Organizer: Tetsukazu Yahara
All traits of all species in a biological community have been changed and
shaped through the history of evolution. Furthermore, coexistence of those
species haŁó been established through the history of migration and
differentiation. Thus, nothing in community ecology makes sense except in
the light of evolutionary history.ˇˇˇˇHowever, it is rather recent that
evolutionary and phylogenetic approaches have been applied to community
ecology.ˇˇSome pioneering works have succeeded in combining phylogenetic
approaches with ecological analyses to demonstrate phylogenetic under- and
overdispersion in community samples, to discriminate in-situ or ex-situ
evolution of niche use, and to test effects of migration, speciation and
extinction upon diversity of a local community. The purpose of this
symposium is to overview recent progress through cutting-edge studies in
phylogenetic approaches to community ecology and to discuss perspectives
for future development in this promising research field.
Phylogenetic approach to community ecology is important not only for
deepening our understanding of community ecology but also developing
conservation strategy for global and local biodiversity. Recently,
DIVERSITAS organized a new core project "bioGENESIS" to increase the
representation of evolutionary biologists in DIVERSITAS activities. Science
Plan of the bioGENESIS projects includes tasks for assessing the
evolutionary history of biotic assembly and the evolutionary factors
shaping the distribution of diversity. This symposium is being organized
as a part of activity of this new core project.