Our present-day world offers unprecedented challenges and opportunities for those interested in the science of Biology and the excitement intrinsic to Biology is very much in evidence at UNM as well. The subjects of study for UNM biologists literally span the globe - from bacteria in the Antarctica, Yellowstone's hot springs or New Mexico's deep caves; to parasites from Indian elephants or South American snails; to the immune system of Australia's platypus; to the plants of southern Africa. Studies underway at UNM reveal patterns and processes in entire ecosystems and watersheds, reveal the complexities posed by the 10,000 genes of the bread mold Neurospora, or use the methods of computational biology to explore the redundancy inherent in genetic networks. World class studies of southwestern plants, fruit fly development, fungal genomics, life history theory, biological scaling, and behavioral ecology, to name but a few, are all underway here. The Museum of Southwestern Biology that is a part of the Biology Department has outstanding collections of local vertebrates, arthropods and plants and has active programs for exploring and recording the diversity of life in the southwest and elsewhere. Our basic philosophy has been to promote interactions among a broad spectrum of biologists within the context of a single integrated and interactive department.