You are kindly invited to the 7th Annual Meeting on Plant Ecology and Evolution (AMPEE7).  AMPEE is an open and lively meeting with a wide range of plant scientists from Belgium and elsewhere. It is an excellent occasion for promoting your research, and for meeting and sharing your research ideas with other botanists. Moreover, this will be the occasion to strengthen the links between our disciplines and exchange with colleagues We particularly encourage young researchers to participate, but everyone is welcome. AMPEE7 will be jointly organized by the University of Liège, the Phycological Section and the Royal Botanical Society of Belgium (RBSB). As announced by the title ‘Small is beautiful, also in Botany’, there will be a special focus on phycology (all algal groups, including cyanobacteria), lichens and mosses, but contributions on other fields of botany are also welcome. Specifically at this occasion, the Phycological Section of the RBSB aims to gather the Belgian scientists working with algae and build a community spirit. Feel free to circulate this information among your colleagues. We are looking forward to welcoming you at the meeting! 

The meeting will take place on Tuesday the 14th of November 2023 at the University of Liège (Sart Tilman, Liège), Exèdre Dick Annegarn., building B8. 

How to get there? 

AMPEE is an initiative of the Royal Botanical Society of Belgium and Meise Botanic Garden, who also collectively publish the journal Plant Ecology and Evolution.

Registration and abstract submission

Registration and abstract submission are now open. 

Everyone must register in order to attend the meeting. The same link can be used for abstract submission. Registration is free for members of the Royal Botanical Society of Belgium. For non-members, the registration fee is 10 euro and includes a printed program with abstracts, coffee, and lunch. The registration fee is payable upon arrival at the meeting. Only cash will be accepted

If you have questions about the meeting, please contact the organizers Annick Wilmotte (awilmotte@uliege.be) or Nicolas Magain (nicolas.magain@uliege.be).

Program

9H-9H30. Registration and coffee

9H30-9H40. Welcome and Introduction by the organizers

9H40-12H. Plenary conferences. Chair: C. Remacle

9H40-10H20. Plenary conference by Line Le Gall (Muséum National d’Histoire Naturelle, Paris, France) : “What do we know about algal species diversity at the global scale?” 

10H20-11H. Plenary conference by Annick Méjean (Université Paris Denis-Diderot, France): “Cyanobacterial blooms and cyanotoxins”

11H-11H20. Coffee break

11H20-12H. Plenary conference by Romain Darnajoux (Princeton Univ., NJ, USA): "Environmental controls over mosses and lichens contribution to the nitrogen cycle in extra-tropical forests."

12H-13H. Lunch, group photo (and discussion of posters)

13H-14H15. Parallel sessions:

1. Phycology, 1st part (Exèdre Dick Annegarn; chair: P. Cardol)

13H00 Bart Van de Vijver (Meise) How historic material analysis can impact our knowledge on ecological preferences   

13H15 Antoine Kairis (ULiège) Functional characterization of high-chlorophyll fluorescence 101 (HCF101), a chloroplastic Fe-S cluster transfer protein in the green microalga Chlamydomonas reinhardtii     

13H30 Arunima Sikder (UNamur) Drivers of Acclimation in Synechococcus Populations Exposed to Environmental Stress 

13H45 Ellen Decaestecker (KUL) The bacterioplankton community composition and a host genotype dependent occurrence of taxa shape the Daphnia magna gut bacterial community.    

14H Annick Wilmotte (ULiège) Future of the Phycological Section of SRBB      

2. Plant Ecology and Evolution (Salle Trifac 3; chair: Y. Agnan)  

13H00 Hugo Counoy (UCL) Environmental quality assessment through lichen biomonitoring in various urban contexts across Wallonia

13H15 Federico Fabriani (UGent) Mind your fossils: the importance of fossil data integration for dating and biogeographical analyses in the real- case scenario of a hard-to-interpret fossil

13H30 Jason Vleminckx (ULB) Flower production decreases with warmer and more humid atmospheric conditions in a Western Amazonian forest

13H45 Surabhi Ranavat (ULB) New insights into the phylogeography of a threatened tropical African tree, Pericopsis elata (Fabaceae)

14H Luiz Henrique Martins Fonseca (Ghent U) Phylogenomics, evolution, and conservation of Asimina (Annonaceae)

14H15-14H30 Coffee Break                      

14H30-16H Phycology, 2nd Part (Exèdre Dick Annegarn; chair: O. De Clerck)                        

14H30 Chloé Stévenne (ULiège)       Nitrate assimilation in the coral-algal symbiosis : understanding the patterns of expression of the enzyme nitrate reductase in Symbiodiniaceae.      

14H45 Mick Van Vlierberghe (ULiège) Endosymbiosis and kleptoplasty in the evolution of complex algae  

15H Lucas Prost-Boxoen (UGent) The immediate and rapid consequences of asymmetric genome merging on gene expression.     

15H15 Antoine Van de Vloet (VIG-UGent)   Up and down again, genome downsizing in synthetic Chlamydomonas reinhardtii polyploids    

15H30  Luc Cornet (ULiège)       The usage of reproducible bioinformatic for genomics and taxonomy of Cyanobacteria  

15h45  Annick Wilmotte (ULiège) Insights into the biological and chemical diversity of cyanobacteria from the BCCM/ULC collection     

16H-16H15. Proclamation of the E. Van Rompaey award.

16H15-16H40. 90-second lightning talks to introduce the posters.

16H40-18H30. Poster session, reception and ‘verre de l’amitié’, proclamation of the best student poster awards (judged on design, clarity and novelty)