Date: 2‒3 July 2024
Location: Online (by Zoom)
Hosted By: The Palaeontological Association
Organised By: ALA Johnson and J-F Cudennec (University of Derby), EM Harper (University of Cambridge), JAI Hennissen (British Geological Survey), RJ Twitchett and TS White (Natural History Museum, London)
General Contact Email: ecologicaluniformitarianism@palass.org
Overview
Following the success of a pump-priming event in 2022 (Ecological uniformitarianism – key or lock? + YouTube video-recording), this online meeting will reunite a diverse community of Earth and Life scientists to discuss the stability of ecological niches. Earth scientists have long taken the (pseudo-)uniformitarian view that niches are stable and hence that the environments of fossil organisms can be interpreted from the ecology of modern counterparts. Niche change is, however, demonstrated by many invasive species. Whether niches are stable or labile has major implications not only for interpreting past environments but also for predicting future communities in the face of ongoing climate and other environmental change. A diverse set of talks (listed below) will address niche stability/lability over various taxa and timescales. Publication of the proceedings is planned as an online special issue of the Association’s journals. You can download the revised poster for this meeting by clicking the link below:
Participation
The organisers are keen for participants from the wide range of scientific fields to which the topic relates and from economically disadvantaged as well as advantaged backgrounds. To the latter end, funds generously contributed by the Quaternary Research Association will be used to provide a waiver of the £20 registration fee for participants from low and middle income countries (note the widened eligibility), as defined by the World Bank. If you are eligible, please send an email to the meeting's address (see above), giving your name, country and preferred email address for confirmation of registration. You will not need to go through the standard registration procedure.
Further information
Registration
Register by clicking on the link below. For those without a fee-waiver the fee is £20 until 7 June 2024. Thereafter the fee is £25. Registrants will shortly receive a virtual abstract book by email.
Guidance to presenters
Talks should be in English and accompanied by a PowerPoint presentation. Slot times and lengths are as agreed with presenters and are listed below. Please allow about 5 minutes (30 minute slots) or 3 minutes (shorter slots) for questions at the end of your talk. PowerPoint presentations may be in either 16:9 or 4:3 format, although the former is preferred. Please submit your PowerPoint slides to Jan Hennissen (janh@bgs.ac.uk) by 30th June at the very latest for incorporation into a complete back-up slide deck. It is important that we have this in case there are problems sharing from individual computers. Please make sure your presentation is Windows PC-compatible for this eventuality. Either supply your slides to Jan as an email attachment or by WeTransfer. Presentations will be stored on a secure drive to ensure confidentiality of unpublished materials that may be included.
Conduct of the meeting
The meeting will be recorded and the video placed on the Association’s YouTube channel. Participants are expected to comply with the Code of Conduct for Palaeontological Association Meetings.
Manuscript submission
It is intended to publish papers relating to the meeting in either Palaeontology or Papers in Palaeontology, subject to the usual review process. Accepted papers will be collected into a ‘virtual’ issue (see this example). Manuscripts must be submitted by 6 September 2024, in accordance with the Information for Authors.
Schedule of the meeting (BST times = UTC + 1 hour)
Tuesday 2 July
14.00‒14.10: Andrew Johnson (University of Derby)—Welcome, opening remarks and housekeeping
14.15‒14.45: Andrew Townsend Peterson (University of Kansas)—Fundamental ecological niches that do and do not change and what happens as a result in terms of biological diversity
14.45‒15.00: Neil Adams (Natural History Museum, London)—Dietary niche shifts and body size reduction as a terrestrial mammal response to an early Paleocene hyperthermal event
15.00‒15.30: Joanne Bennett (Australian National University)—Evolution of thermal tolerance
15.30‒16.00: David Horne (Queen Mary, University of London)—Quaternary‒Recent ostracod niche stability
16.00‒16.30: BREAK
16.30‒17.00: Sierra Petersen (University of Michigan)—When the Modern Analog mentality fails: examples relating to thermal tolerance of freshwater and marine mollusks
17.00‒17.30: Jean-François Cudennec (University of Derby)—Niche stability and change in Cenozoic bivalves
17.30‒18.00: Bruce Lieberman (University of Kansas)—Physiology, fitness, and macroevolution: Survival of the sluggish?
18.00‒18.15: Discussion
18.15‒18.30: Concluding remarks
Wednesday 3 July
14.00‒14.10: Andrew Johnson (University of Derby)—Welcome, opening remarks and housekeeping
14.15‒14.45: Kate Britton (University of Aberdeen)—Exploring ecological plasticity in Late Pleistocene ungulates using multi-isotope approaches
14.45‒15.05: Harry Dowsett (US Geological Survey)—Stability of planktic foraminiferal temperature preferences
15.05‒15.30: Malcolm Hart (University of Plymouth)—Evolution of benthic foraminifera in the 'stable' environment of the chalk facies
15.30‒16.00: Paolo Albano (Anton Dohrn Zoological Station, Naples)—The dawn of the tropical Atlantic invasion into the Mediterranean Sea
16.00‒16.30: BREAK
16.30‒17.00: Greg Dietl (Cornell University)—Ecological uniformitarianism and conservation palaeobiology
17.00‒17.15: Rafael Marquina-Blasco (University of València)—Quaternary altitudinal record for Hermann’s Tortoise (Chersine hermanni) indicates a wider ecological tolerance
17.15‒17.45: Lynn Wingard (US Geological Survey)—Species responses to change in south Florida viewed over different temporal and spatial scales
17.45‒18.15: Discussion
18.15‒18.30: Concluding remarks