SICB Symposium Support: Selection Experiments as a Tool in Evolutionary and Comparative Physiology, January 5-9, 2004

Society For Integrative And Comparative Biology, Herndon VA

Investigators

Abstract

This symposium will be presented at the annual meeting of the Society for Integrative and Comparative Biology to be held in New Orleans, January 4-8, 2004. The symposium, is of broad interest to scientists in the fields of comparative, ecological, and evolutionary physiology, as well as population and evolutionary biology. This symposium will introduce artificial selection as a powerful but underutilized tool by providing definitions, background, and examples, and by including sufficient explanation of methodological issues to allow those new to the field to contemplate implementation of a selection experiment. Symposium speakers have been chosen to cover a range of physiological systems and to illustrate a diversity of model organisms, including vertebrate, invertebrate, and microbial systems. Rapid response has been observed in many physiological systems across a wide array of organisms. Results from selection experiments presented in this symposium will illustrate the power of direct comparison between replicated selected and unselected control lines for drawing conclusions about the adaptive significance and the mechanistic basis of responses to selection. The Society for Integrative and Comparative Biology (SICB) is a scientific society of about 2,200 members. It is the premier society for integrative and comparative biology in this country, and among the leading such societies in the world. It sponsors an annual meeting in North America, at which member-originated symposia are a major feature. In recent years this meeting has attracted approximately 1,200 attendees, both SICB members and non-members. A noteworthy feature of this meeting is its emphasis on young investigators. Typically, more than half of those in attendance are Ph.D. students, postdoctoral fellows, and young faculty. This symposium showcases presentations by young scientists (8 of 15 speakers) and women in science (4 of 15 speakers). Thus, SICB symposium speakers receive exposure to a cross-section of the relevant scientific community and a strong representation of young scientists. There are a number of symposia, workshops and special programs planned for the New Orleans SICB meeting, providing an excellent opportunity for the symposium to reach a broad audience.