Island Biology conference in Réunion island

The 3rd Conference on Island Biology was organised at the University of Saint Denis, La Réunion. Islands are very unique, special and fragile ecosystems, including classical oceanic islands or continental habitat islands with various age and size. Their common point is the uniqueness, isolation and vulnerability which features were discussed in many sections of the meeting. The aim of the conference was to provide a forum for the researchers dealing with various aspects of islands, from dispersal ecology and invasion biology to evolutionary biology. Videos about some lectures can be found in this link - we highly recommend the brilliant plenary lecture of Vojtech Novotny about tropical ecology in Papua New Guinea.

The presentations highlighted that islands harbour several endemic species and are often considered as biodiversity hotspots. However due to their isolation, several functional groups are missing (e.g. pollinators, seed dispersers, carnivores). Their small area, isolation and the functional disharmony makes the biota of islands especially vulnerable to the anthropogenic habitat transformation activities and especially to the human-mediated dispersal and establishment of non-native species, which can later become invasive.

The conference venue: The campus of the University of La Réunion, Saint Denis - like a tropical paradise.

We the Hungarian participants presented our results about the ecology of terrestrial habitat islands. Our poster about the threats of human-mediated seed dispersal on the flora of islands was awarded with the second prize in the poster competition :)

These are the titles of our presentations:

Deák, B., Valkó, O., Török, P., Kelemen, A., Tóthmérész, B.: Diversity of grassland habitat islands: habitat and landscape filters of plant establishment in agricultural landscapes. (oral presentation)

Tóthmérész, B., Hüse, B., Valkó, O., Katona, É., Deák, B.: Grassland habitat islands in urban areas: testing ecological theories. (oral presentation)

Valkó, O., Lukács, K., Deák, B., Kiss, R., Miglécz, T., Tóth, K., Godó, L., Sonkoly, J., Radócz, S., Kelemen, A., Tóthmérész, B.: Alien species on tourists' cloths as novel threats for island floras: Human-dispersed seeds survive and can disperse after laundry washing. (poster)

During the mid-coference excursion and during our holiday after the conference we had the possibility to explore some of the natural beauties of this very interesting island. In the next blog post, we will share some of these experiences :)

The conference village was a very nice place where we could interact with local nature conservationists.

The conference dinner took place in a wonderful villa in Saint Denis.

Colonial atmosphere near the city centre of Saint Denis.

Monument of the first World War.

The Botanical Garden of Saint Denis has a tropical and French character at the same time.

Rue de Paris is one of the most beautiful streets in Saint Denis, with many villas and palaces.

Sunset on the Barachois, the coastal promenade.

The Common Myna (Acridotheres tristis) is among the most common bird species.

A Heliotropium tree - Heliotropium foertherianum.