A workshop proposal: Building US-China Collaboration in Biodiversity Studies - Frontier Issues, New Approaches, and Opportunities; North Carolina 10/9-11,2015; China 10/13-15, 2015

North Carolina State University, Raleigh NC

Investigators

Abstract

This award will support a workshop in North Carolina and travel for U.S. researchers to a companion workshop in China to discuss recent advances and emerging areas in U.S.-China biodiversity research. The workshops will integrate keynote talks from invited speakers, mini-talks among participants in topical groups, discussion periods, and field trips. A diverse group of participants from the U.S. and China will include established scientists, junior researchers, graduate students, and postdoctoral researchers from the fields of evolutionary biology, ecology, systematics, and bioinformatics. The involvement of individuals from under-represented groups will be prioritized during the selection process. Group discussions and field trips to coastal, freshwater swamp, and mountain ecosystems in North Carolina will foster broad and informal interactions that will facilitate new research directions and inspire new research collaborations. The United States and China occupy large areas of North America and eastern Asia at similar temperate latitudes. The two regions offer many opportunities for comparative studies of biodiversity, from the origin, evolution, and distribution of species, to community assembly, ecosystem processes, ecological interactions, and sustainability. Workshop participants will include early career scientists, including postdocs and students, in discussions regarding the next generation of international biodiversity research and will involve participants from diverse disciplines and institutions. A website will be constructed to share information from the meeting including research talks, discussion summaries, and participant information. Outcomes from the meetings will also be disseminated broadly through presentations and exhibits at the North Carolina Museum of Natural Sciences, North Carolina State University, and The National Evolutionary Synthesis Center.