Keynote Speaker:
Systematics Research in Africa: Impact for Millions | spacer spacer spacer spacer spacer spacer |
Symposium at the Evolution 2018 Meeting, Montpellier, France, August 2018
| About the Symposium:The African continent is home to an enormous amount of biodiversity, presenting significant challenges in understanding and managing resources in a manner that respects human interactions with the natural environment. A group of scientists from Kenya, Tanzania, Uganda, Australia and the United States of America have formed a coalition that seeks to utilize advanced phylogenetic, genomic and computational techniques to generate robust phylogenies to aid in understanding this biodiversity. The resulting phylogenetic understanding provides the framework that enables solutions to problems affecting millions of African people, such as food security and disease. In this symposium, we would like to highlight the amazingly innovative and impactful research that is happening on the African continent, including applications in agriculture, biodiversity and medicine. Because much of Africa systematics research has been carried out separately from "mainstream" systematics research, we believe our symposium can contribute to better integration by highlighting current work in Africa, thus providing an opportunity for new collaborations to begin. Our ultimate goal is a more inclusive, diverse, and vibrant systematics community worldwide. |
Keynote Speaker: | |
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Dr. Joseph Ndunguru, Mikocheni Agricultural Research Institute (MARI), Tanzania
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Organizers: | ||||
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Dr. Laura Boykin University of Western Australia | spacer | 
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Dr. Laura Kubatko The Ohio State University |
Oral Presentations: | ||
 | Deusdedith Mbanzibwa | "Capitalising on next generation sequencing technique to generate molecular information for viruses infecting crops in Africa: the case of common bean bean and sweet potato crops" spacer |
 | Kowiyou Yessoufou | "An evolutionary window into plant-human interactions for medicinal purposes in Benin, West Africa" spacer |
 | Nora Scarcelli | "How whole plastome phylogeny of Dioscorea genus helped to delimit yam wild relatives' complex" spacer |
 | Tigist Wondimu | "Origin and radiation of African Swertia (Gentianaceae): evidence from plastid and nuclear ribosomal DNA variation" spacer |
 | Abel Gizaw Seid | "Colonization, diversification and connectivity in the extremely fragmented African 'Sky Island' flora" spacer |
 | Christina Faust | "The genetic diversity and structure of schistosome parasite populations before and after drug administration" spacer |
Poster Presentations: | ||
 | Kelsey Glennon | "A cryptic polyploid lineage within the African plant species Helichrysum odoratissimum and potential implications for traditional medicine" spacer |
| Tonny Kinene | "Varying rates of evolution in the Heat Shock Protein 90 (HSP90) gene of the Bemisia tabaci species complex" spacer |
| James Wainaina | "Phylogenomics and evolutionary insights of Bean common mosaic necrosis virus and Cowpea aphid borne mosaic virus" spacer |
| Marie Claire Veranso-Libalah | "Phylogeny and systematics of African Melastomateae (Melastomataceae)" spacer |
 | Ishtia Abdalla | "Phylogeny and historical biogeography of the genus Nemopterella Bank, 1910 (Neuroptera: Nemopteridae: Nemopterinae) from South Africa" spacer |
 | Thinhinan KHEDIM | "Diversity and evolution of the genus Allium L. (Amaryllidaceae) in Algeria (North Africa): karyosystematic review and new insights on endemism" spacer |
 | Aurore Rimlinger | "Incipient domestication of an indigenous tree species? Interplay between intensification strategies, local cultivation practices and intraspecific diversity of safou tree (Dacryodes edulis) in West Cameroon" spacer |
