Funds are requested to support, in part, the Second International Cascade Symposium on the Avian Digestive System. This symposium is a follow up to a very successful symposium that was held in the summer of 1988. The topic of the planned symposium is the basic physiology of the avian digestive system, an area that has not been summarized since the mid-1980s. As with the proceedings of the 1988 symposium that were published as a supplement to the Journal of Zoology, every attempt will be made to have the proceeding of the second symposium published. Through a careful selection of speakers, almost all aspects of the avian GI system will be covered in the symposium. The symposium will start with a consideration of the regulation of food intake, and this will be followed in sequence by discussions of gastric function, small intestine function, function of the digestive ceca, rectal and cloacal function, changes of the GI system with diet, and the coordinated function of the kidney and lower GI track in the maintenance of fluid and electrolyte balance. Thirty-one speakers have been invited to participate in the symposium, eleven of which are from foreign countries. In addition to the oral presentations, students and others will be offered the opportunity to present data as posters during the conference.
