Animal Biology Sessions
General biomechanics
Dates: 4 July (pm only), 5 - 6 July (all day)
Organised by: Peter Aerts (University Of Antwerp)
Description
The 'general biomechanics session' brings scientists (both young and more experienced researchers) together, dealing in their research with the mechanics of the most diverse topics in biology. From insect flight to suspension feeding, from horse locomotion to the mechanics of water transport in plants, from material properties to kinematics of bird flocks to muscle mechanics to…all topics find their place in the session which is traditionally attended by a large and broadly interested audience.
Moreover, at the 2005 annual meeting in Barcelona, we initiated the ‘General Biomechanics Best Poster’ and ‘Best Presentation’ prize awards (3 for each category). And after seven years, an initiative becomes a tradition!!! Yet another reason to join us in Valencia, 2013.
Neuro-ethology and biomechanics of acoustic communication in vertebrates
Dates: 3 July (all day)
Organised by: Coen P. H. Elemans (University of Southern Denmark), John M. Ratcliffe (University of Southern Denmark)
Confirmed Speakers: Andrew Bass (Cornell University), W. Tecumseh Fitch (University of Vienna), Ana Amador (Universidad de Buenos Aires), Marcel vd Heijden (Erasmus MC, Rotterdam), Christian Herbst (University of Vienna), Nicole Kime (Edgewood College, Madison), Roderick Suthers (Indiana University), David Reby (University of Sussex), Peter T. Madsen (Aarhus University)
Description:
Communication through sound is a fundamental component of many social interactions and essential to courtship and agonistic behaviours in many vertebrates, including man. Close to 10,000 species of birds, 5,000 species of frogs, 5,000 species of mammals and a yet unknown number of fish, produce a multitude of sounds, ranging from clicks and grunts to howls and whistles; from precise and rapid modulations of sound amplitude and frequency in echolocation to learned languages embedding higher order grammar. The production and perception of sound involves complex interactions between sensory systems, musculo-skeletal dynamics and the brain and often results in behaviors of dazzling complexity and beauty.
These sessions will include world-leading researchers presenting the current state of the art and the future of the field. Recent advances will be illustrated by the most successful experimental animal models used to better understand the neural basis and biomechanics of sound reception and production.
Muscle-tendon biomechanics
Dates: 4 July (am only)
Organised by: Manny Azizi (University of California, Irvine), Polly McGuigan (University Of Bath)
Confirmed Speakers: Huub Maas (Vrije University), Carolyn Eng (Harvard University), Glen Litchwark (University of Queensland), Greg Sawicki (North Carolina State University), Chris Richards (Harvard University), Ryuta Kinugasa (Kanagawa University)
Description:
The “spring-like” mechanical properties of tendons allow them to function synergistically with contracting muscles to optimize the locomotor output of the muscle-tendon unit (MTU) for a diverse range of locomotor behaviors. In a muscle-tendon unit, a contracting muscle functions as the actuator of the system producing force while undergoing length changes. Tendons and other elastic elements such as aponeuroses function as springs acting in-series and store energy when muscles produce force and release energy when muscles relax. This fundamental mechanical relationship between muscles and tendons serves as the framework for understanding the locomotor function of the muscle-tendons unit. Tendon elasticity has been shown to reduce the metabolic cost of cyclical locomotion, to amplify power during ballistic behaviors, and to limit muscle injury during energy dissipation. This symposium brings together scientists from diverse academic and experimental backgrounds to understand the rules that govern muscle-tendon interactions. We focus on understanding 1) how variations in motor control strategies affect series elastic function 2) how do the tissue level mechanical properties alter muscle-tendon interactions and 3) how do changes in the mechanical properties of the MTU affect locomotor performance.
Mechanisms and functions of intraspecific variation: from genes to behaviour
Dates: 4 July (all day)
Organised by: Mark Briffa (University of Plymouth), Lynne Sneddon (University of Chester)
Confirmed Speakers: Kees van Oers (Netherlands Institute of Ecology), Niels Dingemanse (Max Planck Institute for Ornithology, Germany), Katherine Sloman (University of the West of Scotland), Alastair Wilson (University of Edinburgh), Kathryn Arnold (University of York), Sean Twiss (University of Durham)
Description:
Consistent between-individual variation in behaviour or ‘animal personality’ occurs in a variety of contexts and has been recognised in many animals including humans. Personality traits are commonly characterised as a being on a continuum such as shyness through to boldness. The consequences of animal personality are being investigated in an ever increasing range of environmental conditions and linked to underlying physiological mechanisms ranging from cognitive ability and brain structure to stress responses. This session will explore the functions and proximate causes of ‘animal personality’ using techniques in behaviour, molecular biology, physiology and neurobiology with speakers at the forefront of this exciting field.
Conservation Physiology of Marine Fishes
Dates: 5 - 6 July (all day)
Organised by: David McKenzie (CNRS Montpellier), Craig Franklin (University Of Queensland), Paolo Domenici (CNR Oristano)
Confirmed Speakers: Christian Jĝrgensen (University of Bergen), Steven Cooke (Carleton University), Andrew Sih (University of California at Davis), William Cheung (UBC), Tim Clark (AIMS Townsville), John Morrongiello (CSIRO Tasmania), Cory Suski (University of Illinois), Setfano Marras (CNR Oristano), François Guilhaumon (IRD Montpellier),
Description:
Marine fish are important resources but human pressures threaten their biodiversity and abundance. Physiological research can reveal how marine fish are adapted to their environment, and causal mechanisms underlying their distribution and abundance. Thus, the emerging field of conservation physiology can provide improved predictions on the impacts of environmental challenges, and refine conservation strategies. This session will bring together physiologists, ecologists and modellers, to present the state of the art of current understanding of how the environment, and future environmental change, can influence the abundance and distribution of marine fishes. There will be a combination of talks and posters, in particular by early career researchers.
This workshop session receives financial support from the EU COST Action FA1004 Conservation Physiology of Marine Fishes (http://fish-conservation.nu/)
Challenges to respiratory gas transport, a dedication to George Hughes
Dates: 5 July (all day)
Organised by: Michael Berenbrink (University of Liverpool)
Confirmed Speakers: Jay Storz (University of Nebraska- Lincoln), Pat Butler (University of Birmingham), Göran Nilsson (University of Oslo), Colin Brauner (University of British Columbia), David Atkinson (University of Liverpool), Wilco Verberk (Radboud University Nijmegen)
Description:
Uptake of oxygen at respiratory surfaces, its transport via the circulatory system and metabolism in tissues, as well as the excretion of carbon dioxide, are central themes in physiology and determine the maximal aerobic scope of animals. This session explores how animals cope with the challenges of different respiratory environments, ranging from high altitude to aquatic hypoxia and from elevated carbon dioxide levels in subterranean burrows to tropical swamps and high intensity aquaculture. The session will also explore to what extent animals have been - and will likely be - able to cope with natural or human-induced changes in their respiratory environment, such as changes in atmospheric oxygen, elevated temperatures and ocean acidification. Because of its broad scope there is ample opportunity to compare different physiological systems from water-breathers to air-breathers, and invertebrate insects to vertebrate fish and mammals. These topics have previously been covered in the General Animal Session with rather short talks. This session provides the opportunity to showcase some of the exciting developments in Respiratory Physiology in a single session with a number of selected longer talks while at the same time offering a number of slots for contributed talks.
What are the Limits to Avian Energy Expenditure?
Dates: 6 July (all day)
Organised by: Jon Green (University of Liverpool), Lewis Halsey (Roehampton University), John Speakman (University of Aberdeen)
Confirmed Speakers: Raul Suarez (University of California, Santa Barbara), Irene Tieleman (University of Groningen), Jan-Ċke Nilsson (Lund University), Johan Nilsson (University of Glasgow), Kyle Elliot (University of Manitoba), Jorg Welcker (Norwegian Polar Institute)
Description:
It has been over 30 years since Drent and Daan published 'The prudent parent: energetic adjustments in avian breeding'. But 1300+ citations later, are we really any closer to understanding whether there is a limit to the energy expenditure of birds? Drent and Daan suggested a number of possible mechanisms and explanations behind their proposed limit. In this symposium we will think about what we mean by a limit in terms of different physiological and ecological timescales, and how different limiting factors interact with these scales. Speakers working on a range of model species including seabirds, waders, passerines and hummingbirds will present their findings. As a starting point we will consider the roles of senescence, metabolic pathways, immune response, seasonality, thermoregulation, oxidative stress and environmental variability as we explore the life-history implications of different energetic strategies, both within and between species. All submissions on this topic are welcome as we try and establish where we have got to in understanding the existence of and selection for, energetic limits in birds.
Remodelling of physiological systems in response to environmental change
Dates: 3 July (all day)
Organised by: Todd Gillis (University of Guelph), Holly Shiels (University of Manchester)
Confirmed Speakers: Leslie Buck (University of Toronto), Hannah Carey (University of Wisconsin), Martin Feelisch (University of Southampton), Robert Henning (University of Groningen), Jonathan Stecyk (University of Alaska), Chris Moyes (Queens University, Kingston)
Description:
Many species are able to survive, and acclimate, to significant changes in environmental and physiological conditions. These changes include reductions in environmental temperature, oxygen levels and pH. To maintain physiological function and/or maintain health under such conditions can require the remodeling of physiological systems across multiple levels of organization. This includes molecular and biochemical pathways, cell and tissue morphology and whole organ function. The purpose of this symposium is to examine the regulation of such remodeling and it’s functional consequences. This one day session will bring together investigators who examine physiological remodeling in different animals in response to a variety of stressors at different levels of biological organization. This includes strategies used to preserve neural function in turtles during hypoxia, the role of NO signaling in mammals during acclimation to hypoxia, the role of animal-microbial symbioses in the context of seasonal environmental change, and the remodeling response of the vertebrate heart to low temperature. It is hoped that such integration will provide new mechanistic insight into the strategies and limitations of physiological function during environmental change.
Robert Henning is proudly sponsored by the Journal of Thermal Biology and Martin Feelisch is proudly sponsored by Loligo Systems
Aquatic life in a warmer and higher CO2 world
Dates: 4 July (all day)
Organised by: Rod Wilson (University of Exeter), Fredrik Jutfelt (University of Gothenburg)
Confirmed Speakers: Phil Munday (James Cook University, Australia), Goran Nilsson (University of Oslo), Hans Otto Poertner (Alfred Wegener Institute), Frank Melzner (GEOMAR Helmholtz Centre for Ocean Research Kiel), Patricia Shulte (UBC, Canada), Steve Widdicombe (Plymouth Marine Laboratory)
Description
Climate change is having many influences on aquatic life, but the two major variables of concern that are known to be increasing over the next century are temperature and CO2. The latter is especially known to impact many marine calcifiers with respect to growth of carbonate minerals. Both temperature and CO2 have long been known to impact acid-base and ion balance, respiratory function, aerobic performance and energetics. Recent studies on larval fish have demonstrated surprisingly dramatic effects of CO2 (at realistic levels for the end of this century) on multiple aspects of central brain function, sensory physiology and behaviour in fish that have clear implications for population level effects. Our understanding of the scope for individual acclimatisation and species adaptation is still very limited, though there are indications of potential within some species. This session aims to bring together research that focuses on establishing the physiological mechanisms that underpin the effects of temperature and/or CO2 on aquatic organisms. In particular we are keen to provide a platform for research that will allow better predictions when extrapolating from effects on individuals to those at the population level.
Stress in the Wild: linking conservation physiology with endocrinology
Dates: 3 July (all day)
Organised by: Nic Bury (Kings College London), Armin Sturm (University of Stirling), Craig Franklin (University Of Queensland)
Confirmed Speakers: Michael Romero (Tufts University), Rudy Boonstra (University of Toronto at Scarborough), Svante Winberg (Uppsala University), Ed Narayan (Griffith University), John Cockrem (Massey University)
Description
Organisms live in a world of fluctuating natural conditions (e.g. temperature, day length, precipitation and food availability), as well as having to cope with increasing anthropogenic disturbed environments (e.g. chemical pollution, light and noise pollution, perturbation to natural climatic cycles). These environmental stressors can disturb an organism’s physiological homeostasis and behaviour and to survive the organisms must be able to respond positively; which is often mediated via the endocrine and neuroendocrine system. However, there is often an energetic cost associated with this response that can affect life history traits (e.g. growth, fertility, off-spring survival) that ultimately determine population survival. This session aims to bring together scientists interested in the link between the endocrine system and physiology and behaviour in wild populations of invertebrates, birds, reptiles, amphibians, mammals and fish affected by environmental perturbations. The research topic is broad, but we welcome research in innovative technologies that enable an individual’s endocrine stress response to be assesses, how environmental condition affects life history traits in natural populations and the significance of the intra-population variations in responses to stressors for future survival. The session fits into the wider context of utilising an organisms physiological status to advise on future conservation strategies, and thus a challenge for the session is to seek answers to two questions - can endocrinology also assist in these conservation efforts? And is there an endocrine measure of populations at tipping points?
General Animal Biology
Dates: 5 July (pm only), 6 July (all day)
Organised by: Jonathan Stecyk (University of Alaska Anchorage)
The General Animal Biology session comprises talks and posters on all the aspects of animal biology that are not catered to in the specific Animal Section sessions. As such, the session is an important element of the scientific program, with high-quality presentations on a wide spectrum of subjects. The General session has been very successful in recent years, and will take place over a 1.5 days at Valencia in 2013. The program of talks is organized (as far as possible) into the subject areas of the special interest groups of the Animal Section, so delegates can attend back-to-back presentations within their general area of interest. Presentations by post-grads, post-docs and early career scientists are particularly encouraged.
Protein versatility
Dates: 3 July (all day), 4 July (am only)
Organised by: Mark Hooks (Bordeaux University Segalen), Angus Murphy (University of Maryland), Wendy Peer (University of Maryland)
Confirmed Speakers: Ophry Pines (Hebrew University), Michael Palmgren (University of Copenhagen), Stephen J. Royle (University of Liverpool), Loranne Agius (Institute of Cellular Medicine at Newcastle University), Heike Riegler (Julius Kühn-Institut, Germany), Ranjan Swarup (University of Nottingham), Melinda Abas (Universitaet fuer Bodenkultur), Joseph P. Noel (The Salk Institute)
Description:
The paradigm of “one substrate / one enzyme” is being challenged by accumulating evidence that many proteins have become dual or multipurpose through changes in subcellular localization, structural modifications or both. Multiplicity of protein function should be recognised as a mechanism of adaptive evolution congruent with the concept of genetic neofunctionalization as a significant component of natural selection. The purpose of this section is to highlight the recent advances in understanding how evolution of cell function and metabolism has employed existing protein tools for unexpected purposes. The first section organized by Mark Hooks will introduce the concept of protein versatility from the viewpoint of compartmentation and its metabolic consequences. The second section organized by Wendy Peer entails geneticneofunctionalization and how paralogues or orthologues have evolved diverse functions from their gene families. The third section organized by Angus Murphy will present examples of protein versatility through cryptic functions of individual proteins, which can include structural modifications and/or functions not predicted from sequence homology. Since such examples can be found across all cellular life, we invite abstracts from across kingdoms in a range of topics including organelle proteomics, dual-localized proteins, targeting mechanisms, isozymes and isozyme compartmentation, evolution, chaperones, moonlighting, cryptic function and other topics pertaining to protein function.