Metabolic Basis of Ecology and Evolution

Metabolism shapes, evolves in response to, and is shaped by ecology. This conference focuses on how the cellular processes of metabolism, broadly defined, relate to phenomena across many levels of organization. Metabolism determines the rate of exchange of energy and materials with the environment and the rate of allocation of these resources to all components of the life history: maintenance, growth and reproduction. Metabolic rate also relates directly or indirectly to molecular evolution, rates of speciation and extinction, and patterns in species diversity. In this conference we will include physiological, biomechanical, ecosystem, and evolutionary viewpoints; and the invited speakers will present research ranging upwards in physical scale from the molecular level, to single cells, to multicellular organisms, to ecosystems and the entire globe. The overarching goal is to foster new collaborative interactions that will help us to move towards a more complete understanding of the metabolic laws that govern the structure and function of living organisms and the communities and ecosystems in which they reside.