Dear Member of the Tropical Biology Section

BSA TROPICAL BIOLOGY SECTION ELECTRONIC BALLOT

Please vote for candidates to occupy the positions of Section’s Chair and Treasurer. The ballot includes a brief biography of the candidates, followed by “email voting links” to be used to cast your votes. Please vote for the person listed, or write your write-in candidate.

Electronic voting will close on March 20, 2007, at 11:59 PM PDT.

Candidate for Chair: Fabian A. Michelangeli

Fabian is an Assistant Curator in the Institute of Systematic Botany of The New York Botanical Garden. Fabian received his undergraduate degree in biology from the Universidad Central de Venezuela in Caracas in 1993. As an undergrad, an after his graduation he worked on plant ecology and floristics in the Guyana Highlands in his native Venezuela. He then moved to Ithaca, NY, where he received his Ph. D. in Botany from Cornell University in 2000. His current research on sytematics and evolution of the plant family Melastomataceae combines molecular, anatomical and ecological data in order to generate phylogenies that are then used in the study of biogeography and animal-plant interactions, particularly ant-plant interactions.

Candidate for Treasurer: Suzanne Koptur

Suzanne was born and raised in Detroit, Michigan, and did not discover her love of nature until she was a pre-med student at the University of Michigan. She double-majored in Botany and English (B.S. 1976), and as a work-study student had some interesting jobs in the herbarium and Botany department. Her graduate work in Botany at the University of California, Berkeley (PhD 1982), led her to the tropics where she studied plant/animal interactions of tropical trees in the genus Inga (Fabaceae). She had two post-docs, first teaching labs at the University of Iowa (where there was a good group of biologists concerned with tropical trees! 1982-83), then a NATO postdoc in England (1984). Suzanne joined the faculty of Florida International University in 1985, and is now a Professor in Biological Sciences, teaching graduate and undergraduate courses in ecology, botany, and biology, and doing research in subtropical habitats in south Florida (the Everglades, the Keys, and fragments of natural vegetation in Miami). Her main research interests are insect/ plant interactions, especially herbivory, pollination biology, and tritrophic interactions. She shares many outdoor activities with her family, including bicycling, gardening, softball, and hiking. A former Betty Crocker homemaker-of-the-year (1972 Michigan runner-up) Suzanne also enjoys cooking, making preserves, and quilting.

Candidates for Tropical Biology Section Chair 2007-2009:

Fabian Michelangeli (fabian@botany.org)

Write-in candidate (TBChair@botany.org)

Candidates for Tropical Biology Section Treasurer 2007-2009:

Suzanne Koptur (suzanne@botany.org)

Write-in candidate (TBTres@botany.org)

Thank you for your time.

Sincerely,

Susana Magallón
Chair
Tropical Biology Section
Botanical Society of America
www.botany.org
www.BotanyConference.org
www.PlantingScience.org

Mission: The Botanical Society of America exists to promote botany, the field of basic science dealing with the study and inquiry into the form, function, development, diversity, reproduction, evolution, and uses of plants and their interactions within the biosphere.

The objectives of The Society are to: sustain and provide improved formal and informal education about plants; encourage basic plant research; provide expertise, direction, and position statements concerning plants and ecosystems; and foster communication within the professional botanical community, and between botanists and the rest of humankind through publications, meetings, and committees.