CESAR is an Australian Research Council's Special Research Centre for:

• biomonitoring - the development of inexpensive, non-invasive biomarkers that show how ecosystems are stressed by factors such as pollution, salinity, land clearance and fire
• chemical stress - genetic mechanisms by which organisms adapt to stresses caused by agents such as pesticides and heavy metals
• climatic stress - genetic mechanisms by which organisms adapt to changes in climates.

The major questions CESAR asks are: how do organisms, and in particular, insects, adapt to environmental stress and, how do you measure responses to environmental stress using these insects? The research is pitched at the genetic, ecological, physiological and biochemical level.

CESAR is currently a collaboration of two Victorian universities - The University of Melbourne and Monash University. It involves ~ 80 people, made up of 3 academic staff, 12 research fellows, 20 research assistants, 35 post-graduate and 10 under-graduate students. The director of CESAR is Assoc. Prof. Phil Batterham and the director of research is Prof. Ary Hoffmann. The program leaders for the core areas of CESAR are Assoc. Prof. Steve McKechnie (Climatic Stress), Prof. Ary Hoffmann (Biomonitoring) and Assoc. Prof. Phil Batterham (Chemical Stress). Other key participants are Prof. John McKenzie and Dr. David Heckel. CESAR has an advisory board that meets annually to discuss the direction of research conducted at CESAR.

CESAR also works closely with commerce, consulting to the grape and wine, grains, wool and meat industries on a range of pest control issues of international significance.

For more information www.cesar.org.au.