SICB 2000 in Atlanta

[MKIRKALDY@aol.com]

I attended the SICB convention in Atlanta yesterday, taking in the
symposium "Beyond Reconstruction:  Using Phylogenies to Test
Hypotheses about Vertebrate Evolution."  (The convention runs
from January 4-8.)  While there weren't as many dinosaur folk here as 
attended in Denver, the dinosaur list was represented by Chris Brochu, 
John Hutchinson, Larry Witmer, and Steve Gatesy, and I think that there
were others among the approximately 1200 attendees.  Talks were 40 
minutes long, giving the speaker time to cover his topic in much more 
detail than the 15 minute limit at SVP, which also allowed time for 
questions and discussion. 

Maureen O'Leary started the talks with a lively review of the evolution
of whales from quadrupedal land mammals, including ear and dental 
transformations.  Another talk which was fastpaced and nature-packed 
was Karen Martin's talk on semi-lunar spawning in grunion.  She
showed a video of these fish doing their reproductive best on the beach, 
accompanied by Van Morrison's "Moondance."  The talk ended with the 
famous shot of Burt Lancaster and Deborah Kerr in "From Here to Eternity."

All of the topics were interesting, and Chris Brochu gave an excellent
talk on "The importance of phylogeny in interpreting the crododylian
record."  (He also knows the difference between a crocodile and
a dinosaur but isn't talking specifics right now.)  

Kevin Padian was the last speaker, on "Exaptation and the origins of flight: 
What do phylogenies test?" addressing some of the issues of dinosaurs 
evolving into birds.   John Hutchinson had a couple of posters at the 
Thursday session, including a fascinating one on elephant/sauropod 
locomotion.  I unfortunately was not able to see Larry or Steve's talks, 
since they were on 
days other than the symposium I attended.

The convention covered biology from many a researcher's point of view--
a scientific picnic for attendees. Next year's meeting will be held in Chicago
from January 3-7.

Mary
mkirkaldy@aol.com