For further information:
The Palms 2010 symposium
Links:
IRD (Institut de recherche pour le développement)
EUNOPS (European Network of Palm Scientists)
CNRS (Centre national de la recherche scientifique)
INRA (Institut national de la recherche agronomique)
Research units
Botany and Computational Plant ArchitecturePalms 2010: a symposium on the biology of the palm family
29/03/2010 - Press release
The Palms 2010 International Symposium, organized by CIRAD and the IRD, with the support of the Languedoc-Roussillon Regional Council, the Agropolis Foundation, Montpellier Agglomération and the EUNOPS network, is to be held at the Corum Centre in Montpellier from 5 to 7 May 2010. The aim is to bring together all the scientists from every field involved in research on the biology of the palm family.
"Linnaeus called palms the 'princes of the plant kingdom'. They hold every record there is ", Alain Rival, a CIRAD researcher, explains. Indeed, the palm family (Arecaceae) is a distinctive group of more than 2500 species, with a wide range of shapes and habitats.
The biggest seeds, the longest leaves and the largest inflorescences of any plant are produced by palms. Arecaceae have a place of their own in the plant world: they are split between more than 200 genera, throughout the tropical, subtropical and warm temperate regions, from Africa to the Americas and Asia.
The oldest fossilized palms date back some 120 million years. They were worshipped by all the Mediterranean civilizations, and symbolize the tree of life, fertility and success. Palms are an integral part of the tropical ecosystem: they also thrive in humid subtropical or Mediterranean, semi-arid and arid lowland zones.
From biology to economics
Palms are also some of the most useful plants in the agricultural economy of countries in the tropics, where grasses alone play a more important role. Palm fruits, coconuts and dates have been a staple food for people in the tropics for thousands of years.
In view of the number of Arecaceae species and the wide range of habitats they occupy, studying their biology involves a number of fields, from paleobotany to systematics through agronomy, genome analysis and ethnobotany.
"These giant grasses have evolved over 120 million years and colonized every type of ecosystem
", the researcher adds. Palms have always accompanied human migration. Travellers in desert caravans ate dates, while coconuts were used as ballast in merchant ships and then abandoned in ports, whence they floated away and ensured the spread of the species...
Representatives of the palm family have now colonized every type of environment, from arid deserts to tropical rainforests. Palms render enormous botanical and economic services: construction timber, rattan, coconut fibre, fruits as food (dates, coconuts), medicinal fruits and palm oil.
"It is also a family that spreads easily, and like date palms, many species can resist extreme temperatures and drought. It is used as a model in studies of global climate change
".
At CIRAD, the AMAP (Botany and Computational Plant Architecture) Research Unit uses palms and their original architecture for its modelling research. A thesis has also been written on the insect
Paysandia archon, which attacks Mediterranean palms. In 2009, CIRAD set up a subsidiary,
PalmElit, specializing in the production and distribution of improved oil palm varieties.
Encouraging multidisciplinarity
From the tradition led by the Ecole Montpelliéraine de Botanique since Richer de Belleval, Magnol and Candolle, then by the initial tropical botany studies by Prof. Francis Hallé and his team, there have always been a number of researchers in Montpellier working on this plant family. Nowadays, not just CIRAD and the IRD, but also the CNRS, INRA and the University of Montpellier are involved in research on the biology of palms. This botanical heritage and the region's age-old role in scientific exchanges around the Mediterranean make Montpellier the ideal place for organizing such an international event to bring together and encourage exchanges between researchers from a very wide range of fields.
The Palms 2010 International Symposium is thus a crucial starting point for launching and strengthening networks, initiating bilateral and international partnerships and perpetuating scientific collaboration. It is due to be attended by some 200 students and researchers from every scientific field, for three days of talks and poster presentations, including a day of plenary sessions and two days of parallel sessions on the following topics:
• taxonomy
• evolution
• biology of reproduction
• agronomy
• genetics and genomics
• biogeography
• ethnobotany
• agrobiodiversity
• biotechnologies
• Mediterranean palms.
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