Biogeography down under: New Zealand and the southern ocean

Organizer: Ceridwen Fraser, University of Otago, Dunedin, New Zealand

A series of short talks from different researchers (yes, all meeting together in the same room!) giving highlights of some of the cool biogeographic research being done in New Zealand. The session covered a wide range of topics including marine gastropod dispersal, human movement across the Pacific, the isolation of Antarctica, and the biogeographic impacts of large-scale disturbances such as earthquakes.

Speakers include:

Prof. Lisa Matisoo-Smith (Department of Anatomy) – Reconstructing the human settlement of the Pacific: Lessons learned from a cross/interdisciplinary approach

Assoc. Prof. Ceridwen Fraser (Department of Marine Science) – Biological dispersal to the Antarctic

Prof. Hamish Spencer (Department of Zoology): Contrasting phylogeography of the limpet genera Nacella and Siphonaria in the Southern Ocean

Dr. Felix Vaux & Elahe Parvizi: Genomic footprints of coastal earthquakes in New Zealand

Dr. Kirsten Donald (Department of Zoology): The biogeography of S. Pacific topshells: realizing Humboldt’s vision of connecting the present with the past

Duncan Nicol (School of Geography): Biogeography and Evolution of the Celmisia Cass. subgenus Lignosae (Asteraceae: Astereae)