The Conference > Sessions

1) Island biogeography and macroecology

Island biogeographical studies have prompted research in the most disparate fields in the areas of biogeography and macroecology. At the same time, islands represent excellent natural laboratories for exploring patterns and testing mechanisms in biogeography and macroecology. This section will be dedicated to contributions dealing with the variety of approaches and issues central to island biogeography, including, for example: the species-area relationship, the influence of island characteristics on colonization and diversity, the small island effect, intra-archipelagos colonization patterns, island marine biodiversity, non-island isolates (e.g., habitat fragments, sky-islands, lakes and rivers, volcanic cones surrounded by lava fields, volcanic and karstic caves, mud volcanoes, etc.). Case studies, theoretical models, and reviews are welcome.

2) Conservation on islands

Because of their small size and isolation, islands host unique biotas with high levels of endemicity, thus contributing disproportionately to global biodiversity. Unfortunately, islands are intrinsically fragile areas and most of documented extinctions occurred on islands. Moreover, studies conducted on islands may provide information can suggest methods and approaches which could also be applied for conservation on mainland. All issues involved in biological conservation on islands are welcome in this section, with emphasis on cutting-edge research on the impact of climate change and disturbance regimes, long-term research programs, use of diachronic information for biodiversity inventories, impact of aliens, landscape transformation, and remote sensing approaches.

3) Evolution of islands and their biotas

Understanding island evolution is essential to explain their biotas. Reconstructing island origin (e.g., land bridge vs. oceanic), age, and historical transformations, is of paramount importance for developing and testing ecological and evolutionary hypotheses. Island histories are intimately associated with the evolution of their biotas, and isolated areas offer many exceptional opportunities for evolutionary studies. This section will be focused on (but not limited to) contributions dealing with island geology, paleogeography and paleoecology, in order to emphasize the role of island landscape evolution in shaping biodiversity, and with evolutionary processes in the broadest sense (adaptations, speciation, phylogenetics, etc.).

4) Island ecology

Islands offer exceptional opportunities for ecological research because of their simplified communities and unique characteristics. For example, their reduced number of species may facilitate species inventorying and islands belonging to the same archipelago may serve as replicates. On the other hand, because of their isolation, islands evolved populations and communities that may have very different characteristics from the continental counterparts. This section is dedicated to contributions exploring the role of islands in boosting research in ecological frontiers such as advanced models of population structure and dynamics, sampling strategies, species-abundance distribution, functional ecology, assembly rules, ecological filtering, disharmony, trophic ecology, ecological networks, adaptations, and island rules.

5) Humans and islands

Islands are home to million people and human density in small islands can be extremely high. Some islands were home to ancient civilizations, being uninterruptedly inhabited for thousands of years. Human presence has profoundly shaped many island landscapes. Thus, human-induced ecological transformations on islands are paradigmatic of processes and mechanisms of high general interest. Island characteristics obviously conditioned the history of human presence and the ecological trajectories of human populations. This section is devoted to contributions dealing with the influence of island features on the history, evolution, and current characteristics of human populations and societies. Particularly welcome are contributions dealing with human colonization patterns of oceanic islands, Mediterranean insular cultures, imported agricultural landscapes, sustainable development (with special reference to tourism impacts, conservation of traditional cultures, and indigenous rights).