Virtual MPC 2020

Hello everyone! Here's the detailed program for Virtual MPC 2020. Don't forget to register (it's free!) so you can get access to Zoom links closer to the meeting.

Program Structure

Each oral session will convene by zoom meeting (link will be provided). During the oral sessions, an organizer will serve as host to play a pre-recorded video of each presentation (12 minutes) followed by live Q&A with the audience (3 minutes).

Posters will be delivered via "lightning talk" (3 minutes) which will be pre-recorded. During the poster session, participants are encouraged to peruse the list of posters, watch lightning talks, and join the poster Q&A zoom meeting to chat with the presenter. Links to poster zoom meetings will be posted closer to the conference date.

Please visit the Abstracts Virtual MPC page to check out all the abstracts!

All times are listed as Pacific Daylight Time.

Friday, May 29th

10 am–3 pm: Online Database Solutions for Paleobotany Workshop.

*regsitration closed. If you feel an exception should be made, please email loweaj01@uw.edu

Saturday, May 30th

8:00 - 8:15: Virtual MPC hosts. Introduction

8:15-8:30: G. Rothwell, M. Dunn. Eulogy for Brian Axsmith

8:30 - 10:00: ORAL SESSION 1

8:30-8:45: P.G. Gensel & S. Y. Smith. A preliminary study of Early Devonian pyrite permineralized stems by Micro-CT scanning

8:45-9:00: S. Maleki-Porazmiani. The Middle Jurassic (Bajocian–Bathonian) Paleoenvironment and Paleoclimate of Hojedk Formation, Tabas Basin, Iran: Paleobotanical and Palynological Investigations

9:00-9:15: B. Atkinson, D. Contreras*, R. A. Stockey, & G. W. Rothwell. Diversity of ancient cunninghamioid conifers (Cupressaceae): two new permineralized ovulate cones from the Upper Cretaceous of Hokkaido, Japan

9:15-9:30: A. Flynn, R. Secord, J. Geng, B. Abbuhl, T. Williamson, S. Brusatte, D. Peppe. Terrestrial Ecosystem Response to the Cretaceous-Paleogene Boundary: Case Study from the San Juan Basin, New Mexico, USA

9:30-9:45: K. Matsunaga, S. Y. Smith, S. R. Manchester, & S. Patil. Fossil flowers and fruit illuminate the origins of the largest palm tribe

9:45-10:00: A. Bippus, G. Rothwell, & R. Stockey. Uncovering Mesozoic peat moss diversity: permineralized Sphagnopsida (Bryophyta) from the Late Cretaceous of Vancouver Island, Canada

10:00 - 11:00: Break. We will have a social event from 10:30 to 11:00.

11:00-12:00: ORAL SESSION 2

11:00-11:15: I. Huegele. The history and diversity of plane trees (Platanaceae) with unlobed leaves in the Paleogene of North America

11:15-11:30: F. Herrera, G. Shi, C. Mays, N. Ichinnorov, M. Takahashi, J. J. Bevitt, P. S. Herendeen, P. R. Crane. Reconstructing Krassilovia mongolica supports recognition of a new and unusual group of Mesozoic conifers

11:30-11:45: A. Baumgartner & D. Peppe. Paleoclimate and paleoecological reconstructions of the early Miocene Hiwegi Formation, Rusinga Island, Lake Victoria, Kenya

11:45-12:00: D. J. Peppe. K. Oginga, W. E. Lukens, J. Lutz. Paleoenvironmental reconstruction of Early Miocene fossil sites from Tinderet (Nyanza Province, Western Kenya) and its implications for hominoid evolution

12:00 - 1:00: Break

1:00-2:30: LIGHTNING TALK & POSTER CHATROOM SESSION 1

Note: Please visit the Oral Presentations page for links to lightning talks, abstracts, and zoom meeting rooms for each poster

R. Hayes & C. Looy. Reconstructing spatio-temporal patterns of vegetation change in the Permian of Gondwana: a model-based palynological approach

C. Looy & I. Duijnstee. New early voltzian conifer taxa from the middle Permian of Texas

H. Nowak & E. Kustatscher. Ecological disturbances in the latest Permian reflected in palynomorphs from the Dolomites

J. Lee, D. L. Contreras, G. R. Upchurch, & C. V. Looy. Floral elements from the Late Campanian Jose Creek flora, McRae Formation (74.6 Mya), New Mexico

P. Wilson, C.A.E. Strömberg, & G. P. Wilson. Plant community change in the latest Cretaceous of northeastern Montana

S. R. Manchester, S. Robinson; D. Kapgate, R. Srivastava, J. Benedict, S. Y. Smith. No bananas but extinct ginger relatives: Fruits and seeds of Zingiberales from the Maastrichtian-Paleocene of India

J. Wagner. Plant community change in the Gulf Coastal Plain during the early Paleogene

V. F. Crystal & I. M. Miller. A new earliest Paleocene, mountain proximal, mature forest floor fossil leaf site in the Denver Basin, Colorado, USA

A. Manoj, A. Lowe, A. Licht, I Spendlove, M. Mueller, C. Beard. A Paleobotanical Perspective on the Middle to Late Paleocene in Central Wyoming

E. Stiles, C. A. E. Strömberg, G. Erra, J. Gelfo, F. Goin, M. J. Kohn, R. H. Madden, R. B. Trayler, C. Acosta Hospitaleche, N. Bauzá, T. Gallaher. Paleocene - Eocene vegetation and early grass ecology in the San Jorge Basin of Argentine Patagonia

E. A. Wheeler. A Diverse Assemblage of Late Eocene Woods from Oregon

Happy hour: TBD

Sunday, May 31st

8:00-10:00: ORAL SESSION 3

8:00-8:15: A. Lowe, C. A. E. Strömberg, W. Rember, T. Dillhoff, R. Dillhoff, M. Steinthorsdottir, M. Schmitz. Plant community and climatic response to middle Miocene environmental change in the Pacific Northwest (USA)

8:15-8:30: C. Crifò, M. S. Bargo, J. I. Cuitiño, R. F. Kay, M. J. Kohn, R. B. Trayler, S. F. Vizcaíno, A. F. Zucol, Caroline A. E. Strömberg. Habitat heterogeneity and vegetation response to the Middle Miocene Climatic Optimum in the Santa Cruz Formation (Patagonia)

8:30-8:45: J. Milligan, A. Flynn, & D. Peppe. Assessing the effects of shade on sycamore ecophysiology: present and past

8:45-9:00: R. M. Kooyman & P. Wilf. Ancient Forests and Modern Conservation: a Living Australian Gondwana Fossil Heritage at Risk

9:00-9:15: M. Landis, E. Edwards, & M. Donoghue. Phylogenetic models should not ignore paleobiome structure when inferring ancestral biome affinities

9:15-9:30: N. A. Jud, F. Facundo De Benedetti, E. J. Hermsen, M. A. Gandolfo. A Bayesian approach to estimating the phylogeny of Azolla under the fossilized birth-death model

9:30-9:45: A. Simpson, S. Wing, & C. Fenster. Diversification in the Rosales is influenced by dispersal, geographic range size, and pre-existing species richness

9:45-10:00: W. Brightly & C. A. E. Strömberg. Evolutionary Drivers of Seed Dispersal Strategy in Poaceae

10:00 - 11:00: Break. We will have a social event from 10:30 to 11:00.

11:00-12:00: ORAL SESSION 4

11:00-11:15: A. B. Leslie & L. Mander. Functional diversity, transference of function, and complexity in vascular plant reproductive structures

11:15-11:30: J. Benca. Pollen malformations as indicators of past environmental stress: Comparing background variation with heightened UV-B exposure in modern conifers

11:30-11:45: E. D. Spagnuolo & P. Wilf. Decoding Leaf Characters That Drive Family Level Identification Through Computer Vision

11:45-12:00: S. R. Schachat, S. A. Mccracken, & C. C. Labandeira. Quantitative paleobiological methods, customized for the study of plant–insect interactions in the fossil record

12:00 - 1:00: Break

1:00-2:30: LIGHTNING TALK & POSTER CHATROOM SESSION 2

A. Arrendale, E. Ng, W. Brightly, R. Dunn, C. A. E. Strömberg. Cell-searching: Did openness precede grass dominance in the Cenozoic assembly of Great Plains grasslands?

A M. Hamersma, S. Y. Smith, M. Ng, J. C. Benedict, F. Herrera, C. Jaramillo. Exploring diversity through morphology: Morphometrics and X-ray Computed Tomography of a new fossil Heliconia from the Miocene of Panama

N Gentis, A. Licht, A. Boura, D. De Franceschi, Z. Win, D. W. Aung, G. Dupont-Nivet. Fossil woods from the middle Miocene of Myanmar: implications for the evolution of Dipterocarpaceae

J. K., Caves Rugenstein, A. Winkler, S. H. Kramer, T. Kukla, D. E. Ibarra, A. Licht, P. Chamberlain. Exceptional greening of mid-latitude ecosystems during Cenozoic warm intervals

T. Kukla & P. Chamberlain. Linear interactions or non-linear abstractions: Do climate and tectonics predictably affect Cenozoic ecosystems?

C. K. West, & T. Reichgelt. Cenozoic temperature and precipitation trends from fossil leaf morphology

J. Correa, & S. Manchester. Dispersal Biology and Patterns of the Involucral Morphology of Palaeocarpinus

M. Carlson, W. Brightly, & C.A.E. Strömberg. Habitat-Driven Evolution of Seed Dispersal Strategies in Onion Grasses

T. J., Gallaher, C. Grant, Kari Jessett, P. Klahs, C. Marvet, X. Meng, J. Perry, O. Reid, A. Senske, S. Wong, K. Zard, C. Zender, J. Zhang, L. Clark, K. Jamieson, C. A.E., Strömberg. Shedding light on the evolutionary history of grasses through automated, quantitative imaging analyses of plant silica (phytolith) fossils

S. Lavin, B. Armos, S. Khem, D. Hart, W. Brightly, C. Crifò, A. Lowe, A. Novello, A. Stiles, P. Wilson, T. J. Gallaher, University, C. A. E. Strömberg. Enhancing the Utility of Phytoliths for Understanding the Evolution and Paleoecology of the Arecaceae