Modeling behavior: The quest to link mechanisms to function

T. Dobzhansky (1973) has been credited with saying: 'nothing in biology makes sense, except in the light of evolution'. The evolutionary conservation of gene function, as well as remarkable conservation of elemental behavioral mechanisms, guarantees that much of what we learn in one organism will inform our understanding of behavior in all animals, including humans. This insight has permitted behavior-geneticists to choose organisms based on experimental tractability for a given scientific question. IBANGS as a society has clearly embraced this Dobzhanskian worldview. As a result, the intellectual synergy of cross-species behavior-genetic analysis was palpable at the IBANGS meeting in Tours, France.