Symposium of Young Scientists on Biodiversity and Conservation Biology in Southwest China: Applications of Molecular 
Techniques
Southwestern China is the biodiversity center of China, supporting around 60% of the flora and fauna of the whole country, with more than two-third of species endemic. Generally, the concept of biodiversity hotspots has been characterized as Earth’s “biologically richest” and “most endangered terrestrial eco-regions”. Among the 34 biodiversity hotspots in the world, there are three that include parts of southwest China, i.e. Mountains of Southwest China, Eastern Himalaya and Indo-Burma. With global climate change and other human activities, the ecological environment has been drastically degraded or severely damaged, severely reducing the habitat available for wild species, so many species are seriously threatened or extinct. In this region, therefore, it is very urgent to carry out emergent investigations on biodiversity and conservation biology.
In order to reinforce the cooperation and exchanges among "two institutes and one garden" of Kunming Branch, Chinese Academy of Sciences, for biodiversity research in southwest China, Xishuangbanna Tropical Botanical Garden, as the host, proposes to hold the first session of a "Symposium for Young Scientists on Biodiversity and Conservation Biology in Southwest China " on 27-28 November, 2014. The theme of this first session is "Applications of Molecular Techniques ", which provides a platform to discuss the formation, evolutionary pattern and evolutionary history of biodiversity in southwest China. Our discussions will provide important information for further exploring the biodiversity in this region. Molecular techniques can also uncover genetic information of the endemic or endangered species, which will help to put forward scientific and feasible conservation strategies for them. In addition, the rapid development of next-generation sequencing technology and its application to research in biodiversity and conservation biology promises to bring conservation research to a new era in the future.
Topics and scopes
1) Phylogenetics and evolutionary analysis
2) Biogeography and phylogeography
3) Population and conservation genetics
4) Community phylogenetics
5) DNA barcoding and metabarcoding
6) High-throughput sequencing and phylogenomics
Sponsors
Kunming Branch, Chinese Academy of Sciences
Kunming College of Life Science, University of Chinese Academy of Sciences
Organizer
Xishuangbanna Tropical Botanical Garden, Chinese Academy of Sciences
Schedule
27-28 November, 2014
Venue
The Conference Hall in Xishuangbanna Headquarters
(Video conference at the 1st floor meeting room of Kunming Division)
Language
English recommended, but PPTs in English with a talk in Chinese are also welcome.
Registration
No registration fee. If you want to give a talk, please send your topic title to yuwenbin@xtbg.ac.cn, with a summary (ca. 500 words). The application deadline for a talk is 15 November, 2014.
Contact
Wen-Bin YU, E-mail: yuwenbin@xtbg.c.cn;
Yu SONG, E-mail: songyu@xtbg.org.cn
Xing YAO, E-mail: yaoxin@xtbg.org.cn
