Symposium: Evolution of mechanisms controlling timing of breeding in animals; SCIB Annual Meeting January 3-7, 2009 Boston, MA

本次研讨会在综合与比较生物学学会（SICB）举行，重点讨论动物如何在不断变化的环境中协调繁殖。近年来，在揭示构成哺乳动物和鸟类生殖机制基础的生理和分子机制方面取得了重大进展。此外，进化生态学的新研究正在精确定位生殖表型，选择在这种表型上产生个体，使其在不同栖息地的最佳时间繁殖。本次研讨会的目标是将生殖生理学/环境内分泌学与进化生态学这两个领域结合起来，从而促进我们对生殖机制进化的理解。本次研讨会将汇集生殖生理学和分子内分泌学的国际专家，以及进化生态学和生活史的专家，将这些历史上分离的领域整合在一起。它还将有助于把研究不同脊椎动物分类群的研究人员联合起来，这将刺激不同分类群体之间的思想交流，而这些群体通常以截然不同的方式进行研究。因此，研讨会将促进综合生物学领域的总体进展，并将特别加强我们对动物调整其年周期以适应可变环境条件的机制的基本（例如，进化）和应用（例如，保护）含义的理解。SICB以学生为中心，年会有许多研究生、本科生，甚至一些高中生参加。媒体的代表也会出席会议，学会还会就对公众有重要意义的演讲发布新闻稿。本次研讨会的内容对于理解动物种群如何可能受到人类引起的环境改变的影响具有特别重要的意义，这是一个日益引起公众兴趣的话题，因此将为与公众就基础科学如何进一步促进应用目标进行交流提供丰富的机会。演讲者名单包括几名年轻的研究人员和妇女，以及一个平衡的国内和国际研究人员的补充。

This symposium at the Society for Integrative and Comparative Biology (SICB) focuses on how animals coordinate reproduction with a changing environment. Recently, significant advances have been made in unraveling the physiological and molecular mechanisms that form the basis of the reproductive machinery in mammals and birds. Further, new studies in evolutionary ecology are pinpointing the reproductive phenotypes on which selection acts to produce individuals that breed at optimal times of year in different habitats. The goal of the symposium is to meld these two fields, reproductive physiology /environmental endocrinology on the one hand, and evolutionary ecology on the other, so as to enhance progress in our understanding of the evolution of reproductive mechanisms. This symposium will unite at one venue international experts working on reproductive physiology and molecular endocrinology together with those working in evolutionary ecology and life history to integrate these historically separate fields. It will also serve to unite researchers working on diverse vertebrate taxa, which will stimulate exchange of ideas across taxonomic groups that often are approached in quite different ways. Consequently, the symposium will facilitate progress in the field of integrative biology generally, and will specifically enhance our understanding of both basic (e.g., evolutionary) and applied (e.g., conservation) implications of the mechanisms by which animals adjust their annual cycles to variable environmental conditions. SICB is heavily student-oriented, and the annual meeting is attended by many graduate students, undergraduates, and even some high school students. The meeting is also attended by representatives of the media, and the society provides press releases regarding presentations of significance to the general public. The content of this symposium has particular import for understanding how animal populations are likely to be affected by human-induced environment modification, a topic of ever-increasing general public interest, and will consequently provide rich opportunities for communicating with the general public about how basic science furthers applied goals. The list of presenters includes several young investigators and women, as well as a balanced complement of domestic and international researchers.