Third symposium on the biology of non-weedy parasitic plants: September 12–15 2013 Namur, Belgium

The Third symposium on the biology of non-weedy parasitic plants will take place in Namur, Belgium on September 12-15 2013. The meeting will be hosted by the Université catholique de Louvain.

Following the tradition of the symposia on the biology of non-weedy hemiparasitic Orobanchaceae (Wageningen 2004, České Budějovice 2008), we decided to broaden the thematic range to all haustorial parasites due to similar methodologies used in research and many parallels in the biology of unrelated groups of parasitic plants. We welcome all presentations dealing with any aspect of the biology (physiology, ecology, evolution, etc.) of both root- and stem-parasitic plants, except for studies focused on the impact of weedy parasitic plants on agriculture and possible ways to eradicate them. However, contributions dealing with the fundamental biology of these plants (e.g.Striga spp. or Arceuthobium spp.) will be appreciated. We also call for presentations discussing conservation issues and applications of parasitic plants e.g. in ecological engineering and restoration.

The research on parasitic plants has made significantly progress since the last Symposium was held in České Budějovice in 2008 and the subject is becoming more and more popular. Hence, the upcoming meeting will be an ideal opportunity to discuss recent advancements and to establish contacts among different research teams. It will be also a nice opportunity to continue and reinforce the tradition of these meetings held once every few years.

Renate Wesselingh and Jakub Těšitel, the organizers

For more information and registration details, please click on the following link:

http://botanika.prf.jcu.cz/hemiparasites/index.htm

The Synopsis of Plant Conservation

Welcome to my new blog on plant conservation!

1. I'm currently collating and summarising evidence on plant conservation for a reference book (the Synopsis) aimed at conservation practitioners. For me, this is valuable because it bridges the gap between academic research and practice that has resulted from most research being published in journals that have expensive subscriptions, often referred to as a 'paywall'.  For more information on the University of Cambridge group that came up with the idea, have a look at the Conservation Evidence website - there are conservation synopses for bees and birds already and they are free to download.

   
   

   In addition to gleaning important information on what management interventions work and where, the Plant Conservation Synopsis is an excellent way for me to build networks in the botanical community.  However, I've found that summarising endless academic papers is getting a little dry, particularly so when the papers don't have a picture of the plants the authors are trying to conserve.  So, this blog is an attempt to curate images of threatened plants or people doing practical plant conservation in an attempt to bring my Synopsis to life. I'll also be providing information on meetings, training and funding calls that are relevant to plant conservationists.

   
   

   Using this blog

   
   

   I intend to feature plant conservation papers every time I summarise one so please check the site regularly if you're interested in plant conservation generally. Alternatively, you can subscribe using the box to the right of the posts if you want to receive email updates.  If you use twitter, please follow me @SarahEDalrymple to get alerts or find me on LinkedIn or Academia.edu where I will post links to the blog when there's new material.

   
   

   Once you're on the site, please use the labels (right hand menu) to find studies of the effects of different management interventions.  I will be using a slightly adapted version of the IUCN Conservation Actions list to generate label names and will also label a post if it is a 'news' item i.e. information on meetings, training opportunities  or funding calls.

   
   

   Finally, if you would like a publication, meeting, training event or funding call mentioning in the blog, please email me and let me know: s.e.dalrymple@ljmu.ac.uk.

   
   

   
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