Preface

Since the recent growth of molecular and genetic methods, and their implementation into organismic biology, zoology has been slowly regaining the importance it enjoyed until the late 1970's. Biologists are becoming increasingly aware that dynamic processes between molecules and proteins, the products of expressed genes, are relevant in the context of the whole organism's physiological status and behaviour. This modernization of organismic biology, however, has also resulted in more differentiation and diversity of methods within the disciplines that apply to the animal sciences. This increasing diversity within zoological disciplines was highlighted in the series of lectures held at our annual meeting in Halle in 2002.The highlight of the Halle meeting was undoubtedly the awarding of the Karl von Frisch Prize to F. G. Barth from Vienna University. Since Karl von Frisch's work few have so successfully exemplified the wealth of knowledge and insights that may be gained by applying modern methods, and convergent approaches from different disciplines to one single species. Barth's work focused on the wandering spiders Cupiennius. His lecture, “spider senses – technical perfection and biology” demonstrated to us the scientific power of a holistic approach.In the context of the behavioural studies of our colleagues at Halle University, Charlotte Helfrich-Förster presented a survey of “The circadian system of Drosphila melanogaster and its light input pattern”. Behavioural research on rhythms has its roots in Germany and enjoys a long tradition in zoology. As in many other disciplines, modern genetics opened up new and very fruitful insights into the subject.A greater understanding of the mechanisms of learning and memory is another field of research that has benefitted greatly from molecular biology. It has become a flourishing and expanding area of research, especially in invertebrate zoology. The current state of research, from a neurobiological and molecular point of view, was presented in three lectures, including one by Uli Müller, of the Berlin School. Cognition in audition, a still emerging field, was introduced to us in Bernhard Gaese's lecture on “Precognitive and cognitive elements in sound localization”. In the future, auditory cognition will surely become a Dorado for neurobiologists and acoustic psychologists. Susan D. Healy connected cognition with ecological constraints in her talk “Animal learning and memory: an integration of cognition and ecology”. She argued that cognitive performances can only be explained in the context of species-specific behaviours and ecology. “Cognitive ecology”, as it may be termed, is an emerging and genuinely zoological field of research that will have an important impact on our understanding of evolution. It's challenges will require highly motivated young zoologists.Research on species diversity takes a different approach to the subject of evolution and diversity, investigating the preconditions for speciation processes, and evolutionary trends and mechanisms. Unfortunately the fauna of soils is rarely considered, in spite of its great importance to ecological conditions. Richard Bagdett made up for this neglect in his lecture on the “Causes and consequences of biological diversity in soil”, and Bernhard Misof reported on speciation processes in Anisoptera.“Classical” physiology is still the backbone of organismic research. Modern versions of two very different topics were presented in Halle. Stephan Huber reported on the “Development of renal function”, and Fritz-Olaf Lehmann presented a new and convincing concept of aerodynamics and energetics in insect flight. His research continues the worthwhile tradition of flight analysis founded by Werner Nachtigall.The topics of our annual meeting in Halle could hardly have been more diverse. However, it is this the very diversity of modern and productive research field in zoology that characterizes a promising and fascinating future. In zoology, more than in any other biological discipline, exciting problems relevant to the understanding of evolution and its mechanisms are waiting to be solved by young scientists. Zoology has again become a start-up enterprise with promising rewards.     

大学全英文教授<动物学>探索

为配合教学改革的需要,首次在本科生中试行《动物学》全英文教学。针对一年级学生的英语水平和特点,结合《动物学》课程的特性,在课堂教学中合理运用多媒体技术,调动学生学习积极性,激发学生兴趣,因而提高了学习效率。     

A Space of One’s Own: Barbosa du Bocage,the Foundation of the National Museum of Lisbon,and the Construction of a Career in Zoology (1851–1907)

This paper discusses the life and scientific work of José Vicente Barbosa du Bocage (1823–1907), a nineteenth-century Portuguese naturalist who carved a new place for zoological research in Portugal and built up a prestigious scientific career by securing appropriate physical and institutional spaces to the discipline. Although he was appointed professor of zoology at the Lisbon Polytechnic School, an institution mainly devoted to the preparatory training of military officers and engineers, he succeeded in creating the conditions that allowed him to develop consistent research in zoology at this institution. Taking advantage of the reconstruction and further improvement of the building of the Lisbon Polytechnic, following a violent fire in 1843, Bocage transferred a natural history museum formerly located at the Academy of Sciences of Lisbon to his institution, where he conquered a more prestigious place for zoology. Although successive governments were unwilling to meet Bocage’s ambitions for the Zoological Section of the newly created National Museum of Lisbon, the collaborators he found in different parts of the Portuguese continental territory and colonial empire supplied him the specimens he needed to make a career as a naturalist. Bocage ultimately became a renowned specialist in Southwestern African fauna thanks to José de Anchieta, his finest collaborator. Travels to foreign museums, and the establishment of links with the international community of zoologists, proved fundamental to build up Bocage’s national and international scientific reputation, as it will be exemplified by the discussion of his discovery of Hyalonema, a specimen with a controversial identity collected off the Portuguese coast.     

Population regulation and the life history studies of LaMont Cole

Transformative changes marked the growth of mid-twentieth century American ecology. This included redirection of the scholarly focus of the discipline, especially on the role evolutionary theory and "levels of selection", and increased visibility of ecologist as public figures in the environmental movement with special knowledge of how natural systems work. Cornell ecologist LaMont Cole is an important figure to examine both of these trends. Like many of his contemporaries, Cole was devoted to a perspective on natural selection operating at levels above the individual. However, because of his influential mathematical treatment of animal demography he has been historically subsumed into a group of scholars that views the events in the life course as adaptations to the maximization of individual fitness--life history theory. Cole's popular writings and lectures, which consumed his later career, extend his scholarly portrayal of natural populations as tending toward stable and homoeostatic equilibrium, with the goal of drawing contrasts with the deviance of rapid human population growth. In both regards, Cole serves as a topical and temporal extension of the well-documented and analyzed ecology of his mentors--Alfred Emerson, Thomas Park, and Warder Allee--in the University of Chicago Zoology Department.     

Editorial

These are heady times. As the new millennium dawns, the field of zoology is more exciting than ever. Phylogenetic relations among animals are rapidly being refined or revised in light of new data and powerful new analyses. These revelations in turn are rekindling interest in the function, development, and evolution of animals from all branches of the zoological tree. Tools and insights derived from work on a few model organisms are being applied widely to fill in significant gaps in our knowledge about how the astonishing diversity of animal characteristics evolved.Paralleling this new excitement is an upheaval in scientific publishing. Increasingly specialized journals are sprouting up worldwide as publishers rush to embrace emerging areas of excitement. Electronic communication is re-defining expectations about how new knowledge is disseminated both in format and in mode of transmission and about the time from submission to publication. For established journals to survive, they too must evolve.This journal, ZOOLOGY, is evolving to meet the needs and expectations of the modern community of animal biologists. It aims to promote research like that of it's founder J.W. Spengel — that explicitly emphasizes comparative aspects of animal biology. With the rapid growth of phylogenetic information, ZOOLOGY now offers a venue where the full impact of recent phylogenetic advances on our understanding of animal form, function, development, and evolution can be addressed. An ambitious new group of editors, a new advisory board, and a professionally staffed editorial office, are working to rejuvenate ZOOLOGY as an internationally recognized leader in comparative animal biology.ZOOLOGY has a distinguished place in the pantheon of animal biology journals. It ranks among the oldest continuously published journals in Germany. Founded in 1886 as Zoologische Jahrbücher it quickly rose to prominence among European zoological journals. In the early 1990's, after political and social upheavaling some European countries and after the reunification of Germany, the journal took a more international approach under a new title, ZOOLOGY — ANALYSIS OF COMPLEX SYSTEMS (ZACS). For the last four years, ZOOLOGY has also worked in close cooperation with the German Zoological Society and this tradition will continue. Once each year, it will publish review lectures presented at the annual meeting of the Society. A supplement to ZOOLOGY, containing the abstracts of oral and poster presentations of the annual meeting, will also be produced in conjunction with the German Zoological Society.But the new ZOOLOGY also recognizes the increasing importance of rapid and international communication in all areas of animal biology. It therefore aims to reduce publication time drastically and to enhance the speed and rigor of the review process. The new editors and editorial board are committed to maintaining the highest scientific standards and also to remaining flexible enough to adjust to the ever changing field of animal biology. Recognizing the increasing importance of rapid, effective, international communication, the new ZOOLOGY will offer:— the highest scientific standards— a short review time— a publication time schedule of three months after acceptance— color plates free of charge (at the editors' discretion)— an online version published in advance of the printed journal— free E-mail Table of Contents alerts so papers are widely publicized— papers abstracted/indexed by all the major scientific indexing servicesAs the new cover and the more accessible layout inside this issues show, the change has already begun. The future holds great promise for animal biology. Join us as Zoology strives to fulfil that promise.Spring 2001J. Matthias StarckThomas C. BoschA. Richard PalmerKiyokazu Agata     

中国国家自然科学基金对兽类学研究的资助

中国国家自然科学基金自1986年设立以来对我国兽类学研究给予了大力支持,但对其具体资助情况及其对我国兽类学发展的影响不是十分清楚,为此,对国家自然科学基金委员会生命科学部1986年以来所资助有关兽类学研究项目进行了统计分析。这些项目主要包括面上项目,重点项目,重大项目和其它专项基金项目如国家杰出青年基金项目,地区基金项目以及高技术项目等,分析结果表明,动物学科共资助有关兽类学研究的面上项目,重点项目,重大项目等131项（占学科总项目数的21.98%),总计1361.9万元（占学科总经费数的29.60%);生态学科总计资助上述各类项目49项、536.8万元（分别占学科总数的7.47%和7.09%),遗传学科动物遗传学总计资助上述各类项目39项,311.1万元,动物学科是我国开展兽类学研究的主要资助之一,生态学和动物遗传学资助有关兽类学研究项目的增加,反映了传统的兽类学研究与生态学,遗传学的结合和交叉,根据上述结果对国家自然科学基金在我国兽类学发展历程中的关键作用及其对我国兽类学发展趋势的影响进行了讨论。     

Life Before Model Systems: General Zoology at August Weismann's Institute

SYNOPSIS. With the current interest in and criticism of ModelSystems Research in mind, I review some of the details of aresearch program at the turn of the century. I present dataabout career trajectories of the degree recipients in AugustWeismann's Institute of Zoology, in Freiburg i/Br., Germany.I ennumerate the organisms they use in their research and providesome discussion about the level of analysis performed by certainstudents bound for academic careers. I conclude that between1880 and 1912 diversity prevailed in career objectives, researchprojects, organisms investigated and levels of analysis. Thiswas the diversity of a General Zoology suited to Weismann'sprimary interests in evolution and the contemporary expectationsof academic zoology. This General Zoology contrasts with theorganism specific research prevalent at the same institute directedby Hans Spemann between 1918 and 1931. In closing I proposea sequence of historical stages which changed the General Zoologyat the beginning of the current century into Model Systems Researchat the end.     

Zoology www guide

In almost every branch of zoology the internet is now a vital place for posting up-to-date status reports on all kind of animal groups and research areas. Many websites not only provide the latest on taxonomy, ecology and distribution, but also include valuable background information and details of experimental procedures as well as discussion forums. For the zoologist the online world seems to hold everything from acarology to otoliths. To show what impressive things can be done in communicating and facilitating research in zoology, given a little initiative and perseverance, we will introduce websites that find fresh ways to approach their subjects and that may, in some way or another, inspire zoologists. Readers are welcome to join in this process for future editions of Zoology www guides and should send their website suggestions to tbosch@zoologie.uni-kiel.de. In this issue the focus is on molluscs.     

The National Climate Laboratory-an Unappreciated Tool for Ecological Research

[First paragraph(s)...]“A freezing chamber offers an easy place for such [frost] experiments... and ... valuable data as to the cold-resisting powers of our plants might be arrived at” (Cockayne, 1897). The National Climate Laboratory was opened in 1970 and has been operating for the past 25 years (recently celebrating its anniversary) for both national and international scientists carrying out environmental research on plants and animals (Halligan, 1995). The facilities have been used by a wide range of plant and animal based researchers from the pastoral, horticultural, and forestry sectors involving a range of disciplines from agronomy, pathology, entomology, physiology, plant breeding and zoology. New Zealand ecologists have been conspicuously absent (in spite of the potential in controlled environment research seen by pioneering ecologists—see above quotation) and yet there has been a range of activities that are complementary to this discipline.     

Interrelationship Between Fractal Ornament and Multilevel Selection Theory

Interdisciplinarity is one of the features of modern science, defined as blurring the boundaries of disciplines and overcoming their limitations or excessive specialization by borrowing methods from one discipline into another, integrating different theoretical assumptions, and using the same concepts and terms. Often, theoretical knowledge of one discipline and technological advances of another are combined within an interdisciplinary science, and new branches or disciplines may also emerge. Biosemiotics, a field that arose at the crossroads of biology, semiotics, linguistics, and philosophy, enables scientists to borrow theoretical assumptions from semiotics and extend them to different biological theories. The latter applies especially to extended synthesis, wherein culture is viewed as one of the factors influencing evolution. In the present research, the semiotic system of Ukrainian folk ornament is analyzed through the theory of fractals, key features of which are recursion and self-similarity. As a result, an assumption is made about the fractal structure of culture and social life on a conceptual level. What follows is a discussion of how this assumption can contribute to the multilevel selection theory, one of the foundations of extended synthesis, which employs the concept of self-similarity at all levels of the biological hierarchy.     

"A system biology" approach to bioinformatics and functional genomics in complex human diseases: arthritis

Human and other annotated genome sequences have facilitated generation of vast amounts of correlative data, from human/animal genetics, normal and disease-affected tissues from complex diseases such as arthritis using gene/protein chips and SNP analysis. These data sets include genes/proteins whose functions are partially known at the cellular level or may be completely unknown (e.g. ESTs). Thus, genomic research has transformed molecular biology from "data poor" to "data rich" science, allowing further division into subpopulations of subcellular fractions, which are often given an "-omic" suffix. These disciplines have to converge at a systemic level to examine the structure and dynamics of cellular and organismal function. The challenge of characterizing ESTs linked to complex diseases is like interpreting sharp images on a blurred background and therefore requires a multidimensional screen for functional genomics ("functionomics") in tissues, mice and zebra fish model, which intertwines various approaches and readouts to study development and homeostasis of a system. In summary, the post-genomic era of functionomics will facilitate to narrow the bridge between correlative data and causative data by quaint hypothesis-driven research using a system approach integrating "intercoms" of interacting and interdependent disciplines forming a unified whole as described in this review for Arthritis.     

Self‐guided field trips take invertebrate zoology students away from their screens and into the environment for hands‐on learning

There is a great importance for undergraduate biology students to study organisms in their natural context. Safety concerns surrounding the global COVID‐19 pandemic prevented Marine Invertebrate Zoology students at the University of Tampa from participating in traditional faculty‐led field trips during the Fall of 2020. Instead, students were assigned to conduct a diversity‐focused field trip on their own and report their findings. Here we describe considerations and methods for creating a safe and valuable self‐guided field trip assignment for upper‐level invertebrate zoology students. These methods are adaptable for a variety of different habitat types and can be conducted with little to no special equipment or training. Students were successful in completing this assignment and found it highly enriching.     

Graph use in psychology and other sciences

Since the early 19th century, graphs have been recognised as an effective method of analysing and representing scientific data. However, levels of graph use have varied widely since then, partly due to increasing reliance on inferential statistics in some fields. Recent studies indicate that graph use is closely related to the 'hardness' of scientific disciplines, and that this finding holds for journal articles and textbooks across the subfields of psychology. In the area of animal behaviour, journals devote about one-sixth of their page space to graphs, a level of graph use approximating that of biology and physics. Implications for the training of scientists in the use of visual displays are considered.     

Programs for invasive research in North American zoos and aquariums

Zoo-based research in North America is an emerging field, which has progressed from an ad hoc approach in a small number of zoos to a coordinated, integrated network of scientists with recognized research programs in approximately one half of the accredited institutions in North America. The disciplines most active in these programs--veterinary medicine and pathology, nutrition, reproductive biology, contraception, and behavior--are now becoming coordinated in zoos through Scientific Advisory Groups. Zoos with research programs generally establish either an institutional animal care and use committee or another committee to evaluate research proposals. In addition to scientific merit and experimental design, zoos evaluate proposals based on factors such as priority by conservation program/identified need; direct effect on species conservation, species type, and appropriateness; availability and location of animals; operational requirements/logistics; communication between institutions; and available funding. Euthanasia is considered only in rare circumstances. Zoo-based research has evolved into an integral component in animal management and conservation programs by providing practical information that is used to improve animal care, well-being, health, and reproduction. However, the degree to which zoos participate in invasive research varies considerably among institutions, due not only to resource limitations but also to how the term "invasive" is defined and accepted at each institution. A more standardized approach among zoological institutions for examining and approving research projects that are supported by zoo-based conservation programs would greatly facilitate the wildlife research efforts of North American zoos.     

Visitor behavior in zoos: A review

Abstract

Visitors are integral components of zoological parks and their importance has led to a research area devoted to understanding the people–zoo relationship. This paper reviews, and provides a point of entry into, the literature relating to visitor research in zoos. The field emerged relatively recently and is diverse and interdisciplinary (it shares common ground with sociology, education, psychology, zoology, and other academic disciplines). Several areas can be identified in the literature (audience analysis, circulation and orientation, exhibit evaluation, and interactions with animals), and these areas have revealed visitors' demographic and behavioral characteristics, people's behavioral responses to endogenous and exogenous factors, the impact of exhibit design, and visitors' movements around zoos. Limitations of existing work include independence between research areas, lack of international studies, limited generalizability of results, and the minority status of the field. Therefore, suggestions for future work include integrating different research areas, more research from outside Europe and America, and increased interaction within the visitor research community.     

动物学野外实习管理模式探讨

动物学野外实习是生命科学各专业教学计划的重要组成部分。在总结二十多年来野外实习经验的基础上,参考国内外一些做法,提出动物学野外实习的管理模式,包括实习的学时及安排,实习时间、地点的选择,实习组织形式及其职能,实习纪律和要求,实习中的安全防护,实习动员和总结六个方面。     

从系统动物学的诞生和发展探讨现代动物学研究的特点

新技术新理论的不断发展推动着系统动物学的诞生,其迅速发展也说明了动物学领域宏观研究和微观研究在更高程度上相互渗透的特点。