His taxonomic work is on the Zingiberales, a group of tropical plants that includes gingers, bananas, and heliconias. Kress received his education at Harvard University (B.A., 1973) and Duke University (Ph.D., 1981), where he studied tropical biology, ethnobotany, evolution, and ecology. He is currently Co-Chair of the Earth BioGenome Project, an international effort to generate complete genomes for all species of plants, animals, and fungi on the planet. He was Curator of Botany for over thirty years and formerly served as the Interim Under Secretary for Science at the Smithsonian and Director of Science in the Grand Challenges Consortia at the institution. John Kress is Distinguished Scientist and Curator Emeritus at the Smithsonian’s National Museum of Natural History. These ecological interactions between the plants and pollinators reveal their intricate patterns of evolutionary history and also how these species may respond to today’s rapidly changing planet. I will focus on one charismatic group of neotropical plants in the genus Heliconia and the ecology of the hummingbird pollinators with which they have coevolved. The quantification of species diversity, which requires both correct identification and resolved evolutionary patterns, is a prerequisite to accurately interpret their interactions. The complexity of life on Earth is a product of the diversity of species multiplied by the diversity of their interactions.
The complexity of nature: A coevolutionary mosaic of plants and animals in the Neotropics For more information, see the Call for Posters webpage.
Abstracts must be submitted electronically before 21 April 2023.
#Phoenix botanical garden speakers registration#
The event is free there is no registration fee to attend the Symposium.ĬALL FOR POSTERS: Poster presentations will be held during the evening reception at the U.S. We request all attendees, both in-person and virtual, to register. Stull - Plant migrations and the assembly of the Neotropical flora: insights from the Mesoamerican-eastern North American biogeographic disjunction patternģ:15 pm – Alejandra Vasco - Accelerating lineage discovery to document Neotropical fern diversityĤ:15 pm – Paola Pedraza-Peñalosa - Documenting the flora of a diversity hotspot: Las Orquideas National Park, ColombiaĦ:00 pm – Reception and poster session at USBG (in-person only) Alejandra Jaramillo - Piper evolution and ecology: A peppery tale from the understoryĢ:45 pm – Gregory W. John Kress - The complexity of nature: A coevolutionary mosaic of plants and animals in the Neotropicsġ:45 pm – M. Tentative schedule (all times are Eastern Daylight Time):ġ:00 pm – Opening remarks and the presentation of the José Cuatrecasas Medal for Excellence in Tropical Botanyġ:15 pm – W. The talks will be held at NMNH in Washington DC, and an evening reception and poster session will take place at USBG. The Symposium will be in a hybrid format with both online and in-person attendance. José Cuatrecasas, a pioneering botanist who spent many years working in the Department of Botany at the Smithsonian and devoted his career to plant exploration and taxonomy in tropical South America. In addition, the 20th José Cuatrecasas Medal for Excellence in Tropical Botany will be awarded at the Symposium to an international scholar who has contributed significantly to advancing the field of tropical botany. Speakers will include scientists who explore this incredible flora and contribute to our understanding of how and why there are so many plant species in tropical America. The 20th Smithsonian Botanical Symposium will feature current research on the natural history, geographic diversity, evolution, and conservation of plants in the Neotropics. The origins, evolution, and even species composition of the Neotropical flora are far from understood and are the subject of active research in the face of ongoing habitat loss and climate change. The tropical regions of America-the Neotropics-have long intrigued explorers and scientists who sought to study, catalog, and explain their incredible biodiversity, which includes more than 100,000 plant species. The National Museum of Natural History (NMNH) and the United States Botanic Garden (USBG) will host the 20th Smithsonian Botanical Symposium, “ New Horizons in the Study of Neotropical Floras,” on. 20 thSmithsonian Botanical Symposium: Exploring Plants in the Neotropics
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