Student and young scientist presentations at the 10th International Congress on the Biology of Fish. July 15-19, 2012, Madison WI

Towson University, Towson MD

Investigators

Abstract

Fishes are the most successful vertebrates on the planet, comprising more than 50% of current vertebrate diversity and supplying an ever-increasing percentage of human protein needs. Unfortunately, many fish species and populations are threatened by human activity and yet our knowledge of their basic biology can be considered rudimentary when compared with mammals. The 2012 "Living Planet Report" lists tropical marine and freshwaters as the most degraded ecosystems of the past 40 years. The first step towards managing, growing or saving any fish species or population is to understand its basic biological functioning. This grant is intended to help early career scientists present their research results at the only meeting devoted entirely to understanding how fish work, the International Congress on the Biology of Fish (ICBF). Although there are other meetings that deal with fisheries management issues, and meetings that focus more broadly on vertebrate function, no other international meeting focuses just on the organismal biology of fish. The ICBF highlights innovative fish research and its application to address societal and environmental issues. The meeting is attended by leading fish physiologists and organismal biologists from over 50 nations. Presenting their research results at this meeting and interacting with more senior scientists is an important step towards building the careers of the next generation of functional fish biologists who will help solve the inevitable fish-related problems of the next century. This conference award will support the travel of students and researchers. Candidates for travel awards will be evaluated on a combination of the scientific quality of their abstract, relevance to the symposia of the meeting, and financial need. Each candidate will submit their abstract and a description of financial need. Scientific quality and relevance will each be judged by members of the Physiology Section Executive Committee or symposia organizers from previous congresses.