Systematic biology faces tremendous challenges and opportunities at the present time. This conference aims at providing an opportunity for plant systematists and evolutionary biologists to review the progress, evaluate the current status, and look into the future of the field. China hosts enormous plant diversity that has supported its long history and continuous advancement in studying plant systematics. With especially rapid progress made during the recent years, 2010 comes to be the time for China to invite colleagues from the world to discuss the new frontiers of systematic biology. This would provide an ideal forum for Chinese and international colleagues to present research results, exchange ideas, discuss common interests, develop collaborations, stimulate young students, and move the field of systematic biology forward. The conference will include talks, posters, and open discussions on recent progress and future directions of the following areas:
1) Taxonomy, collections, and databases;
2) Phylogenetics, phylogenomics, and the Tree of Life;
3) Biogeography and phylogeography;
4) Speciation, hybridization, and adaptation;
5) Molecular evolution, evolutionary genetics and genomics, and Evo-Devo