Meeting: Symposium Support for SICB 2014 stress and ornamentation

Auburn University, Auburn AL

Investigators

Abstract

This award will support scientists to participate in a symposium at the 2014 meeting of the Society of Comparative and Integrative Biology in Austin, Texas focused on unifying cellular and biochemical mechanisms with studies of mate choice and social interactions within the broader investigation of ornamental traits. It will bring together experts on the mechanisms that link condition, stress, and ornaments (and armaments). Over the past two decades, the hypothesis that ornamental traits signal the condition of animals has become a prominent paradigm in behavioral and evolutionary biology. This symposium wil integrate insights from physiological studies of stress response, particularly related to endocrine control, immune systems, and oxidative state, with evolutionary investigations of animal ornamentation. By convening a symposium on a central topic in evolutionary and physiological ecology, information will be made available to the numerous graduate students, undergrads, postdocs, and faculty who attend SICB meetings. By filling half of the presentation slots with early career scientists including a majority of slots filled by women, the symposium will promote the development of a talented group of U.S. scientists. Through social events, students will have a chance to interact with prominent researchers.