III Congreso Latinoamericano de Equinodermos, Costa Rica

Abstract

The third Latin American Echinoderm Congress was organized in San José, Costa Rica, from 18 to 22 July, at the University of Costa Rica, by the Centro de Investigacion en Ciencas del Mar y Limnologia, and by the Biology School, with the coordination of Juan José Alvarado Barrientos, with the help of a local team and a scientific committee from several countries (México, Spain, Brazil, Ecuador and Argentina). Financial support was offered by Institut Français Amérique centrale and Vicerrectoría de Investigación from the University of Costa Rica which are sincerely thanked. The congress was attended by 74 participants from 13 countries (Spain, USA, Mexico, El Salvador, Costa Rica, Colombia, Ecuador, Chile, Venezuela, Brazil, Uruguay, Argentina and France). There were a total of 93 presentations, 53 oral and 40 posters, with a participation of 37 students (undergraduate and graduate). Four plenary lectures were given: 1) “Recent trends in world sea cucumber fisheries: Captures, markets, management and the problem of the illegal” by Dr Chantal Conand, La Reunion University, France; 2) “Human influence on the population fluctuations of sea urchins: Implications for management of marine ecosystems” by Dr Jose Carlos Hernandez, University of La Laguna, Tenerife, Spain; 3) “Ethical reflections on the use of echinoderms in scientific studies” by Dr Tamara Rubilar, Patagonian National Center, Argentina; and 4) “Molecular studies of echinoderms across the Atlantic-Mediterranean area: From population genetics to gene expression”, by Dr Rocío Pérez Pórtela, University of Miami, United States. The proceeding from this congress will be published in a special issue of the Journal of Tropical Biology in 2017. A week before the congress, three courses were developed and held at the Biology School: 1) “Echinodermata physiology” by Dr Tamara Rubilar; 2) “Experimental design in marine ecology” by Dr Jose Carlos Hernandez; and 3) “Application of molecular markers to ecological and evolutionary studies” by Dr Rocio Perez Portela.