Natural History in the 21st Century: A Student Symposium held in December 26-30, 2000.

要求提供资金，以支持将在西方博物学家协会下一届年会(2000年12月26日至30日)上举行的由学生组织的研讨会。这次研讨会的题目是“21世纪的自然历史”，将探讨自然历史在现代生物学中的作用。拟议的发言者代表不同的领域，从进化生物学和生态学到分子生物学；一些人在陆地系统工作，一些人在海洋系统中工作。将这些来自不同学科的科学家联系在一起的共同主线是，对他们所研究的系统的自然历史的理解在他们所做的发现中发挥了重要作用。因此，与生态学或进化生物学会议上大多数聚焦于某个领域特定主题的研讨会不同，这次研讨会试图跨越不同的生物学领域，讨论一个与所有领域都相关的问题：自然历史在研究中可以发挥的作用。当高科技实验室方法和复杂的统计设计的爆炸性增长吸引了我们的注意力时，重新审视自然历史在各种生物学学科中应该扮演什么角色(如果有的话)是很重要的。研讨会不仅是为了探讨这一重要而及时的话题，也是为了为学生们提供组织和运营自己的研讨会以及参与科学社会治理的宝贵经验。

Funding is requested to support a student-organized symposium to be held at the next annual meeting (December 26-30, 2000) of the Western Society of Naturalists. The symposium, which is entitled "Natural History in the 21st Century", will explore the role of natural history in modern biology. The proposed speakers represent diverse fields, ranging from evolutionary biology and ecology to molecular biology; some work in terrestrial systems and some in marine systems. The common thread uniting these scientists from different disciplines is the important role that an understanding of the natural history of the systems they study has played in the discoveries they have made. Therefore, unlike most symposia at ecology or evolutionary biology meetings that focus on specific topics within a field, this symposium seeks to cut across diverse biological fields to discuss an issue relevant to all of them: the role that natural history can play in research. At a time when the explosion of high-tech laboratory approaches and of sophisticated statistical designs capture our attention, it is important to re-examine what role, if any, natural history should play in a variety of biological disciplines. The purpose of the symposium is not only to explore this important and timely topic, but also to provide students with the valuable experience of organizing and running their own symposium and participating in the governance of a scientific society.