The international conference, Where Worlds Collide:Faunal and floral migrations and evolution in SE Asia-Australasia was recently held under the auspices of the University of New England Asia Centre (UNEAC) in Armidale, New South Wales, Australia. The multi-disciplinary conference brought together more than 100 scientists from 12 countries including geologists, palaeontologists, zoologists, botanists, entomologists, evolutionary biologists and archaeologists.
Australian participants were from all over Australia and in particular, palaeontological groups from Macquarie and Deakin Universities were well represented. The conference was a formal contribution to IGCP Projects 411 Geodynamics of Gondwanaland-derived Terranes in E & S Asia, and 421 North Gondwana Mid-Palaeozoic biodynamics and 13 papers and posters were presented by members of these two projects at the meeting.

The multi-disciplinary scientists at the conference examined the geological and biological history of the SE Asian-Australasian region over the last 540 million years, to relate its geological past to its present biological peculiarities. The "colliding worlds" which give the conference its title are the various Gondwanaland-derived continental terranes of the region which assembled to form Asia during Carboniferous to Cretaceous times, and present-day Australasia, originally attached to Antarctica, and Eurasia into which it has crashed after 40 million years of steady northward drift.

The convergence of the Australian continent, and Eurasia has brought into close contact two contrasting faunas and floras. Although some animals and plants have succeeded in crossing the remaining narrowing seas, many others remain to one or other side of the shrinking intercontinental gap. It is marked by the Wallace Line separating two contrasting faunas. To one side are wallabies, possums and cockatoos; to the other tigers, deer and woodpeckers.

The line was first recognised, and is named for, the Victorian travelling naturalist and collector Alfred Russel Wallace, also well known as being co-discoverer with Charles Darwin of the theory of evolution by natural selection.

Forty-five oral presentations, one evening public lecture, and poster sessions were deliverd during the three days of the conference. The technical papers were structured into the following ten thematic sessions:

Session 1: Palaeozoic Geology & Biogeography
Session 2: Palaeozoic Geology & Biogeography
Session 3: Palaeozoic, Mesozoic & Cenozoic Geology & Biogeography
Session 4: Wallace’s Line
Session 5: Plant Biogeography & Evolution
Session 6: Plant Biogeography & Evolution
Session 7: Invertebrates
Session 8: Birds & Rodents
Session 9: Primates & other Mammals
Session 10: Hominids & Human Dispersals

Following the three days of technical sessions, participants enjoyed a half-day excursion to Point Lookout in the New England National Park (east of Armidale).

Some of the many highlights of the conference were as follows:

1. Prof. Robert Hall, in the Keynote Paper mesmerised participants with his animated reconstructions of SE Asia-Australasia during the last 65 million years and demonstrated the northwards drift of Australia and its collision with SE Asia and the profound effects this had on plate tectonic movements and changes in land and sea distributions in the region.

Visit Prof. Hall's Web Site and view his animations.

2. Penny van Oosterzee, Eureka Prize-winning author, entertained participants and members of the public to a fascinating insight into Wallace the man and his exploits in SE Asia last century in her Public Lecture Where Worlds Collide: Wallace in Wonderland delivered on 29/11/99. The Lecture Hall was full with an estimated 200 people attending.

3. East & Southeast Asia is a giant jigsaw puzzle of bits of continent that had their origins in Australian Gondwanaland, and "Worlds" have been colliding to produce present-day Asia over the last 350 million years. (Ian Metcalfe, University of New England, Armidale, Australia). A book edited by Ian Metcalfe entitled Gondwana Dispersion and Asian Accretion (A.A. Balkema) which outlines the above and is a result of the six-year IGCP Project No. 321 Gondwana Dispersion and Asian accretion, was launched by Prof. Robert Hall (University of London) at the conference dinner on 30/11/99. (see also The Australian Geologist No. 112 for recent reviews)

Click here to view A/Prof. Metcalfe's research

4. 360 million year old fresh-water fish from Grenfell, NSW, Australia have their only relatives in North and South China! (Zerina Johanson and Alex Ritchie, Australian Museum, Sydney)

5. Humble, but once important and widespread brachiopods document the story of a northwards drifting continent in the ancient Tethys Ocean between 300 and 250 million years ago (Guang R. Shi et al., Deakin University, Melbourne, Australia)

6. The oldest and most primitive Tyrannosaurus type dinosaur Siamotyrannus comes from Thailand. Studies of SE Asian and Australian dinosaurs suggest that some groups of dinosaurs had earlier origins than previously thought. (John Long, Western Australian Museum and Eric Buffetaut, CNRS, France).

7. Honeyeaters, the most successful group of Australasian birds have not been able to penetrate west of Wallace’s Line. The reason for this is still inexplicable! (Hugh Ford, University of New England, Armidale, Australia).

8. Butterfly distributions in SE Asia generally do conform to Wallace’s Line but only in the northern part. Their distribution seems to also delineate an east-west line through Indonesia which separates more humid from drier climates. Perhaps we could name this the "Kitching Line"?? (Roger Kitching et al. Griffith University, Brisbane, Australia).

9. New hypothesis on the origin of birds! Molecular and morphological studies indicate that all basal lineages of birds are Gondwanan and modern birds had their origin in the southern hemisphere supercontinent Gondwanaland. Could birds have arose on the Australian part of Gondwanaland? Birds of Paradise have a much older origin than previously recognised.
(Joel Cracraft, American Museum of Natural History, New York, USA)

10. Much discussion took place on dispersal of organisms through Wallacea. Some participants, including Colin Groves of the ANU, persistently argued that land connections were necessary for dispersal of, for example, the diverse mammal fauna of Sulawesi, from Sundaland. The geologists at the meeting however, presented evidence that there has always been a deep seaway between Borneo and Sulawesi and that these animals must have crossed marine barriers. Douglas Brandon-Jones (United Kingdom) and Jeremy Smith (University of New England, Armidale, Australia) argued that this may have been effected on natural rafts, which are well known in the historical literature.

11. What about Australian migrants? The first Australian migrants, it was suggested by Henk Godthelp (University of New South Wales, Sydney, Australia) were rodents from the Indonesian region about 2 million years ago and they probably got there on natural rafts.

12. The importance of survival and adaptability in the evolution and dispersal of organisms was emphasised by Gisela Kaplan (University of New England, Armidale, Australia) in her presentation on the orang-utan, and the fact that "extinctions were the rule" in the dispersal process was emphasised by her.

13. But what of early humans and human colonisation of Australia? This topic was discussed in the last session, and in particular three University of New England academics, Mike Morwood, Iain Davidson and Jeremy Smith, stirred much discussion on this topic. Mike Morwood suggested that Homo erectus at 800,000 years ago must have had the technical skills and language ability to make water craft capable of crossing significant sea gaps (story). This was strongly challenged by Jeremy Smith who argued that natural rafts could have done the job easily. Iain Davidson suggests that language was certainly a requirement for colonisation of Australia by humans but not necessarily so for the shorter sea crossings made by human ancestors. Natural rafting, as proposed by Jeremy Smith is perhaps more likely in this case.

14. Following the three days of paper and poster presentations, participants enjoyed a field excursion to Point Lookout on the Great Dividing Range in the New England National Park where a walk in the rainforest revealed plants of ancient Gondwana origin, sugar gliders, lyre birds, echidnas, snakes and of course the odd leech! The now deeply eroded Ebor shield volcano of Early Miocene age, produced by a hot spot as Australia drifted northwards was also examined. The excursion ended with a barbecue lunch at Wollomombi and Gorge Falls (the falls are believed by some to be the highest in Australia).

Abstracts of papers and posters have been published by the Asia Centre, University of New England and are available for purchase for $10 per copy. Selected full papers will be published as an A.A. Balkema book in mid 2001.

See also the report in Smith's (Newsletter of the University of New England)

For further information on the conference and resulting publications please contact:

Assoc. Prof. Ian Metcalfe
Asia Centre
University of New England
Armidale NSW 2351
Tel: 02-67732380
Fax: 02-67733596
Email: imetcalf@metz.une.edu.au