After two years apart, (some) members of IGCP 653 were able to gather in person for a final workshop on November 29-30 at Lyon University in France. The workshop has hosted jointly by IGCP 653, 735, and the Ordovician Subcommission and beautifully organized by Bertrand Lebevre and Thomas Servais. We were fortunate to gather right before travel became restricted related to the emergence of the COVID-19 Omicron variant. The Ordovician Workshop included twenty eight in-person participants from France, Switzerland, Spain, the Czech Republic, Germany, the United Kingdom, and the United States. Four additional participants from the UK, Sweden, and Morocco joined some sessions via Zoom.
The meeting was a productive environment featuring presentations from both junior and senior Ordovician workers accompanied by Lyon’s famous gastronomy and friendly environment. Sessions included updates on the Fezouata Biota in a session dedicated to the late Bernard Pettit, evolution of land plants, Ordovician diversification patterns, with a key emphasis on regional records, and synthetic overview of key tools such as astrochonology, global chemical cycles, and model-based approaches. Many new ideas and animated conservations and discussions occurred, and as always, we wished we had more time to discuss the exciting events of the Ordovician Period.
Although IGCP 653 is now closed, our community certainly has a wonderful pathway going forward for continued discussion, discovery, and insights with the IGCP 735 project.
