Welcome to Mara 2008, the fourth International Conference in Africa for Comparative Physiology and Biochemistry. This meeting will collect and present a wide range of papers on the comparative physiology and biochemistry of animals. The meeting will continue the tradition of bringing together diverse and heterogeneous research in an eclectic mixture not typical at other meetings. The material will range from molecules to animal migration, from ecosystems to genes, and from bacteria to mammals. How this approach can blend to produce a novel collection of exciting research reports and stimulating reviews (e.g. PBZ special collections) is exemplified in the product of previous meetings in this series.

The meeting affords an opportunity to meet with established colleagues and to strike up new, and unexpected, collaborations.

The meeting will take place at the Mara Simba and Keekorok Lodges in the Maasai Mara National Reserve in the Great Rift Valley of Kenya.
This meeting “Pressures of Life: Molecules to Migration" follows on the highly successful ICA-CPB meetings in Skukuza (1997); Chobe (2001) and Ithala (2004). The CPB conferences in Africa have grown since their inception. We believe the draw-card is a high quality scientific meeting in a unique natural setting, large enough to pique interest outside one’s own research expertise and small and intimate enough to facilitate meaningful interactions with colleagues and friends. The science program is constructed to bring together delegates and speakers in new groupings, different to other 'normal' meetings. A special objective of these meetings is to promote your professional (and perhaps personal!) engagement with southern Africa, collaboration with colleagues throughout Africa and increased interest in the biology of Africa. To this end, we make special efforts to facilitate the attendance of indigenous African researchers. We are pleased that this support has previously enabled delegates from South Africa, Botswana, Somalia, Tanzania, Kenya and Egypt to attend this meeting.
Mara 2008 is been organised without financial or organisational assistance from any of our respective professional societies although the principle of the meeting is supported by all. Thus, the special initiatives outlined by the Executive are supported by charitable funds, a levy on full delegates and sponsorship from Natural Events in approximately equal amounts.
Each session of the meeting is being organised through the kind efforts of volunteer session organisers.

Previously these meetings have resulted in publication of selected papers and reviews.