US-Turkey Workshop: EurBee 2010: Convening the first international symposium-workshop on honey bee behavioral plasticity-an integrative approach, Ankara, September 2010

1043057Abramson，俄克拉荷马州立大学提案摘要：支持美国-土耳其研讨会的项目：欧洲蜜蜂2010：蜜蜂行为可塑性-综合方法国际研讨会，土耳其安卡拉，2010年9月。组织者是俄克拉荷马州斯蒂尔沃特市俄克拉荷马州立大学的查尔斯·艾布拉姆森博士和土耳其安卡拉的中东技术大学的艾库特·肯斯博士。这次会议的目的是促进建立一个参与蜜蜂研究的科学家的国际网络。这将是第一次专门研究从神经系统到生态系统的综合研究的国际会议，也是自20世纪80年代以来第二次关于蜜蜂学习和记忆的国际会议。将研讨会安排在2010年9月7日至9日在土耳其安卡拉举行的第四届欧洲蜜蜂双年展的最后，将有助于减少旅行费用，并利用研讨会吸引更多的，特别是当地的参与，特别是那些对蜜蜂行为多样性感兴趣的人。土耳其是蜜蜂亚种多样性的中心（占世界亚种的20%），讲习班将包括参观可以观察土耳其五个蜜蜂亚种中的四个的地点。除了国家科学基金会的支持，一些国际参与者已经能够确保部分或完全支持他们出席研讨会。智力优势：本次会议将强调神经生物学、发育、生态学和进化方法的整合，以及不同的行为研究传统。由于不同方法的研究人员之间缺乏沟通，特别是不同国家的研究人员之间缺乏沟通，这种整合的例子似乎很少。本次研讨会将有助于促进我们对以下问题的理解：(1)大脑较小的动物如何能够达到高水平的认知复杂性，特别是复杂的学习和记忆能力；(2)不同种类蜜蜂（一种重要的模式生物）内部和之间的行为差异如何与它们的进化史和生态适应相关。PI是蜜蜂学习和记忆领域的专家，在国外合作方面有着丰富的经验。这次会议将促进美国、欧洲和土耳其科学家之间的合作研究。提出的研究课题是非常有创造性的，跨学科的，将对蜜蜂的研究产生重大影响。在土耳其举行的会议的后勤工作得到了很好的安排。更广泛的影响：会议将通过关注生理、生态和细胞机制的行为可塑性的综合方法，显著加强蜜蜂生物学的研究。研究结果将包括建立一个由科学家组成的国际网络，这些科学家正在一个以蜜蜂为特征的模型系统中研究行为可塑性，蜜蜂对人类生活具有重大意义。会议将邀请研究生、妇女和其他代表性不足群体的成员参加。研究结果将广泛传播，办法是将会议记录以编辑的方式出版，并为《自然》或《科学》编写一份概念文件。PI和co-PI都在国际同行评议期刊上有良好的发表记录，包括著名的《美国国家科学院院刊》。

1043057Abramson, Oklahoma State University Summary of Proposal: The project for support of a U.S.-Turkey workshop: EuroBee 2010: International Symposium-workshop on Honey Bee Behavioral Plasticity-an Integrative Approach, Ankara, Turkey, September 2010. The organizers are Dr. Charles Abramson of Oklahoma State University, Stillwater, Oklahoma and Dr. Aykut Kence, Middle East Technical University (METU) in Ankara, Turkey. The meeting is to promote the creation of an international network of scientists involved in honey bee research. This will be the first international meeting to focus specifically on integrative study from the level of the nervous system to that of the ecosystem, and only the second international meeting on learning and memory of honey bees since the 1980s. The placement of the workshop at the end of the IVth Biennial European Honey Bee Conference at Ankara, Turkey September 7-9, 2010 will help minimize travel expenses and take advantage of the workshop to draw greater, particularly local participation, especially those interested in diversity in honey bee behavior. Turkey is a center of honey bee subspecific diversity (20% of world subspecies), and the workshop will include visits to sites where four of the five subspecies of honeybees in Turkey can be observed. In addition to the NSF support, several international participants have been able to secure partial or complete support for their attendance at the workshop.Intellectual merit: This meeting will emphasize integration of approaches from neurobiology, development, ecology, and evolution, as well as different behavioral research traditions. There seem to be few examples of this integration due to lack of communication among researchers with various approaches, especially those in different countries. The proposed workshop will help to advance our understanding of (1) how animals with small brains are able to achieve a high level of cognitive sophistication, specifically complex learning and memory abilities and (2) how behavioral variation within and between different species of honey bees, an important model organism, is related to their evolutionary history and ecological adaptations. The PI is an expert in the field of honey bee learning and memory and has extensive experience with foreign collaborations. The meeting will foster collaborative research between scientists from the U.S., Europe and Turkey. The proposed topic for the research is very creative, interdisciplinary and will have a major impact upon the study of honey bees. The logistics of the meeting in Turkey have been well planned. Broader impacts: The meeting will significantly enhance the study of honey bee biology, by focusing on an integrative approach to behavioral plasticity through physiological, ecological, and cellular mechanisms. The results will include the creation of an international network of scientists who are studying behavioral plasticity in a model system that features an animal, the honey bee, which has major significance to human life. The meeting will include the participation of graduate students, women, and others who are members of underrepresented groups. The results will be broadly disseminated through the publication of the proceedings in an edited volume and the preparation of a concept paper for Nature or Science. Both the PI and co-PI have a good record of publication in international, peer-reviewed journals, including the prestigious Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences USA.