Changes in scientific approaches as seen through 35 years of tardigrade symposia.

The story of the Tardigrada Symposia began 35 years ago in Pallanza, Italy. It was an idea of Professor Livia Tonolli, who wanted to honour Professor Giuseppe Ramazzotti, at that time the authority in that scientific field and her friend. Considering that tardigrades are a neglected group of metazoans (still to date), this particular event could be finished with that occasion, but it has not been so. With some gaps, the meetings have been proceeded till now, promoting scientific exchange among the researchers and improving the research quality. Following these 35 years and the topics of the symposia, we can understand the changing in the scientific approach. Taxonomy and faunal studies were the predominant topics of the first symposium, but also ultrastructural morphology, ecology, physiology, cytotaxonomy and reproductive biology were represented. Furthermore, the studies by SEM moved their first steps in that occasion. Faunal and taxonomic studies represented often the main topic during the years, but also other kinds of researches involving phylogeny, physiology, ultrastructure of organs and cells always accompanied it. From these points of view, often tardigrades were compared with other animal groups, giving a wider sense to the research. Molecular aspects were already considered in the third symposium (1980, Tennessee), but reconsidered only in the symposium in Cambridge (1994) and developed from the symposium in Denmark (2000). The last symposia showed an increased number of participants and scientific contributions. In line with the increasingly international nature of publications, the quality of the proceedings has also increased, always using in the last 10 years qualified international journals with peer review and impact factor, as now required by young scientists to further their careers