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Biogeography, Changing Climates and Niche Evolution
Organized by David Wake, Elizabeth Hadly and David Ackerly, this colloquium was held December 11-13, 2008 in Irvine, CA. The meeting examined what lies ahead in evolutionary studies of the nature of niches of organisms in space and time one century after Joseph Grinnell laid out a vision for studying the distributions of organisms in a changing world. The two day meeting addressed the questions of how we can use new tools and methodologies, newly generated robust phylogenies, rapidly growing databases in biodiversity informatics, evidence of the impact of changing environments, and evolving perspectives on niches to predict future patterns of distribution and even evolution from the perspectives of ecology, paleontology, phylogenetics, and biodiversity informatics dealing with microbes, plants and animals and organized under four major topics:
1. Organisms, Geography, Climate and Evolution: Homage to Joseph Grinnell
2. The Distribution of Organisms and their Niches
3. Niche Evolution and Changing Environments
4. Climate Change and its Prospects
Distinctive Voices public lecture
Back to Life: How Monterey Bay was Restored to Health, Steve Palumbi (Stanford University)
Session 1: Organisms, Geography, Climate and Evolution: Homage to Joseph Grinnell
Opening Remarks and Session Chair David Wake
The Grinnellian niche: species distribution in space and time . Craig Moritz (University of California at Berkeley)
Grinnell's niche concept and its impact. Jorge Soberon (University of Kansas)
Hutchinson's duality: the once and future niche . Robert Colwell (University of Connecticut) & Thiago Rangel (University of Connecticut)
Niches, body sizes, and the disassembly of island mammal faunas. James Brown (University of New Mexico)
Session 2: The Distribution of Organisms and Their Niches
Session Chair Elizabeth Hadly
Niches, landscapes, and global change. John A. Wiens (PRBO conservation Science)
Steps towards a conceptual framework for understanding niche conservatism and evolution: theoretical explorations. Robert Holt (University of Florida)
Biophysical ecology of the niche through space and time: mechanistic species distribution modeling. Warren Porter (University of Wisconsin, Madison)
Niche Evolution, coexistence and the assembly of regional biota. David Ackerly (University of California at Berkeley)
Keynote Speaker The Future of Our Oceans, Steven Palumbi (Stanford University)
Session 3: Niche Evolution and Changing Environments
Session Chair David Ackerly
Niche conservation above the species-level. Elizabeth Hadly (Stanford University)
Environmental texture through time and its ecological consequences. Stephen T. Jackson (University of Wyoming)
Species facing range limits. Amy Angert (Colorado State University)
Retrospective niche modeling, historical stability and phylogenetic reconstruction. David Vieites (University of California at Berkeley)
Session 4: Climate Change and its Prospects
Session Chair Elizabeth Hadly
Variation in niches through space and time: a community perspective. Catherine Graham (State University of New York at Stony Brook)
Forecasting biodiversity and ecosystem changes. Niklaus E. Zimmerman (Swiss Federal Research Institute WSL)
Biotic response to recent rapid climate change. W. E. Bradshaw (University of Oregon)
Niche breadth and sensitivity to climate change. Steve Williams (James Cook University, Townsville, Australia)
Closing Remarks David Wake (University of California, Berkeley)
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