The
6th International Congress of Nematology will be presented
by the Nematology Society of Southern Africain (NSSA)
during May 2014 in Cape Town, South Africa!
Click http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D_HIpPuxUp0
to have a sneak preview of what the host city offers
to visitors. Also check out the website (Nematology
Society of Southern Africa) at www.sanematodes.com
for updates on this forthcoming event or contact Mieke
Daneel (mieke@arc.agric.za)
or Driekie Fourie (driekie.fourie@nwu.ac.za)
Fostering Communication Between Nematologists Worldwide
The
goals of IFNS are: .
to foster global awareness of nematodes and advancement
of the science of nematology; .
to serve as a worldwide interface for nematology societies,
promoting communication, education, research and outreach.
Why are nematodes such amazingly
interesting organisms?
Nematodes or roundworms are everywhere.
They are among the most harmful organisms of crops, especially
in the tropics, but they are also very promising as natural
antagonists that can be used in bio-control programmes against
pest insects.
Because of their ubiquitous presence, overwhelming densities
and diversity (sometimes compared to insects) free-living
nematodes are an ideal tool for biodiversity studies.They
are used as bio-indicators of pollution in both terrestrial
and aquatic environments.
Nematode species such as Caenorhabditis elegans are
also used as model organisms for investigating diverse biological
processes.They have short generation times, are easy to culture
and their genome size is small. Since it became apparent that
they show remarkable similarity of genes with those in humans,
they have been introduced in studies on aging and pathological
processes found in humans.