The Joan Plaza Auditorium of the Botanical Garden of the University of Valencia (UV) will host the Saturday, May 7, between 9:15 and 2:00 p.m., the XXIII edition of the Evolution Matinal, which this year deals with naturalist contributions and their influence in Spain, the evolution of the human species and the adaptation of mutations in the environment. The event, organized by the Valencian academic institution, is divided into three conferences and a final debate.

Access to the registrations for the Matinal de la Evolución here.

Pilar Domingo, researcher of the Ramón y Cajal program, and director of the Environmental and Biomedical Virology group of the Institute of Integrative Biology I2SysBio (UV-CSIC) will give, at 12:15 p.m., the conference Biological struggle and evolution, on the implication of mutations in the interactions between viruses, bacteria and humans, and how this process causes a constant biological struggle. For his part, Juli Peretó, professor of the Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology of the UV, will moderate the final debate of the Morning.

Agustí Camós, a graduate in biology and a doctor from the Autonomous University of Barcelona (UAB), and author of the book Lamarck's footprint in Spain in the 19th century, will develop the first conference of the morning on figure of Lamarck, at 9:15 a.m. The researcher on natural history in Catalonia and Spain during the 18th and 19th centuries will discover the scientific contributions of the naturalist, his influence in Spain and how certain recent discoveries question orthodox interpretations of the theory of evolution.

Then, at 10:30 a.m.,Alba Motes, postdoctoral researcher at the Department of Ecology at the University of Lausanne in Switzerland, will use the Animal Culture conference to show that cultural capacity is the secret to humans' evolutionary success. In it, the differences between human culture compared to other animal cultures will be addressed, the study of cultural variation in different species and the evolutionary origin of human cultural dependence will be defined.

The Matinal has the support of the Delegation of the Rector for Incorporation into the University, the Permanent Training and Educational Innovation Service of the UV, the Spanish Foundation for Science and Technology (FECyT), the Ministry of Science and Innovation, and the Cavanilles Institute of Biodiversity and Evolutionary Biology (UV). Also participating are the Institute of Integrative and Systems Biology I2SysBio, a joint UV-CSIC centre, the Faculty of Biological Sciences (UV), the Botanical Garden (UV), the magazine Mètode, the Catalan Society of Biology and the Institut d’Estudis Catalans.

The morning sessions are an action that is part of the Annual Activities Plan of the UCC+i of the University of Valencia, which is co-financed by the Spanish Foundation for Science and Technology and the Ministry of Science and Innovation.

List of links:

• Matinal of Evolution