International Union of Biological Sciences IUBS

International Union of Biological Sciences (IUBS) 

an organization founded in Brussels, Belgium, in 1919. Its chief objectives are to promote the development of different branches of theoretical and applied biology, to establish and develop scientific research institutes open to scientists of all nationalities, to ensure the international discussion and publication of research findings, and to encourage the organization of international congresses, symposia, and conferences and the publication of their reports.

The General Assembly of the IUBS meets once every three years. The Executive Committee is composed of a bureau and two representatives of each of the five divisions. The IUBS is financed by the dues of member countries and UNESCO grants. Union members are represented by national committees in 41 countries, including the USSR and most of the other socialist countries. The IUBS is a member of the International Council of Scientific Unions and is represented on various international commissions.

The IUBS is organized into sections, divisions, commissions, and committees. The division of botany includes the following sections: general botany, horticultural science, paleobotany, plant pathology, plant taxonomy, apiculture, botanical gardens, and algology. It also includes the Eriksson prize fund; European mycological congresses; sections on mushroom science, nomenclature of plants, and nomenclature of cultivated plants; plant protection congresses (working group); and a section on succulent plants.

The division of environmental biology includes sections on ecology, limnology, and oceanography; commissions on biological control, ecology and plant geography, and small-scale vegetation mapping; and liaison commissions on microbial ecology and Quaternary biology.

The division of functional and analytic biology has sections on cell biology, developmental biology, experimental psychology and animal behavior, genetics, plant physiology, and radiobiolo-gy; commissions on photobiology and ethological conferences; and liaison commissions on biochemistry and biophysics.

The division of microbiology has sections on bacteriology, virology, and mycology and committees on economic and applied microbiology, food microbiology and hygiene, microbial ecology, microbiological and immunological documentation, nomenclature of viruses, and systematic bacteriology. The division also includes the World Federation of Culture Collections, the Commission for Enteric Phage Typing, and commissions on microbiological specifications for food, microbiological standardization, and yeasts and yeastlike microorganisms.

The division of zoology includes sections on general zoology, entomology, ornithology, paleozoology, and parasitology; commissions on bryozoology, primatology, and protozoology; and a consulting committee of the Neapolitan Biological Station. In addition, the IUBS has interdisciplinary commissions on biohistory, biological education, and biometry.

There have been 18 general assemblies since the IUBS was founded, with the most recent being held in Norway in 1973. The IUBS publishes News-Letters, assembly proceedings, and reports of colloquiums. Since 1972 the secretary general of the IUBS has been K. Faegri of Norway.

REFERENCE

Yearbook of International Organizations. Brussels: Union of International Associations, 1973–74.

IU. A. POPOV