Support for 8th Gordon Research Conference: Plant-Herbivore Interactions, Ventura, California, February 25 - March 1, 2001

Gordon Research Conferences, East Greenwich RI

Investigators

Abstract

0092439. Jack Schultz. This grant provides partial support for the 2001 Gordon Research Conference on Plant Herbivore Interactions, to be held in Ventura, California from 25 February to 1 March 2001. The conference was organized to be forward-looking, and stresses new and emerging approaches and topics related to the interactions between plants and their herbivores. Indeed, an agreement has been reached with all of the speakers, limiting presentations to issues at the frontiers of science. The conference will feature 24 speakers. To maximize the likelihood of including novel coverage, 23 of the invitees have not spoken at the conference in the last 6 years. Nine are from outside the US and four are female. Moreover, a broad cross section of ages is represented in the suite of speakers. The lead presentation will be by the founding director of the Max Plank Institute for Chemical Ecology, Ian T. Baldwin. Diverse topics will be considered at the conference, including herbivore-induced defenses, herbivore-pathogen communication, community and multi-trophic interactions, mechanisms at the plant-herbivore interface, interactions at large scales, and evolutionary issues. The "consequences of deploying transgenic herbivore-resistant plants" will be the topic of a special session. A poster session in the middle of the conference is organized to facilitate participation by the scientific community at large, and especially students. Formal sessions are scheduled in the mornings and evenings, allowing the afternoons as a time for informal meetings and discussions. The conference likely will set the tone for the study of plant-herbivore interactions during the coming years of the 21st century.