The 6th International Barcode of Life Conference

This week at the University of Guelph, the 6^th International Barcode of Life Conference is being held. That means that there are literally hundreds of scientists roaming around campus and the city, discussing how to further our knowledge and improve the way we study biodiversity. Pretty exciting right? The theme of this year’s conference is “Barcodes to Biomes”, which seems to be the ideal motto. It hits on the expanding field of biodiversity science, and if you walk around the conference for a few minutes, you can see what a global phenomenon DNA barcoding has really become. Hundreds of delegates from all over the world have come to Guelph to listen to their fellow scientists, network, and figure out what our next steps should be.

Participants entering Rozanski Hall to attend the first plenary talks of the conference

One of the conference banners that can be found hanging all over Rozanski Hall

BIO CEO Mario Thomas, happily waiting for the talks to begin!

So far, the talks have gone amazingly well, and have been informative and inspiring. Paul Hebert revealed his groundbreaking, revolutionary plan to barcode the world with the Planetary Biodiversity Mission. You can view Paul Hebert’s talk on YouTube.

Paul Hebert discussing his Planetary Biodiversity Mission

Rosemary Gillespie discussing Eco-evolutionary dynamics

Along with the ecologists, biologists, geneticists, etcetera-ists, there are also a ton of people that are helping make this conference happen, by organizing events, feeding the participants, manning the registration desk, and making sure everything runs smoothly.