Five decades of invasion genetics

In 1964, some of the most prominent scientists in the history of ecology and evolutionary biology met on the Pacific coast at Asilomar, California to discuss the genetics of colonizing species. Pointed (but polite) exchanges were recorded between ErnstMayr, G. Ledyard Stebbins, E. O. Wilson, Theodosius Dobzhansky, Richard Lewontin, JohnHarper, C.H.Waddington, R.W.Allard, Herbert Baker, and 21 others. The resulting symposium volume (Baker & Stebbins, 1965) became an enduring classic, still widely cited today by students of microevolution and invasion biology. The beach poppies (Eschscholzia californica) then flowered 50 times before invasion geneticists once again colonized the Asilomar dunes. At the behest of organizers Spencer Barrett, Rob Colautti, Katrina Dlugosch, and Loren Rieseberg, 74 participants from 12 countriesmet to celebrate the achievements of the remarkable 1964 group, and to assess the progressmade and the challenges remaining in the field of invasion genetics. Participants in the 1964 and 2014 symposia enthusiastically shared a conviction that invasions, range expansions, and colonization events provide unique windows on fundamental evolutionary processes.