Autopolyploidy and post-glacial recolonization of Biscutella laevigata (Brassicaceae): molecular analysis and spatial modeling of gene dispersal in the western Alps

Over the past five years there have been significant advances in both genetic and palaeoecological research on the ancestry of populations. The alternation of cold and warm stages during the Ice Ages has caused repeated geographic restriction and expansion of many organisms. The conference will examine the degree to which this may have affected the evolution of the organisms involved and their relationships, particularly the mechanisms and rates of changing selective processes. It will bring together geneticists, palaeoecologists, evolutionary biologists, geologists, taxonomists, archaeologists and biogeographers to contribute to an emerging synthesis on the evolutionary significance of the Ice Ages.