Meeting Outline

1st Circular PDF - January 2008

2nd Circular and Call For Papers PDF

The Southeast Asian Gateway is the site of the Indonesian Throughflow between the Pacific and Indian Oceans. It is the only low latitude link between the world’s oceans, and is increasingly regarded as an important influence on global climate. The throughflow passes through the present zone of collision between Australia and SE Asia. The collision began about 25 million years ago, but SE Asia has a long history of growth by the addition of continental fragments rifted from Gondwana dating back to the Palaeozoic. The fauna and flora display a similar complexity which is partly linked to the geology.

There is a centre of maximum diversity in the marine and terrestrial ecosystems in the Indo-Australian archipelago, and the gateway contains numerous biogeographic boundaries. The centre of the region, known to biologists as Wallacea after Alfred Russel Wallace of Wallace’s Line, is an unusual region of high faunal and floral endemicity. Plate tectonic reconstructions suggest that geology has played a major role in shaping the distributions of biota and the tectonic development of the region is one key to understanding the links between oceanic circulation, climate and life. However, these links are not well documented and connections between different processes are uncertain. Understanding the geological and biological history of the region, and the evolution of biodiversity, is of considerable importance in managing current and future change.

This will be a three-day multidisciplinary meeting to discuss this important region with an emphasis on reporting new ideas and exchanging views between a wide range of Earth and Life Scientists. It will promote interaction between Earth and Life Scientists working in the region. The programme will include plenary sessions, overview presentations, and breakouts for specialist groups. We seek contributions on all geological and biological aspects of the Southeast Asian Gateway, the region including Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Indochina, New Guinea and the NW Shelf of Australia.