Events

In this joint EVOGENE/CEES seminar, professor Adriana Sánchez from Universidad del Rosario in Colombia will give the talk: "Challenges and opportunities in the open ecosystems of Colombia"

Colombia is well-known as the second most biodiverse country in the world. While much research has focused on the tropical rainforests, other ecosystems like the tropical alpine (páramo) and savannas remain relatively understudied. Páramos are neotropical alpine grasslands, located at elevations above 3000 m in the Andean mountain range. They are recognized as one of the fastest-evolving hotspots, characterized by high levels of endemism and over 3500 species of flora. In contrast, the lowland savannas, constituting about 25% of Colombian territory and 30% of its wetlands, have received comparatively less attention in biodiversity studies, despite an estimated 35% of species being endemic to the region. Both grasslands have very different abiotic conditions although fire used to be a common disturbance. This talk aims to introduce both ecosystems, ongoing projects, and potential avenues for future collaborative research.

PhD candidate Siv Nam Khang Hoff at the Department of Biosciences, Faculty of Mathematics and Natural Sciences, is defending the thesis 'Elucidating genome-wide divergence and prevalence of chromosomal rearrangements in keystone Arctic teleosts' for the degree of PhD.