CONFERENCE: Sharing Advances in Symbiosis Research and Education at the 2009 6th International Symbiosis Society congress/ Univ. of Wisconsin August 9-15, 2009 Madison, WI

共生是两个或两个以上物种之间的亲密关系。共生关系无处不在，使许多植物和动物在不同的环境中茁壮成长。例如，珊瑚礁珊瑚从生活在其组织内的藻类中获得大部分能量。几乎所有的陆地植物都依赖真菌提供必需的矿物质，而大多数动物，包括人类，都依赖细菌来获取营养和抵御传染病。尽管共生关系对植物和动物的健康很重要，但科学家们对促进和维持健康的长期关系的机制知之甚少。这些知识可以帮助改善全球气候变化对动植物健康的影响，并可能导致发现由共生伙伴生产的用于病原体防御的新药。此外，共生系统令人着迷，引人入胜，视觉上引人注目，与我们的世界相关。因此，共生可以帮助学生学习进化、生态学、分子生物学、细胞生物学和生理学等基本生物学原理。实现共生研究潜力的两个关键步骤是增加不同领域共生研究人员之间的交流，并教育公众关于共生系统的重要性和优雅性。第六届国际共生大会项目将支持这些努力，允许科学家、学生和教师参加将于2009年8月9日至15日在威斯康星州麦迪逊举行的国际会议。演讲者将讨论珊瑚、豆科植物、开花植物、森林、人类和昆虫等生物共生的进化、生态、代谢和分子生物学的前沿研究。将讨论的具体主题是全球气候变化如何影响共生系统以及共生关系如何演变和稳定。该项目还将在会议上促进专业发展和共生教育研讨会，旨在鼓励青年科学家取得成功，并扩大共生研究在教育和推广方面的整合。

Heidi Goodrich-BlairConference: 6th International Symbiosis Society CongressIOS-0929143Symbiosis is the intimate association between two or more species. Symbiotic relationships are ubiquitous, and allow many plants and animals to thrive in diverse environments. For example, reef corals obtain most of their energy from algae that live inside their tissues. Almost all land plants rely on fungi to provide essential minerals, and most animals, including humans, rely on bacteria for nutrition and defense against infectious diseases. Despite the importance of symbiosis in the health of plants and animals, scientists understand little regarding the mechanisms that promote and maintain healthy long-term associations. Such knowledge could help ameliorate the impact of global climate shifts on animal and plant health and could lead to the discovery of new drugs that are produced by symbiotic partners for pathogen defense. Furthermore, symbiotic systems are fascinating, engaging, visually striking and relevant to our world. Therefore, symbiosis can help educate students on fundamental biological principles in evolution, ecology, molecular biology, cell biology, and physiology. Two critical steps toward realizing the potential of symbiosis research are increasing communication among symbiosis researchers in diverse fields and educating the public regarding the importance and elegance of symbiotic systems. The 6th International Symbiosis Congress project will support these efforts by allowing the participation of scientists, students, and teachers in an international conference to be held in Madison Wisconsin August 9-15, 2009. Presenters will discuss cutting edge research on the evolution, ecology, metabolism, and molecular biology of symbiosis in corals, legumes, flowering plants, forests, humans, and insects among others. Specific topics that will be addressed are how global climate changes are influencing symbiotic systems and how symbiotic associations evolve and are stabilized. This project also will promote professional development and symbiosis education workshops at the conference that are designed to encourage success among junior scientists and expand the integration of symbiosis research in education and outreach.