Forums | HES 健康与环境科学

25 November 2023, 11:17 AM

Date: 2023 Dec 01

Time: 1:00-2:00 pm

Room: ES354

Host: Yi Zou

Online Tencent Meeting ID: 355-3805-6861

Prof. André Rodrigo Rech (The Federal University of Vales do Jequitinhonha e Mucuri University, Brazil)

Title: Pollination, Ecology and Evolution in the Tropics: What Can We Learn from the Research in Brazil?

Abstract:

Brazil is the biggest tropical country and encompasses the largest species richness on Earth. By studying Brazilian mega-diverse ecosystems many advances about tropical biodiversity were already made. During this talk I will introduce Brazilian main biomes and the pollination research carried on in the country in order to answer all sort of questions related to tropical ecology. From Amazon forest to the Southern Grasslands, and from Atlantic forest to Pantanal, we will see how communities and ecosystems change over the country and how that relates to human activities in each environment. I will end up showing the importance of pollination for Brazilian agriculture and how public policies have incorporated this knowledge in order to protect pollinators in the country.

Brief Bio: Prof. André Rodrigo Rech is a Brazilian adjunct professor since 2015. He got his PhD in Ecology at Campinas University after working on his master at Amazon National Research Institute (INPA). Always working on topics related to pollination, he has published on basic and applied journals and contributed to build many public policies to promote pollinators and sustainability in the country. André has helped to create the National Symposium of Pollination organized since 2015 and the Brazilian Network of Plant-Pollinator Research launched in 2016. He currently run a Pollination Ecology Lab and supervise 23 students (bachelors, masters, PhDs and Post-Docs) working on the different areas of pollination ecology. In association with other Brazilian researchers, he organized the Brazilian Book on Pollination Biology published in 2014 summarizing the research field in the country. His current research goals are focused on plant-pollinator community organization in the Campos Rupestres, one of the hyper-diverse Brazilian environments. The communities under study span from natural areas and different pollinator groups (bees, hummingbirds, bats, butterflies and hawk-moths) to transformed areas (agriculture, urbanization, mining among others). The fundamental question he is pursuing is how environmental changes affect community organization and the pollination ecosystem service they provide for humans. He is currently staying at Kunming Institute of Botany (KIB-CAS) where he carries on his sabbatical studies in partnership with Dr. Zongxin Ren funded by Brazilian Government (CAPES).

Dr. Zongxin Ren (Kunming Institute of Botany, Chinese Academy of Sciences)

Title: Pollination Ecology in China: History, Opportunities and Challenges

Abstract:

China is one of most biodiverse countries in the world, containing at least 10% of all angiosperm species and a similar diverse pollinator fauna. China also has a long history of applied ethnobiology, including a sustainable agriculture based on apiculture and plant-pollinator interactions. However, the science of pollination ecology is a far younger sub-discipline in China, compared to in the West. Chinese studies in pollination ecology began in the 1960s. In this talk, I will briefly introduce the history of pollination ecology in China, then identify prospective lines of future research that are unique to China and can only be done in China. Specifically, I asked the following questions: 1) What do we know about the pollination systems of native, Chinese species? 2) How does Chinese pollination ecology compare with the development of pollination research abroad and which aspects of research should be pursued by Chinese anthecologists in the near future? 3) What research on pollination in China will advance our understanding and contribute to our ongoing analyses of biodiversity conservation and food security?

Brief Bio: Dr. Zongxin Ren got his PhD from Kunming Institute of Botany, Chinese Academy of Sciences. Currently, he is an associate professor in Kunming Institute of Botany, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Kunming, China. Dr. Ren’s research interest is evolutionary ecology of plant reproduction and its implications for conservation and sustainable use. He focuses on questions addressing the role of evolutionary history, anthropogenic disturbance and global change in shaping plant-pollinator interactions and breeding systems. Recent years, Dr. Ren and his collaborators over the world used multidisciplinary approaches including pollination ecology, DNA barcoding and ecological networks to understand the evolutionary and ecological mechanisms determining the co-existence of closely related species assemblage on the mountains of southwest China. Dr. Ren has published 66 peer reviewed articles. He served as associate editors for four international journals, including Plant Biology, AoB Plants, Plant Diversity and Turkish Journal of Botany. Dr. Ren has loved and collected mushrooms since he was a boy.