Workshop
Macrophysiology

Jonathon Stillman and Piero Calosi are organizing a one-day workshop on Macrophysiology in San Francisco during the day following the SICB meeting on Tuesday January 8, 2013. In brief, macrophysiology is the study of physiological rules that shape phenotypic diversity over large temporal or spatial scales. At the workshop we intend to address one of the core challenges identified in the Gaston et al 2009 Am. Nat. paper [174(5):595-612; http://www.jstor.org/stable/10.1086/605982], and develop a framework by which we could move forward to develop the community resources and tools required to solve outstanding macrophysiological problems. In particular, we intend to use this day discussion to improve our understanding of the relationship between physiological mechanisms and demographic parameters, whilst also discussing: i) understanding responses to simultaneously variation in multiple environmental factors (both biotic and abiotic), ii) integrating laboratory and field experiments. This workshop will not be an official SICB symposium, but since many of us will already be in SF, and since we can leverage SICB’s existing space reservation at the hotel/conference center for our workshop, it makes sense to hold the Macrophysiology workshop as associated with the SICB meeting. We hope that the result of the day will be a directed and coordinated cooperative effort to address macrophysiological challenges that could lead to, among other things, a research coordination network, a white paper, collaborative proposals, or other community efforts.

A tentative structure of the workshop is to have two or three short and stimulating talks where specific questions for discussion and discussion objectives will be clearly articulated. Each talk will be followed by a breakout discussion group and then larger group discussion. Additional contributed papers on macrophysiology related topics can be presented at the SICB meeting, and we have included “Macrophysiology” as a topic on the abstract submission form. If you are interested in participating in the workshop, please contact Jonathon Stillman at stillmaj@sfsu.edu.