Meeting: The Future of Research in Animal Behavior, Airlie Center, Warrenton VA, 27 April - 1 May 2012

研究动物行为的科学家提出了动物行为的原因和方式的问题。因为科学家可以看到动物的行为，他们可以比在其他情况下更容易地检验理论。然后，他们可以在更困难的环境中寻找同样的模式，比如在对人类重要的环境中生存的微生物中。对动物行为的研究对于理解大脑、神经系统和激素在影响行为中的作用也很重要。了解动物的行为对保护动物也至关重要。栖息地保护的选择取决于对目标生物如何生存的了解。对动物行为的研究也揭示了亲属之间的冲突是如何产生和控制的。现在的挑战是努力利用动物行为研究的力量，以新的、创新的方式解决人类和环境问题，摆脱零和思维，而是揭示协同、双赢的解决方案。研讨会将汇集来自动物行为学、系统生物学、遗传学和基因组学、神经生物学、计算生物学和社会科学的各种研究人员。这个令人兴奋的小组将把动物行为学的新思想与互补领域的新思想结合起来，以迎接生物学的重大挑战。这个小组将展示动物行为研究如何帮助解决人类在这个星球上面临的挑战。本次研讨会的智力成果将被广泛分享。

Scientists who study animal behavior ask questions about why and how animals behave as they do. Because scientists can see what animals do, they can test theories more easily than they might in other circumstances. Then they can look for the same kinds of patterns in more difficult circumstances, such as among microbes inhabiting environments important to humans. Studies of animal behavior are also important for understanding the role of the brain, the nervous system, and hormones in influencing actions. An understanding of animal behavior is also crucial for conservation. Habitat preservation choices depend on understanding how target organisms live. Studies of animal behavior have also revealed how conflicts among relatives arise and are controlled. The challenge now is to work hard to use the power of animal behavior studies to solve human and environmental problems in new, innovative ways that escape a zero-sum mindset, instead revealing synergistic, win-win solutions. The workshop will bring together a diverse set of researchers from animal behavior, systems biology, genetics and genomics, neurobiology, computational biology, and social science. This exciting group will combine new ideas from animal behavior with new ideas from complementary fields to meet grand challenges of biology. This group will show how animal behavior studies can help with the challenges facing humans on this planet. The intellectual products of this workshop will be shared widely.