Achievements in the iCCB programme in 2017

We worked toward securing institutional support for the iCCB mission in continuing to advance the research in trait-based approaches to conservation. We also started planning towards an Africa-specific program concentrating on conservation paleobiology under the IUBS.

iCCB’s goals for 2017 were to publish collaborative high impact research papers, to organize a research and training workshop, and hold at least one steering committee meeting. We published 16 papers, including in Science, PNAS, Nature Ecology & Evolution, and Current Biology.

We organized a training workshop in March 6th-8th 2017 in Nairobi, Kenya and we had a steering committee meeting for planning our activities for 2018 and for creating a new vision for an inclusive programme in conservation paleobiology in Africa.

Publications

Barnosky, AD, Hadly, EA, Gonzalez, P, Head, J, Polly, PD, Lawing, AM, Eronen, JT, et al. ... Stenseth, NC, Wake, MH, Zhang, Z (2017): Merging paleobiology with conservation biology to guide the future of terrestrial ecosystems. Science 355, Issue 6325, eaah4787. DOI: 10.1126/science.aah4787

Tallavaara, M, Eronen, JT, Luoto, M (2017): Productivity, biodiversity, and pathogens influence the global hunter-gatherer population density. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. Early Edition 27.12.2017, DOI: 10.1073/pnas.1715638115 

Toivanen, T, Lummaa, K, Majava, A, Järvensivu, P, Lähde, V, Vadén, T, Eronen, JT (2017): The Many Anthropocenes: A Challenge for the Disciplines. The Anthropocene Review 4, 183-198.

Eronen JT, Zohdy S, Evans AR, Tecot SR, Wright PC, Jernvall J (2017): The Culm Before the Storm: Global Climate Change Driving the Extinction of a Bamboo Specialist. Current Biology 27, 3384-3389.

Zliobaite I, Puolamäki K., Eronen JT, Fortelius, M (2017): A survey of computational tasks and methods for analysis of fossil data. Evolutionary Ecology Research. online early: evolutionary-ecology.com/issues/forthcoming/ar3066.pdf

Sukselainen L, Kaakinen A, Eronen JT, Passey BH, Harrison T, Zhang Z, Fortelius M (2017): The palaeoenvironment of the middle Miocene pliopithecid locality in Damiao, Inner Mongolia, China. Journal of Human Evolution 108, 31-46

Head JJ, Müller JJ (2018): Squamate reptiles from Kanapoi: Faunal evidence for hominin paleoenvironments. Journal of Human Evolution. DOI: 10.1016/j.jhevol.2018.01.007

Head JJ, Müller JJ (2018): Late Miocene amphibians and squamates from the United Arab Emirates: Dispersal timing and paleoenvironments in the Arabian Peninsula. In F. Bibi, B. Kraatz, M. Beech, and A. Hill (eds.): Sands of Time: Late Miocene Fossils from the Baynunah Formation, U.A.E. Springer, Cham, Switzerland

Hipsley CA, Müller J (2017): Developmental dynamics of ecomorphological convergence in a transcontinental lizard radiation. Evolution DOI: 10.1111/evo.13186

Huang S, Eronen JT, Janis CM, Saarinen JJ, Silvestro D, Fritz SA (2017): Mammal body mass evolution in North America and Europe over 20 million years: similar trends generated by different processes. Proceedings of the Royal Society B 284, 20162361. DOI: 10.1098/rspb.2016.2361

Joos J, Kirchner M, Vamberger M, Kaviani M, Rahimibashar MR, Fritz U, Müller J (2017): Climate and patterns of body size variation in the European pond turtle, Emys orbicularis. Biological Journal of the Linnean Society 122: 351-365

Schnitzler J, Theis C, Polly PD, Eronen JT (2017): Fossils matter - understanding modes and rates of trait evolution in Musteloidea (Carnivora). Evolutionary Ecology Research 18, 187-200

Polly PD, Fuentes-Gonzalez J, Lawing AM, Bormet AK, Dundas RG (2017): Clade sorting has a greater effect than local adaptation on ecometric patterns in Carnivora. Evolutionary Ecology Research 18: 61 – 95

Kirchhof S, RS Hetem, HM Lease, DB Miles, D Mitchell, J Müller, M-O Rödel, B Sinervo, T Wassenaar, IW Murray (2017): Thermoregulatory behavior and high thermal preference buffer impact of climate change in a Namib Desert lizard. Ecosphere 8(12):e02033. DOI: 10.1002/ecs2.2033

Lawing AM, Eronen JT, Blois J, Graham C, Polly PD (2017): Community functional trait composition at the continental scale: the effects of non-ecological processes. Ecography 40: 651 – 663

Conferences and Workshops

The training workshop of IUBS's iCCB programme gathered several experienced and young scientists from more than ten countries in Nairobi, Kenya. Photo: Dr Michelle Lawing

The Workshop of the integrated Climate Change Biology (iCCB) programme gathered 22 scientists from countries including Kenya, Uganda, Ethiopia, Swaziland, Cameroon, Chile, Germany, France, Finland, United Kingdom, and United States, as well as 20 students from the university in Nairobi. The group “Climatic changing dynamics in ecosystems of Rwenzori Mts and Mt Elgon” led by Raymond Katebaka and colleagues took part in the workshop, with the aim of fostering future research collaboration and development of possible IUBS program. We also had a representative from “The Evolution of Terrestrial Ecosystems” program from USA (Smithsonian Institute, NHM, Washington DC) to foster future collaboration. It took place in Nairobi, Kenya from 6^th-8^th March 2017.

Steering committee meeting in December in Berlin 2017.