International Symbiosis Society Congress Support, August 17-23, 2003, Saint Mary's University, Halifax, Nova Scotia

总部设在波士顿大学的国际共生协会请求支持计划和召开定于2003年8月17日至23日在新斯科舍省哈利法克斯的圣玛丽大学举行的下一届科学研究大会。预计将有500名与会者，其中大多数在特定的共生系统中工作，如菌根-植物相互作用，内生真菌和草，固氮菌/蓝藻及其宿主，纹状珊瑚和甲藻，地衣，昆虫和瘤胃肠道微型动物，满江红/水稻生长促进，以及兰花生态学。研讨会的主旨演讲者/领导者包括英国苏塞克斯大学的David Read，斯德哥尔摩大学的Birgitta Bergman，夏威夷大学的Margaret McFall-Ngai，英国约克大学的Angela Douglas，蒙特利尔大学的Jan Sapp，马萨诸塞州大学的Lynn Marguis，以及澳大利亚昆士兰大学的OveHoegh-Guldberg等。大会的组织者是波士顿大学生物学家兼科学教育家道格拉斯·祖克和哈利法克斯圣玛丽大学科学系主任兼地衣专家大卫·理查森。协会的独特之处在于，它在生物学家和生态学家之间架起了桥梁，否则生物学家和生态学家将保持分离。因此，大会的主要目标是提供一个特殊的世界论坛，让共生学家能够以最佳方式交流知识和思想。此外，大会的对话和成果将有助于更好地了解全球生态学、区域生态系统功能和细胞生物学；鼓励学生参与一般生态学和共生，并积极促进大学预科和大学教师共生内容和课程的改进。大会的一个焦点主题将是全球对Keystone共生体的威胁，如虫黄藻漂白、地衣对二氧化硫和相关排放的敏感性，以及更大的含有共生体的有孔虫的灭绝。这一主题进一步强调了共生在地球系统和人类社会中深层次但往往被忽视的作用。农业、林业、生物群建立、恢复生态学、珊瑚礁生存以及对真核生物细胞的基本理解都实质上依赖于共生。大会50%的资金将由注册费和一些预计的私人企业支持来支付。国际空间站从国家科学基金会寻求更多的支持，以帮助支付研究生的旅费；为特色演讲者提供旅行和相关支持；帮助教师出席并支持大会上的共生研讨会；并支付主要出版物的费用，如国际空间站通讯的专刊《共生国际》，其中将重点介绍大会的公告、会议日程手册和大会摘要书。大会后的持续联系将通过国际空间站网站上的网络交流网络保持(大会的网站是http://people.bu.edu/dzook/)，，大会的部分论文将于2004年在特拉维夫出版的国际空间站附属期刊《共生》的特刊上发表。

The International Symbiosis Society based at Boston University requests support for theplanning and convening of its next scientific research Congress set for August 17 - 23,2003 at Saint Mary's University, Halifax, Nova Scotia. Five hundred participants are expected, most working in specific symbiotic systems such as mycorrhizae-plant interactions, endophytic fungi and grasses, nitrogen fixing bacteria/cyanobacteria and their hosts, hermatypic corals and dinoflagellates, lichens, insect and rumen gut microfauna, Azolla/Oryza sativa growth enhancement, and orchid ecology.Keynote speakers/leaders for the symposia include David Read, U. of Sussex, UK;Birgitta Bergman, Stockholm U.; Margaret McFall-Ngai, U. of Hawaii; Angela Douglas,YorkU., UK; Jan Sapp, U. of Montreal; Lynn Margulis, U. of Massachusetts; and OveHoegh-Guldberg, Queensland U., Australia, among others. Congress organizers are SocietyPresident Douglas Zook biologist and science educator at Boston University and who is theP.I., and David Richardson, Dean of Science and lichenologist at Saint Mary's University,Halifax.The Society is particularly unique in that it by its very nature it builds bridgesamong biologists/ecologists who would otherwise remain separated. Therefore, the mainobjective of the Congress is to provide a special world forum where symbiologists canoptimally exchange knowledge and ideas. Also, its dialogue and outcomes will contribute toa greater understanding of global ecology, regional ecosystem function, and cell biology;encourage involvement in ecology in general and symbiosis in particular by students; and,actively promote content and curriculum enhancement in symbiosis for both pre-college anduniversity teachers.A focus theme of the Congress will be global threats to keystone symbionts, such asbleaching of zooxanthellae, lichen susceptibility to sulfur dioxide and related emissions,and the demise of larger symbiont-containing foraminifera. This theme further emphasizesthe deep but often ignored role symbiosis plays in earth systems and human society.Agriculture, forestry, biome establishment, restoration ecology, coral reef existence, andfundamental understandings of the eukarya cell are all substantiually dependent onsymbiosis.More then fifty per cent of the funds for the Congress will be covered by registrantfees and some projected private corporate support. The ISS seeks additional support fromthe NSF to help defray travel costs for graduate students; to provide travel and relatedsupport for featured speakers; to assist teacher attendance and support a symbiosisteacher workshop at the Congress; and to cover costs of key publications, such as specialeditions of the ISS newsletter, Symbiosis International, which will highlight Congressannouncements, conference schedule booklet, and the Congress abstract book.Ongoing post-Congress contact will be mainained through a web exchange network on theISS web sites (Congress web site is http://people.bu.edu/dzook/), and selected papers fromthe Congress will be published during 2004 in a special issue of the ISS affiliatedjournal, Symbiosis, published out of Tel Aviv.