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

12:00-13:00 – 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

13:00-14:00 – Lunch

14:00-14:30 – Invited lecture:

Pablo Muñoz-Rodríguez (Universidad Complutense de Madrid, Spain) – The modern face of taxonomy: bridging biodiversity, technology, and society

14:30-16:30: 6 oral presentations (20 minutes each, including discussion)

16:30-17:30: Coffee break

17:30-19:30:6 oral presentations (20 minutes each, including discussion)

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)

09:30-10:00: Invited lecture:

Lorenzo Peruzzi (University of Pisa, Italy): Turrill’s Omega: an innovative index for solving species concept issues

10:00-11:00: 3 oral presentations (20 minutes each, including discussion)

11:00-11:30: Coffee break

11:30-12:50: 4 oral presentations (20 minutes each, including discussion)

12:50-14:00: Lunch

14:00-15:10: 3 oral presentations (20 minutes each, including discussion)

15:10-17:30: 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