BioSystematics. Berlin 2011

BioSystematics Berlin 2011

First Circular
21 – 27 February 2011
www.biosyst-berlin-2011.de
The Botanic Garden and Botanical Museum at the Freie Universität Berlin (BGBM) and the Museum für Naturkunde, Leibniz Institute for Research on Evolution and Biodiversity at the Humboldt-Universität Berlin (MfN), are pleased to be the host institutions for the 7th International Congress of Systematic and Evolutionary Biology (ICSEB VII), 12th Annual Meeting of the Society of Biological Systematics (Gesellschaft für Biologische Systematik, GfBS), and 20th International Symposium “Biodiversity and Evolutionary Biology” of the German Botanical Society (DBG).
The scope of this joint congress is to bring together evolutionary biologists and systematists working on plant, animal, and microscopical organisms to discuss and debate topics of common interest. The focus will be on innovative and forward-looking ideas, concepts, and methods in systematic and evolutionary biology. It will also provide a unique opportunity to highlight topics of biodiversity. We hope to attract many researchers from different fields to this congress and look forward to welcoming you in Berlin in February 2011.

Venue
The congress will be held at the Seminaris Science & Conference Center conveniently located in
Berlin-Dahlem, on the campus of the Freie Universität Berlin.

Topics
The congress will open with a plenary lecture on Paradigm Shifts in Systematics and Evolution.
Further plenary talks will be on the following five major conference topics:
• Trends in Taxonomy
• Evolution and Organisms in Time and Space
• The Evolutionary Thought: History, Philosophy and Society
• Evolution of Form and Function
• Inventorying and Managing Biodiversity
An evening lecture on Alexander von Humboldt’s scientific work on tropical biodiversity will be
given.

Call for Symposia
Proposals for symposia are currently being invited. For submitting a proposal, please contact the
congress office at berlin2011@bgbm.org. Proposals corresponding to the five major conference
topics are especially encouraged, but all relevant topics will be considered by the organizers.
The deadline for submission of symposia proposals is 31 May 2010.

Contributed Papers and Call for Abstracts
The contribution of papers for oral or poster presentations are encouraged. All participants
interested in presenting a scientific contribution are kindly requested to submit a one-page
abstract in English to the congress office together with their registration.
Abstract submission and registration start 1 July 2010, deadline for abstracts and early registration is 30 September 2010.

Workshops and Satellite Meetings
Pre- and post-congress workshops are planned on different topics and will be announced in the
second circular. Organizers of additional workshops and satellite meetings are welcome. Please
contact the congress office at berlin2011@bgbm.org.
Deadline for workshop proposals is 31 May 2010.

Time Schedule and Deadlines
31 May 2010 Call for workshops & symposia closes
1 July 2010 Abstract submission and online registration opens
30 September 2010 Deadline for submission of abstracts and early registration
21 – 27 February 2011 Congress

For individual pre-registration please contact the congress office. Your coordinates will be added
to our mailing-list.

Organizing Committee
Prof. Dr. Thomas Borsch (IOSEB President, BGBM)
Dr. Regine Jahn (GfBS President, IOSEB Secretary General, BGBM)
Prof. Dr. Dirk Albach (Section ‘Biodiversity and Evolutionary Biology’ of DBG, Speaker)
Dr. Peter Giere (GfBS Council, MfN)
Prof. Dr. Werner Greuter (IOSEB Council, BGBM)
Dr. Christoph Häuser (MfN)
Jana Hoffmann (GfBS Council, MfN)
Dr. Cornelia Löhne (BGBM)
Dr. Diana Mutz (Dahlem Centre of Plant Sciences, DCPS)
Dr. Michael Ohl (GfBS Secretary General, MfN)

Congress Office and Contact
Birgit Nordt, berlin2011@bgbm.org
Mailing address:
Botanic Garden and Botanical Museum Berlin-Dahlem, Freie Universität Berlin
Königin-Luise-Str. 6-8, 14195 Berlin, Germany
Phone: ++49/30/838 50 383, Fax: ++ 49/30/841 729 52

Becas disponibles mediante el programa CNPq (Brasil) + TWAS 2010

CNPq-TWAS FELLOWSHIPS PROGRAMMES
2010 CALL FOR APPLICATIONS

Young scientists from developing countries (other than Brazil) are invited to apply to the 2010 CNPq- TWAS Fellowships programmes.
The fellowships offered by the CNPq-TWAS Fellowships programmes allow scientists from developing countries (other than Brazil) to study or to do research in natural sciences in Brazil and then to return home to continue their careers.
The 2010 CNPq-TWAS Fellowships programmes offer the following types of fellowships:

- Full-time postgraduate/doctorate fellowships: The CNPq-TWAS Postgraduate Fellowships are tenable at research institutions in Brazil for a period of up to 48 months and are awarded to students from developing countries (other than Brazil) to enable them to pursue studies leading towards a PhD degree in the natural sciences.
- Sandwich postgraduate/doctorate fellowships: The TWAS-CNPq Sandwich Postgraduate Fellowships are tenable at research institutions in Brazil for a period of a minimum duration of 6 months, renewable for up to a maximum of 12 months, and are awarded to students from developing countries (other than Brazil) to enable them to develop part of their PhD course in the natural sciences in Brazil. Under the sandwich programme, applicants must be registered for a PhD degree in their home country.
- Postdoctoral fellowships: The TWAS-CNPq Postdoctoral Fellowships are tenable at research institutions in Brazil for a minimum period of 6 months to a maximum period of 12 months. They are awarded to scientists from developing countries (other than Brazil) to enable them to pursue postdoctoral research in the natural sciences.
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READ MORE ::>>

Picante's coming out party

The EEB & flow: Picante's coming out party

.... a new R package, picante has been created by Steve Kembel and colleagues which runs many of the same routines as in phylocom, but in the R framework, allowing one to tie these analyses in better with other, non-phylogenetic tests. Picante also has a number of features and tests not found in phylocom, including tests of phylobetadiversity and phylogenetic signal using Blomberg’s K.

LEER MAS ::>>

Beca para Tesis Doctoral en filogenia de crustáceos decápodos ibéricos

Propuesta de beca/contrato para realizacion de Tesis Doctoral - Puerto Real

El proyecto de investigación: “Aplicación de técnicas morfológicas y moleculares en la identificación de estados larvarios planctónicos de crustáceos decápodos ibéricos”(CGL2009-11225) ha sido financiado por el Ministerio de Ciencia e Innovación (Plan Nacional I+D+I), y se desarrollará de enero de 2010 a diciembre de 2012. En el contexto de este proyecto se oferta la posibilidad de solicitar una beca/contrato FPI para realizar una Tesis Doctoral.  
El objetivo principal de este proyecto es optimizar la aplicación de técnicas moleculares, en concreto el análisis de secuencias de ADN mitocondrial, conjuntamente con técnicas morfológicas, para facilitar la correcta identificación de las megalopas de los braquiuros ibéricos colectadas en el plancton y, posteriormente, poder realizar descripciones detalladas de la morfología de las mismas. Las nuevas descripciones junto con las ya existentes permitirán elaborar una clave ilustrada, dirigida a investigadores y técnicos, que facilite la correcta identificación de estos organismos tan importantes en las poblaciones planctónicas. Así mismo se realizarán estudios de filogenia molecular en los taxa (superfamilias, familias o géneros) que están bien representados en la Península Ibérica, y de los que ya existen datos para especies de otras áreas. Esto ayudará a conocer las relaciones filogenéticas, y en su caso modificar la sistemática, de algunos grupos hasta ahora poco estudiados, así como revisar la validez taxonómica de algunas especies. 
La realización de esta Tesis Doctoral implicará el uso tanto de técnicas tradicionales en taxonomía y filogenia (estudio de los caracteres morfológicos de adultos y larvas), como el de técnicas moleculares, particularmente el análisis de secuencias de ADN mitocondrial. Será necesario realizar periódicamente trabajo de campo, colecta de larvas en el plancton, así como trabajo diario de laboratorio. 

Se busca por tanto un/una candidat@ con licenciatura en Biología o Ciencias del Mar, con fuerte motivación por la investigación científica. Con disponibilidad para viajar tanto por España como por el extranjero, e incluso realizar estancias breves en Centros de Investigación de otros países.Se valorará un buen nivel de inglés (hablado y escrito), conocimientos previos de fundamentos de taxonomía y filogenia, experiencia previa de laboratorio en técnicas moleculares básicas, posesión de carnets de conducir y de buceador, y habilidad para el dibujo. 

El proyecto se desarrollará en el Instituto de Ciencias Marinas de Andalucía, CSIC, situado en Puerto Real, Cádiz (www.icman.csic.es). Para más información contactar con José A. Cuesta (email)

OSU Cladistics Workshop, 2010

OSU Cladistics Workshop: "workshop on phylogenetic methods"

The Ohio State University will conduct its fourth workshop on phylogenetic methods in Columbus, Ohio, June 28 - July 2, 2010. The purpose is to provide further instruction and experience to students who already have some familiarity with phylogenetic analysis. The format is a series of lectures and laboratory sessions that will give students the opportunity to gain a deeper understanding of the logic of the phylogenetic method, parsimony, maximum likelihood and Bayesian approaches, tree search strategies, measures of support, DNA alignment, morphological character coding, and analysis of multiple and large data sets.

Lecturers are expected to include Cyrille D'Haese (Muséum National d'Histoire Naturelle, Paris), Kevin Nixon (Cornell University), Christopher P. Randle (Sam Houston State University) and John W. Wenzel (Ohio State University). The software used for the course will include WinClada, Encino, Mesquite, TNT, PAUP*, Clustal, POY, RaxML, GARLI, and MrBayes, and will be distributed with a course packet and workbook. You can see the planned syllabus here.

Cost for the workshop, is $1200. The workshop will be limited to 40 participants. Twenty Fellowships will be made available on a competitive basis. Fellowships cover lodging in a bloc of rooms rented by the workshop and $600 of fees paid directly to the workshop. Thus Fellows will be responsible for only a workshop cost of $600, the cost of transportation to and from the Ohio State campus, and meals. Other enrollees will be given a list of local motels that are close to campus.

An application consists of a completed application form, a current CV for the student, and a letter from the student’s advisor regarding the relevance of the course to the student’s career goals. Applications are due May 15, 2009, and notification of acceptance will begin by May 25. Please email all application materials to osuphylo@osu.edu. Further information may be obtained by emailing the same address..

This workshop is sponsored by the Ohio State University Museum of Biological Diversity (http://mbd.osu.edu), Department of Evolution Ecology and Organismal Biology (http://eeob.osu.edu) Organized by Marymegan Daly, John V. Freudenstein, and John W. Wenzel.