69. Gondwanan Rainforests

Organised by Robert Kooyman (Macquarie U) and Peter Wilf (Pennsylvania State U), to be held at Macquarie University. First meeting 31 July to 4 August 2010

PARTICIPANTS INCLUDE Peter Wilf, Pennsylvania State U (USA) Robert Kooyman, Macquarie U Taylor Feild, U Tennessee (USA) Viviana Barreda, Museo Argentino de Ciencias Naturales (Argentina) Tim Brodribb, U Tasmania Greg Jordan, U Tasmania Darren Crayn, James Cook U Kale Sniderman, Monash U Maurizio Rossetto, Royal Botanic Gardens Sydney Peter Weston, Royal Botanic Gardens Sydney Mark Westoby, Macquarie U Chris Lusk, Macquarie U Andrew Allen, Macquarie U Raymond Carpenter, U Adelaide

GOAL

Working Group 69 aims to improve understanding of Gondwanan rainforest evolution by creating more substantial linkages between neo- and paleo-botany and ecology.

Background

An improved ecological, phylogenetic, and stratigraphic framework for comparing the past and present will make breakthroughs possible in interpreting fossil floras and guide new research in extant forests. Southern rainforest taxa are relicts of much greater past forest extent across Gondwana. Fossils that represent the evolution of the Southern rainforests are accumulating significantly but are often found quite far from modern analog environments and biomes. The Working Group will compile an up-to-date list of relevant fossil occurrences and explore the potential for new tools and data from modern ecology and paleontology to inform each other in the context of community ecology, community assembly, and biogeography. Recently improved knowledge of the ecological traits of nearest living relatives allows revised consideration of habitats and lifestyles of extinct species and communities. Interpreting specific features of fossils, such as stomatal traits, estimated leaf mass per area, vein density, and characteristic herbivory will further improve interpretations. In addition, identifying major forest types and the spread of species strategies across gradients within present-day rainforests will help address whether variation in Paleogene rainforests was likely to have been organized along similar gradients.

Last Updated March 2010