IACS500 Symposium
For the five hundredth anniversary of his birth, the Botanical Garden and Museum of the University of Pisa is celebrating Andrea Cesalpino, the second praefectus of the garden and a key figure in the birth of modern systematic botany.
Cesalpino was indeed the first to base the study of biodiversity on the recognition of diagnostic traits, and to classify plants into homogeneous, comparable groups, organized into increasingly broad and general hierarchical categories.
On this occasion, we are pleased to announce the IACS500 conference, which will be held in Pisa on June 5th and 6th, 2025. This event is aimed at researchers and scholars from around the world whose primary interest lies in systematics.
The event is sponsored by The Systematics Association, IAPT (International Association of Plant Taxonomists), the Italian Botanical Society, the Italian Society of Biogeography, the Italian Zoological Union, and the Italian Society of Protistology.
Programme:
Thursday June, 5th 2025
Aula Magna Centro Congressi “Le Benedettine” (P.za S. Paolo a Ripa d’Arno 16, Pisa)
11:30-12:00 | Institutional welcome addresses
12:00-13:30 | Invited lectures:
Fabrizio Baldassarri (Villa I Tatti – Harvard University) – Andrea Cesalpino’s Multilayered Botany: Metaphysics, Classification, Therapeutics and Plant Cultivation
Ivan Čepička (Charles University, Czech Republic) – Ambiregnal chaos: The diversity and taxonomy of protists
13:30-14:30 | Lunch
14:30-15:15 | Invited lecture:
Pablo Muñoz-Rodríguez (Universidad Complutense de Madrid, Spain) – The modern face of taxonomy: bridging biodiversity, technology, and society
Oral presentations:
15:15-15:35 | Ran Li & Xiaozhong Hu – Taxonomy and phylogeny of plagiopylean ciliates in South Yellow Sea
15:35-15:55 | Manuel Tiburtini & al. – Estimating the morphological evidence for taxonomic decisions: A Bayesian model-based approach
15:55-17:00 | Coffee break
17:00-17:20 | Valentin Serra & Giulio Petroni – Next Generation Taxonomy of Ciliophora: a checkpoint after six years of experience
17:20-17:40 | Stefano Martellos & al. – New Artificial Intelligence approach towards digitally extended herbarium specimens
17:40-18:00 | Anush Kosakyan & al. – Presentation of taxonomic monograph of hyalospheniid testate amoebae (Amoebozoa)
18:00-18:20 | Jacopo Franzoni & al. – Integrative systematics of a species-rich group of wild Mediterranean carnations (Dianthus virgineus L. complex, Caryophyllaceae)
18:20-18:40 | Alessandro Allievi & al. – Review of the taxonomic history of genus Lacrymaria with production of a morphological identification key
18:40-19:00 | Giovanni Astuti & al. – The Botanic Garden of Pisa under Cesalpino’s direction: a historical snapshot of 16th-century Botany
19:30-21:00 | Welcome cocktail at the Botanic Garden (Via Luca Ghini 13, Pisa)
Friday June, 6th 2025
Aula Savi, Botanic Garden and Museum (Via Luca Ghini 13, Pisa)
09:30-10:15 | Invited lecture:
Lorenzo Peruzzi (University of Pisa, Italy): Turrill’s Omega: an innovative index for solving species concept issues
Oral presentations:
10:15-10:35 | Gongaote Zhang & Weibo Song – Progress in taxonomy and phylogeny of freshwater pleurostomatid ciliates
10:35-10:55 | Antonio Giacò & al. – Systematics and taxonomy of the Italian endemic Centaurea aplolepa (Asteraceae): from nomenclature to population genetics
10:55-11:30 | Coffee break
11:30-11:50 | Francesco Saponi & al. – Pisa’s botanical garden pond: a hidden gem of Gastrotricha biodiversity
11:50-12:10 | Svetlana Bancheva & al. – Challenges of taxonomically complex groups: lessons from the genus Thymus (Lamiaceae) and subfam. Carduoideae (Asteraceae)
12:10-12:30 | Giuseppe Montesanto – Optimizing scientific illustration: advancements in GNU-based techniques
12:30-12:50 | Petar Zhelev & al. – Comprehensive approach to a taxonomically complex group – genus Quercus (Oak) in the Bulgarian flora
12:50-13:10 | Stefano Taiti & Giuseppe Montesanto – Systematic revision of the genus Pericephalus Budde-Lund, 1909 with a case study of tropical species trade (Crustacea, Isopoda, Oniscidea)
13:10-13:30 | Ina Aneva & al. – Comprehensive study on the diversity, distribution, phytochemical profiles, and genetic variability of Thymus in Bulgaria: challenges and perspectives
13:30-14:30 | Lunch
14:30-17:00 | Guided visit to the Botanic Garden and Museum of the University of Pisa
Organizing committee: Lorenzo Peruzzi (Chair), Giulio Petroni, Giovanni Astuti, Marco D’Antraccoli, Francesco Roma-Marzio, Roberta Vangelisti
Scientific committee: Gianni Bedini, Angelino Carta, Jacopo Franzoni, Antonio Giacò, Letizia Modeo, Pablo Muñoz-Rodríguez, Lorenzo Peruzzi, Giulio Petroni, Valentina Serra, Manuel Tiburtini
