The World Association of Copepodologists (WAC) is a
non-profit organization
A nonprofit organization (NPO) or non-profit organisation, also known as a non-business entity, not-for-profit organization, or nonprofit institution, is a legal entity organized and operated for a collective, public or social benefit, in co ...
created to promote research on
copepods by facilitating communication among interested specialists.
WAC has about 130 members worldwide. Although the World Association of Copepodologists is composed primarily of
university
A university () is an institution of higher (or tertiary) education and research which awards academic degrees in several academic disciplines. Universities typically offer both undergraduate and postgraduate programs. In the United States ...
professors
Professor (commonly abbreviated as Prof.) is an academic rank at universities and other post-secondary education and research institutions in most countries. Literally, ''professor'' derives from Latin as a "person who professes". Professors ...
and
professional
A professional is a member of a profession or any person who works in a specified professional activity. The term also describes the standards of education and training that prepare members of the profession with the particular knowledge and ski ...
researcher
Research is "creative and systematic work undertaken to increase the stock of knowledge". It involves the collection, organization and analysis of evidence to increase understanding of a topic, characterized by a particular attentiveness t ...
s, "any person interested in any aspect of the study of Copepoda is eligible for membership."
[Estimate of "about 130 members" based upon recent information from the Treasurer]
The business of the WAC is conducted primarily at a business meeting held every three years at the International Conference on Copepoda (ICOC). Since 1987, conferences have been held at venues in
Africa
Africa is the world's second-largest and second-most populous continent, after Asia in both cases. At about 30.3 million km2 (11.7 million square miles) including adjacent islands, it covers 6% of Earth's total surface area ...
,
Asia
Asia (, ) is one of the world's most notable geographical regions, which is either considered a continent in its own right or a subcontinent of Eurasia, which shares the continental landmass of Afro-Eurasia with Africa. Asia covers an are ...
,
Europe
Europe is a large peninsula conventionally considered a continent in its own right because of its great physical size and the weight of its history and traditions. Europe is also considered a subcontinent of Eurasia and it is located entirel ...
,
North America and
South America
South America is a continent entirely in the Western Hemisphere and mostly in the Southern Hemisphere, with a relatively small portion in the Northern Hemisphere at the northern tip of the continent. It can also be described as the sout ...
. The 13th conference was held in July 2017 at the
Cabrillo Marine Aquarium
Cabrillo Marine Aquarium is an aquarium in Los Angeles at San Pedro, California. The aquarium interprets both the physical processes of oceanography and marine biology of Southern California by use of displays and educational programs for the pu ...
in
San Pedro, California
San Pedro ( ; Spanish: "St. Peter") is a neighborhood within the City of Los Angeles, California. Formerly a separate city, it consolidated with Los Angeles in 1909. The Port of Los Angeles, a major international seaport, is partially located wi ...
, United States. The 14th conference is to be held in July 2020 in
Kruger National Park in South Africa. Recent conferences have attracted about 250-350 participants.
The WAC assists the local organizers of the ICOCs in sponsoring and organizing workshops associated with these conferences. Most workshops train students in identification and other practical aspects of copepod studies.
Between conferences, communication between members takes place through the society newsletter ''Monoculus'' and via such
on-line
In computer technology and telecommunications, online indicates a state of connectivity and offline indicates a disconnected state. In modern terminology, this usually refers to an Internet connection, but (especially when expressed "on line" or ...
resources as the society website hosted by the
enckenberg Research Institutein
ilhelmshavenGermany and
Internet forum
An Internet forum, or message board, is an online discussion site where people can hold conversations in the form of posted messages. They differ from chat rooms in that messages are often longer than one line of text, and are at least temporar ...
s hosted by academic bodies such as the Asociación
Latinoamericana de
Carcinología and the
Virginia
Virginia, officially the Commonwealth of Virginia, is a state in the Mid-Atlantic and Southeastern regions of the United States, between the Atlantic Coast and the Appalachian Mountains. The geography and climate of the Commonwealth ar ...
Institute of
Marine Science
Oceanography (), also known as oceanology and ocean science, is the scientific study of the oceans. It is an Earth science, which covers a wide range of topics, including ecosystem dynamics; ocean currents, waves, and geophysical fluid dyna ...
. ''Monoculus'', the name of the
newsletter, is
Latin
Latin (, or , ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally a dialect spoken in the lower Tiber area (then known as Latium) around present-day Rome, but through the power of the ...
for "one-eyed" and refers to a shared feature of many members of
subclass Copepoda.
History
In 1979, copepodologist Dov Por wrote a letter to the
meiofauna
Meiobenthos, also called meiofauna, are small benthic invertebrates that live in both marine and fresh water environments. The term ''meiofauna'' loosely defines a group of organisms by their size, larger than microfauna but smaller than macrof ...
newsletter ''Psammonalia'' suggesting the creation of both a
symposium and a newsletter dedicated to the discussion of the Copepoda. There was a small response to this initiative, which increased when the suggestion was repeated in ''
Crustaceana
''Crustaceana'' is a peer-reviewed scientific journal specialising in carcinology. It was established in 1960 and is published monthly by Brill Publishers. The journal is abstracted and indexed by BIOSIS Previews, the Science Citation Index, Th ...
'', a publication dedicated to
crustacean
Crustaceans (Crustacea, ) form a large, diverse arthropod taxon which includes such animals as decapods, seed shrimp, branchiopods, fish lice, krill, remipedes, isopods, barnacles, copepods, amphipods and mantis shrimp. The crustacean group can ...
s.
[ ]
In 1980, a circular letter was sent out to 87 copepodologists around the world, of whom 34 replied. In a second letter, Dov Por announced that the first International Conference on Copepods was to be organized by the copepodologist Jan Stock and was scheduled for August 1981 in
Amsterdam
Amsterdam ( , , , lit. ''The Dam on the River Amstel'') is the capital and most populous city of the Netherlands, with The Hague being the seat of government. It has a population of 907,976 within the city proper, 1,558,755 in the urban ar ...
,
Netherlands
)
, anthem = ( en, "William of Nassau")
, image_map =
, map_caption =
, subdivision_type = Sovereign state
, subdivision_name = Kingdom of the Netherlands
, established_title = Before independence
, established_date = Spanish Netherl ...
. It was also announced that the copepodologist Kurt Schminke would edit the newsletter.
In October 1980 the first issue of ''Monoculus'' was published. About 120 copepodologists attended that first conference in Amsterdam and it was deemed a great success.
The Second International Conference on Copepoda was organized by copepodologist Chang-tai Shih and held in August 1984 in
Ottawa, Canada. Here it was decided to establish a formal organization, the World Association of Copepodologists.
Zbigniew Kabata, a
veteran
A veteran () is a person who has significant experience (and is usually adept and esteemed) and expertise in a particular occupation or field. A military veteran is a person who is no longer serving in a military.
A military veteran that h ...
of the
Polish resistance movement in World War II, was elected as the first president.
Subsequent presidents included Arthur Humes, Geoff Boxshall, Kurt Schminke, Ju-shey Ho, Shin-ichi Uye, Janet Bradford, Rony Huys, Eduardo Suárez-Morales, and Diana Paola Galassi. A popular feature of each conference is the "Maxilliped Lecture" given by the outgoing president, who then passes on the pectoral pendant, a metal maxilliped on a chain, to the incoming president.
References
External links
*{{official website, http://www.monoculus.org/
Organizations established in 1984
Biology organizations