Scientific Program

Oral Presentation Program

SESSIONS (Organization may change based on numbers of submitted papers)

Session 1: Geology, soils, & biogeochemical cycles
Geological and pedological processes, biogeochemical cycles, mineralogy of ultramafic parent materials, soil chemical and physical characteristics, climate-edaphic relations
Session Chair: Dr. Atsushi Nakao and Dr. Guillaume Echevarria

Session 2: Biodiversity: taxonomy and systematics
Diversity of plants, fungi and associates, insects, microbes, and vertebrates in ultramafic habitats, Plant systematics and taxonomy, biogeography
Session Chairs: Dr. Takafumi Mizuno & Dr. Shota Sakaguchi

Session 3: Ecology and evolution
Ecology of plant communities, experimental ecology, cross kingdom interactions, evolutionary processes and speciation, evolutionary ecology, phylogenetic approaches to diversity
Session Chairs: Prof Robert Boyd & Dr Sandrine Isnard

Session 4: Conservation and restoration
Conservation of rare and endemic plants in ultramafic habitats, restoration of degraded serpentine habitats, in situ and ex situ conservation efforts for ultramafic plants, effects of global change on serpentine plants and their communities, use of technologies in the study of conservation approaches, threats to ultramafic habitats
Session Chairs: Prof Stefan Siebert & Prof. Sarina Claassens

Session 5: Ecophysiology, molecular biology, and genetics
Physiology of traits underlying plant adaptation, genetic basis for adaptive traits, biochemistry, experimental approaches to understanding physiological mechanisms of tolerance to trace elements, and other abiotic stressors
Session Chairs: Dr Veronika Lipánová & Prof Mark Aarts

Session 6: Metal hyperaccumulation discovery & monitoring
Discovery of new metal hyperaccumulators, physiology and genetics of metal hyperaccumulation, adaptive significance of metal hyperaccumulation, biotic and abiotic factors that influence metal hyperaccumulation, new technologies in the study of metal hyperaccumulation.
Session Chairs: Prof Joe Pollard and Dr. Ksenija Jakovljević 

Session 7: Plants of other edaphically challenging substrates
Ultramafic soils are universally known as “harsh edaphic environments”, but there are also other geological substrates that pose similarly strong edaphic filters, for example seleniferous soils and gypsum, as well as man-made habitats including mine tailings and waste dumps.
Session Chairs: Prof Nishanta Rajakaruna 

Session 8: Agromining and phytotechnologies
State of the art in agromining/phytomining of nickel and other metals, as well as phytotechnologies used in the remediation of metal-contaminated sites.
Session Chairs: Dr Antony van der Ent  & Dr Alicja Babst-Kostecka