Norberto P Giannini 12th International Mammalogical Congress

Norberto P Giannini

Professor University of Tucumán, Argentina The International Federation of Mammalogists is proud to announce that its Board of Directors democratically selected Prof. Norberto Giannini from the University of Tucumán, Argentina, as the IFM sponsored Plenary Speaker for the upcoming IMC12. He was chosen from among five highly regarded mammalogists that were initially nominated for this prestigious award. Professor Giannini’s broad and inter-disciplinary research interests encompass macroevolution of mammals and their ecological interactors (plants, birds), and marsupials. He teaches and mentors many postgraduate students in Biogeography and Evolution at the University of Tucumán. He is also an Independent Researcher affiliated to the National Council of Scientific and Technological Research (CONICET) and leads a comparative research program on the evolution of phytophagy in New (phyllostomid) and Old World (pteropodid) bats using a phylogenetic approach. He is investigating the origin of bat flight by integrating data from fossils, phylogenies, functional anatomy and development and his long-standing interest in ecomorphology has led to participation in an extensive collaborative research program on the evolution of cranial allometry in mammals. The tradition of selecting an IFM sponsored Plenary Speaker was first initiated at the IMC10 congress in Mendoza, Argentina (2009) where Prof. Eviator Nevo (University of Haifa, Israel) presented a fascinating lecture on his lifetime research on subterranean rodents. At the IMC11 held at Queen’s University, Belfast, Northern Ireland, Prof. Paul Sherman (Cornell University, USA) delivered an enlightening lecture on his research on social and reproductive behaviours of animals, including humans. Prof. Norberto Giannini’s Plenary will uphold this young, but proud tradition of the IFM when he delivers at the IMC12 in Perth.