:Symposium Support: Evolution and Development of Integrated Phenotypes at the International Congress of Entomology in Durban, South Africa, July 6-12, 2008

NSF支持美国参加研讨会？综合表型发育的进化？该会议将于2008年7月6日至12日在南非德班举行的国际昆虫学大会上举行。表型整合是指大量的遗传、发育、生理和机械特征聚集在一起创造一个功能有机体的过程。没有一体化，发展就不太可能成功，演变的变化就会受到损害。传统上，一个功能性有机体的许多这些特征是由不同领域的研究人员研究的，这些研究人员通常不会聚集在一起分享他们不同方法的结果。表型整合的全面图景需要跨这些领域的协作和沟通。这次研讨会的目的是激发讨论，并在研究人员之间建立一种共同的语言，这些研究人员试图用不同的实验方法从不同的学科来理解生物进化。本次研讨会的演讲者按职业阶段（包括3名博士后研究员和1名研究生）和性别（6名女性，5名男性）平衡，来自四大洲，其中包括一名西班牙裔演讲者。通过在他们职业生涯的早期邀请演讲者，研讨会为这些研究人员提供了一个为他们的工作建立国际声誉和发展将持续整个职业生涯的重要合作的机会。

NSF is supporting American participation in the symposium ?Evolution of development of integrated phenotypes?, which will be held at the International Congress of Entomology scheduled for July 6-12, 2008, in Durban, South Africa. Phenotypic integration is the process by which a large number of genetic, developmental, physiological and mechanical features come together to create a functional organism. Without integration, development would succeed less frequently and evolutionary change would be impaired. Traditionally, many of these features of a functional organism are studied in separate fields, by investigators that are not often brought together to share the results of their divergent approaches. A comprehensive picture of phenotypic integration requires collaboration and communication across these fields. The symposium is expected to stimulate discussion and build a common language between researchers seeking to understand organismal evolution from diverse disciplines using a varied set of experimental approaches. The symposium speakers are balanced by career stage (including 3 postdoctoral researchers and 1 graduate student) and gender (6 female, 5 male), come from four continents, and include one speaker of Hispanic origin. By including speakers at an early point in their careers, the symposium offers these researchers an opportunity to build an international reputation for their work and develop important collaborations that will last throughout their careers.