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MEETING ANNOUNCEMENT

INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE
THE ROLES OF EXPERIMENTAL BIOLOGY IN THE PROTECTION OF BIODIVERSITY AND THE CONTROL OF EXOTIC SPECIES

SEPTEMBER 12-14, 2001
UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA, LOS ANGELES

The UCLA Institute of the Environment (IoE) and the International Commission on Comparative Physiology (ICCP) of the International Union of Physiological Sciences (IUPS) are jointly organizing a 3-day long conference at UCLA in September 2001 with the title "The roles of experimental biology in the protection of endangered species and the control of exotic species." There will be both invited and contributed papers. The conference will begin with registration and a welcome reception for all participants on Tuesday, September 11. The scientific program will take place from Wednesday, 9/12 through Friday, 9/14. The conference will conclude with a closing banquet Friday evening, 9/14. There will be optional field trips available for interested participants on Saturday, 9/15.

The Organizing Committee for the conference invites interested people to attend and participate in these discussions.

The themes for the three days will be:
Day 1: Endangered Species;
Day 2: Exotic Species;
Day 3: Issues relating to Policy and Law.

Presentations will consider both broad underlying issues and research results relating to the day's theme. A brief summary follows of the themes for the conference as a whole:

The worldwide rate of extinctions of living species is near the highest level that has occurred since the asteroid collision of 65 million years ago. An unprecedented feature of these current extinctions is that the vast majority are anthropogenic in origin - the direct or indirect results of human activities. Massive modifications in habitats are combining with comparably massive introductions of exotic species to destroy naturally evolved native floras and faunas on all continents. The most visible science-based approaches to slowing the destruction of major parts of the planet\rquote s biological environmental infrastructure have come from the fields of ecology and population biology. However, modern experimental biology is also making many important contributions to these international efforts.\par \tab The conference will provide an opportunity for academics, researchers, government officials and policymakers to discuss major recent findings of and current research directions for both basic and applied experimental biological approaches to the protection of world biodiversity. Sessions will also consider major economic, social, political, legal, and policy-related implications of the implementation of the results of this research in the real world.

Subject areas to be covered will include (but will not be limited to):

i) Comparative physiology of endangered and exotic species in the wild;
ii) Comparative physiology of captive breeding of endangered species;
iii) Genetic engineering for species survival and exotic species control;
iv) Microbiological and endocrinological approaches to control of exotic species;
v) Integrating experimental scientific results into policy making for protection of endangered species and control of exotic species.

We hope that most, if not all, participants will wish to have their written papers included in a well-refereed, carefully produced book that will summarize conference proceedings. We are in preliminary discussions with several reputable publishers about this.

Pre-registration, including indications of interest in presenting a contributed paper, is available now (8/00). Capacity of the meeting will be about 250 people. If capacity is exceeded preference for inclusion will be given to earlier pre-registrants, on a first come, first served basis. To the extent possible all correspondence relating to the conference will be carried out by e-mail. Additional information about the conference is given at our website:

http://www.ioe.ucla.edu/biodiversity/index.html

E-mail correspondence may be sent to Dr. Soraya Bartol: smbartol@lifesci.ucla.edu