Responses of Terrestrial Invertebrates to Variation in Thermal and Hydric Environment: Molecular, Organismal, and Evolutionary Approaches (Albuquerque, NM, Dec. 27-30, 1996)

9630236 Harrison在整个陆地生境中，温度和水量的变化是决定物种分布的主要环境参数。热和水分变化的生理效应是相互作用的，因为温度强烈影响水分损失，而蒸发水分损失通常是防止过热的关键机制。陆生无脊椎动物由于其生态重要性、物种多样性、易于饲养和世代短等特点，为研究热和水分变化的生物效应提供了特别有价值的模型。然而，将陆生无脊椎动物作为进化和环境研究的模式生物，最终取决于对它们的分子、细胞和有机体生理学的深刻理解。传统上，我们对无脊椎动物的细胞和有机体生理学的许多方面的理解远远落后于我们对脊椎动物的了解，部分原因是生物医学研究的重点，部分原因是小体型带来的技术限制。分子生物学、计算机和微分析技术的最新进展已经克服了无脊椎动物研究的许多这些技术限制。我们现在正在进入一个时代，我们对陆生无脊椎动物的遗传学、细胞生物学和生理学的理解正在迅速发展。这些进步为农业、生态学和进化生物学提供了重要的信息。本次研讨会将于1996年12月27日至30日在新墨西哥州阿尔伯克基举行的综合与比较生物学学会会议上举行。本次研讨会将汇集来自分子生物学/生物化学，有机体生理学和进化遗传学等不同领域的16位科学家，他们正在解决与陆地无脊椎动物的温度和水关系有关的问题。本次研讨会将促进这些学科之间的交流与合作，目的是提供对环境生理学这一基础领域的更全面的理解。会议记录将发表在《美国动物学家》杂志上。

9630236 Harrison Throughout terrestrial habitats, variations in temperature and water availability are the dominant environmental parameters which determine species distributions. The physiological effects of thermal and water variability are interactive, because temperature strongly affects water loss, and evaporative water loss is often a critical mechanism for preventing overheating. Terrestrial invertebrates provide particularly valuable models for the study of the biological effects of thermal and hydric variability, due to their ecological importance, species diversity, ease of rearing, and short generation times. However, use of terrestrial invertebrates as model organisms for evolutionary and environmental studies ultimately depends on a solid understanding of their molecular, cellular and organismal physiology. Traditionally our understanding of many aspects of the cellular and organismal physiology of invertebrates has lagged well behind our knowledge of vertebrates, partly due to the focus of research on biomedicine, and partly due to technical limitations imposed by small body sizes. Recent advances in molecular biology, computer, and micro-analytical technologies have overcome many of these technical limitations to the study of invertebrates. We are now entering an era where rapid advances in our understanding of the genetics, cell biology, and physiology of terrestrial invertebrates are occurring. These advances are providing information of basic importance to agriculture, ecology, and evolutionary biology. This symposium will be held at the Society for Integrative and Comparative Biology 1996 meeting, December 27-30, in Albuquerque, New Mexico. This symposium will bring together 16 scientists from a diversity of fields ranging from molecular biology/biochemistry, organismal physiology, and evolutionary genetics who are addressing issues related to the temperature and water relations of terrestrial invertebrates. This symposium will promote communication and collaboration among these disciplines, with the goal of providing a more integrated understanding of this fundamental area of environmental physiology. Proceedings will be published in American Zoologist.