Island Biology 2014 Conference

The Island Biology 2014 Conference will be held in Honolulu, Hawaii (USA) from 7 to 11 of July 2014.

This is an international conference on island Evolution, Ecology and Conservation, the first of regular meetings that will be held every 4 years in islands.

One of the highlights of the conference, besides being organized in the charismatic archipelago of Hawaii, is the establishment of the International Society for Island Biology (ISIB) and its scientific journal Island Biology. Plenary speakers include Sherwin Carlquist, Rosemarie Gillespie, Peter and Rosemary Grant, Robert Ricklefs and Peter Vitousek.

It's a promising event for all island biologists!

Deadline of abstracts : 31 january 2014

Grande Comores, 2008

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IUCN Red List of Bryophytes in islands

Bryophytes as small-sized plants are usually neglected by conservation efforts. The number of regional IUCN Red lists for bryophytes is also low compared to vascular plants. There is an increasing awareness that the vast majority of extinctions go unnoticed because they occur within small, highly neglected organisms despite representing the highest proportion of currently described species (Cardoso et al., 2011).

In her recent paper, Juana González-Mancebo (Moveclim Partner) and co-authors discussed the application of IUCN criteria to bryophytes in small and highly environmental diverse island systems and reported the first Red List for bryophytes of the Canaries which comprises 105 species. They concluded that the priority conservation should be given to freshwater habitats and cloud forests because both environments together contain 63 % of the endangered (EN) bryophytes in the Canaries.

González-Mancebo et al. 2012. Applying the IUCN Red List criteria to small-sized plants on oceanic islands: conservation implications for threatened bryophytes in the Canary Islands. Biodiversity and Conservation 21:3613–3636

Claudine Ah-Peng (Moveclim co-coordinator) and co-authors provided early this year the first IUCN Red List for Réunion (Mascarenes) liverworts and hornworts, 39 taxa of liverworts are threatened of near threatened with one species considered as regionally extinct. In Réunion, the threats that the bryoflora encounters are mainly due to human population growth leading to urbanization, habitat degradation, destruction and loss, clearing of native forest for cattle farming in the uplands and more recently moss harvesting for horticultural purposes.

Ah-Peng et al. 2012. Bryophyte Red List of Réunion (Mascarene archipelago): liverworts and hornworts. Phytotaxa 68:1-23

Based on these two recent initiatives,  a solid ground in the methodology of creating regional Red List for bryophytes is provided, which should be propagated to other oceanic islands and archipelagoes across the oceans, as IUCN Red List remain a practical tool for conservation efforts and native island systems are endangered. Locally in each archipelago, it is hoped that biodiversity managers will make use of these regional Red lists and will include bryophytes for setting the next conservation priorities.

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Vulnerable islands in the sky: Science and Management of tropical island alpine and sub-alpine ecosystems

Tropical Mountain Conference August 4-8 2012 

 James Juvik 

Department of Geography and Environmental Studies

Office of Mauna Kea Management

University of Hawai‘i at Hilo

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"The rapid disappearance of tropical alpine glaciers world-wide is stark evidence of the accelerating pace of environmental change.  Tropical alpine environments are critical ecosystems, and generally, help sustain biodiversity, biological processes, surface water provisions and carbon storage.  According to Wouter Buytaert, et al, (2011)*, tropical alpine environments are “identified as one of the most vulnerable terrestrial ecosystems to global environmental change.  Despite their vulnerability, and the importance for regional biodiversity conservation and socio-economic development, they are among the least studied and described ecosystems in the world.”

The need to study these unique ecosystems and the impact of global climate change are what prompted the idea for an international symposium in mid 2012.  The purpose of the symposium is to address and capture the current “state of knowledge” relating to these ecosystems world-wide (e.g. climate change threats, biodiversity and endangered species, alien species invasion, eco-tourism, cultural valuation, and a larger range of anthropogenic impacts and conflicts) and the various mountain management strategies currently in play.

It is anticipated that about 50 local and international contributors (a mix of both scientists and mountain managers) will be invited to the 2012 symposium. They will be expected to prepare peer reviewed contributions for presentation and subsequent publication (most likely as a special issue of a high-impact, mountain oriented academic journal).  An additional goal of the symposium is to provide impetus for establishing a Center for Tropical Alpine Studies at the University of at Hilo."

I will be taking part to this conference, and thought you will be interested by the headlines of the program:

Conference introduction (James Juvik, Christoph Kueffer and Sonia Juvik)

Session 1: High mountain climate change (Chair Wouter Buytaert)

Session 2: Evolution in mountain environment (Chair Jon Price)

Session 3: Ecosystems dynamics (Chair Shelley Krausbey)

Session 4: Mauna Koa (Chair Donna Delparte)

A post conference two-day tour will be organized to Hualalai Mountain and Hawaii Volcanoes National Park 

I will be presenting some results on sub alpine and alpine communities of bryophytes on the upslopes of Piton des Neiges volcano in session 3.

Claudine Ah-Peng

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*Buytaert, Wouter, Cuesta-Camacho, F., Tobon, C.,  2011.  Potential impacts of climate change on the environmental services of humid tropical alpine regions.  Global Ecology and Biogeography. Vol 20, Issue 1, 19-33.

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