutionary homology and character transformations?  What are the major challenges and questions that remain unresolved with regard to the origin and evolution of the major organs, tissues and developmental processes in plants?

Speakers

1. Ecological Diveristy of Angiospersm: why do major clades differ?
   (abstract)
   --David Ackerly, Professor, Department of Integrative Biology, Berkeley, USA.
   
   
2. Lycopsids versus the other vascular land-plants: contrasting solutions to similar problems
   (abstract)
   --William DiMichele, Curator of Fossil Plants, Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History, USA.
   --Richard Bateman, Professor, Botany Department, London Natural History Museum, UK.
   
   
3. Early functional and ecological evolution of xylem vessels angiosperms and Gnetales; a common theme?
   (abstract)
   --Taylor Feild, Assistant Professor, Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Tulane University, USA.
   --Uwe Hacke, Assistant Professor, Department of Biology, University of Utah, USA.
   
   
4. The genertion gap: assessing homology and interpreting developmental evolution within the complex life cycle of land plants
   (abstract)
   --William (Ned) Friedman, Professor, Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, University of Colorado, USA.
   
   
5. A molecular perspective on the reconstruction of morphological evolution
   (abstract)
   --Elena Kramer,Professor, Department of Organismic and Evolutionary Biology, Harvard, USA.
   
   
6. The evolution of phytochrome-mediated seedling development in seed plants
   (abstract)
   --Sarah Mathews, Arnold Arboretum of Harvard, USA.
   

Hosted by University of Colorado, Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology