08:00am - 03:00pm
Workshop: Palm Collecting: From field to herbarium
04:30pm
Registration Opens
05:00pm - 08:00pm
Mixer Dinner
08:00am
Registration
08:30am - 08:45am
Opening Address
Opening Address by
Lim Jun Ying, Chair PALMS 2026
Ryan Lee, Executive Director (National Parks and Gardens Cluster)
08:45am - 09:15am
Keynote 1: Wolf L. Eiserhardt - Palm phylogenomics and the
origins of tropical rainforest hyperdiversity
09:15am - 09:45am
Breakfast
09:45am - 11:45am
Session: Systematics, phylogenetics, and evolution
| Time | Session |
|---|---|
| 09:45am – 10:05am | Agusti Randi - A synopsis of acaulescent Pinanga (Arecaceae) from Borneo, with three new species for the island |
| 10:05am – 10:25am | Aiah Lebbie - The first fruiting material of the West African Endemic rattan palm: Eremospatha dransfieldii |
| 10:25am – 10:45am | Anna Mikhaylova - Fruit development in Sabal (Coryphoideae–Arecaceae): a syncarpous gynoecium with an apocarpous developmental mode |
| 10:45am – 11:05am | Anton Timchenko - Comparative carpology of Iriarteeae and Chamaedoreeae representatives (Arecaceae–Arecoideae) |
| 11:05am – 11:25am | Fred Stauffer - Integrative studies in Hyphaene (Coryphoideae: Hyphaeninae) |
| 11:25am – 11:45am | Sidonie Bellot - How can phylogenomics and the fossil record illuminate the early evolution of palms? |
11:45am - 01:00pm
Lunch
01:00pm - 01:30pm
Keynote 2: Leng Guan Saw - Phytogeography of Peninsular
Malaysian palms
01:30pm – 02:50pm
Session: Systematics, phylogenetics, and evolution
| Time | Session |
|---|---|
| 01:30pm – 01:50pm | Mikhail Romanov - Fruit evolution in palm family: a morphogenetic approach |
| 01:50pm – 02:10pm | Nanna Højgaard Nissen - Taxonomic revision of Chrysalidocarpus in the Comoros Archipelago |
| 02:10pm – 02:30pm | Neela de Zoysa - Lost, confused and found - the plight of Areca concinna Thw., endemic and endangered palm from Sri Lanka |
| 02:30pm – 02:50pm | William Baker - A Mid-Cretaceous Monocot Flower from Kansas and its Implications for the Palm Fossil Record |
02:50pm – 3:40pm
Coffee / tea break
03:40pm – 05:00pm
Session: Systematics, phylogenetics, and evolution
| Time | Session |
|---|---|
| 03:40pm – 04:00pm | Senthilkumar Umapathy - Total-evidence dating (TED) unravels the long-oceanic dispersal and in-situ diversification of Calamoids in the Indian subcontinent |
| 04:00pm – 04:20pm | Sreetama Bhadra - Trait flexibility and genome size impact palm speciation and distribution through adaptation and allometry |
| 04:20pm – 04:40pm | William Baker - Nuclear phylogenomics and the systematics of the palm family |
08:00am
Registration Opens
08:30am - 09:00am
Keynote 3: Doudjo N. Ouattara - Continental African palms:
Current knowledge, emerging challenges and a multidisciplinary research
agenda
9:00am - 09:30am
Breakfast
09:30am - 11:30am
Mini symposia: Palms’ dynamics in long-term studies
| Time | Session |
|---|---|
| 09:30am – 9:50am | Eduardo Mendes - Palm Demography Is Biased Towards Neotropical and Human-Used Species, While the Richest Biogeographic Region and Threatened Taxa Are Neglected |
| 09:50am – 10:10am | Eliana Cazetta - Forest loss erodes evolutionary history in the seed dispersal network of Euterpe edulis |
| 10:10am – 10:30am | Fernanda Gaiotto - Anthropogenic Change Targets Stress-Response Genes in an Atlantic Forest Keystone Palm |
| 10:30am – 10:50am | Caroline Marques Dracxler - Beyond dispersal: outcomes of palm–frugivore interactions in the Americas |
| 10:50am – 11:10am | José Luís Camargo - Opposing trajectories of a palm assemblage in a forest mosaic in Central Amazonia |
| 11:10am – 11:30am | Rita de Cassia Quitete Portela - Balancing harvesting and conservation: demographic responses of a threatened palm to anthropogenic disturbance |
| 11:30am – 11:50am | Thaise Emilio - Linking Palm Function, Distribution, and Demography: Towards a Global Observatory for Palm Dynamics |
11:50am - 01:00pm
Lunch
01:00pm - 01:30pm
Keynote 4: María José Sanín - Population Persistence Across
Space and Time: Lessons from Widespread Species
01:30pm – 02:50pm
IPS Sharing & Session 5: Palms in the human landscape
| Time | Session |
|---|---|
| 01:30pm – 01:50pm | International Palm Society Sharing |
| 01:50pm – 02:10pm | Doh Amed Coulibaly - UAV-based inventory of West African rattan: implication for conservation. |
| 02:10pm – 02:30pm | Mary Lock - Conserving West Maui’s Endemic Palms Through Lahaina’s Urban Recovery |
| 02:30pm – 02:50pm | A.K.M. Golam Sarwar - Palms (Arecaceae) of the Bangladesh Agricultural University Botanical Garden: Species Diversity, Exotic Additions, and Conservation Insights |
02:50pm – 03:30pm
Coffee / tea break
03:40pm - 05:00pm
Workshop: Establishing a Global Conservation Consortium for
Palms
08:00am - 12:00pm
Field trip 1: Singapore Botanic Garden
08:00am - 12:00pm
Field trip 2: Gardens by the Bay
Lunch (not provided)
02:00pm - 04:00pm
Field trip 3: Pasir Panjang Nursery
08:30am - 09:00am
Keynote 5: Julissa Roncal - Evolution and Conservation of
Andean and Caribbean Palms
09:00am - 09:30am
Breakfast
09:30am - 11:30am
Session 4: Conservation and use
| Time | Session |
|---|---|
| 09:30am – 09:50am | Thanigasalam Shahirajh - Natural Regeneration of the Palmyrah Palm (Borassus flabellifer) in an Agricultural Holding in Akkaraipattu, Eastern coastal Sri Lanka |
| 09:50am – 10:10am | Carmen Webster - A comparative approach to revealing the demographic histories of cultivated and wild populations in the palm genus Astrocaryum |
| 10:10am – 10:30am | Fanny Katumu Massally - The Preliminary Ethnobotanical Survey on Raphia hookeri in Sierra Leone |
| 10:30am – 10:50am | Hannah Wheatcroft - Evaluating the extinction risk of rattan palms from Sulawesi, Borneo, and Vietnam |
| 10:50am – 11:10am | Jiro T. Adorador - Palms diversity and discoveries from Sibuyan Island, the Galápagos of Asia |
| 11:10am – 11:30am | M. Patrick Griffith - Conservation of Cocos nucifera var. palmyrensis, a unique, native and narrowly endemic palm |
11:30am - 01:00pm
Lunch
01:00pm - 01:30pm
Keynote 6: Renske E. Onstein - The broad-scale ecology and
evolution of palm-frugivore mutualisms
01:30pm – 3:10pm
Mini-symposia : Evolution and ecology of understorey palms
| Time | Session |
|---|---|
| 01:30pm – 01:50pm | Alison Shapcott - Understanding understory palm resilience through three decades of population monitoring: A case study of Pinanga in Brunei. |
| 01:50pm – 02:10pm | Farid Abdullah - Comparisons of species diversity and leaf functional trait variation of Pinanga palms in Heath and Mixed Dipterocarp forests of Brunei Darussalam |
| 02:10pm – 2:30pm | Mijoro Rakotoarinivo - Morphological and Architectural Diversity of Understory Palms in Madagascar’s Humid Forests |
| 02:30pm – 02:50pm | Salwana Jaafar - Pollination Ecology of Pinanga Palms: Current Knowledge and Research Gaps |
| 02:50pm – 03:10pm | Laura Kragh Frederiksen - Species relationships and leaf shape evolution in Pinanga (Arecaceae) |
3:10pm – 3:40pm
Coffee / tea break
03:40pm – 05:00pm
Session 6: Conservation and Use
| Time | Session |
|---|---|
| 03:40pm – 04:00pm | Remya Unnikrishnan - New approaches to the DNA barcoding of rattan species |
| 04:00pm – 04:20pm | Rizmoon Zulkarnaen - Conservation of an Endemic Palm: Integrating Species Distribution Modeling and Field Demographics of Licuala bruneiana in Brunei Darussalam |
| 04:20pm – 04:40pm | Yi Shuen Yeoh - Population genomic insights into the conservation of Pinanga simplicifrons, a critically endangered Singapore palm |
05:00pm
Bus pickup to Conference Dinner venue
06:00pm - 09:00pm
Conference Dinner
09:00am - 09:30am
Breakfast
09:30am - 11:10am
Session 7: Biogeography, macroecology and macroevolution
| Time | Session |
|---|---|
| 09:30am - 09:50am | Benedikt Kuhnhaeuser - Classification, biogeography and identification of the megadiverse genus Calamus |
| 09:50am - 10:10am | Daniel Guerra - Rethinking Megafaunal Fruits: Trait Variation and Megafaunal Dependence in Paleotropical Palms |
| 10:10am - 10:30am | Galilea Orellana-Vera - Genomic studies in the neglected domesticated Peach palm (Bactris gasipaes) |
| 10:30am - 10:50am | Hanchen Shuai - What drives range size and range filling in Malagasy palms? |
| 10:50am - 11:10am | Yuanshu Pu - Tracing impact of Quaternary megafaunal extinctions on megafruit palms through population genomics |
11:10am - 11:30am
Closing Remarks + Award Ceremony
Lunch (not provided)
02:00pm - 05:00pm
Field Trip 4: TreeTop Walk (at MacRitchie Reservoir)
08:00am - 10:30am
Field Trip 5: Bukit Timah Nature Reserve
09:00am - 10:30am
Workshop: Palm Propagation Workshop: From Seed to Seedling
(Pasir Panjang Nursery)
* Lunch not covered by conference, though individual arrangements may be made. Transport may be
provided back to campus / hotels / Buona Vista MRT (To be confirmed).
* Programme will be subject to change closer to date.
