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Conference on the Biology of Andean Butterflies, Peru, September 2008
The dates of the conference are now confirmed: September 4-6 2008, Urubamba, Cuzco, Peru. The conference will include any aspects of the biology of Andean butterflies. More details about the conference schedule, registration, accommodation and transport are available here. We welcome suggestions for potential symposia in the fields of systematics, evolution, ecology, conservation and biogeography. Please send suggestions to Keith Willmott (kwillmott@flmnh.ufl.edu).
Symposia to date:
- Spatial and temporal patterns in species richness (K. Willmott) The Tropical Andean Butterfly Diversity Project is an international collaboration among scientists, institutions and organizations involved in research on the butterflies of the tropical Andean region. It is a three year project funded by the United Kingdom's Darwin Initiative. The project's goals are to establish a foundation for future research on butterflies in the region. The project will provide resources, such as specimen databases, species lists and images, conduct training courses for students in Andean countries, and develop and publish a strategy for butterfly research and conservation in the tropical Andean region. Project goal To establish a foundation for butterfly research and conservation in the tropical Andean region Scope
The tropical Andean region for the purpose of this project is defined by the national borders of the countries of Venezuela, Colombia, Ecuador, Peru and Bolivia
This 3 year project focuses on "true" butterflies, Papilionoidea, and will comprehensively cover the families Papilionidae, Pieridae and Nymphalidae (c. 2000 species). Additional groups (Hesperioidea, Lycaenidae, Riodinidae) will be selectively covered.
Objectives
Provide and improve resources for research on tropical Andean butterflies, including specimen collections, publications, databases and image archives
Increase the number of workers by encouraging students to conduct research on tropical Andean butterflies
Raise the profile of butterflies and establish a future strategy for research and conservation in the region Activities Curate and identify collections of collaborating institutions and individuals in tropical Andean countries, the McGuire Center for Lepidoptera at the University of Florida, USA (MGCL) and the Natural History Museum, London, UK (NHM) Record distribution data in an electronic database for focal groups from specimens in the above collections and from published sources (revisions and monographs) and make these and taxonomic data freely available via this website Photograph type specimens of tropical Andean butterflies in collaborating institutions and make these images, and others, available via this website Conduct research into the taxonomy of certain key groups of Andean butterflies (e.g. Pronophilina, Ithomiinae) and publish revisions where appropriate Provide electronic copies of project publications which may be freely downloaded
Training
Provide scholarships to select students to encourage and assist with thesis research projects on butterflies
Provide advice on field methods, project design, identification and data analysis to selected students conducting thesis research projects
Future strategy
Analyse data to assign conservation threat categories to species
Identify priority areas for conservation in the tropical Andes
Analyse data to test biogeographic and macroecological hypotheses in tropical Andean butterflies
Publish a Regional Strategy for Research and Conservation of tropical Andean butterflies to guide future work
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