International Society of Zoological Sciences
Encyclopedia
The International Society of Zoological Sciences (ISZS) was founded to encourage research, education, and communication in zoology
Zoology
Zoology |zoölogy]]), is the branch of biology that relates to the animal kingdom, including the structure, embryology, evolution, classification, habits, and distribution of all animals, both living and extinct...
. The society includes both individual scholars, and professional organizations. It particularly tries to increase the availability of research resources and enhance cooperation between different branches of zoology.
History
To summarize from Francis Dov Por's "The Road to the International Society of Zoological Sciences" "Zoology ... was among the very first disciplines to build an international organizationInternational organization
An intergovernmental organization, sometimes rendered as an international governmental organization and both abbreviated as IGO, is an organization composed primarily of sovereign states , or of other intergovernmental organizations...
. Congresses of Zoology started in 1889 on the initiative of the Société zoologique de France
Société zoologique de France
La Société zoologique de France or Zoological Society of France is a scientific society devoted to Zoology. It was founded in 1876....
on the occasion of the International Exposition
Exposition Universelle (1889)
The Exposition Universelle of 1889 was a World's Fair held in Paris, France from 6 May to 31 October 1889.It was held during the year of the 100th anniversary of the storming of the Bastille, an event traditionally considered as the symbol for the beginning of the French Revolution...
in Paris. Congresses were then held at regular intervals and attendance increased from congress to congress, from a few tens in Paris and in Moscow to 700 in Budapest
Budapest
Budapest is the capital of Hungary. As the largest city of Hungary, it is the country's principal political, cultural, commercial, industrial, and transportation centre. In 2011, Budapest had 1,733,685 inhabitants, down from its 1989 peak of 2,113,645 due to suburbanization. The Budapest Commuter...
in 1927. The London Congress set a target of 1000 and in Washington the number reached 2500.
The Congresses were also growing in complexity, resulting in part because of the emerging specialization
Academic specialization
In academia, specialization may be a course of study or major at an academic institution or may refer to the field that a specialist practices in....
of different fields of zoology. In London in 1958 there were eight to nine daily parallel sessions. In Washington an attempt was made to organize symposia
Academic conference
An academic conference or symposium is a conference for researchers to present and discuss their work. Together with academic or scientific journals, conferences provide an important channel for exchange of information between researchers.-Overview:Conferences are usually composed of various...
instead and there were no less than 29: the problem of unifying subjects became more important than the numbers of participants.
The Washington Congress decided that the Board of the Division of Zoology of the newly founded IUBS
IUBS
The International Union of Biological Sciences is a non-profit organization and non-governmental organization, founded in 1919, that promotes the biological sciences internationally...
, would assume in the future the role of the 'Comite Permanent' and would be responsible for ensuring the continuity of Zoological Congresses. This did not work and the new International Congresses of Systematic and Evolutionary Biology (ICSEB) took over the role of the Zoological Congresses.
A gallant effort was made in 1972 by Vaissiere
Étienne de la Vaissière
Étienne de La Vaissière is a French historian, professor at the Ecole des hautes études en sciences sociales, in Paris. He is teaching economic and social history of early medieval Central Asia, before and after the arrival of Islam...
and French colleagues to convene a XVII International Congress of Zoology in Monte Carlo
Monte Carlo
Monte Carlo is an administrative area of the Principality of Monaco....
. However, attendance was poor and the proceedings were never published. A long hiatus then began. An international focus became the problem of vanishing species
Extinction
In biology and ecology, extinction is the end of an organism or of a group of organisms , normally a species. The moment of extinction is generally considered to be the death of the last individual of the species, although the capacity to breed and recover may have been lost before this point...
. Instead, what followed in the next two decades was the vanishing of zoology from the international academic agenda. The names of university departments and research centers were rapidly changed in order to avoid use of the word 'zoology'.
With the aid of modern communications and technology a reunification of the fractured specialties of zoology became possible. The concept of an integrative zoology, synthesizing data and results ranging from molecular biology
Molecular biology
Molecular biology is the branch of biology that deals with the molecular basis of biological activity. This field overlaps with other areas of biology and chemistry, particularly genetics and biochemistry...
to behavior
Behavior
Behavior or behaviour refers to the actions and mannerisms made by organisms, systems, or artificial entities in conjunction with its environment, which includes the other systems or organisms around as well as the physical environment...
, gained wide acceptance. The XVIII International Congress of Zoology was held in Athens
Athens
Athens , is the capital and largest city of Greece. Athens dominates the Attica region and is one of the world's oldest cities, as its recorded history spans around 3,400 years. Classical Athens was a powerful city-state...
in Greece in August 2000. The symposium program of the Congress presented a cross-zoological picture of the many levels of zoological inquiry, both horizontal and vertical. Attendance in Athens was far from the incommunicable thousands in the last congresses, but was considered by all as an unmitigated success.
Subsequently, the IUBS approved the (re)formation of an international zoological body (the ISZS) as proposed by Zhibin Zhang, John Buckeridge and Francis Dov Por in Beijing in 2004, and an Executive Committee was elected and charged with organizing International Congresses of Zoology and providing a global voice for zoologists."
Structure
The ISZS has over 700 individual members and 80 institutional members. Institutional members include national zoological organizations, universities, non-governmental organizations and academies of scienceAcademy of Sciences
An Academy of Sciences is a national academy or another learned society dedicated to sciences.In non-English speaking countries, the range of academic fields of the members of a national Academy of Science often includes fields which would not normally be classed as "science" in English...
. ISZS is managed by an international Executive Committee. The current President is Jean-Marc Jallon (France). Immediate Past Presidents include: John Buckeridge (Australia) and Dov Por (Israel).
- The Secretariat of the ISZS is located at C-506, Institute of Zoology, Chinese Academy of SciencesChinese Academy of SciencesThe Chinese Academy of Sciences , formerly known as Academia Sinica, is the national academy for the natural sciences of the People's Republic of China. It is an institution of the State Council of China. It is headquartered in Beijing, with institutes all over the People's Republic of China...
, Datun Road, Beijing 100101, China.
International Congresses of Zoology
Meetings of the International Congress of Zoology have been held every four years, but with gaps and irregularities.- 1889 Paris (I)
- 1892 Moscow (II)
- 1895 Leyden (III)
- 1898 Cambridge, UK (IV)
- 1901 Berlin (V)
- 1904 Berne (VI)
- 1907 Boston (VII)
- 1910 Graz (VIII)
- 1913 Monaco (IX)
- 1927 Budapest (X)
- 1930 Padova (XI)
- 1935 Lisbon (XII)
- 1948 Paris (XIII)
- 1953 Copenhagen (XIV)
- 1958 London (XV)
- 1963 Washington (XVI)
- 1972 Monte Carlo (XVII)
- 2000 Athens, Greece (XVIII)
- 2004 Beijing, China (XIX)
- 2008 Paris, France (XX)
- 2012 Haifa, Israel (XXI)
- 2016 Japan (XXII)
International Symposia of Integrative Zoology
International Symposia of Integrative Zoology are held between Congresses, and provide a more intimate avenue for zoological exchange and research networking. They commenced in 2006 and are heavily supported by the Chinese Academy of Sciences.- 2006 1st International Symposium of Integrative Zoology
- 2007 2nd International Symposium of Integrative Zoology
- 2009 3rd International Symposium of Integrative Zoology: Biological consequences of global change and Darwin 200 Events
Scientific journal, Integrative Zoology
John Wiley & Sons
John Wiley & Sons, Inc., also referred to as Wiley, is a global publishing company that specializes in academic publishing and markets its products to professionals and consumers, students and instructors in higher education, and researchers and practitioners in scientific, technical, medical, and...
and the Institute of Zoology, Chinese Academy of Sciences
Chinese Academy of Sciences
The Chinese Academy of Sciences , formerly known as Academia Sinica, is the national academy for the natural sciences of the People's Republic of China. It is an institution of the State Council of China. It is headquartered in Beijing, with institutes all over the People's Republic of China...
. It is a quarterly, peer-reviewed and multidisciplinary journal
Academic journal
An academic journal is a peer-reviewed periodical in which scholarship relating to a particular academic discipline is published. Academic journals serve as forums for the introduction and presentation for scrutiny of new research, and the critique of existing research...
publishing original research, reviews, essays and opinion pieces on the zoological sciences. The Editor-in-Chief is Zhang Zhibin of the Chinese Academy of Sciences
Chinese Academy of Sciences
The Chinese Academy of Sciences , formerly known as Academia Sinica, is the national academy for the natural sciences of the People's Republic of China. It is an institution of the State Council of China. It is headquartered in Beijing, with institutes all over the People's Republic of China...
and the Honorary Editor-in-Chief is John Buckeridge of RMIT University
RMIT University
RMIT University is an Australian public university located in Melbourne, Victoria. It has two branches, referred to as RMIT University in Australia and RMIT International University in Vietnam....
.
Research Programs
The ISZS coordinates and funds a number of multidisciplinary programs. Currently, the society is undertaking an international research program titled 'Biological consequences of global change'.External links
- Official site of the ISZS.
- Integrative Zoology