“International Conference in Landscape Genetics“, 10-12 October 2011
The conference was attended by approximately 70 researchers from all over Europe and North America. A total of 30 invited talks were presented over the two days on the subjects of landscape/seascape genetics and phylogeography. Two keynote addresses were given, the first by Olivier Francois of Université Joseph Fourier, France on predicting changes in genetic structure in response to global warming and the second given by Stuart Baird of the University of Porto, Portugal on the use of spatial coalescent methods in phylogeography. The conference covered many themes, including the latest modelling techniques to predict and measure gene flow in terrestrial and marine systems; linking disease to landscape genetics; temporal and scale issues in landscape genetics and phylogeography and the real application of landscape genetics to conservation issues to name a few.
The conference ended with a panel discussion led by Stefano Mariani of the University of Salford, UK on the upcoming challenges facing researchers and policy makers in the study of landscape genetics. These challenges included the move to next generation sequencing and the potential problems with analyses and perhaps most importantly, the issue of communicating results effectively with managers and policy makers.
