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Ecology is a leading discipline in the synthesis of diverse knowledge. Ecologists have had considerable experience in bringing together diverse, multinational data sets, disciplines, and cultural perspectives to address a wide range of issues in basic and applied science. Now is the time to build on this foundation and invest in ecological synthesis through new national or international programs. While synthesis takes place through many mechanisms, including individual efforts, working groups, and research networks, centers are extraordinarily effective institutional settings for advancing synthesis projects.

Should rich countries provide food, fertilizers, technical assistance, and other aid to poor countries? The obvious answer is "yes." It is natural to want to fight poverty, starvation, and disease, to help raise living standards and eliminate suffering. Yet, after 25 years of aid, diets and living standards in many poor countries have improved little, owing partly to the population explosion that occurred during these same years. Death rates in poor countries dropped sharply in the 1940's and 1950's, to around 14/1,000 at present, while their birth rates declined very little, remaining near 40/1,000. Some populations are now growing faster than their food supply. As a result an apparently powerful argument against aid is increasingly heard. Its premise is simply stated. "More food means more babies"

We address the problem of relating information on the effects of a particular stress on individuals to possible effects at the population level. Structured population models aim to predict population dynamics from a careful specification of the dynamics of individuals; however, in spite of major mathematical advances, there are only a few cases where such models have made significant contributions to ecological understanding. This paper reports progress to date on a project in which we construct both individual and population models of Daphnia. We present a model of individual growth and development which has been tested against results from several laboratories on D. pulex. We propose a simple, stage-structured population model and give a preliminary report of some of its properties.