EcoPhysiology and Conservation: The Contribution of Endocrinology and Immunology

Organizers: Robert Stevenson (UMass Boston), Shea Tuberty (Appalachian State University), John Wingfield (University of Washington) and Peter deFur (Virginia Commonwealth University; Environmental Stewardship Concepts).

From hormones to antibodies: Physiologists offer new approaches in the global biodiversity conservation effort.

Climate change, ozone depletion, habitat loss and the release of toxic chemicals are among many factors that threaten the health of our environment and directly or indirectly contribute to biodiversity loss.

This year the Society of Integrative and Comparative Biology is sponsoring a symposium titled “Ecophysiology and Conservation: The Contribution of Endocrinology and Immunology” to help address the loss of biodiversity.

Physiologists from many sub-disciplines (integrative, comparative, evolutionary, and environmental) are gathering to compare approaches and to define the unique contributions they can make in the emerging field of Conservation Physiology.

A host of conservation issues are being addressed. Scientists are developing new tools that identify stressed and unhealthy animals in the field based on immunological and endocrine signals. They are also using physiological tools to investigate the mechanistic underpinnings of behavioral choices that determine source and sink populations and the carrying capacity of specific habitats.

One of the co organizers of the symposium, Dr. Rob Stevenson of UMass Boston thinks that the presentations about amphibians will generate lots of interest because amphibian populations are so threatened. He added “Their porous skins make them especially vulnerable to many kinds of toxic chemicals.”

Another co organizer, Dr. Shea Tuberty of Appalachian State University has gathered a number of scientists working on endocrine disrupters in invertebrates. He commented, “due to their important positions in all aquatic and terrestrial food webs, invertebrate populations must be conserved to ensure the health of fish, bird, and mammal species.”

The goal of our symposium is to initiate a field the organizers have termed Conservation Physiology. Conservation physiology will help establish better mechanistic and theoretical linkages across levels of biological organization and between the ecological, behavioral, and genetic studies currently of focus in Conservation Biology.

Society president and co-organizer Professor John Wingfield of the University of Washington noted, “This symposium represents a concerted effort by our society to address the global issue of ‘ecosystem health’.” He added, “Young scientists are especially concerned about biodiversity loss and the older generation of ecophysiologists have first-hand experience with the losses of populations at their field sites.”

Dr. Stevenson hopes that papers produced from the symposium will encourages physiologists to use their knowledge in the preservation of biodiversity.

This symposium will begin the process of drawing these scientists together and identifying conservation as a new direction in physiology. This symposium is supported in part by The Crustacean Society, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, and the SICB Divisions of Comparative Endocrinology and Invertebrate Zoology.

Supported by a Grant (#034822) of the National Science Foundation.

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Schedule