Dear colleagues,

the 61st Phylogenetic Symposium with the topic “Reticulate Evolution” will take place at the University of Göttingen from November 22-24, 2019.

Ever since Darwin’s theory of evolution suggested a common ancestry of all life on earth phylogenetic trees have been used to visualize its relationships. However, evolutionary histories cannot always be adequately represented as bifurcating phylogenetic trees. Prime example is the symbiogenic origin of eukaryotes from the merger of an archaean and a bacterium. Besides symbiogenesis, other processes such as horizontal gene transfer, hybridization, divergence with gene flow result in reticulation of phylogenetic trees, the origination of lineages through complete or partial merging of two or more ancestor lineages. Reticulate evolution is well documented across the tree of life, including many examples from plants and animals. We are looking forward to bring together experts from different backgrounds to summarize recent progress in the field of reticulate evolution.

Confirmed speakers (in alphabetical order):

Eric Bapteste (Université Pierre et Marie Curie, France)
Marta Barluenga (Museo Nacional de Ciencias Naturales Madrid, Spain)
Mathilde Cordellier (University of Hamburg, Germany)
Judith Fehrer (Academy of Sciences of the Czech Republic, Prague, Czech Republic)
Christoph Oberprieler (University of Regensburg, Germany)
Bengt Oxelman (University of Gothenburg, Sweden)
Pamela S. Soltis (University of Florida, USA)
Alexander Suh (Uppsala University, Sweden)

Registration for this symposium is free of charge, but we will charge for the participation at the conference dinner. Please register via email to uschach@gwdg.de. Poster presentations are welcome and the deadline for abstract submission to the same email address is October 31, 2019. Further information and updates will be available at:

https://www.uni-goettingen.de/de/phylogenetic+symposium+2019/605388.html