During the long history of science, many ideas have been cumulated about the phenomenon of life as a complex sign process. The last decade of the 20th century marks a turn in biology towards a formation of a field and a biological paradigm called biosemiotics. It was facilitated by the Sebeok-Lotman turn in semiotics that showed the equality between the sphere of life and the sphere of semiosis (semiosphere). Since the beginning of the 21st century, the Gatherings in Biosemiotics became a central international meetingplace for biosemioticians. This series of annual meetings has been initiated by the Copenhagen and Tartu groups of biosemioticians.

Gatherings in Biosemiotics 1, Copenhagen, Denmark - May 24-27, 2001
Gatherings in Biosemiotics 2, Tartu, Estonia - June 14-17, 2002
Gatherings in Biosemiotics 3, Copenhagen, Denmark - July 11-14, 2003
Gatherings in Biosemiotics 4, Prague, Czechia - July 1-5, 2004
Gatherings in Biosemiotics 5, Urbino, Italy - July 20-24, 2005
Gatherings in Biosemiotics 6, Salzburg, Austria - July 5-9, 2006
Gatherings in Biosemiotics 7, Groningen, the Netherlands - June 6-9, 2007
Gatherings in Biosemiotics 8, Syros, Greece - June 23-28, 2008
Gatherings in Biosemiotics 9, Prague, Czechia - June 30 - July 5, 2009
Gatherings in Biosemiotics 10, Braga, Portugal - June 22-27, 2010
Gatherings in Biosemiotics 11, New York, USA - June 22-25, 2011
Gatherings in Biosemiotics 12, Tartu, Estonia - July 17-22, 2012

Biosemiotics - quotes and references
International meetings - a list of workshops and conferences in biosemiotics
Publications - a selection of recent literature on biosemiotics
Proceedings - papers from the 1st Gatherings
International Society for Biosemiotic Studies