9314202 Herring The International Congress of Vertebrate Morphology (ICVM) promotes international communication and cooperation in vertebrate morphology and other biological sciences. Morphology plays a unique role in organismal biology in that it integrates and forms the context for observations from a variety of disciplines. The Fourth Congress will be in North America and is expected to attract a large number of distinguished scientists from many countries. The purposes of ICVM-4 are to make the most current research in vertebrate morphology available to North American scientists and to provide the syntheses between vertebrate morphology and its cognate fields that will provide direction through the 90's and into the next century. Holding of ICVM-4 in the U.S. presents a rare opportunity for a large number of Americans to be exposed to the work of European and other scholars. Although aspects of morphology are strongly represented in the U.S., many areas are centered elsewhere. Previously, only scientists who traveled to European meetings could take full advantage of new developments in these fields. The scientific focus of the Congress will be provided by an invited program consisting of (1) plenary lectures delineating the interactions between morphology and population biology, ecology, physiology evolution and development; (2) informal, hands-on workshops intended to stimulate discussion and interaction, and (3) formal symposia directed at major syntheses of modern research areas, such as integrating molecular findings into the framework of organismal biology and exploring how physiological and paleontological evidence can be combined to study evolutionary transitions. The Congress will also feature contributed paper and poster sessions in a format intended to enhance social interactions among the participants. ***
