Evolutionary biologists radiate to Madison meeting

For four days this month, nearly a thousand scientists will make UW–Madison the world center of evolutionary biology.

The 1999 Joint Meeting of the Society for the Study of Evolution, The American Society of Naturalists, and the Society of Systematic Biologists will be held beginning Tuesday, June 22.

These annual meetings have become the single largest forum in the world for exchanging ideas and findings among evolutionary biologists, attracting nearly 1,000 participants to present talks and posters about new research in the broad field of evolutionary biology.

Topics for the meeting include adaptation, behavior, biogeography, co-evolution, conservation genetics, developmental evolutionary biology, ecological genetics, educational issues, experimental evolution, molecular evolution, population and quantitative genetics, sexual selection, speciation and systematics, among others.

A special feature of this year’s meeting are half-day symposia with invited talks by internationally respected scientists on the following topics:

• Species interactions and adaptive radiation.
• The evolutionary biology of prokaryotes.
• Molecular systematics and protein structure in a post-genomic world.
• What about molecular clocks?
• Evolutionary biology of parasites, pathogens and their hosts.

Among other notable speakers, Rita Colwell, Director of the National Science Foundation will be the lead speaker in the ‘Evolutionary Biology of Prokaryotes’ symposium. Information about the meetings, including a schedule for the scientific program, is available at: http://www.wisc.edu/botit/evolution/