Conference Description
The Plant-Herbivore Interaction GRC is a premier, international scientific conference focused on advancing the frontiers of science through the presentation of cutting-edge and unpublished research, prioritizing time for discussion after each talk and fostering informal interactions among scientists of all career stages. The conference program includes an array of speakers and discussion leaders from institutions and organizations worldwide, concentrating on the latest developments in the field. The conference is five days long and held in a remote location to increase the sense of camaraderie and create scientific communities, with lasting collaborations and friendships. In addition to premier talks, the conference has designated time for poster sessions from individuals of all career stages, and afternoon free time and communal meals allow for informal networking opportunities with leaders in the field.
Interactions between plants and their herbivores shape much of life on land. They influence diversification, determine who coexists with whom, and regulate the movement of energy through ecosystems. Work in this field now ranges from genetic and physiological regulation of plant defenses and herbivore counter adaptations to animal behavior and species interactions, to landscape-scale patterns and the interplay of plant-herbivore interactions and ecosystem processes. Yet these levels are often studied separately, and the links between mechanism and consequence remain unevenly understood. The 2027 Gordon Research Conference on Plant-Herbivore Interactions: From Genes to Ecosystems will focus on those links. How do genetic and chemical traits expressed within individual plants alter herbivore decisions and performance? When do these effects scale up to influence population dynamics or food web structure? How does environmental variation, spatial heterogeneity, climate, and community composition reshape the selective pressures acting on both plants and herbivores? How and when does herbivory alter the storage and flow of carbon and nutrients in ecosystems? Sessions will examine the genetic basis of defense and detoxification, sensory and behavioral mechanisms of host use, microbial influences, eco-evolutionary dynamics, and ecosystem function in both natural and managed systems. By placing researchers who work at different levels of organization in the same room, the meeting aims to clarify where connections are well established, where they are assumed, and where they remain to be tested. As with all Gordon Research Conferences, the emphasis will be on unpublished work and extended discussion. Poster sessions and informal time will encourage exchange across career stages and approaches. Organized discussions will support professional development and strong engagement, and the meeting will be preceded by a Gordon Research Seminar (GRS) organized by and for graduate students and postdoctoral fellows. This meeting seeks to bring genetic-level mechanisms and ecosystem-level patterns into the same discussion, and to identify the questions that matter most for the next phase of plant-herbivore research.
The conference chair is currently developing their preliminary program, which will include 9 sessions and the names of the invited speakers and discussion leaders for each of these sessions. The preliminary program will be available by May 6, 2026. Please check back for updates.
