From Genes to Ecosystems to Human Mental Health

Predator-prey interactions have shaped all life on earth and this underlying commonality helps explain the recent development of parallel independent research paths in many diverse fields. For instance, the persistent threat of immediate violent death is a hallmark of predator-prey interactions that has profound implications for human psychology, epigenetics, neurobiology, physiology, developmental biology, ecology and evolution. Studying fear of predators has accordingly come to inform research on, e.g., post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), maternal stress and the ‘programming’ of childhood anxiety, learning and long-term memory, ecosystem functioning, conservation and eco-evolutionary dynamics.

The goal of this inaugural Gordon Research Conference on Predator-Prey Interactions is to facilitate the coalescence of these parallel research paths by bringing together the leading investigators from diverse fields, in order to create a cohesive community of excellent researchers keen to collaborate in exploring the unique insights to be gained from an interdisciplinary focus on phenomena specific to predator-prey interactions. The theme of this inaugural Conference is ‘From Genes to Ecosystems to Human Mental Health’ and the sessions correspondingly cover an extensive range of topics including, e.g., ‘The neurobiology of predator-induced fear’, ‘Predators as stressors: integrating human and animal models’, ‘Fear effects on population- and ecosystem-level processes’ and ‘Restoring the balance between predators and prey’.

The Conference will bring together an international group of researchers at different career stages who are all at the forefront of their diverse fields, and will provide junior scientists and graduate students the opportunity to meet and discuss their work with the leaders in their field. To complement the session presentations and help ensure everyone is an active participant all attendees are strongly encouraged to contribute a poster. Bringing together diverse scientists in the collegial atmosphere of this Conference, with organized discussions, opportunities for informal gatherings, and inclusive poster sessions, is certain to lead to numerous new synergies and interdisciplinary collaborations.