Coupling Biodiversity Dynamics and Human Impacts in the Islands of Polynesia

The Coupling Biodiversity Colloquium builds on a widely acknowledged gap in the understanding of biodiversity on remote islands - the impact of humans, and how native and more recent elements of biotas interact over time. In the first year of funding, we brought together researchers from diverse disciplines, and focused on the origins of native biodiversity. For the proposed workshop, we will bring together a more diverse spectrum of researchers from the fields of archaeology, anthropology, organismal biology, systematics, theoretical biology, conservation biology, and invasion biology, to focus on 4 themes: (1) Pre-human biodiversity in the islands of Polynesia, (2) Impacts of humans on biodiversity broadly, allowing inference into future trajectories and extrapolation to mainland situations, (3) The nature of the biota introduced by the first Polynesians and interactions with native organisms, and (4) Causes and impacts of recent arrivals especially consequences for levels of modern diversity in the islands.  The Coupling Biodiversity Colloquium 4-day conference will be held on December 10-13, 2012.    

Professor: Rosemary Gillespie