On behalf of the New Phytologist Trust, Colston Research Society and symposium organisers I am pleased to invite you to participate in a symposium entitled ‘Colonization of the terrestrial environment’ to be held at Clifton Hill House, Bristol, UK. Full details about the meeting are below and on the linked pages, however if you have any questions please do contact New Phytologist Symposia.

I look forward to welcoming you in Bristol.

Assistant Editor, New Phytologist

The colonization of the terrestrial environment is one of the most significant processes in the evolution of our planet. Yet there are still many unanswered questions relating to these events. The objectives of this New Phytologist and Colston Research Society Symposium devoted to a discussion of the ‘Colonization of the terrestrial environment’ are twofold. Firstly, we want to bring together cutting edge plant scientists, geochemists and palaeontologists to discuss the most recent advances in this area. This will lead naturally towards our second objective, which is to set the scientific agenda in this area for the next five years.

Our understanding of the early physical environment has advanced greatly in recent years and to reflect this there will be a significant representation from the geological community at the meeting. From the plant science perspective it is the availability of genome sequence information that is likely to make a major impact on the field and as such include presentations currently using these data to bring us insights how plants were able to successfully colonise dry land.