NHM Life Science Seminar
Björn Berning, Upper Austrian State Museums, Geoscientific Collections, Austria
Wednesday 28 May 11:00
Sir Neil Chalmers seminar room, Darwin Centre LG16 (below Attenborough studio)
In contrast to terrestrial faunas, the (historical) biogeography of marine invertebrates in oceanic islands has been thoroughly neglected and is almost entirely missing in biogeography textbooks. A joint effort to describe the diversity of marine faunas and the distribution of species has only recently been initiated (Census of Marine Life).
Findings on diverse biota from oceanic islands have led to a resurrection of the idea that dispersal plays powerful role of in generating large scale biogeographic patterns. In this talk, the marine natural history and (palae)oceanography of the Macaronesian islands and seamounts is summarised, with a focus on bryozoans as one of the most diverse groups among the marine benthos.
More information on attending seminars at http://www.nhm.ac.uk/research-curation/news-events/seminars/