Development and Macroevolution: Introduction to the Symposium

Despite the historical relationship between embryology and evolutionarybiology, during most of the 20th century developmental biologyand evolutionary biology have existed as two separate subdisciplinesof biology. Recently a reunion of these subdisciplines beganto take place. This reunion involves the formulation of evolutionaryexplanations of developmental phenomena and the applicationof developmental processes as mechanisms of evolutionary change.The symposium speakers have considered both aspects of the reunionas well as some of the theoretical and methodological issuesthat are emerging from it.     

Introduction to the Symposium: What is Computational Neurobiology?

SYNOPSIS. Current advances in computational biology are derivedfrom two sets of ideas established in the work of Santiago Ramóny Cajal. One is the neuron doctrine, which holds that neuronsare the functional units of the nervous system, and has ledto detailed models of neuronal properties based on increasinginformation on the physical and chemical properties of neurons.The second is the idea of networks of neurons with specificpatterns of interconnections that has led to a variety of mathematicalmethods of analyzing such networks. Future work in computationalneurobiology promises to be a blend of these two modeling approaches.     

Introduction to the Symposium: Ontogenetic Strategies of Invertebrates in Aquatic Environments

This symposium presents different ecological and physiologicalstrategies used by invertebrates to successfully adapt to aquaticenvironments. Adaptation has been studied mainly in adult animals,but the papers comprising the symposium emphasize ontogeneticstrategies, starting from the principle that natural selectionacts on all stages of development. Adaptive strategies may thusdiffer strikingly between developmental stages of the same organism.Invertebrates offer a wide array of ecophysiological modelsfor study, and these are exemplified by the contributions tothe symposium, which are briefly summarized. Future researchin the field will 1, expand the number of models for comparativepurposes; 2, examine the strategies, not only of larvae andjuveniles, but also of embryos, eggs and reproductive cells;and 3, investigate the genetic basis of ontogenetic strategies.