The workshop will be centered on the following major themes: 

• Evolution of breeding systems and its population genetic consequences. 

  Topics such as the evolution of mutation rates, interaction between population structure and natural selection, experimental adaptation to laboratory conditions, experimental evolution of androdioecy, as well as patterns of molecular gene diversity in natural populations, will be discussed

• Evolution of developmental pathways and gene networks. 

  Topics such as the importance of cis-regulatory and protein evolution, the evolution of cross-talk among pathways, and the evolution of developmental plasticity will be addressed.  In particular, well known developmental pathways such as the sex determination and vulval differentiation pathways are to be discussed

• Genomics and quantitative genetics of Caenorhabditis species. 

  Topics like genome evolution and the mapping of complex traits such as behavior and host-parasite interactions will be discussed. Particular attention is going to be devoted to empirical studies on genotype-phenotype mapping. We also envisage to have discussions on how to enhance and present and future common resources (these include collections of natural isolates, recombinant inbred lines and mutation accumulation lines; the genome sequences of different wild isolates; DNA and RNA hybridization arrays; and finally the integration of evolutionary relevant biological information into existing databases).