The Origin and Persistence of Species

Since 2017, the Gordon Research Conference on Speciation has been accompanied by the Gordon Research Seminar on Speciation. A continuous thread over the past decade has been integration, synthesis, and bridge building between a diversity of directions, systems, and approaches in modern speciation research. At the 2023 Speciation GRS, we will build on this legacy and further explore the causes of speciation and mechanisms of reproductive isolation, as well as address questions on species persistence through time. While the field has largely focused on the microevolutionary drivers of reproductive isolation, this research has largely failed to explain macroevolutionary patterns of species diversity. Thus, an emerging theme in speciation biology is understanding both the origins of new species, as well as the factors affecting the persistence of species diversity. The 2023 Speciation GRS will highlight cutting-edge graduate student and postdoctoral research that spans both micro- and macro-evolutionary scales and further promote synthesis on both the origin and persistence of species.