I again had the privilege of attending the conference of the International Biogeography Society, this time in Crete, in January, 2011. This was my third IBS conference, and I found it especially interesting to observe how the field of biogeography has been advancing, and how the ideas that were presented at the previous conference have been explored in greater depth, and deeper insights into these topics have been gained. I particularly enjoyed the "Biogeography and Ecology: Two Lenses in One Telescope" seesion. The speakers attempted to bring community and macroecology together and the highlighted challenges herein. What also came out at the conference was the fact that the use of phylogenetic methods have become invaluable in advancing our understanding of biogeographic processes and patterns by also taking evolutionary processes into account, though these methods hold their own challenges, as they are often based on their own assumptions. I look forward to seeing what progress will have been made on these topics when the next conference takes place in Miami in 2013.
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