56th Annual Meeting AASP-
The Palynological Society
Montpellier, France
June, 24th to 28th, 2024
The 56th annual meeting of the AASP – The Palynological Society will be held at the University of Montpellier in France between June 24th to 28th 2024. The meeting will be convened by Séverine Fauquette (ISEM, CNRS, Univ. Montpellier, France), Ana Ejarque (ISEM, CNRS, Univ. Montpellier, France), Sophie Warny (CENEX, Louisiana State Univ., US), Vincent Montade (ISEM, CNRS, Univ. Montpellier, France), Vincent Girard (ISEM, CNRS, Univ. Montpellier, France), Reyes Luelmo (ISEM, Univ. Montpellier, France), Jean-Pierre Suc (ISTeP, CNRS, Univ. Paris Sorbonne, France) and Yannick Miras (Muséum National d’Histoire Naturelle, Paris, France). We are looking forward to welcoming you to this gorgeous Mediterranean region, for a three-day scientific meeting from Tuesday to Thursday (June 25-27th) covering all aspects of palynology. Pre- and post-meeting fieldtrips are available (see details in appropriate sections). For further information, contact us to aaspmeetings@gmail.com Schedule at a glance: Sunday June 23rd: Arrival in Montpellier Monday June 24th: Pre-conference field trip and Ice breaker in the evening Tuesday-Thursday June 25th-27th: A three-day conference (talks and posters) Early-Career-Scientist (ECR) event on Tuesday at lunch Conference dinner on Wednesday evening Friday June 28th: Post-conference field trip (one long day). All details on sessions and talk schedule will be posted in May, once all abstracts have been received. The conference will start with the ice-breaker and registration in the Jardin des Plantes on Monday evening. This amazing site is located next to the School of Medicine and the Botanical Institute where the lectures will take place in the following three days. This garden is France’s oldest botanical garden and was created in 1593 as a scientific garden dedicated to support the research of the medical school. The Montpellier Medical School was founded in the 12th century, and is the oldest practicing medical school in the world. It has welcomed scholars and scientists from all eras and origins. Rabelais, Lapeyronie, Chaptal, Arnaud de Villeneuve and Gui de Chauliac have all left their mark on its history. Conference lectures and poster presentations will be in the back of the Jardin des Plantes, in the “Amphithéatre Charles Flahault” of the Botanical Institute which is listed as a Historical Monument of France. Address: 163 Rue Auguste Broussonnet, 34090 Montpellier, France The Institut de Botanique is part of the Université de Montpellier and includes a unique herbarium where four million samples of rare plants are curated over six floors. The collection began with Charles Flahault in 1889 and was subsequently enriched. The oldest pieces are perhaps those from the Chirac collection, from the 17th century, or the famous Delile herbarium brought back during the Egyptian campaign in 1798. This Herbarium will be accessible during the conference. Visit this link for info on the herbarium collection: http://collections.mnhn.fr/ipt/resource?r=mpu Registration deadline is set on May 1st 2024 To register, click here For ECR only (students and post-docs) Optional for all Please note that accommodation in Montpellier must be booked separately. Details on a wide range of suggestions in the city center are available in the travel section. Please contact Dr. Séverine Fauquette (severine.fauquette@umontpellier.fr) should you need a letter of invitation for visa regulations. The AASP – The Palynological Society will provide limited travel support for student members intending to present talks or posters at the forthcoming meeting in Montpellier, France. For more information please follow this link: https://palynology.org/student-travel-awards/ Proposed sessions: The deadline for abstract is March 31st. Abstracts must be submitted before April, 15th, 2024. Important note: oral presentations are limited to one oral presentation per presenter. Exception will be made only if space is available. If multiple abstracts are submitted, please let us know which one is selected as your oral presentation. To submit an abstract: The abstract should be limited to one page. Send the word-file via e-mail to Dr. Ana Ejarque: aaspabstracts@gmail.com E-mail subject line: AASP Meeting 2024 Abstract Indicate clearly in the form: Multiple abstracts are welcome but only one oral presentation per presenter. We anticipate that regular talks will be 15 minutes including questions. Keynote speakers will be given 25 minutes. If there are more submission of talks than there are presentation slots, the organizers may have to move some of the talks to a poster format. Posters will be on display during the conference, during associated session. More info on how to prepare your presentations and posters will be available in due course. But as a general guideline, posters should follow this format: A0 format, height max 120cm, width max 84cm (portrait). Material to affix the poster will be provided. Early Career Networking lunch on Tuesday Tuesday June 25th, 2024 Free but limited to all students and post-docs registered to the conference. Where? In the Historic downtown, at the old school of Pharmacy restaurant La Panacée. Conference dinner Wednesday June 26th, 2024 Where? At the Château de Flaugergues. This vineyard is listed as a Historic Monument. This château is located in the heart of the vineyards on the slopes of La Méjanelle. Built in the late 17th century in the Montpellier countryside, Flaugergues is one of the so-called “folies“, an aristocrat mansion. Around the château, the park and gardens are a place of charm and harmony. In front of the château, the “à la française” garden has been classified as a “remarkable garden”. We propose a site visit + wine tasting + country-side 3-course dinner/wine in the courtyard for 69 euros. Pre-meeting field trip Monday, June 24th Pre-conference field trip on Monday (1 short day to be back for the icebreaker reception) Costs: USD$ 130 Topic covered: The Rhone Delta, Camargue: Note that this field trip involves a 4km long walk, on a flat surface without shade. Please bring hat, sun cream and it is highly recommended to wear trousers (no shorts) and long sleeves. In addition, beware of the mosquitoes, they are quite vindictive there. Guides: Max. participants: 35 (we might be able to charter an additional bus and bring additional guests if there is sufficient interest) The registration for the pre-meeting field trip includes transport by bus, lunch and entrance fees. The coach will depart at 8:00 h and return to the Botanical Institute around 17:00 h in time for guest to get ready for the ice breaker. Post-meeting field trip Friday, June 28th Costs: USD$ 130 Location and topic: Graissessac, Lac du Salagou and Mourèze (Coal mine, Permian volcanism, dolomite, paleoenvironment, vegetation change, plant macrofossils, trace fossils, paleoclimate) Guides: Anne-Laure Decombeix (AMAP, Montpellier), Rodolphe Tabuce (ISEM, Montpellier) and Michel Lopez (Géosciences Montpellier) Max. participants: 20 (Registration for the post-meeting field trip will be limited to 20 participants plus guides, as it is impossible to take a large coach to some of these outcrops. In case of over-subscription, the first-come-first-served principle will apply, in combination with criteria that ensure priority for scientists having travelled far, requiring access to specific sites for current research, and/or a fair spread amongst participants across institutes.) Registration for the meeting will not include accommodation, and conference participants are responsible for making their own bookings. The city of Montpellier offers a wide range of accommodation (hotels, Airbnb), for all budgets. We recommend that participants select a hotel in the historic center (see map of hotels/Airbnb) to be walking distance from the conference sites, or to select a hotel close to one of the tram lines. Don’t wait too long, there are several big events in Montpellier in the summer. As an alternate option, there are towns such as “La Grande Motte” or “Carnon” created in the 1960s that are on the beach, and about a 30-minute drive to the historic center. This would require paying public parking in the historic downtown. You would also need to have your own car; there are public transportation options between the beach and Montpellier, but it takes about 90 minutes of bus and tram to cover the 16 km that separate the historic town to the beach. For students/post-docs: The university is offering lodging in student accommodation at the rate of ~23 euros plus taxes. Students should book a room on the registration page. Please note that only 10 rooms are currently available, if there is a need for more, please contact us at aaspmeetings@gmail.com For all other participants, below is a non-exhaustive list of some suggested hotels: – Hôtel Lapeyronie ~90€ – Hôtel du Parc ~150€ – Hôtel des Arceaux ~95€ – Hôtel du palais ~100€ – Hôtel des Arts ~80€ – Hôtel d’Aragon ~90 € Please note that we did not block these hotels and we recommend booking early to ensure availability. We suggest using https://www.montpellier-france.com/ to explore the town. Travel to Montpellier: There are several ways to come to Montpellier. There is an airport and two major train stations in town. You can fly directly to Montpellier, or fly to Paris, Barcelone or even London if prices are much cheaper, then take an international train to the train station in Montpellier. Arrival in Montpellier (3 public transport options): – Montpellier Mediterranee airport : about a 25-minute drive to the conference site Montpellier airport: https://montpellier-airport.com/ – Train station 1: Gare Montpellier Saint Roch, walking distance to conference site in the historic center. Info at https://www.garesetconnexions.sncf/fr/gares-services/montpellier-saint-roch – Train station 2: Gare Montpellier Sud de France, 30 minutes of public transportation (bus from station to tram line 1). Line 1 will take you to the historic downtown (or Uber/taxi). Info at https://www.garesetconnexions.sncf/fr/gares-services/montpellier-sud-france Public Transportation: With 4 tram lines, 84 stations and 56 km of tracks, the tramway serves 7 cities of the metropolis. It is the ideal means of transport to get to a number of tourist sites or simply to discover the city and the metropolis from a different angle. For the tram, the easiest is to purchase a 10 euros card that will allow to take ten trips. Tourism and additional visits: Additional free scientific visits on demand: Option 1: Option 2: Option 3: Tourism options For family members traveling with participants or for those who would like to stay a few additional days, there are many sites of interest in and near Montpellier. The historic center in Montpellier is gorgeous. Restaurants and cafes are around every corner. There are also many unique beach towns of interest in that part of the Mediterranean region. Below are a few examples. Montpellier is an enchanting and vibrant city, there are many interesting things to do and sites to see around town. Visit these links for info: https://www.montpellier-france.com/ https://www.lonelyplanet.com/articles/top-things-to-do-in-montpellier Montpellier historic downtown and surrounding areas:
Guests will be given the opportunity to wander around the gardens during the ice-breaker reception.
The registration fee covers full registration, morning and afternoon coffee-breaks, and icebreaker reception. The registration also includes an Early Career Networking lunch for all students and post-doctoral fellows.
Early Bird (before May 1st)
Regular (May 1st onwards)
Student member
USD$ 250
USD$ 275
Student non-member
USD$ 285
USD$ 300
Professional member
USD$ 350
USD$ 375
Professional non-member
USD$ 400
USD$ 425
ECR Luncheon: If you are an ECR and interested to join this event, please add this item to your registration so that we can get a head count. It is free.
Conference dinner: USD$ 75
AASP-Business Luncheon (26th June): USD$ 25
Pre-meeting field trip: USD$ 130
Post-meeting field trip: USD$ 130
o Session 1: Dedicated session focusing on dinoflagellate cyst research.
o Session 2: From palynological data to climate reconstructions and model simulations
o Session 3: Human-environmental interactions and vegetation change
o Session 4: Vegetation dynamics beyond the Quaternary as a source of information about mountain uplift, sea-level fluctuations, and plate tectonics.
o Session 5: A Herb Sullivan-dedicated session: The top 20 palynomorphs for stratigraphy or environmental reconstruction
o Session 6: General palynology and new frontiers in palynology
Use the abstract form (click here Abstract_submission_form_2024 to download it) and follow the formatting instructions.
– Oral preference or Poster preference
– Session preference:
• Session 1: Dedicated session focusing on dinoflagellate cyst research
• Session 2: Climate reconstructions/model simulations
• Session 3: Human-environmental interactions/vegetation
• Session 4: Vegetation dynamics beyond the Quaternary
• Session 5: Herb Sullivan session: Top 20 palynomorphs
• Session 6: General palynology and new frontiers in palynology
This is a short 10-minute walk from the Institut de Botanique, in the beautiful old town.
Main course plus soft drink and café will be offered to all students and post-docs attending the meeting to encourage networking across various laboratories. See pictures of the Panacée restaurant below.
deltaic environments, climate, flora and fauna in salt-water and fresh-water marshes, saline basin and salt extraction (pictured below to the right), visit of towns of Aigues-Mortes (pictured below to the left) and Saintes-Maries-de-la-Mer.
Jean-Pierre Suc (ISTeP, Paris) and Serge Muller (ISEM, Montpellier)
https://www.hotel-lapeyronie.fr/en
https://www.hotelduparc-montpellier.com/
https://www.hoteldesarceaux.com/
https://www.hoteldupalais-montpellier.fr/
https://www.hotel-des-arts.fr/
https://www.hotel-aragon.fr/
If you are interested, you can contact Dr. Séverine Fauquette if you are interested by one of these options:
Visits to the ISEM palynological reference collection may be organized after the conference.
With more than 30,000 taxa, this is certainly one of the world largest collections. It was first built in 1945 when the Palynology Laboratory was founded by Madeleine Van Campo at the National Museum of Natural History in Paris. It moved to Montpellier in 1967 and it is now located at the ISEM laboratory. The collection is since then maintained and enriched with new samples, taken directly from plants during missions, from samples in herbarium, or obtained by exchange with other laboratories with French and foreign herbaria.
Visits to the Montpellier Herbarium may be organized for those who would like to sample flowers of some species to extract and observe the pollen grains.
Visit of the Jardin des Plantes with a botanist may also be organized. One of its notable specimens is the famous Gingko biloba (male tree) planted in 1795 and grafted with a female branch in 1830.
