EuroEEFG final conference: Frontiers in Ecological and Evolutionary Genomics
26-31 May, 2013, Noordwijkerhout, the Netherlands
Organiser: Paul Bodelier
Conference website
Scientific report
The current unprecedented scope of genomic information allows ecologists and evolutionary biologists to connect ecological-evolutionary questions and approaches with genomic tools and to address fundamental and exciting questions about the genomic basis of phenotypic variation, ecological interactions, adaptation to changing environments, and speciation. Moreover, metagenomic techniques are currently revolutionizing the study of microorganisms and our ability to quantify biodiversity, multitrophic organization and evolutionary change of taxonomic groups and entire ecosystems that used to be inaccessible and little understood.
The four-day conference gave an overview of the most significant scientific achievements within EuroEEFG, and provided– through a number of invited keynote speakers – a general perspective and outlook on the field of Ecological and Evolutionary Genomics. The conference was a mix of oral presentations and posters by leading experts and young scientists, organised around the three main topics Evolution and Adaptation, Response to the Environment, and Communities and Ecosystem functioning.
Understanding, managing and protecting microbial communities in aquatic and terrestrial ecosystems
10-13 February 2013, Wageningen, the Netherlands
Organisers: Sacha Krause and Paul Bodelier
Seventh International Symposium on Eco-Evolutionary Dynamics
5-7 February 2013 - Leuven, Belgium
Organiser: Luisa Orsini
Description: The research network “Eco-evolutionary dynamics” organised its seventh three-day symposium on “Eco-evolutionary Dynamics” from Tuesday 5 to Thursday 7 February 2013 at the KU Leuven downtown campus. The meeting provided a forum for researchers from the eight Belgian member laboratories, invited foreign members and interested scientists.
Junior researchers were encouraged to present their research. The meeting was open to researchers outside the network; participation was limited to 100 people. Registration was free but obligatory. Oral presentations and posters on any aspect of the interaction between ecology, evolution and sociobiology were welcome.
Contributed session at the ISME 14 - Understanding the functioning of microbes and microbial communities in their natural habitat: are we shedding light in the black box?”
23 August 2012 - Copenhagen, Denmark
Organiser: Paul Bodelier (NL)
Description: The activity was an integral part of the programme of the International Symposium on Microbial Ecology (ISME), the bi-annual meeting of the international society of microbial ecology (ISME) attended by 1500-2000 participants, thus being the most important event in microbial ecology.
The activity comprised 2 parts: contributed session and associated poster session. The contributed session contained a list of speakers from the various involved CRPs giving their view on developments in microbial ecology in their respective habitat, using results obtained within EuroEEFG to support their case. The last slot in the session was used for a general discussion.
The second part of the activity consisted of a poster session of junior EuroEEFG project members (post-docs and PhD students), presenting their EuroEEFG related work of relevance to the session. Both activities were announced within the conference programme as being ESF-EuroEEFG sponsored activities.
Symposium 12 on Plant Epigenetics
Organisers: Joop Ouborg (NL) and Oliver Bossdorf (CH)
Description: Epigenetic processes such as DNA methylation may play a greater role in phenotypic evolution than previously acknowledged. Particularly in plants, there is now increasing evidence of epigenetic inheritance, natural epigenetic variation, and environmentally-induced heritable epigenetic changes. This symposium gave an insight into some of the questions and novel findings in this new field.
Symposium 21 on Evolutionary Ecological Genomics
Organisers: Luisa Orsini (BE) and Christophe Eizaguirre (DE)
Description: Progress in ecological genomics is hindered by limited genome information in non-model species and the lack of an ecological context in genetic model species. This symposium focused on integrating cutting edge molecular biology in model and non model organisms within an evolutionary context. Our aim was to understand adaptive responses in multidimensional selection regimes in the wild.
Scientific Report (1.6 MB)
