IMPORTANT COMMUNICATION: Merge of NNB with Red-BioN, and 1st meeting 19-24 November 2017 in Ecuador

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Alexandre Antonelli

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Aug 2, 2017, 2:29:09 AM8/2/17

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Dear members of the Network for Neotropical Biogeography (NNB),

I hope this message finds you well! As many of you know, the NNB started as an informal network in 2011, and has since then held meetings in Germany, the US, Colombia, Chile and Panama. Some of these meetings have comprised hundreds of participants, and all seem to have been much appreciated by the participants as judged from the captivating discussions and new collaborations being set up. It has sometimes been a bit challenging, however, to organise meetings, develop and maintain a homepage, and keep discussions alive in-between, since it’s all been on voluntary basis from many of us.

Fortunately, the Universidad Regional Amazonica IKIAM in Ecuador is now creating a new network with similar purposes and goals to ours: the Network for the Study of Neotropical Biogeography (Red-BioN) (http://www.red-bion.ikiam.edu.ec/). I don’t see the point of having two very similar networks running in parallel, and after discussions among their leaders we have agreed that it would make a lot of sense to join forces into a single, unified network. Red-BioN has more resources than NNB, and is willing to take the lead and manage meetings, memberships, etc in a more structured and regular way. Suggestions that I have stressed are that meetings should rotate among countries, that discussions and presentations should be held in either English, Spanish or Portuguese (with preference for English), and that membership continues to be free of charge.

I hope you will all agree that this is a sensible and constructive proposal, and that you will also choose to become part of Red-BioN. The first meeting will be held already 19-24 November this in Ecuador (http://congresobiogeografia.ikiam.edu.ec/index.php/en/). I hope that many of you will be able to attend and contribute your ideas to this emerging initiative!

Please let me know if you have any thoughts on this, or contact Mauricio Ortega <hugo....@ikiam.edu.ec> directly if you have any ideas or suggestions about Red-BioN.

I’m attaching a press release that we’re planning on sending out shortly. Thanks a lot for your participation so far and I hope to see all of you in future Red-BioN meetings!

My very best wishes,

Alex