PLANT SCIENCE BULLETIN
A Publication of the Botanical Society of America, Inc.
VOLUME 41, NUMBER 4, WINTER 1995
The Botanical Society of America: The Society for ALL Plant Biologists
Table of Contents
News
from the Society, the Sections and the Committees
BSA
Officers 1995-1996 70
BSA
Sectional Officers 71
Ecological
Section News 76
Botanical
Field Meeting 78
Economic
Botany Section Report 78
Other News
El
Salvador 78
The
International Canopy Network 79
The
Latin American Plants Sciences Network 79
Article
Thirty
Years of Guide to Graduate Study in Botany 80
Commentary
More
WWW Sites of Interest to Botanists 81
Announcements
Calls
for Nominations 81
Personalia
82
In
Memorium 83
Educational
Opportunities 84
Funding
Opportunities 84
Positions
Available 87
Symposia,
Conferences, Meetings 89
Book
Reviews 91
Books
Received 101
Call
for Nominations: Young Botanists Awards for 1996 104
BSA
Logo Items Available from the Business Office 104
Volume 41, Number 4: Winter 1995 ISSN 0032-0919
Editor: Joe Leverich
Department of Biology,
Saint Louis University
3507 Laclede Ave.,
Saint Louis MO 63103-2010
Telephone: (314) 977-3903
Fax: (314) 977-3658
e-mail: leverich@sluvca.slu.edu
PLANT
SCIENCE BULLETIN
News
from the Society, the Sections and the Committees
BOTANICAL
SOCIETY OF AMERICA OFFICERS LIST FOR 1995 - 1996
* = Members of the Council (retirement date)
*PRESIDENT
Barbara
Schaal (1995)
Department
of Biology, Box 1137 Washington University
St.
Louis, MO 63130-4899
(314)935-6822
FAX 935-4432 E-Mail: schaal@biodec.wustl.edu
*PRESIDENT-ELECT
Daniel
J. Crawford (1996)
Department
of Plant Biology
Ohio
State University
1735
Neil Ave.
Columbus,
OH 43210-1293
(614)292-2725
FAX 292-6345 E-Mail:dcrawfor@magnus.acs.ohio-state.edu
*SECRETARY
Darleen
A. DeMason (1997) Botany and Plant Sciences
University
of California
Riverside,
CA 92521
(909)787-3580
FAX 787-4437 E-Mail: demason@ucracl .ucr.edu
*TREASURER
Judy
Jernstedt (1998)
Depart.
of Agronomy and Range Science University of California, Davis
Davis,
CA 95616 - 8515
(916)
752-7166 FAX 752-4361
E-Mail:
jjernstedt@ucdavis.edu `PROGRAM DIRECTOR Carol C. Baskin (1996) School of
Biological Sciences
University
of Kentucky Lexington, KY 40506-0225
606 257-8770
FAX 257-1717
E-Mail:
jmbaskO@ukcc.uky.edu
*COUNCIL
REPRESENTATIVE
Charles
Daghlian (1996) Dartmouth College Rippel EM Facility Hanover, NH 03756
(603)
650-1337 FAX 650-1637 EMail:daghlian@mac.dartmouth.edu
*EDITOR,
AMERICAN JOURNAL OF BOTANY Karl J. Niklas
214
Plant Science Bldg. Cornell University
Ithaca,
NY 14853-5908
(607) 255-8727
FAX (607) 255-5407
*EDITOR,PLANT
SCIENCE BULLETIN
W.
Joseph Leverich (1999) Department of Biology St. Louis University
3507
Laclede Ave.
St.
Louis, MO 63103-2010 (314)977-3903 FAX 977-3658 E-Mail: leverich@sluvca.slu.edu
PLANT
SCIENCE BULLETIN
ISSN
0032-0919
Published quarterly by Botanical Society of America, Inc., 1735 Neil Ave.,
Columbus, OH 43210
The yearly subscription rate of $15 is included in the membership dues of
the Botanical Society
of America, inc. Second class postage paid at Columbus, OH and additional
mailing office.
POSTMASTER: Send address changes to
Kim
Hiser, Business Manager
Botanical Society of America
1735 Neil Ave.
Columbus OH 43210-1293
Phone/Fax:
614/292-3519 email: KHISER@MAGNUS.ACS.OHIO-STATE.EDU
70
*BUSINESS
MANAGER
Kim
Hiser
Botanical
Society of America 1735 Neil Avenue
Columbus,
OH 43210-1293
(614)
292-3519 (Phone and FAX) khiser@magnus.acs.ohio-state.edu
*PAST
PRESIDENT, 1995 Harry T. Horner
Department
of Botany Iowa State University Ames, IA 5001 1-1020
(515)
294-8635 FAX 294-1337 E-Mail: hth@iastate.edu
*PAST
PRESIDENT, 1994
Grady L. Webster
Section
of Plant Biology University of California Davis, CA 95616
(916)
752-2139 (1091) FAX 752-5410 E-Mail: glwebster@ucdavis.edu
*PAST
PRESIDENT, 1993
Gregory
J. Anderson
Ecology
and Evolutionary Biol. U-43 University of Connecticut
Storrs.
CT 06269-3043
(203)486-4322
FAX 486-6364
E-Mail:
ander@uconnvm.uconn.edu
SECTIONAL
OFFICERS
(* = Section Representative to the Council)
BRYOLOGICAL
AND LICHENOLOGICAL *Chairperson (1998)
Paula
DePriest
Department
of Botany. NHB - 166
National
Museum of Natural History Smithsonian Institution
Washington,
DC 20560
(202)
357-2545, 786-2563
FAX
(202)786-2563
E-Mail:
depriest@onyx.si.edu
DEVELOPMENTAL
AND STRUCTURAL *Chairperson (1998)
Nancy
Dengler
Department
of Botany
University
of Toronto
Toronto,
ON Canada M5S 3132 (416)978-3536 FAX978-5878
E-Mail:
dengler@botany.utoronto.ca (Develpmental and Structural Section, con't.)
Program
Director (1997) James L. Seago, Jr. Department of Biology SUNY. College at
Oswego
Oswego,
NY 13126 (315)341-2777 FAX 341-2916
E-Mail:
seago@oswego.oswego.edu
Treasurer
(1996)
Pamela
Diggle
EPO
Biology/ Box 334 University of Colorado Boulder, CO 80309-0334 (303) 492-4860
FAX 492-8699
E-Mail:
diggle@spot.colorado.edu
PLANT
SCIENCE BULLETIN
Editorial
Committee for Volume 41
Donald
S. Galitz (1995) Robert E. Wyatt (1996) James
D. Mauseth (1997)
Dept.
of Botany Institute of Ecology Dept. of
Botany
North
Dakota State University University of Georgia University
of Texas
Fargo
NC 58103 Athens GA 30602 Austin TX 78713
Allison
A. Snow (1998) Nickolas M. Waser (1999)
Dept.
of Plant Biology Dept. of Biology
Ohio
State University University of California
Columbus
OH 43210 Riverside CA 92521
71
ECOLOGY
SECTION
*Chair
(1998)
Brenda
Casper
Department
of Biology - Leidy Labs University of Pennsylvania Phiadelpha, PA 19104-6018
(215)898-8569 FAX 898-8780 E-Mail: bcasper@sas.upenn.edu
Vice-Chairperson
(1998)
Allison
Snow
Plant
Biology Department Ohio State University
1735
Neil Ave.
Columbus,
OH 43210-1293 snow.1 @osu.edu
Secretary
(1995)
Rebecca
Dolan
Biology
Department
Butler
University
4600
Sunset Ave.
hidianapolis,
IN 46208 (317)283-9413 FAX 283-9519 E-Mail: rdolan@buticr.edu
ECONOMIC
BOTANY SECTION
Chairperson
(1996)
Thomas
Mione
Biological
Sciences-Copernicus Hall Central Connecticut State Univ. New Britain, CT 06050-4010
(203)827-7082 FAX 832-2946 E-Mail: mionet@csusys.ctstateu.edu
*Secretary-Treasurer
(1997) James S. Miller
Missouri
Botanical Garden P.O. Box 299
St.
Louis, MO 63166-0299 (314)577-9503 FAX 577-9596 E-Mail: miller@mobot.org
GENETICS
SECTION *Chairperson (1997)
Donald
Hauber
Department
of Biological Science
Box
27, Loyola University
New
Orleans, LA 70118
(504)
865-2769 FAX 865-2149
E-Mail:
dtbodph@music.loyno.cdu
Vice
Chairperson (1997) Kenneth G. Wilson Department of Botany Miami University
Oxford, OH 45056 (513)529-6601 FAX 529-4243
E-Mail:
wilsonkg@muohio.cdu
Secretary-Treasurer
(1997)
Jeri
Higginbotham
Biology
Department
Jacksonville
State University Jacksonville, AL 36265
(205)782-5638
Editor,
Newsletter (1999)
Vance
Baird
Horticultural
Department
Plant
and Animal Science Building Clemson University
Clemson,
SC 29634-0375
(803)
656-4953 FAX 656-4960 vance_baird@quickmail.clemson.edu
HISTORICAL
SECTION
Chairperson
(1996)
Margaret
R. Bolick
W-530
Nebraska Hall
University
of Nebraska State Museum Lincoln, NE 68588-0514
(402)
472-2613 FAX 472-8949
E-Mail:
mbolick@unlinfo.unl.edu
Vice-Chairperson
(1996)
Peter F. Stevens
Harvard
University Herbaria
22
Divinity Avenue Cambridge, MA 02138
(617)
495-2348 FAX 495-9484
E-Mail:
PSTEVENS@HARVARD.EDU
*Secretary-Treasurer
(1996) Laurence J. Dorr
Department
of Botany, NHB-166
National
Museum of Natural History Smithsonian Institution Washington, DC 20560
(202)
633-9106 or 357-2534 FAX 786-2563 E-Mail: mnhhoO59@sivm.si.edu
72
MYCOLOGICAL
SECTION
*Council
Representative
Kenneth
J. Curry
Dept.
of Biological Sciences Univ. of Southern Mississippi Box 5018
Hattiesburg,
MS 39406-5018 (601)266-4930 FAX 266-5797 E-Mail: kcurry@occan.st.usm.edu
Chairperson
(1997)
Diane
Greene
125
Columbia Ave. ADAIR
Corvallis,
OR 97330 (503)745-7706
E-Mail:
greened@ava.bccorst.edu
Program
Chair (1997)
David
S. Hibbett
Harvard
University Herbarium 22 Divinity Avenue
Cambridge,
MA 02138
(617)496-3374
FAX 495-9484 E-Mail: dhibbett@harvard.edu
Secretary/Treasurer
(1997)
Kris
Shanks
Department
of Botany
Duke
University
Durham,
NC 27708-0339
(919)286-0586
FAX
E-Mail:
kms8@acpub.duke.edu
PALEOBOTANICAL
SECTION
Chairperson
(1996)
Charles
P. Daghlian Dartmouth College Rippe] EM Facility Hanover, NH 03756
(603)
650-1337 FAX 650-1637 E-Mail:daghlian@mac.dartmouth.edu
*Secretary-Treasurer
(1998)
Jeffrey
M. Osborn
Division
of Science
Northeastern
Missouri State University Kirksville, MO 63501
(816)785-4017
FAX 785-4045
E-Mail:
sc56%nemomus
@academic. nemostate.edu (Paleobotanical Section, cont,)
'Editor,
Bibliography of American Paleobotany (1996) Steven R. Manchester
Florida
Museum of Natural History
University
of Florida
Museum
Road, P.O. Box 117800
Gainesville,
FL 32611-7800.
(904)
392-6564 or 1721 FAX 392-0287
E-mail:
Steven@flmnh.ufl.edu
PHYCOLOGICAL
SECTION
*Chairperson
(1998)
Daniel
E. Wujek
Department
of Biology
Central
Michigan University
Mt.
Pleasant, MI 48859
phone
(517) 774-3626 FAX 774-3462 E-Mail:34rcknm@cmuvm.esv.cmich.edu
Secretary
(1996)
John
LaClaire, II
Department
of Botany
BIO
308
University
of Texas
Austin,
TX 78713
(512)
471-3577 FAX 471-3878
E-Mail:
laclairc@utxvms.cc.utexas.edu
PHYSIOLOGICAL
SECTION Chairperson (1996)
Amrita
G. DeSoyza
USDA/ARS
Jornada Exp. Station New Mexico State University Box 3003, Dept. 3JER
Las
Cruces, NM 88003-0003 (505) 646-6401 FAX 646-5889 E-Mail: amrita@nmsu.edu
Program
Director/Newsletter Editor (1996) Peter F. Straub
Natur.
Sci. and Math. Div.
Richard
Stockton College
Pomona,
N.J. 08240
(609)
652-4556 FAX 748-5515
E-Mail:
iaprod683@vax003.stockton.edu
*Council
Representative (1996) Henri Maurice
Barat
College Box 618 700 E. Westleigh Rd. Lake Forest, IL 60045
(708)
234-3000 X 693 FAX 615-5000
E-Mail:
botprof@aol.com
73
PHYTOCHEMICAL
SECTION
*Chairperson
(1997) Susan S. Martin
USDA
Crops Research Lab
1701
Center Avenue
Fort
Collins CO 80526
(303)
498-4212 FAX 482-2909 E-Mail:SMARTIN @LAMAR.COLOSTATE.EDU
Secretary
and Program Organizer (1997) Emanuel Johnson
Building
001, Room 308 BARC-W 10300 Baltimore Ave.
Tropical
Plants Research Lab Beltsville, MD 20705
(301)
504-5323 FAX 504-6491
Treasurer-Editor
(1996)
W.
Dennis Clark
Department
of Botany
Arizona
State University
Tempe,
AZ 85287
(602)
965-4482 FAX 965-6899
E-Mail:
ATWDC@ASUVM.INRE.ASU.EDU
PTERIDOLOGICAL
SECTION Chairperson (1995)
John
T. Mickel
New
York Botanical Garden Bronx, NY 1 0458-5 1 26
(718)
817-8636 FAX 220-6504 E-mail:jmickel@nybg.org
*Secretary-Treasurer
(1996)
David
S. Conant
Department
of Natural Science Lyndon State College
Lyndonville,
VT 05851
(802)
626-6485 FAX 626-9770 E-mail: conantd@queen.lsc.vsc.edu
SYSTEMATICS
SECTION
*Chairperson
(1997)
Kathleen
A. Kron
Department
of Biology
Wake
Forest University
Winston-Salem,
NC 27109 (910)759-5321 FAX 759-6008
Secretary-Treasurer
(1996) Wayne J. Eliscns
Department
of Botany & Microbiology
770
Van Vlcet Oval University of Oklahoma Norman, OK 73019
(405)
325-5923 FAX 325-7619
E-Mail:
elisens@uoknor.edu TEACHING SECTION
*Chairperson
(1996)
Eileen
D. Bunderson
Depart.
of Instructional Sciences 201-J MCKB
Brigham
Young University Provo, UT 84602
(801)
378-4823 FAX 537-7154 bundersone@yvax.byu.edu
Vice-Chairperson
& Program
Rob
J. Reinsvold
Department
of Biological Sciences University of Northern Colorado
Greeley,
CO 80639
(303)351-2716
FAX 351-1269
E-Mail:
rjreins@bentley.univnorthco.edu
*Secretary-Treasurer
(1996)
Donald
S. Galitz
Department
of Botany/Biology Stevens Hall, P.O. Box 5517 North Dakota State University
Fargo, ND 58103
(701)
237-7226 FAX 237-7149 E-mail: galitz@vmi.nodak.edu
Developmental
Task Force Chair (1996) Jeanette S. Mullins
John
Franklin Lewis Herbarium P.O. Box 576
California,
PA 15419-0576
(412)
938-2717
TROPICAL
BIOLOGY SECTION Chairperson (1998)
Joseph
E. Armstrong 4120 Biological Sciences Illinois State University Normal, IL
61790-4120 (309)438-2601 FAX 438-3722
E-Mail:
jearmstr@ilstu.edu
*Program
Chair (1996)
Suzanne
Koptur
Biology
Department
Florida
International University Miami, FL 33199
(305)
348-3103 FAX 348-1986
E-mail:
KOPTURS@SERVAX.FIU.EDU
Secretary/Treasurer
(1998)
David
Lee
Biological
Sciences
Florida
International University Miami, FL 33199
(305)348-2201
FAX 348-1986 E-Mail: Iced @servax.fiu.edu
74
MIDCONTINENT
SECTION *Chairperson (1996)
H.
James Price
Soil
and Crop Sciences Department Texas A&M University College Station, TX
77843 (409)845-8294 FAX 845-0456 E-Mail: hjp6300@ACS.tamu.edu
Vice
Chairperson (1996) Wayne J. Elisens
Department
of Botany and Microbiology University of Oklahoma Norman, OK 73091 (405) 325-5923
FAX 325-7619
E-Mail:
elisens@uoknor.edu
Secretary/Treasurer
(1998) Ralph Bertrand
Biology
Department 14 Cache La Poudre Colorado College
Colorado
Springs, CO 80903 (719)389-6402 FAX 389-6940 rbertrand@rikki.cc.colorado.edu
Vice
Secretary/Treasurer Kenneth J. Freiley Biology Department University of Central
Arkansas
Conway.
AR 72035 (501)450-5926 FAX 450-5914
E-Mail:
kennethf@ccl .vca.cdu
NORTHEASTERN
SECTION
*Chairperson
(1996) Edward H. Miller 430 Miller Rd. Rexford, NY 12148
(518)371-8834
PACIFIC
SECTION
Chairperson
(1996)
Fred
Rickson
Department
of Botany
Oregon
State University
Corvallis.
OR 97331-2902 (503)737-5272 FAX 737-3573 E-Mail: ricksonf@bcc.orst.edu
"Secretary-Treasurer
(1996)
David
E. Bilderback
College
of Arts and Sciences LAl Ol University of Montana
Missoula,
MT 59812-1214
(406)
243-2632 FAX 243-4076
SOUTHEASTERN
SECTION *Chairperson (1997)
Joe
E. Winstead
Department
of Biology
Western
Kentucky University Bowling Green, KY 42101 (502) 745-6004 FAX 745-6471
Program
Chair (1996) Charles R. Werth
Department
of Biological Science
Texas
Tech University
Lubbock,
TX 79409
(806)
742-3222 FAX 742-2963
E-Mail:
cncrw@ttacsl.ttu.edu
Secretary-Treasurer
(1995) David R. Hill
Biology
Department Belmont University 1900 Belmont Blvd Nashville, TN 372012-3757
(615)385-6431 FAX 386-4458
E-Mail:
hilld@belmont.edu
Treasurer
(1996)
Karl
Anderson Rancocas Nature Center 794 Rancocas Road Mount Holly, NJ 08060 (609)
261-2495
75
Ecological
Section News
Symposium
Report:
Conservation
Biology: Bridging the Gap Between Research and Practice
The
symposium entitled "Conservation Biology: Bridging the Gap Between Research
and Practice," organized by Kayri Havens (Missouri Botanical Garden, PO Box
299, St. Louis, MO, 63166), Chris Topik (USDA Forest Service), Ken Berg (Bureau
of Land Management), and Nancy Morin (Missouri Botanical Garden), at the 1995
BSA meeting in San Diego was sponsored by the Ecological Section of BSA and
cosponsored by the Conservation Committee of the BSA. The symposium was designed
to promote dialogue between researchers and practitioners in a wide range
of academic and applied disciplines related to conservation biology. Topics
covered included reproductive biology, population genetics, soil seed banks,
rare communities, hybridization, and ecophysiology, as well as species, community,
and ecosystem-level approaches to resource management on public lands.
In
the morning session, Jerry and Carol Baskin (U of Kentucky) described the
flora of the unusual "cedar glade" community found only in the southeastern
United States. These glades are home to a nymber of narrowly-endemic species.
Diane Elam (UC Riverside) discussed the relationship between population genetic
structure and maternal reproductive success in the endangered. self-incompatible
Eriodictyon capitation. As predicted, uniclonal populations did not have appreciable
seed production, but the relationship between population structure and seed
set in multiclonal populations was only margin-ally significant. Kent Holsinger
and Pati Vitt (U Conn-Storrs) discussed the use of genetic analyses in conservation
programs. They maintained that "because loss of genetic diversity is more
likely to be a symptom of endangerment than a cause of it, genetic analyses
of natural populations are more useful as a guide to recognizing taxa or populations
worthy of concern than as a management tool." Joshua Kohn and Kristia Hufford
(UC San Diego and La Jolla) reviewed the surprisingly meager literature on
the fitness consequences of genetic erosion. They also suggested several avenues
for future research since few empirical studies have addresses whether or
not the loss of genetic variability affects population fitness. Susan Kalisz
(U of Pittsburg) presented data on several populations of Collinsia veiria
(which has a short-lived seed hank of 3-4 years), including one population
which is recolonizing from the seed bank after a year with no adult survival.
She discussed the effectiveness of a soil seed bank in buffering populations
against extinction, restoring allele frequencies, and altering outcrossing
estimates. Loren Rieseberg and Norman Ellstrand talked about the biological
and legal implications of hybridization between rare and common species. They
concluded that in many instances hybridization can pose a serious threat to
endangered plant species and then discussed specifically the rare Catalina
Mahogany, threatened with genetic assimilation by the more common Mountain
Mahogany. The morning session finished up with a talk by Carol Baskauf (Austin
Peay U) on whether or not restrictive ecophysiology is a cause of plant rarity.
In her study on two species from the genus Echinacea, one widespread and the
other rare and narrowly distributed. she found no differences in photosynthetic
performances that could explain the different distributions.
The
afternoon session focused on resource management from a practical standpoint.
Deborah Hillyard (CA Dept. of Fish and Game) talked about the ecological assessment
and resulting management plan for Monterey pine which is restricted to five
native populations, three on the Monterey peninsula and two off the coast
of Mexico. Stephen Shelly (USDA-FS) discussed the conservation strategy for
an unusual aquatic plant, Howe/Ha aquatilis which produces chasmogamous, but
obligately selling, aerial flowers and cleistogamous flowers under-water.
It is restricted to shallow, vernal wetlands in the Pacific Northwest. Ken
13crg (BLM) graciously filled in for an absent speaker (on rather short notice)
and provided the group with an update on the status of federal environmental
legislation and appropriations proposals in the 104th Congress. Nancy Fredricks
(USDA-FS) discussed management plans for old-growth Douglas fir forest ecosystems
in the Pacific Northwest based on population viability analyses of several
hundred species including vascular plants, bryophytes, fungi, and lichens.
James Shevock (USDA-FS) talked about a recent scientific assessment of the
distribution of rare and/or endemic plant species in the Sierra Nevada range.
A large number of the over 200 rare taxa in the range are concentrated in
the Kern and Feather River watersheds, and overall the southern part of the
range is the richest floristically. Jim also encouraged plant folks to explore
some of the beautiful but under-botanized areas of the range. Wayne Owen and
Lisa Croft (USDA-FS) finished up the day with a discussion about managing
for rare plants in the Columbia River Basin. In this area, a Science Integration
Team has been formed to evaluate the occurrence and viability of numerous
species of vascular and non-vascular plants. as well as fungi and lichens,
and to estimate the effects of changing environmental conditions and land
management regimes on these species.
After
the symposium, many of the speakers and participants got together for an informal
discussion over
76
dinner.
We talked about ways to continue "Bridging the Gap" such as:
•facilitating
research on public lands, or research with rare species, that will answer
questions mutually beneficial to both the research community and the resource
managers (managers could list and prioritize research needs on pubic lands)
•overcoming
barriers to researchers on public lands, such as streamlining permitting procedures
•develop means forsharing "gray literature" on plant conservation
•facilitate
data access and exchange between academic and agency scientists
•develop
regional plant conservation working groups where researchers and managers
could regularly interact
The
symposium gave many academic and agency scientists a chance to interact, share
ideas, and hopefully will spawn integrative projects that could lead to more
effective conservation of our endangered species, communities, and ecosystems.
Symposium
Report: Population Biology of Grasses
The
symposium entitled "Population of Biology of Grasses," organized by Gregory
P. Cheplick (Department of Biology, The College of Staten Island-CUNY, Staten
Island, NY 10314) at the 1995 BSA meeting in San Diego, was sponsored by the
Ecological Section of BSA and cosponsored by the Torrey Botanical Club. The
objective of the symposium was to summarize and synthesize much current information
relevant to understanding population dynamics. variation, reproduction, and
life histories o idle grasses. Despite considerable research devoted to the
evolution, systematics, and reproductive biology of this economically important
plant family, and much available information of grassland ecosystems. research
on the population biology of the grasses had not been recently synthesized.
The talks covered germination. seed dispersal. seedling establishment, demography.
life history, reproductive ecology, population genetic variation, and the
interaction of grasses with herbivores and fungi.
The
morning session of this all-day symposium opened with a presentation by Carol
C. Baskin (U of Kentucky) on the ecophysiology of seed dormancy and germination.
She complied an extensive group of summary tables that delimited the variety
of environmental factors affecting germination patterns in grasses and recognized
non-deep physiological dormancy as the primary dormancy type found in the
family. Gregory P. Cheplick (CUNY) followed with a discussion of the process
of seed dispersal and seedling establishment. He noted that most grass seeds
do not disperse more than a few meters within natural populations and showed
examples of some species that show antitelechoric adaptations that hinder
rather than promote dispersal. David D. Briskc (Texas A & M) described
possible mechanisms by which ti llcrdemography is regulated in caespitose
grasses and showed that neither apical dominance norphysiological integration
could adequately explain the process. The next talk replaced a prior cancellation
and was presented by Akifumi Akita (Tokyo. Japan) who spoke about the comparative
population biology of two dwarf bamboos in Japan. A short talk that replaced
a second cancellation followed, presented by David M. Orr (Tropical Beef Center,
Australia) on the seed dynamics on a tropical Australian grass.
The
afternoon session began with a presentation by Jerrold I. Davis (Cornell)
who analyzed intraspecific genetic diversity and summarized the systematic
factors that influence species delimitation in the grass family. using his
research with Puccioelliu to illustrate. James Am Quinn (Rutgers) followed,
with a summary of the ecological aspects of sex expression and an exploration
of the tremendous diversity of breeding systems in the grasses. After a brief
recess, Keith Clay (Indiana) talked about the dramatic influence of fungal
endophytes on the population ecology of grasses and noted that many species
probably contain these easily-overlooked symbionts. The final presentation
was by James K. Detling (Colorado State) who considered the physiological
and morphological adaptations that enable grasses to either tolerate or escape
grazing. Such adaptations may deter-mine the extent to which a grazed plant
will maintain its competitive position within a community.
This
stimulating symposium was followed by a well-attended mixer sponsored by the
Torrey Botanical Club. During the BSA meetings, it was learned that the symposium
papers, along with additional papers solicited from other members of the international
ecological community, will be published by Cambridge University Press in a
volume entitled "The Population Ecology of Grasses" (edited by G.P. Cheplick).
It is hoped that the eventual appearance of this volume will bring together
ideas from researchers with both basic and applied perspectives who have used
a diversity of approaches in their attempts to understand the ecology and
evolution of grass populations. Indeed, this was one of the strong aspects
of the symposium — it brought together scientists from both basic and
applied backgrounds and gave them, along with the audience. a chance to exchange
ideas with individuals they might not meet at more narrowly focused meetings.
It would appear that, although the bridge between basic and applied plant
population biology may be rather narrow, it is one bridge that grass researchers
should certainly be able to cross!
77
Botanical
Field Meeting 23-26 June 1996
The
1996 Botanical field meeting, jointly sponsored by the Botanical Society of
America and the Torrey and Philadelphia Botanical Clubs will take place Sunday
afternoon to Thursday morning June 23-26, 1996 at the New York State University
in Albany, New York. Field trips will examine plants in the nearby pitch pine
barrens, in the unique environment of the Hudson River ice meadows and in
a botanically rich limestone area south of Albany. Evening programs will deal
with the complex geology of the region and floral aspects of the various field
sites.
Transportation
during the meeting will be by chartered buses. Only the trip to the ice meadows
will be longer than an hour's drive. Housing and meals will be in SUNY dormitory
facilities.
We
expect the all inclusive cost to be in the range of $200-$225 double occupancy.
More information, including facility descriptions, and registration in-formation
will be available by December 1, 1995.
If
you have any questions, contact Chairperson Edward Miller, 430 Miller Road,
Rexford, NY 12148. (518) 371-8834. There is no e-mail address at this time.
Economic
Botany Section Report
At
the 1994 Business meeting of the Economic Botany Section of the Botanical
Society of America, with Dr. Brian Boom (New York Botanical Garden) presiding,
Dr. Thomas Mione (Central Connecticut State University) was elected to a two-year
term as Chair of the section and Dr. James Miller (Missouri Botanical Garden)
was elected to a three-year term as Secretary Treasurer. It was decided that
the Economic Botany Section would sponsor a symposium on the importance of
medicinal plants at the 1995 AIBS meeting in San Diego, in an effort to document
to the general BSA membership the importance of plants as sources of past,
present, and future medicines. Dr. David Lentz (New York Botanical Garden)
and Dr. James S. Miller (Missouri Botanical Garden) agreed to coordinate the
symposium. Ms. Alondra Oubre (Shaman Pharmaceuticals), Dr. Gordon Cragg (United
States National Cancer Institute), Dr. Edward Croom (University of Mississippi),
Dr. David Lentz (New York Botanical Garden), Dr. Gregory Anderson (University
of Connecticut), Dr. Hans Beck (New York Botanical Garden), Dr. Daniel Harder
(Missouri Botanical Garden), Mr. Alan Hickman (California Botanical Garden
of Toxic and Medicinal Plants), and Dr. James S. Miller gave an excellent
series of presentations to a standing room only audience at the San Diego
AIBS meeting.
At
the 1995 Economic Botany Section business meeting, it was decided that the
section would again sponsor a symposium for the 1996 meeting to be held in
Seattle. The subject would be "The role of Economic Botany in sustainable
development and conservation." The possibility of a pre-symposium field trip
to one of the growers of economically important herbs in the Pacific Northwest
was also discussed. Edward Croom (University of Mississippi) agreed to look
into the possibility of coordinating such a trip. The possibility of an Economic
Botany Section lunch, with a feature speaker, followed by the Economic Botany
Section business meeting was also discussed. It was decided that James Miller,
David Lentz, Ed Croom, and Tom Mione would work to coordinate symposium, field
trip, and business meeting for the Seattle meeting in 1996. Once initial plans
were completed, a mailing would be sent to all members of the Economic Botany
Section and an advertisement would be placed in the Society for Economic Botany
Section and an advertisement would be placed in the Society for Economic Botany
newsletter. — James S. Miller, Missouri Botanical Garden
El
Salvador
After
more than a decade of near inactivity, the Herbarium of the University of
El Salvador (known as Herbario del InstitutodelnvestigaciōnCientiflea,
I.T.I.C.) announces a new beginning. As many of you know, El Salvador is currently
recuperation from a period of an internal armed conflict, form which the herbarium
did not escape. A bomb was placed inside its installations, many specimens
and cabinets were damaged or completely destroyed. Under the direction of
the new curator, Nohemy E. Ventura, M.Sc., the herbarium is back and ready
to contribute to the study of plants. There are approximately 28,000 specimens
and collecting is taking place through-out the country by staff members ad
university students. The entire collection includes all plant groups, lichens,
and fungi.
Loans
will be made, provided the borrower is willing to pay for the shipping costs.
We are trying to update our Herbarium Library and the plant collection itself;
therefore, we will accept donations of books, re-prints, and specimens. Particularly
those related to the Neotropics. We encourage anyone passing through the region
to stop by and visit us. We will try our best to assist with housing and other
logistic needs.
For
further information contact either Lie. Nohemy E. Ventura, Curator, Herbario
Escuela de Biologia, Universidad de el Salvador, Ciudad Universitaria SanSalvador,
El Salvador C.A., Tel. (503)226-2072, Fax (503)225-4208 or Carlos R. Ramirez,
Plant Sciences Ph.D. Subprogram, Department of Biological Sciences, Lehman
College CUNY, Bronx NY 10468 USA, Tel. (718)960-8658, Fax (718)960-8236, E-Mail
crrlc@cunyvm .cuny.edu
Other
News
78
The
International Canopy Network
The
International Canopy Network (ICAN) organization exists to facilitate communication
among individuals and institutions concerned with research, education, and
conservation of organisms and interactions in tree crowns and forest canopies.
ICAN
brings together activities formerly carried out by the NSF-funded Canopy Research
Network (CRN), which facilitated communication among canopy researchers, and
The Canopy Institute (TCI), a not-forprofit organization to facilitate conservation
throug h interpretation of canopy research to non-scientists. Uniting these
two organizations combines the structure of a tax-exempt corporation with
501(c)3 status and the net-working capacity of the CRN. By including researchers,
educators, conservationists, and arborists under one "crown", links among
these groups will be facilitated.
Some
of the current core activities of the ICAN include maintenance of an electronic
mail bulletin board (canopy @ Iternet.edu), circulation of the quarterly newsletter
(titled "What's Up?"), maintenance and expansion of a citations bibliographic
database on aspects of canopy science, and a canopy researcher directory.
Future activities include the initiation of an images library (slides and
video), serving as a repository for information on safe canopy access, and
creation of instructional materials about forest canopies for school children.
Individuals may take on projects of interest to them, and share results and
products with the rest of ICAN.
Currently,
the Board of Directors consists of six members who represent the constituent
fields of research, education, conservation, and arboriculture. The Directors
serve two-year terms and meet semi-annually, or as needed. The Advisory Council,
which consists of up to twenty members, will take part in decisions on an
ad hoc basis.
ICAN
is a self-supporting organization, funded by subscriber dues, donations, and
grants. A regular annual subscribership to ICAN costs $30. This provides the
following services: 1) access to the e-mail bulletin board; 2) four newsletters
per year; 3) an annually updated directory of ICAN members (over 1000 listed
in 1995); and 4) access to the bibliographic database at ICAN headquarters.
Subscriberships also support other ICAN activities that involve education
and conservation. Students subscribers may pay $20. Sustaining memberships
arc awarded for those contributing $70 or more, and will be accompanied by
a handsome certificate with our logo.
For
more information on the ICAN, contact Nalini Nadkarni (nadkarnn@elwha.evegreen.edu)
orJoel Clement (cicmentj @elwha.evergreen.edu). To subscribe to the network,
type "subscribe me" to canopy@elwha.evergrccn.cdu. To communicate to the network,
type to canopy@Iternet.edu.
The
Latin American Plant Sciences Network
The Latin American Plant Sciences Network
(Red Latinoamcricana de Botanica -RLB) is a non-profit
organization created in 1988, whose main objectives are
to promote the training of young plant scientists in the
region, and to stimulate basic and applied research of the
native flora through regional cooperation. Most of the
training activities of the Network take place in training
centers selected for their academic excellence in Mexi-
co, Costa Rica, Venezuela, Brazil, Argentina and Chile.
The
Network is governed by a Coordinator (Dr. Luis Corcuera, Chile), an Associate
Coordinator (Dr. Sonia Dietrich, Brazil), two Vice-Coordinators (Dr. Daniel
Pinero, Mexico, and Dr. Juan Silva, Venezuela), the Past Coordinator (Dr.
Mary Arroyo, Chile), and the Scientific Committee with representatives from
the six countries with Network graduate training centers (Drs. Carlos Vasquez-Yanes,
Mexico; Gabriel Macaya, Costa Rica; Aura Azocar, Venezuela; Nanuza de Menezes,
Brazil; Jorge Crisci, Argentina, and Miren Alderdi, Chile). An Administrative
Director (Susana Maldonado, M.Sc.) is in charge of the central office in Santiago
(Chile).
The
Network maintains the following current programs:
- Fellowships for graduate studies and short-term training.
- Regional and National Graduate Courses.
- Support for Regional Meetings.
- Support for research activities of their fellows.
- Publications of books and manuals resulting from scientific events
or graduate courses. A biannual news-letter is also published.
For
further information, please contact: Susana Maldonado, M.Sc. Administrative
Director Red Latinoamericana de Botanica, Casilla 653, Santiago, Chile Phone
56(2) 271 5464 Fax 56(2) 271 7580/5464 e-mail: redlatbo @ abel lo.dic.uchi
le.cl
[The
Administative Director informs me that current activities are directed toward
Latin American botanists only. -Ed.]
79
Thirty
Years of Guide to Graduate Study in Botany
William
Louis Stern
Department
of Botany, University of Florida, Gainesville 35611-8526
In
December, 1964, Dr. B.L. Turner, who was then Secretary of the Botanical Society,
received a letter from an official of the American Council on Education calling
attention to their plan to publish a third revised edition of A Guide to Graduate
Study: Programs Leading to the Ph.D. Degree. Although this book, published
in 1965, is a volume of some 600 pages and lists the names of the universities
offering the doctorate in the various disciplines, it necessarily provides
no details concerning the faculties and programs of the departments in each
of these fields. The need for appropriately detailed directories in each of
the academic disciplines was stressed, and Dr. Turner was asked whether the
Botanical Society has published a directory of this sort. Dr. Turner wrote
to me, as then Chairman of the Education Committee, suggesting that we consider
the feasibility of preparing a document somewhat like the American Chemical
Society's Directory of Graduate Research. Although the Botanical Society has
not previously considered the preparation of this type of publication, Dr.
Turner wrote that he had cone to realize the need for one, having received
50 to 100 letters requesting information of the kind.'
The
first edition of the Botanical Society's Guide to Graduate Study in Botany
in the United States and Canada debuted in 1966. Adolph Hecht, then of Washington
State University and Chairman of the Society's Education Committee, acted
as editor of that issue commencing a tradition now in its eighth reincarnation.
Over a period of 30 years, the Botanical Society of America has supported
the publication of a brochure outlining opportunities for professional study
in botany through a series of editors (in order) including Richard C. Starr,
Barbara F. Palser, Willard W. Payne, Janice C. Coffey, Randy Moore, and Christopher
Haufler. The current Guide was edited by Bijan Dchgan of the Department of
Environmental Horticulture, University of Florida and the writer of this article.
Other members of the Botanical Society have been involved in one way or another
in the formulation of each edition of the Guide, many unnamed and unrecognized.
Most of all, though, credit goes to those responsible individuals who have
troubled them-selves to provide the information that has appeared in each
issue of the Guide.
The
8th edition of the Guide to Graduate Study in Botany for the United States
and Canada (October, 1995) contains information submitted by 256 units and
2,853 researchers. It aims to help potential graduate students in their quest
to seek institutions, areas of study,
'
The introductory paragraph of Adolph Hecht in the first edition, 1966, of
the Guide to Graduate Study in Botany.
and
investigators in programs compatible with their individual interests. The
results below are based on data submitted by botany, plant biology, and non-agricultural
plant science departments in the United States and Canada. These data are
approximate owning to interpretations that had to be made by the editors.
There
are represented 21 Canadian and 162 United States institutions of higher learning
awarding graduate degrees in botany that responded to our questionnaire. Of
the 21 Canadian institutions. 33% maintain departments of botany, plant
biology, or non-agricultural departments of plant science. Of the 162 United
States institutions 26% maintain departments of botany, plant biology,
or non-agricultural departments of plant science. Graduate programs in botany
and plant biology were considered as departments in the summaries that follow.
One
measure of the importance of the plant sciences in biology imputed by institutions
of higher learning might be the emphasis on plants as measured by the numbers
of faculty who are botanists and who hold positions in departments of biology/biological
sciences. Our survey shows in the responding biology departments, in the United
States 28% of the faculty considered themselves botanists, while 72%
were non-botanists. In Canada 23% considered themselves botanists and
77% were non-botanists. It is of some interest to note in biology departments
that the relative proportions of botanists to non-botanists ranged from 5%
in one department where there were only two botanists and 40 non-botanists
to another where botanists constituted 66% in a department of 6 faculty.
Although
this brief summary only considers botanists in botany/biology and similar
departments, there is a significant number of investigators who consider them-selves
as botanists but who hold posts in other kinds of departments, e.g., agricultural
plant science, agronomy, forestry, horticulture, soils, entomology, and plant
pathology. Thus, potential graduate students interested in advanced studies
in botany should not confine their searches to botany and biology departments
for likely specialties and advisors. Also to be considered are botanists associated
with botanical gardens and museums who may have formal academic appointments
with colleges and universities. The indices to investigators and specialties
in the Guide lead to the conclusion that there is ample opportunity for students
who wish to continue advanced study in the plant sciences in Canada and the
United States.
continued,
p. 81
80
Commentary
Announcements
 
More
WWW Sites of Interest to Botanists Editor:
Since
the appearance of my short note in PSB 41(1 ):7-8, I've been receiving additions
and corrections for the list of WWW sites of interest to botanists. I regularly
update the list thanks to Shunguo Liu (University of Regina) and Jean Thioulousc
(University of Lyon) who maintain the botany page at their sites. The sites
where these pages may be browsed are listed below.
—
Anthony R. Brach Missouri Botanical Garden Harvard University Herbaria
WWW
Sites of Interest to Botanists and Ecologists at: http://meena.cc.urcgina.ca/--liushus/bio/botany.html
http://biomserv.univ-lyonl .fr/Ecology-WWW.html
http://www.orst.edu/Dept/botany/herbarium/coolstuff/
Brach_list.html
http://www.uwm.edu/Dept/Biology/Docs/botany.html
Flora
of China: http://straylight.tamu.edu/MoBot/FC/ fch_intr.html
Thirty
Years, continued from p. 80
The
usefulness of the Guide is predicated on its availability to undergraduate
students wishing to for-ward their plant science careers through professional
studies at the graduate level. During an informal survey of undergraduate
majors and graduate students at the University of Florida, we found that most
undergraduates were unfamiliar with the existence of the Guide and only a
few of our graduate students had known about the Guide when looking for opportunities
for graduate re-search. This situation may be widespread across our institutions.
We have to make a greater effort to bring the Guide to the attention of undergraduates
looking for places to conduct graduate study in botany. and this burden falls
on faculty, particularly those faculty serving as undergraduate advisors.
Else the utility of the Guide is greatly diminished.
The
Guide is sent to all members of the Botanical Society of America and to those
units that cooperated by sending information about plant study in their institutions.
Additionally, copies are for sale ($12.00) through the Business Manager of
the Botanical Society of America, currently Kim Hiser, 1735 Neil Avenue, Columbus,
OH 43210-1293, telephone and fax 614-292-3519, e-mail khiser@magnus.acs.ohio-state.edu.
Call
for Nominations Lawrence Memorial Award
The
Award Committee of the Lawrence Memorial Fund invites nominations for the
1996 Lawrence Memorial Award. Honoring the memory of Dr. George H.M. Lawrence,
founding Director of the Hunt Institute for Botanical Documentation, the Award
($1,000) is given biennially to support travel for doctoral dissertation research
in systematic botany or horticulture, or the history of plant sciences, including
literature and exploration.
Major
professors are urged to nominate out-standing doctoral students who have achieved
official candidacy for their degrees and will be conducting pertinent dissertation
research that would benefit significantly from travel enabled by the Award.
The Committee will not entertain direct applications. A student who wishes
to be considered should arrange for nomination by his/her major professor;
this may take the form of a letter which covers supporting materials prepared
by the nominee.
Supporting
materials should describe briefly but clearly the candidate's program of research
and how it would be significantly enhanced by travel that the Award would
support. Letters of nomination and supporting materials, including seconding
letters, should be received by the Committee no later than I May 1996 and
should be directed to: Dr. R. W. Kiger, Hunt Institute, Carnegie Mellon University,
Pittsburgh, PA 15213-3890 USA. Tel. (412) 268-2434
Jeanette
Siron Pelton Award
The
Pelton award is given to individuals under the age of forty in the recognition
of outstanding contributions to the study of plant morphogenesis. The award
carries a stipend of $1000. The Pelton Award Committee is actively seeking
nominations for the 1996 award. each submission should include a letter of
endorsement de-scribing the nature for the nominee's contributions to the
field of study as will as the curriculum vitae of the candidate including
the full citations for the critical papers or books that have resulted in
the nomination. Nominations should be sent to Nancy G. Dengler (Chair, 1996
Pelton Award Committee), Department of Botany, University of Toronto, Toronto,
Ontario, CANADA M5S 1AI by April 15, 1996.
Past
Pelton Awardees:
1969 R.H.
Wetmore 1983 T.J. Cooke
1970 C.W.
Wardlaw 1985 T. Sachs
1972 P.B.
Green 1988 S.D. Russell
1975 P.K.
Heplcr 1989 E.M. Lord
1978 B.E.S.
Gunning 1993 R.S. Poethig
1980 L.J.
Feldman 1994 E.Meyerowitz
81
Personalia
Karl
Esser Awarded Distinguished Mycologist Award
Karl
Esser, Dr. phil., Dr. h.c. Mult. Professor emeritus of General Botany and
retired Director of the Botanical Garden, Ruhr-Universitat Bochum (Germany),
Chevalier des Palmes Academiques (France) and bearer of other distinctions
has been selected to receive in honor of his lifetime contributions to Mycology
the Distinguished Mycologist Award from the Mycological Society of America.
He was invited to receive this ward on the next annual meeting of the society.
For many years professor Esser has been a member of the Botanical Society
of America.
Lee
Kass Awarded Fulbright
Dr.
Lec B. Kass of the Natural Sciences Division, Elmira College, Elmira, NY has
been awarded a Fulbright grant to Lecture and Conduct Research at the College
of the Bahamas in Nassau, New Providence, The Bahamas, the J. William Fulbright
Foreign Scholarship Board and the United States Information Agency (USIA)
announced recently.
Dr.
Kass received her Ph.D. in Botany from Cornell University in 1975. After graduating,
she was awarded a Cambridge University Research Fellowship to study at the
Agricultural Research Council in Cambridge, England. She continued her research
at Vanderbilt University with the support of a National Science Foundation
Postdoctoral Research Fellowship. Since 1982 she has been a faculty member
in the Division of Natural Sciences at Elmira College, where she teaches both
undergraduate and graduate students. Her research centers on local and Bahamian
flora and the history of science. In 1984, Dr. Kass established the Elmira
College Herbarium and she and her husband, Dr. Robert E. Hunt, plan to help
initiate a National Herbarium for the Bahamas. She has been a Visiting Professor
at Cornell University and Michigan State University. Recently she was appointed
Adjunct Professor at the L. H. Bailey Hortorium, Cornell University, Ithaca,
NY.
Dr.
Kass has indicated interest in hearing from botanists who have worked in the
Bahamas and the Caribbean who may have suggestions on initiating a herbarium.
As part of her work in the Bahamas. Kass will be requesting donations of plant
specimens collected there, as well as books and journals.
Garden
Director Inducted into Water Lily Hall of Fame
Edward
L Schneider, Ph.D., Executive Director of the Santa Barbara Botanic Garden,
was inducted into the International Water Lily Society's Hall of fame during
the organization's 11th Annual Symposium, held August 2, 1995, in Atlanta
Georgia.
In
announcing the society's most prestigious award, Awards Chairman and Vice
President James A. Lawrie noted Schneider's distinguished record of accomplishments,
including 85 published scientific papers on the evolution, systematics and
natural history of aquatic plants; collaboration on eight textbooks; numerous
completed and ongoing research projects; and six years as the society's secretary.
Lawrie also noted two of Schneider's most recent accomplishments: the publication
of his college-level textbook, The Botanical World, coauthored with Dr. David
Northington, and recent research to assess the declining status of the Swedish
red water lily, Nymphaea alba var. rubra.
The
International Water Lily Society's Hall of Fame recognizes individuals who
have made extraordinary contributions to promote the understanding and enjoyment
of water gardening around the world. Schneider joins a group of botanical
luminaries that include Bory Latour-Marliac, who, in 1885, was the first scientist
to conduct breeding experiments on water lilies, and Henry Conrad, who in
1905, was the first to publish a monograph of the showy water lily genus Nymphaea.
Stuckey
Recognized for Distinguished Service at Lake Erie Laboratory
Ronald
L. Stuckey, Professor Emeritus of Botany at The Ohio State University, was
a recent recipient of a Distinguished Service Award given by Director Jeffrey
M. Reutter of the University's Franz Theodore Stone Laboratory on Gibraltar
Island in Lake Erie. The occasion was one of several events held at the Laboratory
this summer marking its centennial year of operation.
Professor
Stuckey received the Award at the Annual Meeting of the Friends of the Stone
Laboratory held on Gibraltar Island, 26 August 1995. He was presented a plaque
with the inscription, "In Recognition of His Superior Teaching, Research,
and Administrative Service at the Stone Laboratory Covering Four Decades,
1966-1991."
Dr.
Stuckey's service to the Laboratory as a faculty member of 25 years began
in the summer of 1966, when he taught a course in Field Botany. The following
summer he presented a course in Flowering Aquatic Plants. During succeeding
years he taught the Aquatic Plants course 18 summers and Field Botany 8 summers.
His field research at the Laboratory primarily focused on the changes in abundance
and distribution of aquatic wetland plants in western Lake Erie.
82
Dr.
Stuckey served as Associate Director for the Education Program from 1977 to
1985, and was in charge of student advising and admissions, and hosted many
of the guest lectures. Stuckey's first experience at the Laboratory was as
a student in the summer of 1959, while an undergraduate in the biological
sciences at Heidelberg College.
Professor
Stuckey was one of the guests at the Friends Meeting who spoke on the early
history of the Laboratory. One of his current projects is writing a definitive
history of the Laboratory's 100 years' history. The Laboratory is the longest
operating fresh-water biological station in the country. Founded in September
1 895 on the second floor of the State Fish Hatchery in Sandusky, the following
summer, four undergraduate research students first attended the new facility.
In 1903, the Laboratory's operation moved to a new University building on
Cedar Point. In 1918, the Laboratory relocated to he State Fish Hatchery at
Put-in Bay, and in 1926 moved to Gibraltar Island. Stuckey expects to have
his hook on the Laboratory's history completed by next summer. when the centennial
celebration events will be concluded.
Born
in Bucyrus. Stuckey lived his early life in Lykens Township. graduating form
Lykens High School in 1956. he has a B.S. cum laude form Heidelberg College
(1960), and the M.A. and Ph.D. in Botany from The University of Michigan (1962,
1965). He is the son of the lateGuy and Leora (Shuey) Stuckey. who livedon
Albaugh Road, rural Bloomville.
In
Memorium
JOHN
S. KARLING 1897 - 1994
Professor
Emeritus John S. Karling passed away on June 3, 1994, at age 97. Professor
Karling was an eminent mycologist and one of the last surviving charter members
of the Mycological Society of America. He was also active in the Botanical
Society of America. serving as secretary from 1945-1949 and as vice president
in 1950.
Professor
Karling was born on August 2, 1897, near Austin. Texas. He attended the University
of Texas where he received his BS and MA degrees in botany. He was admitted
to Columbia University as a doctoral candidate in 1921. where he studied fungal
cytology with R. A. Harper. After earning his Ph.D. he remained at Columbia
University as an assistant professor from 1926-1935 and an associate professor
from 1935-1948. During that time he was active as a physiologist for the Tropical
Research Foundation (1925-1927), Director of the Chicle Research Experimental
Station in British Honduras (1927-1932), Director of Exploration for the US
government Rubber Development Corporation in Brazil (1942-1943), Bermuda Biological
Research Fellow (1942), and secretary for the Union of American Biological
Societies (1946-1948). His most notable publications during this period were
The Plasmodiophorales and The Simple Biflagellate Holocarpic Phycomycetes,
both in 1942.
Professor
Karling moved to Purdue University in 1948, where he reorganized the curriculum
in biological sciences. He served at Purdue as professor and chair of Biological
Sciences until, in 1959, he became Purdue's first John Wright Distinguished
Professor. He retired in 1964, but maintained a research laboratory at Purdue
until 1989. He was a Research Fellow with the International Indian Ocean Expedition
(UNESCO) in 1963, studying fungal diseases of fish. This led to his appointment
as Visiting Sir C. V. Raman Lecturer at the University of Madras in 1965.
During the same year he was also appointed a Fulbright Research Fellow in
New Zealand, Australia, and the South Pacific Islands. He
published
one of his major works, Synchytrium, in 1963, and Iconographia Chyridiomycetearum
in 1977. Professor Karling was honored in 1987. with the Distinguished Mycologist.
Award from the Mycological Society of America.
Professor
Karling's interests extended beyond mycology and botany. He worked at Mayan
archeological sites while associated with the Chicle Research Experiment Station
in British Honduras. This work earned his election as a Fellow of the Royal
Society of Arts in Great Britain. He enjoyed fishing and sports and was a
member of the Evangeline League baseball team in Thibadcaux, Louisiana. Professor
Karling was active in local affairs in Lafayette, Indiana. He was a member
of the Tippecanoe County Historical Association. Town and Gown, and the Parlor
Club. He served on the West Lafayette Board of Education. His wife, Page Johnston,
whom he married in 1940, is his only immediate survivor. To show his commitment
to botany, Professor Karling has provided the Botanical Society of America
with a gift of $10,000. The Society gratefully acknowledges this generous
gift and will determine how it will be used to promote botany. — Submitted
by Kenneth J. Curry, University of Southern Mississippi. Harry T. Horner,
Iowa State University, also contributed to this article.
The
Botanical Society has been notified that the following members have passed
away:
Gail
Rubin of Cornell University in Ithaca. New York. Rubin joined the BSA in 1960.
Andre
M. Lwoff of Paris, France. Lwoff had been a member since 1977.
83
Educational
Opportunities
Workshop
in Plant-Animal Interactions: Flowers and Pollinators
The
National Science Foundation has funded, through its Undergraduate Faculty
Enhancement Pro-gram, a workshop designed for faculty in the United States
who teach undergraduate students and who are interested in learning research
techniques that they can then incorporate in classes and laboratory exercises
at their home institutions. This workshop will use flowers and pollinators
to investigate a variety of perspectives on plant- animal interactions. The
workshop will be taught 9 - 23 August at the Rocky Mountain Biological Laboratory
in Gothic, Colorado, by Drs. David Inouye, Carol Kearns, James Thomson, and
Nick Waser, with assistance from other researchers in pollination biology
who work at the Laboratory. All workshop expenses except travel will he paid
for participants by the NSF grant. For more information, please contact Dr.
David Inouye, Department of Zoology, University of Maryland. College Park,
MD 20742. 301-405- 6946, e-mail: di5@umail.umd.edu. Women, minorities, and
persons with disabilities that are not incompatible with field research are
encouraged to apply.
Summer
Course: Biodiversity of Tropical Plants
Harvard
University Summer School, in collaboration with Fairchild Tropical Garden,
will offer a course entitled Biodii'ersiiy of Tropical Plants at Fairchild
Tropical Garden from June 10th through July 5th 1996. The instructor will
be P. Barry Tomlinson, E.C. Jeffrey Professor of Biology, Harvard University.
Instruction
is carried out within the educational facilities of Fairchild Tropical Garden,
Miami, Florida, whose living collections, the largest collection of tropical
plants in the continental United States, provides the main focus of teaching
activity. Field instruction will further involve the diversity of natural
ecosystems in South Florida. Emphasis will be on reproductive biology, morphology,
and anatomy within a strong systematic frame-work. Groups (both systematic
and biological) of special interest include cycads, palms, tropical monocotyledons.
epiphytes, lianes, mangroves, and sea grasses, as well s breeding mechanisms
and architecture of tropical trees. The objective of the course is to provide
advanced students of botany with a guided introduction to the diversity of
plant form and function in the lowland tropics.
Funding
Opportunities
Graduate
Research Assistantships University of Hawaii
Graduate
Research Assistantships (Ph.D. or M.S.). The University of Hawaii seeks outstanding
candidates for its NSF Graduate Research Training assistantships in ecology,
evolution and conservation biology. For application information and materials,
contact Kenneth Kaneshiro (Chair) or Rosemary Gillespie (Associate Chair),
CCRT, University of Hawaii, 3050 Mailc Way, Gilmore 409, Honolulu, HI 96822.
(808) 956 8884, e-mail: gillespi@uhunix.uhcc.hawaii.edu.Deadline:Feb. 1, 1996.
Assistantships commence August 1996.
Graduate
Assistantships in Bryology
Under
the sponsorship of the National Science Foundation PEET program,graduate assistantships
(Ph.D. or M.S.) are available at Southern Illinois University-Carbondale,
for students interested in the biology and systematics of liverworts. Each
graduate assistant will be mentored by Dr. Raymond Stotler and Dr. Barbara
Crandall-Stotler as a participant in a world-wide mono-graphic study of the
phylogenetically pivotal, cosmopolitan simple thalloid liverwort subclass
Fossombroniincac. Each participant in the project will gain field experience
and learn standard taxonomic methods as well as statistical methods for analyzing
variation patterns, culture techniques, SEM, computerized image capturing
and analysis, starch gel electrophoresis, DNA sequencing protocols, and data
networking via World Wide Web. The Plant Biology Department offers a selection
of more than 40 graduate courses, including three in bryology, taught by 18
full time faculty. In addition, doctoral student participants in the project
will have the opportunity to spend one semester of their studies at the University
of California at Berkeley. where they will participate in a course in phylogenetics,
under the supervision of Dr. Brent Mishler.
Each
assistantship provides a monthly stipend, complete tuition and partial payment
of fees for the duration of graduate study. To obtain further information
regarding application procedures, please contact: Dr. Raymond Stotler, Department
of Plant Biology, Mail Code 6509, Southern Illinois University, Carbondale,
IL 62901, tcl (618)-536-2331 fax (618)-453-3441, e-mail stoticr@qm.c-plant.siu.edu
Michaux
Fund Grants
The
American Philosophical Society announces the 1996 competition for research
grants in forest botany (specifically, dendrology), silviculture, and the
history thereof. Grants range from $1,500 to ca. $5,000. Eligible expenses
include travel, $65 per diem toward the cost of room and meals, and consumable
supplies not available at the applicant's institution. Applicants are normally
expected to have the doctorate, but proposals
84
may
be considered from graduate students who have completed all degree requirements
but the dissertation. Deadline: February 1, for decision by May. When writing
for application forms, briefly (100 words or less) describe the proposed research
and budget. Foreign nationals must state why their research can only be carried
out in the United States. No telephone requests, please. Contact: Michaux
Fund Grants, American Philosophical Society, 104 S. 5th Street, Philadelphia.
PA 19106-3387
Bullard
Fellowships in Forest Research
Each
year Harvard University awards a limited number of Bullard Fellowships to
individuals in biological, social, physical and political sciences to promote
advanced study, research or integration of subjects pertaining to forested
ecosystems. The fellow-ships. which include stipends up to $30,000, are intended
to provide individuals in mid-career with an opportunity to utilize the resources
and to interact with personnel in any department within Harvard University
in order to develop theirown scientific and professional growth. In recent
years Bullard Fellows have been associated with the Harvard Forest, Department
of Organismic and Evolutionary Biology and Kennedy School of Government and
have worked in areas of ecology, forest management, policy and conservation.
Fellowships are avail-able for periods ranging from four months to one year
and can begin at any time in the year. Applications from international scientists,
women and minorities are encouraged. Fellowships are not intended for graduate
students or recent post-doctoral candidates. Further information may be obtained
from: Committee on the Charles Bullard Fund for Forest Research. Harvard University.
Harvard Forest. Petersham. MA 01366 USA. Annual deadline for applications
is February 1.
Smithsonian
Research Fellowships in History, Art, and Science
The
Smithsonian Institution announces its re-search fellowships for 1996 in the
fields of History of Science and Technology. Social and Cultural History.
History of Art. Anthropology, Biological Sciences. Earth Sciences, and Materials
Analysis.
Smithsonian
fellowships are awarded to sup-
port independent research in residence at the Smithsonian
in association with the research staff using the Institution's
resources. Under this program, senior, predoctoral and
postdoctoral fellowships of three to twelve months, and
graduate student fellowships of ten weeks are awarded.
Postdoctoral Fellowships are offered to schol-
ars who have held the degree or equivalent for less than
seven years. Senior fellowships are offered to scholars
who have held the degree or equivalent for seven years or
more. The term is 3 to 12 months. Both fellowships offer
a stipend of $25,000 per year plus allowances. Predoctoral
Fellowships are offered to doctoral candidates who have
completed
preliminary course work and examinations. The term is 3 to 12 months. The
stipend is $14,000 per year plus allowances. Predoctoral, postdoctoral, and
senior stipends are prorated for periods of less than twelve months.
Graduate
Student Fellowships are offered to students formally enrolled in a graduate
program of study. who have completed at least one semester, and not yet have
been advanced to candidacy it' in a Ph.D. program. The term is 10 weeks; the
stipend is $3,000.
Awards
are based on merit. Smithsonian fellowships are open to all qualified individuals
without reference to race, color, religion, sex, national origin, age, or
condition of handicap. For more information and application forms, please
write: Smithsonian Institution. Office of Fellowships and Grants, 955 L'Enfant
Plaza, Suite 7000. Washington DC 20560, or e-mail: siofg@sivm.siedu . Please
indicate the particular area in which you propose to conduct research and
give the dates of degrees received or expected. Deadline: January 15,1996
Smithsonian
Minority Internship Program
Internships,
offered through the Office of Fellowships and Grants. are available for students
to participate in research and museum-related activities for periods of ten
weeks during the summer, fall, and spring. US minority undergraduate and beginning
graduate students are invited to apply. The appointment carries a stipend
of $250 per week for undergraduate and $300 per week for graduate students,
and may provide a travel allowance.
For
Summer (to begin after June 1. 1996), Fall (to begin after October 1,1996).
or Spring (to begin after January 1. 1997). For applications and/or information,
please write: Smithsonian Institution, Office of Fellow-ships and Grants,
955 L'Enfant Plaza, Suite 7000, Washington DC 20560, or e-mail siofg@sivm.si.edu
. Dead-line is February 15.
AOS
Graduate Student fellowship
The
American Orchid Society solicits applications from graduate students working
on orchid related thesis projects for the American Orchid Society fellow-ship
($9,000 per annum for up to three years). Interested candidates should submit
an outline of their project, their college transcript, a letter of recommendation
from their chairperson and a brief one page statement as to why their project
is worthy of consideration and what impact it will have on the future of orchidology.
The deadline for submitting applications is March 1, 1996. Successful candidate(s)
will be notified by May 15, 1996. Send application to the American Orchid
Society, Att. Ms Jenifcr Latourneau, 6000 South Olive Ave., West Palm beach.
FL 33405.
85
Ford
Foundation Postdoctoral Fellowships for Minorities
The
National Research Council plans to award approximately 20 Ford Foundation
Postdoctoral Fellow-ships for Minorities in a program designed to provide
a year of continued study and research for Native American Indians, Alaskan
Natives (Eskimo or Aleut), Black/African Americans, Mexican Americans/Chicanos,
Native Pacific Islanders (Micronesians or Polynesians), and Puerto Ricans.
In a national competition, Fellows will be selected from among recent doctoral
recipients who show greatest promise of future achievement in academic re-search
and scholarship in higher education.
This
fellowship program, sponsored by the Ford Foundation, is open to citizens
of the United States who are members of the designated minority groups, who
are engaged in a teaching and research career or planning such a career, and
who have held the Ph.D. or Sc.D degree for not more than seven years.
Awards
in the Ford Foundation Postdoctoral Fellowships for Minorities Program will
be made in the behavioral and social sciences, humanities, engineering, mathematics,
physical sciences, and life sciences, or for interdisciplinary programs composed
of two or more eligible disciplines. Awards will not be made in professions
such as medicine, law, public health, nursing, social work, library science,
and in areas related to business, administration, management, fine arts, performing
arts, health sciences, home economics, speech pathology, audiology, personnel,
guidance, and education.
Each
Fellow selects and appropriate not-forprofit institution of higher education
or research to serve as host for the year of postdoctoral research. Appropriate
institutions include universities, museums, libraries, government or national
laboratories, privately sponsored not-for-profit institutes, government chartered
not-for-profit research organizations, and centers for advanced study.
The
deadline for submission of applications is January 5, 1996. Address all inquiries
concerning application materials and program administration to the Fellowship
Office, TJ 2039, National Research Council, 2101 Constitution Avenue, Washington
DC 20418.
Fellowships
in Evolutionary Ecology
The
University of Kentucky has funds from the NSF Graduate Research Training program
forpostdoctoral and graduate fellowships to support training and research
in ecology, evolution or behavior. The program offers extensive opportunities
for training in both empirical and theoretical methods. Faculty participants
include: E.D. Brodie III., P.H., Crowly, S.K. Gleeson, K.F. Haynes, A.J. Moore,
D.N. McLetchie, R.C. Sargent, A. Sih, D.F. Wcstneat and D. Wise. Graduate
fellowships provide a $14,000 stipend for one year, renewable for a second
year based on satisfactory progress towards a Ph.D.. Additional funds are
available to support research expenses.
Postdoctoral
fellowships provide a $25,000 stipend for one year. Applicants must be US
citizens or permanent residents. Applications will be evaluated starting January
15, 1996. Further information can be obtained from our WWW site: http://darwin.ceeb.uky.edu/ceeb/grt.html
To apply, postdoctoral applicants, send a curriculum vitae and a letter summarizing
your background, research interests and the name of the faculty you are most
interested in working with to Craig Sargent, c/o Center for Ecology, Evolution
and Behavior, 101 Morgan Building, University of Kentucky, Lexington, KY 40506-0225.
Graduate applicants send the above information directly to the faculty member.
Women and minorities are particularly encouraged to apply. An Equal Opportunity/Affirmative
Action Employer.
Graduate
Fellowships in Plant Biotechnology
Applications
are invited for graduate fellow-ships in the Plant Biotechnology Training
at Indiana University. This program is funded by the USDA National Needs Fellowship
(NNF) Program, and provides a generous stipend of $17,000 per year, plus a
full tuition waiver.
NNF
fellows will be able to choose among eight plant biotechnology laboratories
that are affiliated with the Biology Department and the Indiana Institute
for Molecular and Cellular Biology (Carl Bauer, Mark Estelle, Roger Hangarter,
Roger Innes, Cheng Kao, Jeffrey Palmer, RoberTogasaki, and Miriam Zolan).
These eight laboratories encompass a broad range of areas in plant biotechnology,
including plant disease resistance genes, plant-virus and plant-bacteria interactions,
plant genome evolution, plant hormones and development. plant responses to
light and gravity, carbon assimilation, DNA repair and meiosis, and chlorophyll
biosynthesis. Accordingly, our training program provides both breadth and
depth. We emphasize a solid foundation in molecular genetics as it is applied
to all organisms, not just plants. This enables our students to approach questions
in plant biology from a broad perspective, and to take advantage of the wealth
of knowledge that has been garnered from animal and yeast systems and apply
it to plants. Broad training also allows our students to move into new areas
as they progress through their research careers. For more details on our graduate
training program, please visit our WWW site: "http://www.bio.indiana.edu/".
For application materials or additional information, please write, call, or
e-mail: MS. Gretchen Clearwater, Administrative Assistant, National Needs
Fellowship Program, Department of Biology, Indiana University, Bloomington
IN 47405; phone (812) 855-1861; fax (812)855-6705;e-mail gclearwa@indiana.edu.
Although NNF fellows must be US citizens or nationals, the Department of Biology
also awards research assistantships on acompetitive basis regardless of nationality.
86
Positions
Available
Pasture
Management/Ecology University of Minnesota WCES
12-month,
tenure-track, faculty position in the Dept. of Agronomy and Plant Genetics
and strategically located in the University of Minnesota, West Central Experiment
Station (WCES) Morris, MN. Research (70%): 1) provide leadership in pasture
management/ecology research within COAFES, and to 2) participate fully on
the multidisciplinary COAFES grazing team. Cooperative support, including
participation in project development, is required in successful forage production
and pasture animal research. Outreach/teaching/Service (30%): planning,
development, and implementation of pasture and forage educational programs.
Minimum qualifications: Ph.D. degree by date of appointment I forage agronomy,
range management, grassland ecology, or a closely related field; field research
experience in the applicant's major discipline; ability to relate to and communicate
effectively with the farming and rural communities as well as fellow scientists.
Desired: diverse academic experiences in related fields, e.g., animal science,
ecology, economics, entomology, plant pathology, or soil-water-climate science;
evidence of interdisciplinary research experience; demonstrated ability to
acquire grants. Available July 1, 1996. Applications should include a CV,
official undergraduate and graduate transcripts, one-page summary of career
goals in the context of the position: 3 letters of reference postmarked by
January 10, 1996 to De. Deon Stuthman, 41 I Borlaug hall, University of Minnesota,
St. Paul, MN 55108. (612) 625-2709; (612) 625-1268 (Fax); stuthO0I @maroon.tc.umm.edu
The
University of Minnesota is an equal opportunity educator and employer.
Genetics
University
of California, Riverside
The
Department of Botany and Plant Sciences, University of California, Riverside,
announces a position available July 1, 1996. The position is an 11-month,
tenure-track appointment in the College of Natural and Agricultural Sciences
and in the Agricultural Experiment Station. The successful candidate will
be expected to develop a vigorous, innovative, independent research program
in plant developmental genetics using genetics, molecular, cellular, and other
techniques to elucidate fundamental mechanisms underlying plant development.
Opportunities are available for interacting with researchers in plant cell,
molecular, and developmental biology, plant physiology, and other disciplines.
The successful candidate will be expected to become involved in under-graduate
and graduate teaching as well as serve as major professor of graduate students
in the Department ofBotany and Plant Sciences and in the interdepartmental
Genetics Program. A Ph.D. in genetics or related field is required. The candidate
must possess a strong commitment to teaching excellence and a high research
potential. Send letter of application, curriculum vitae, statement of re-search
interest, and arrange to have at least three confidential letters of reference
sent to: Dr. W. W. Thomson, Search Committee Chair, Botany and Plant Sciences
Department. University of California, Riverside CA 92521-0124. Phone: (909)
787-4619, fax: (909) 787-4437, e-mail susanm@ucracl.ucr.edu WWW: http:// cnas.ucr.edu/–bps/homepage.html
The application dead-line is January 26, 1996. The University of California
is an Affirmative Action/Equal Opportunity Employer.
Cell
Physiologist
The
University of Akron
The
Department of Biology of The University of Akron invites applications for
a tenure-track position at the assistant professor level beginning August
26, 1996. Candidates must hold a Ph.D. and post-doctoral experience is required.
We are especially interested in, but not restricted to, candidates with research
interest in cellular and molecular processes. The successful candidate will
be expected to teach Cell Physiology, one other under-graduate course, and
a graduate course in a specialty area; direct Master's students; and establish
an externally fundable research program. The University of Akron is an urban
university and is the third largest state university in Ohio with over 26,000
students. Review of applications will begin January 15, 1996 and will continue
until the position is filled. Applicants should send a curriculum vitae, a
statement of teaching/research interests, and three references to: Dr. Jerry
Stinner, Chair, Search Commit-tee, The University of Akron, Department of
Biology, Akron OH 44325-3908. E-mail: JStinner@Uakron.edu Fax: (216) 972-8845.
Evolutionary
Biologist University of Miami
The
Department of Biology, University of Miami, invites applications and nominations
for a tenure-track position at the level of assistant professor. We seek an
evolutionary biologist with strong quantitative skills. Preference is fora
botanist using physiological. genetical, or ecological approaches who will
contribute to existing departmental strengths in evolution, behavior, ecology,
and tropical biology. Ph.D. degree required. The successful candidate will
be expected to develop an innovative, externally funded research program,
and to participate in teaching at the undergraduate and graduate levels. Applicants
should send curriculum vitae, representative re-prints, and summary of research
interests, and arrange to have three letters of reference sent to: William
A. Searcy, Chair, Search Committee, Department of Biology, PO Box 249118,
University of Miami, Coral Gables, FL 33124-0421, by 7 December, 1995. The
University of Miami is an Equal Opportunity/Affirmative Action Employer, and
a smoke/drug free workplace.
87
Higher
Plant Development Colorado State University
The
Department of Biology, Colorado State University is seeking applicants for
an Assistant Professor position in higher plant development. This tenure-track
position involves undergraduate and graduate teaching and supervised research,
research, and service. This position involves a strong teaching commitment,
including a course in introductory Biology/Botany and advanced courses, both
undergraduate and graduate, in the candidate's area of expertise. The successful
candidate will be expected to develop an independent, externally funded research
program in contemporary plant develop-mental biology. A Ph.D. in plant science
or a related area is required. Postdoctoral experience is strongly preferred.
Candidates should have a solid background in plant biology, evidence for independent
and innovative re-search, and a willingness to cooperate with a broad spectrum
of plant scientists on campus. The position is available Fall semester, 1996,
pending funding. To apply, send a letter of application with a statement of
your teaching and research interests, a curriculum vitae, copy of university
transcripts and no more than three publications; also arrange to have three
letters of reference sent to: Plant Developmental Biologist Search Committee,
Department of Biology, Colorado State University, Fort Collins CO 80523. Telephone
(970) 491-7011, fax (970) 491-0649, e-mail botteron@lamar.colostate.edu. All
materials are due by December 15, 1995. The search may be extended if suitable
candidates are not found. Colorado State University is an equal opportunity/affirmative
action employer and complies with all Federal and Colorado State laws, regulations,
and executive orders regarding affirmative action requirements.
Postdoctoral
Research Associate Chicago Botanic Garden
The
Chicago Botanic Garden seeks applications for a three year postdoctoral research
position commencing March 1, 1996, to conduct tissue culture propagation and
isozyme analysis on rare, threatened, and endangered plants of the Chicago
area. The research will be part of a collaborative effort by the Chicago Botanic
garden and other regional institutions to preserve, propagate, and restore
the indigenous flora of the greater Chicago region. Tissue culture research
projects include the in vitro seed germination of indigenous orchids utilizing
both asymbiotic and symbiotic cultivation techniques, and the clonal propagation
of other rare plants for use in breeding and restoration projects. Isozyme
analysis using starch gel electrophoresis of rare plants from breeding programs
at the Garden, will also be part of the duties. The successful candidate is
expected to conduct the research, interpret and publish the results, oversee
the daily operations of the laboratory, and supervise student and volunteer
assistants. Some field and greenhouse work may be involved. The ability to
work both independently and as a part of an interdisciplinary team, including
researchers from other institutions, is essential. A Ph.D. in botany, horticulture,
or related discipline is required, with experience in tissue culture propagation
and starch gel characterization of mycorrhizal fungi or other microbial organ-isms
a plus. Competitive salary plus benefits, and funds to attend a professional
meeting annually. To apply, submit a letter of application, current resume,
and three letters of reference by January 15, 1996 to : Dr. James R. Ault,
Director of Research, Chicago 13otanic Garden, 1000 Lake Cook road, PO Box
400, Glencoe, IL 60022. (phone (708) 835-8244) The Chicago Botanic garden
is an affirmative action/ equal opportunity employer.
Genetics/Plant
Cell Biology Brigham Young University
Brigham
Young University anticipates filling a tenure track position at the assistant/associate
professor level. Position is available September 1, 1996. Position qualifications
include Ph.D. in Plant Genetics (either crop or ecological) and the applicant
should have research experience in plant molecular biology, genetics of native
plant populations or evolutionary genetics. Responsibilities include teaching
undergraduate courses in genetics and plant cell biology and graduate courses
and development of an active research program. Send curriculum vitae, statements
of research interests and teaching experience to Dr. W. M. Hess. Chair, Department
of Botany & Range Science, Brigham Young University, Provo, Utah 84602.
BYU is an equal employment/affirmative action employer. Preference is given
to members of the sponsoring church.
Ecologist/Natural
Resource Management Brigham Young University
We
anticipate filling a tenure track Assistant or Associate Professor position.
Candidates should have a strong background in plant ecology, natural resource
management, and data analysis. Applicants should hold a Ph.D. in some aspect
of plant ecology with experience in areas such as conservation biology, natural
resource management, wildlife biology, or GIS technology. The successful applicant
must he committed to quality teaching and be able to attract external funding
and to guide outstanding graduate students. The person hired will be responsible
for undergraduate classes in general ecology and conservation biology, as
well as graduate classes in quantitative and terrestrial ecology. Position
becomes available September 1, 1996. Salary is commensurate with experience.
Send curriculum vitae, statements of research interests and teaching experience,
and arrange for three letters of reference by January 1, 1996 to be sent to:
Dr. W.M. Hess, Chair, Department of Botany and Range Science, Brigham Young
University, Provo, Utah 84602. Phone 801-378-2451, FAX: 801-378-7499, e-mail:
wilford_hess@byu.edu BYU is an equal employment/affirmative action employer.
Preference is given to members of the sponsoring church.
88
Symposia,
Conferences, Meetings
International
Alpine Garden Conference 5-10 Janaury 1996
The
New Zealand Alpine Garden Society will host an international alpine gardening
conference in Christchurch from 5-10 January, 1996. The conference will include
special field trips to Mount Hutt and Arthurs Pass as well as presentations
by sought after speakers. New Zealand's leading botanists and gardeners will
be joined by international experts in a forum which is without precedent.
The conference, "Southern Alpines '96" will focus on the alpine plants of
the Southern Hemisphere - South Africa, South America, and of course Australia
and New Zealand. For further information contact the Conference Secretary,
Jane McArthur, 1/37 Augusta Street, Christchurch 8, New Zealand. Phone/Fax
(03) 384 2170.
Evolution
and Conservation on Islands 4 May 1996
The
Santa Barbara Botanic Garden will hold a symposium entitled "Plant Evolution
and Conservation on Islands - A Global Perspective" on May 4, 1996. Topics
include phylogenetic patterns, floristic diversity, biology of rare plants,
and conservation strategies. Speakers include Ian Atkinson, Bruce Baldwin,
Sherwin Carlquist, Sarah Chaney, Vicki Funk, J. R. Haller, and William Halverson.
The keynote address will be given by Peter Raven. Post-symposium events include
excursions to selected California Channel Islands. For details please contact
Dieter Wilken, Santa Barbara Botanic Garden, 1212 Mission Canyon Rd., Santa
Barbara, CA 93105. (telephone: 805.682.4726 cxt 124; email: wi lken @ li fesci.lscf.ucsb.edu).
8th
International Lupin Conference 11-16 May 1996
Scientists
from throughout the world will be gathering May 11-16, 1996 for the 8th International
Lupin Conference in the scenic Asilomar Conference Center near Monterey. The
scientists convening at Asilomar in 1996 will report on a number of topics
that will be of interest to scientists and growers alike—new crop development,
human and animal food uses, nitrogen fixation, ecological importance, as well
as the agronomic aspects of lupin.
A
full agenda is planned for the conference, with three days of symposia scheduled
in the mornings. Afternoons will be devoted to concurrent contributed papers
and poster sessions in one of the following categories: agronomy, genetics,
alkaloid chemistry, ecology. and utilization of lupin. A field trip is scheduled
for Tuesday. May 14, and will include visits to field plots that demonstrate
the diversity of lupin and other crops grown in California.
"California
is an important gene center for native species of lupin," said Barbara Bentley,
professor of Ecology at the State University of New York at Stony Brook. Bentley
is also president of the international Lupin Association. "Of the 190 species
of lupin world-wide, 120 occur in California. This conference is an exciting
opportunity to foster cross-disciplinary discussion on the prospects for lupin
as a crop, as well as its role in natural systems."
The
registration fee is $250 if received by April 10, 1996. Housing at Asilomar
starts at $48 per day, depending on the level of luxury and number of occupants
per room. The housing fee includes all standard meals at Asilomar. This conference
is being organized by the International Lupin Association and is co-sponsored
by the Department of Agronomy and Range Science at the University of California,
Davis and the North American Lupin Association. This is the first time the
conference has been held in the United States. For further information or
registration materials, write to Conference & Event Services (lupin),
University of California, Davis, CA 95616-8766, USA or contact by phone at
(916) 757-3331, FAX at (916-757-7943 or by e-mail at jcbarnes@ucdavis.edu.
Please provide full name and address with appropriate postal codes, phone
numbers, country and city codes and e-mail addresses.
Association
of Systematics Collections Annual Meeting
19-22
May 1996
"Global
Genetic Resources: Access, Owner-ship and Intellectual Property Rights" will
be the topic of the 1996 Annual meeting of the Association of Systematics
Collections, held in conjunction with the Beltsville Symposium at the Beltsville,
Md., Agricultural Re-search Center, May 19-22, 1996. Scientists worldwide
will explore issues related to ownership of and access to genetic resources
and biological specimens around the world. Among the subjects discussed will
be access to collecting and collections; the international distribution of
germplasm; the exchange of scientific information on biodiversity; and current
policies and trends related to ownership and exchange of genetic and biological
re-sources. International experts will address subjects related to biological
resources for comparative taxonomic study, including food and fiber crops,
insects that are natural enemies of crop pests and microorganisms like fungi,
yeasts and parasites.
The
Association of Systematics Collections will also sponsor a 1 1/2-day, presymposium-workshop
on public affairs advocacy (May 18-19). For more information about the presymposium-workshop
call Elaine Hoagland (202) 347-2850; fax (202) 347-0072; e-mail mnhas001@sivm.si.edu.
For more information about the symposium contact Amy Y. Rossman (301) 504-5364;
fax (301) 504-5810; e-mail amy@fungi.arsgrin.gov.
89
Ecological
Competitiveness in Migrations 9-12 June 1996
That
is the subject of a proposed symposium at the 6th North American Paleontological
Convention, June 9-12, 1996, in Washington, D.C. Some aspects of the topic
might be: Which plant and animal taxa have undergone long-distance migration
and under what conditions? What properties did they possess that allowed them
to migrate? How well did they do after they arrived at their destination;
in that connection, what has been the durability of the migrants in their
new region compared with their post-migration durability in their original
region? Do new immigrant taxa become established by competitive replacement
or by filling empty niches? Is there any correlation between the success of
immigrant taxa and their inherent abilities to evolve?
The
First Circular of NACP-96 has been distributed; if you didn't get one, write,
call, or fax me and I will send you one. The Second Circular will be mailed
this Fall, so I will be glad to put you on the mailing list or you can reply
directly to the NACP-96 converners using the form in the First Circular. However,
I would be pleased to hear from you if you are interested in giving a paper
at the symposium described here. I hope to get a good mixture of plant and
animal papers, based on material of various ages. It seems that enough is
known about long-distance migrations of taxa in the distant past, and the
profound effect some of them have had on evolution and changes in flora or
fauna after their arrival, so that next year at NACP would be a good place
and time to explore these questions. Contact: Norm Frederiksen-U.S. Geological
Survey, mail stop 970, Reston, VA 22096; phone 703-648-5277; fax 703-648-5420.
NAFBW
- XlVth Meeting 16-20 June 1996
The
XIVth Meeting of the North American Forest Biology Workshop will be held from
16-20 June, 1996, at Laval University, Quebec City, Quebec, Canada. The theme
will be "Forest Management Impacts on Ecosystem Processes." Contact: Ms. Dominique
Houde, Agora Communication. 2600 boul. Laurier (#2680), Sainte-Foy (Qc)
G1 V 4M6. Tel. (418) 658-6755. FAX. (418) 658-8850. Voluntary workshops, contact:
Pierre Bernier, CFS. Tel. (418) 648-4524. More information at WWW site: http://forestgeomat.for.ulaval.ca/
In
Vitro Biology 22-26 June 1996
The
1996 World Congress on In Vitro Biology carries the title "Biotechnology:
From Fundamental Concepts to Reality." It is scheduled to meet at the San
Francisco Marriott, San Francisco, California, June 22-26, 1996. The abstract
deadline is January 12, 1996. For further information, contact meeting coordinator
Tiffany McMillan, tel. 410-992-0946, fax 410-992-0949.
IOPC-V
30
June - 5 July 1996
The
Fifth International Organization of Paleobotany Conference (IOPC-V) will take
place on the campus of the University of California at Santa Barbara (UCSB),
Santa Barbara, California, USA, from 30 June through 5 July 1996. The theme
of the conference is floristic evolution and biogeographic interchange through
geologic time. The program will include eight morning symposia and four afternoons
of contributed papers and posters, followed by two optional 7-day field trips.
The first circular, containing a detailed description and registration information,
is available from Bruce H. Tiffney, Department of Geological Sciences, University
of California, Santa Barbara, CA 93106. Fax: 805-893-2314, e-mail: tiffney@magic.ucsb.edu.
Extant
and Fossil Charophytes 7-13 July 1996
The
2nd International Symposium on extant and fossil Charophytes (Charales) at
Madison, Wisconsin, will cover a wide scope of topics dealing with extant
and fossil forms and fossil/extantrelationships; a session will be devoted
to the evolutionary position and taxonomic status of the Charophyta. For more
information, please contact Dr. Linda Graham (Department of Botany, University
of Wisconsin - Madison, 430 Lincoln Drive, Madison, Wisconsin 53706-1381,
fax 608-262-7509, e-mail graham@macc.wisc.edu) or Dr. Monique Feist (Colloque
Charophytes, Laboratoire de Palcohotanique, UM2, 34095 Montpellier cedex 05,
France, fax 33.67.04.20.32, e-mail mofcist@isem.univ-montp2.fr).
Natural
Science Collections Symposium 20-24 August 1996
The
Geological Conservation Unit and the Department of Earth Sciences of the University
of Cambridge are organizing the Second International Symposium and World Congress
on the Preservation of Natural History Collections to occur August 20-24,
1996 at St. Johns College, Cambridge, U.K. The theme will be "Natural Science
Collections - A Resource for the Future"
The
second Congress will continue the work of the first Congress by bringing leading
figures in industry, research, education and natural science museums together
to discuss future developments and a joint cooperative approach towards the
challenges presented by the preservation of natural science collections, and
to look at the practical aspects of putting the strategies in place. The Congress
is co-sponsored by several collections support organizations, including the
Association of Systematics Collections and the Society for the Preservation
of Natural History Collections.
For
more information, please contact: Chris Collins, Natural Sciences Congress
'96, Geological conservation Unit, Department of Earth Sciences, Downing Street,
Cambridge, CB 2 3EQ, United Kingdom, tel: (0223) 62522, fax: (0223) 60779.
90
Book
Reviews
In
this Issue:
Ecological:
p.
91 A Naturalist's Guide to the Arctic E.C. Pielou (1994) — Jerry M.
Baskin
p.
93 Tropical Alpine Environments. Plant Form and Function P.W. Runde], A.P.
Smith, and F.C. Meinzcr,eds. (1994) — Michael E. Loik
p.
93 Plant Conservation: Readings from Conservation Biology D. Ehrenfield, ed.
(1995) — Richard A. Niesenbaum
Economic
Botany:
p.
94 Biological Control of Weeds and Plant Diseases. Advances in Applied Allelopathy
Elroy L. Rice (1995) — Samuel Hammer
Genetics:
p.
95 Genetic Control of Self-Incompatiblity and Reproductive Development in
Flowering Plants E.G. Williams, A.E. Clarke, and R.B. Knox, eds. (1994) —
Deborah Charlesworth
p.
96 Genes Populations, and Species David Eherenfeld, ed. (1995) — Brian
Drayton
Paleobotanical:
p.
97 History of the Australian Vegetation: Cretaceaous to Recent Robert S. Hill,
ed. (1994) — Herbert L. Hergert
Physiological:
p.
98 Amino Acids and Their Derivatives R.M. Wallsgrove, ed. (1995) — John
H. McClendon
Structural/Developmental:
p.
98 Inducible Gene Expression, Vol. 1 and 2 P.A. Bauerle, ed. (1995) —
Peter Schroder
p.
99 The Vascular Cambium: Development and Structure Philip R. Larson (1994)
— William P. Jacobs
Systematics:
p.
100 Plants of the Western Boreal Forest and Aspen Parkland Derek Johnson,
Linda Kershaw, Andy MacKinnon and Jim Pojar, eds. (1995) — Daniel W.
Gilmore
A
Naturalist's Guide to the Arctic. E.C. Pielou. 1994. xv + 327pp. ISBN 0-226-66813-4
(cloth, US$57.00); ISBN 0-226-66814-2 (paper, US$19.95). The University of
Chicago Press, Chicago I L 60637 —This is the third semi-popular book
on the natural history of northern North America recently authored by the
distinguished Canadian mathematical ecologist E.C. Pielou. The other two are:
The World of Northern Evergreens Cornell University Press, 1989; and After
the Ice Age - The Return of Life to Glaciated North America. The University
of Chicago Press, 1991. Both of these have received high praise from each
of several reviewers.
The
book under review was written not only as a guide to the identification of
plants and animals that naturalists are likely to encounter in the Arctic,
but also of distinctive physical features and phenomena associated with the
Arctic land, sea, and sky. Further, Pielou describes/ explains how the various
arctic landforms develop, the physics of interesting phenomena associated
with the inanimate world of the Arctic, and the ecology and adaptations of
arctic plants, birds, mammals, fish, and insects. In short, this book is much
more wide-ranging and scholarly than the typical popular field guides. In
the Preface, Pielou writes that, "Natural History is more than ecology. It
deals with the nonliving as well as the living, and naturalists who ignore
inanimate things - land, sea , and sky - are missing much that the world has
to offer."
A
Naturalist's Guide to the Arctic contains nine chapters. Chapters 1-4 (pp.
1-75) cover the physical ("inanimate") environment - sky, climate, atmosphere,
terrain, and seas. Plants, birds, mammals, fish, and insects are discussed
in chapters 5-9 (pp. 76-319). The book has a combined subject matter/species
index (pp. 321-327), but no bibliography. However, at appropriate places in
the text Pielou includes references to technical and/or popular books or to
popular articles; the majority are on plants, birds, and mammals. A very positive
feature of this book is the more than 400 maps and line-drawings by the author.
Further, as in Pielou' s other two books on natural history, mentioned above,
illustrations of plants
91
and
animals arc drawn to scale.
Various
landscapes and phenomena unique to the physical environment of the Arctic
arc described and explained in chapters 1-4. Under a section entitled "The
Land of the Midnight Sun" (chapter 1), Pielou gives an excellent illustrated
explanation on how and why day-length changes through the year. If only introductory
ecology texts were this clear on how daily photoperiod changes with the seasons!
Other natural physical events discussed in this chapter include the "Midday
Moon" (At latitudes of> 72°N, there is a period each month in which
the moon remains above the horizon for > 24 hours. Likewise, there is
a period each month when the moon does not rise above the horizon.), why a
compass is unreliable at high latitudes, and the Aurora Borealis ("Northern
Lights").
Arctic
climate, microclimatc ("The Climate Near the Ground"), mirages (including
the Novaya Zemlya effect, whereby an observer can see the sun over the horizon),
and visible air ("arctic haze") are covered in chapter 2. Ice caps, glaciers,
permafrost, eskers, raised beaches, patterned ground of various sorts (such
as tundra hammocks, tundra polygons, and pingos), rivers, and other features
of the Arctic landscape are discussed in chapter 3. Icebergs (Ten-thousand
are adrift at any one time in eastern Arctic waters.), sea ice, ice islands,
polynyas (open-water bodies in the ice kept open by warm, upwelling sea currents;
important as water and food supply for warm-blooded animals in winter), and
the effects of sea ice on beaches are covered in chapter 4.
About
one-third of the book (chapter 5, pp. 76-190) is on "Plant Life." In the first
part of this chapter, Pielou: (I) describes Arctic treeline, tundra, polar
desert (<10 cm precipitation/year), and some plant communities of the
Arctic: (2) explains why trees cannot grow in the far north and why the position
of treeline shifts; (3) tells how to recognize the six northernmost species
of trees (black spruce, white spruce, tamarack, balsam poplar, paper birch,
trembling aspen); (4) informs readers about the large store of carbon in the
tundra.and of the possibility as the climate warms the tundra may become a
source of carbon (rather than a sink, as it is now), thereby contributing
to the "greenhouse effect" via production of CO2 and CH4,. (5) discusses various
adaptations of arctic plants to a physical environment characterized by low
temperatures, a short growing season, drought, frost heaving, strong winds
("Snow abrasion is a far greater threat than low temperatures to a plant's
well-being in the arctic winter."), and infertile soil; and (6) identifies
the geographical sources of plants that colonized the barren land of the Arctic
left by recession of the glaciers. Concerning the last item, the plants came
from refugia (I) south of the ice sheet, (2) in Beringia, and (3) in unglaciated
areas of the arctic islands, where lack of snow prevented ice accumulation.
The
great majority of chapter 5, however, is on how to identify plants of the
Arctic. Identification charts constructed in the form of dichotomous keys
are given for each of four groups of plants. which are separated on the basis
of size, color, spacing, and arrangement of flowers, and whether the petals
are fused or separate. Then follows a description of one or (usually) more
species in each of 32 dicot, 3 monocot (grasses and rushes not included, only
Eriophorum in Cyperaceae), and 4 fern and "fern ally" families. Plant families
represented in this guide by the largest number of species are Asteraceae
(17), Ranunculaceae (19), and Saxifragaceae (14); genera with the most species
discussed are Anemone (6), Pedicularis (9), Potentilla (7), Ranunculus (8).
and Saxifraga (14). Families with woody representatives include Salicaceae,
Betulaceae, Rosaceae, Empetraceae, Eleagnaceae, Ericaceae, and Diapcnsiaceae.
The last seven pages of this chapter describe some "notable" species of mosses
and lichens of the Arctic.
Chapter
6 (pp. 191-253), on birds, begins with a 10-page general discussion of the
ecology and adaptations of resident (only I1 species) and migrant (>ca.
90 species) birds in the Arctic. This is followed by a "Field Guide to Arctic
Birds," which includes information on the identification and ecology of species
in 12 families and in the order Passcriformes (perching birds). The breeding/nesting
habits of Arctic birds receive consider-able attention in this chapter.
Similar
kinds of information as that on identification and ecology of birds is provided
for 15 families of terrestrial and marine mammals in chapter 7 (pp. 254-298),
and, to a much lesser extent, on fishes in chapter 8 (pp. 299-306) and insects
in chapter 9 (pp. 307-319).
According
to Pielou, "...cold and hunger are the twin perils..." that terrestrial mammals
face in the Arctic winter to (-50°C). The only mammals to hibernate,
however, are the ground squirrels, grizzly hears, and pregnant polar bears.
Large terrestrial mammals are protected form the cold by their winter coats,
which make the muskox "...oblivious to the cold." Marine mammals, on the other
hand, live in sea water that cannot cool below -2°C. As for winter food
supply, carnivores are better off than large herbivores, which put on much
less fat in summer than do hibernators and lose weight on the poor quality
winter forage.
Fish
receive only a very few pages, apparently be-cause "Few naturalists take on
the study of fish as a specialty." Most of this short chapter is about the
identification and breeding biology of members of the salmon family.
Insects
in the Arctic are adapted to low arctic temperatures in various ways: some
can survive freezing solid, while others produce chemicals (e.g., ethylene
glycol) that prevent ice formation in their body liquids to very low temperatures.
Further, parasitic insects (e.g., warble flies and nose hots of caribou) avoid
the cold by parasitizing warm-blooded mammals. Bumblebees (only two species
in the Arctic), flies, and mosquitoes are important pollinators of flowers,
and many insects serve as
92
food
for birds. Unlike most mosquitoes, which have a vertebrate blood meal to lay
eggs, arctic species can lay some eggs without such a meal. This allows them
to leave at least a few decedents, even if a vertebrate blood-source is not
available.
A
more accurate title for this book would have been "A Naturalist's Guide to
the North American Arctic"; there is no mention of the Scandinavian or Russian
Arctic. A chapter comparing the physical environment and biota of the Arctic
regions of North America and Eurasia would have broadened even further the
scope of this book.
I
recommend A Naturalist's Guide ' to those who want a good general guic animate
(especially plants, hirds, and r mals) and inanimate worlds of the Iv American
Arctic. It is insightful, reader-friendly, well illustrated, and free of typos.—
Jerry M. Baskin, School
of
Biological Sciences, University of Kentucky, Lexington.
Tropical
Alpine Environments. Plant Form and Function. P.VM Rundel, A.P. Smith, and
F.0 Meinzer, eds. 1994. 376 pp. ISBN C 521-42089-X Cambridge Universi Press
— This book is a very thorou_ treatment of an extremely interesting
group of
plants.
Species such as Espletia, Lobelia, Puya, and Senecio are notable for their
unique morphologies and for the variety of physiological adaptations they
have evolved in response to high-elevation environments near the equator.
The book is authored by many who have worked with tropical alpine plants,
and contains chapters on a variety of subjects related to these species. The
volume opens with an overview of tropical alpine plants (Smith), the macroclimates
and microclimates they experience (Rundel; Meinzer, Goldstein and Rada), and
includes treatments of their anatomy (Carlquist), and morphology (Pfitsch).
Physiological subjects covered include water relations (Meinzer, Goldstein
and Rundel), thermal tolerance (Beck), carbon dynamics (Keeley, DeMason, Gonzalez
and Markham), the role of pubescence (Miller), and nutrient relations (Beck;
Rehder). Other chapters cover reproductive biology (Berry and Calvo), population
biology (Young; Smith and Young; Rundel and Witter), herbivory (Young and
Smith), form and function of plants from New Guinea (Hnatiuk), and biotic
interactions at high elevations (Loope and Medeiros). The final chapter is
a synthesis by the editors and considers research priorities in terms of plant
growth forms, demography, physiological convergence, ecosystem function and
services, and global climate change.
There
are several features of the book worth noting. There are many high quality
photographs throughout (all in black and white), especially in the opening
chapter by the late Alan Smith. Each chapter contains its own reference section,
and the chapter by Keely et al. contains an appendix with a large amount of
data on titratable acids and malic acid accumulation for a variety of species.
There is an extensive and comprehensive index (12 pages) that includes references
to species. The tables throughout the book are very informative, but they
are often rotated because of the size of the hook (the page size is 15 X 22.5
cm.) The volume's only drawback is that the format has caused some of the
line diagrams to be considerably reduced.
As
a teaching tool this book is probably best suited
for
upper division undergraduate and graduate
seminars; its specialized subject material
preclude its use for lower division courses.
I used parts of it for a graduate course on
Alpine ecology; many interesting
discussions ensued and the students
suggested using the entire book as a
text in the future. As a research
reference, this is a book not only for
those
interested in tropical alpine plants, but for anyone interested in physiological
ecology and alpine plants. The editors have produced a comprehensive review
of tropical alpine plant biology; indeed, the hook goes beyond the title's
plant form and function. This book is highly
recommended
for anyone interested in the
adaptations
of plants to unique environments.—Michael E. Loik, Department of Biology,
California State University
Plant
Conservation: Readings from Conservation Biology. D. Ehrenfield, ed. 1995.
221 pp. ISBN 0-86542-450-0. (US$24.95, paper). Black-well Science, Inc., 238
Main St., Cambridge MA 02142 — Like the greatest hits compilation albums
familiar to most music fans, the Society For Conservation Biology and Blackwell
Science have put together a number of volumes of previously published articles
in specific areas of conservation biology. This new series in which each volume
consists of articles taken directly from the journal, Conservation Biology,
is an excellent way to provide exposure to specific subdisciplines or perspectives
in conservation research and policy.
In
the collection on Plant Conservation, editor David Erhenfeld has selected
and organized 34 articles in the area of plant conservation biology. These
articles have been extracted from 30 different issues of Conservation Biology
and include research papers, editorials, and letters. The diversity of topics
include taxonomy, crop diversity, effects of habitat fragmentation, conservation
genetics, paleoccology, ecosystem ecology, exotics, rareness, and ecological
design. There is something for anyone interested in plant ecology or conservation,
and this publication could serve as an excellent introduction
93
to
the research and issues in the area of plant conservation. I would highly
recommend this collection for a seminar course on the subject or as a resource
for independent study. However, it is probably not the best source for professionals
looking for pragmatic approaches to particular conservation problems. Nor
is it a necessary buy for those who have been receiving Conservation Biology.
A
number of the papers deal with ecosystem level problems and focus on the potential
effects of climatic change and enriched carbon dioxide environments on biotic
systems. Some of these papers go beyond looking at plant response to changes
in environmental condition and pursue the implications for conserving biodiversity.
In a note by Eric Fajer, it is argued that even in the absence of climatic
change, carbon dioxide enrichment may alter community structure due to the
differential response of C3 and C4 plants. Fajer then argues that the changes
in the plant community are likely to impact herbivore communities.
Other
papers take the community approach to conservation. One of the more novel
approaches taken at this level was the paleoecolgical perspective to conservation
offered by M. Hunter, C. Jacobson and T. Webb. They provide evidence that
shows that plant communities have been relatively ephemeral and that historical
climatic changes have drastically altered species assemblages. Because of
this, they argue that the selection of nature reserves should be based on
the distribution of physical environments rather than on the distribution
of modern communities.
I
enjoyed the discourse on the removal of exotic plant species offered in an
editorial by S. Temple and letters of response from A. Lugo and B. Coblentz.
They effectively fleshed out some important issues regarding the management
of our changing plant communities. The discussion reminded me of when one
of my more astute students accused me of being a "botanical racist" for encouraging
the removal of foreign plant species.
Since
I have a particular interest in pollination biology, a number of articles
that dealt with this were of particular interest to me. Issues of rarity,
engineered gene escape via crop-weed mating, and the effects of habitat fragmentation
on pollination were included. It was particularly nice to see some of the
basic research ideas in this area being applied to problems in conservation.
A
number of other articles dealing with agriculture, logging, and disturbance
round out the volume very nicely. I plan to use this volume as a basis for
directed readings and independent study with advanced under-graduates. It
could also serve new graduate students and professionals that are beginning
work in conservation. It is an excellent introduction to the kinds of research
that have been done and some of the issues raised in this important area of
applied research. —Richard A. Niesenbaum, Muhlenberg College, Allentown,
PA
Biological
Control of Weeds and Plant Diseases. Advances in Applied Allelopathy. Elroy
L. Rice 1995. ISBN 0-8061-2698-1 (cloth). University of Oklahoma Press, Norman,
Oklahoma.— My earliest graduate school experience was working with an
ecologist who had studied with C. H. Muller, the founder of ecological allelopathy.
We raised thousands of seedlings of Bromus diandrus (an introduced grass pest
in California), in the leachates of various tree species that were suspected
to have allelopathic activity. Never mind that our results failed every statistical
test; I grew so fond of Ailanthus altissima, Juglans nigra, and their poisons
that I still teach allelopathy whenever I get a chance. My earliest training
in the concepts of allelopathy has stuck with me, and I opened this volume
eagerly, not least of all in the hope that my first graduate school professor
had found his way into the annals of biological weed control, an ideal that
California botanists can understand better than anyone.
What
I found in the first pages was a strong theoretical statement with an introduction
that provided broad concepts and applications for allelopathy. Indeed Rice,
who is the doyen of applied allelopathy, goes beyond the traditional understanding
of the phenomenon as a plant-plant interaction. To my surprise and delight,
there is some coverage of fungal-plant interactions in the book. There are
also examples of indigenous and traditional agricultural methods that use
allelopathy as a practical approach to weed control. The volume is thus potentially
useful beyond the narrow readership suggested by its title. The many experiments
that are cited in this book suggest a very broad scope of creativity and scientific
risk-taking. A great variety of organisms are under consideration, both as
allelopathic agents and as potential control targets. Allelopathy is still
provocative, and it seems healthy to me that investigations are being undertaken
at a variety of experimental levels.
I
caught up with old friends here (the Tree of Heaven was discussed although
my former professor was not mentioned), and I learned a thing or two. Did
you ever hear of the "spermosphere?" There were a few disappointments, however.
Most seriously, I would have liked to see more synthesis. The cited experiments
seem to pile up with no real aim or organization. One series of accounts of
papers concludes with the author's comment, "...clearly the evidence is massive."
The book needs a unifying approach, and there needs to be some discussion.
Without discussion, the book is unfortunately little more than a listing,
a literature review. The
94
organization
of this volume is loose, although this problem is ameliorated by the annotated
index. Some of the graphs are enlargements and they are subsequently blurry.
The single illustration, a plate with two SEM photographs is uninterpretablc,
and would have been unacceptable as copy in any professional journal. The
publisher should have deleted it.
I
cannot recommend this book as interesting reading. The prose is acceptable
but the text is barely connected from one paragraph to the next. It was hard
to perceive any train of thought beyond the simple listing of experiments,
and unfortunately, the concepts in this did not build upon one another. Ultimately,
it stands as a descriptive list of experiments, but much more could have been
forthcoming. From one important perspective the hook is valuable. It is useful
as a reference volume to an interesting and controversial branch of plant
science. — Samuel Hammer, College of General Studies, Boston University.
Genetic
Control of Self-Incompatibility and Reproductive Development in Flowering
Plants. Williams, E.G., A.E. Clarke and R.B. Knox 1994. ISBN 0-87563-508-3
(cb US$214.00) 540pp. Kluwer Academic Publishers Group, PO Box 989, 3300 AZ
Dordrecht, The Netherlands — This collection of articles is an attempt
to make available a set of reviews that will enable readers to integrate information
about a range of topics in the general area of angiosperm reproductive biology.
During the past ten years, there have been major advances in at least three
areas, the molecular biology of self-incompatibility loci, the genetics of
flower development, and the genetics of gender specialization. There is at
present no close relationship between these topics. Despite some attempts
to study sex determination as an extension of flower development studies,
it seems that our understanding of flower development is as yet too limited,
and the number of genes involved in the complex set of processes involved
too large, to make use of known loci to study how unisexual sex expression
works. It is nevertheless valuable to put the different topics together in
one book, especially at a time when these questions are attracting interest
from non-botanists, who will not have read in depth about plant reproduction
(though it might have been good to have a glossary of technical terms, for
students and non-botanical readers). The book attempts quite successfully
to bridge the gaps between topics by including several chapters on pollen
biology (which is of evident importance in the efforts to understand how self-incompatibility
works, and also in studies of flower development), male sterility (for which
pollen biology is again relevant, and which relates to the development of
unisexual female flowers)
and
female gametogenesis and fertilization (which relates to flower development).
There is also a valuable chapter on asexual reproduction.
The
coverage of topics is thus quite broad. Plant reproduction is rather well
covered, and readers can use this book as a review of the field as a whole,
at least as it stood a couple of years ago. This is a rapidly changing research
area, and new results have been added recently, but several of the chapters
of this book are good reviews of their chosen topics, and will continue to
be useful, either as reviews of the work up to the present time, or as thoughtful
introductions to some of the interesting problems that are still to be solved
(such as the useful review of late-acting incompatibility systems). One such
chapter is Sims' who does his usual excellent job of reviewing gametophytic
self-incompatibility. Although this chapter overlaps considerably with other
reviews by the same author, he has added some very interesting historical
information, particularly in his account of the work of the Russian botanist
Kovaleva's work in the 1970s giving evidence that RNase activity in styles
is important in self-incompatibility. His chapter also contains descriptions
of new experiments aimed at discovering the still elusive pollen component
of the incompatibility locus. The other highlight of the hook for me was the
delightful chapter by Longo, reviewing genes controlling sex expression. This
chapter is an excellent review, scientifically speaking, and has the added
charm of being written in a fresh and highly readable style. His pleasure
at the fact that contemporary papers on plant development "no longer feature
only dull graphs or electrophorctic patterns but are also blooming with beautiful
pictures of flowers" will strike a chord in many of us.
Much
of the rest of the book is also useful, though there is perhaps rather too
much overlap between the various chapters on pollen cell biology. One benefit
to readers of this book, that could not be obtained if one were to read the
literature in one or other of the areas alone, is to compare which approaches
tend to lead to progress and which are less successful. In the case of plant
reproduction, the superiority of genetics and molecular genetics to other
approaches is quite evident in the chapters of this book. Although it might
seem easy to discover the genes that are important in flower development,
for instance, by expression studies at critical stages, this has in fact not
been nearly as productive as the study of mutations. Indeed, many recent successes
have made use of material that was found and studied genetically decades ago.
Only now that the molecular genetics is becoming understood is the cell biology
really coming into its own, as a means of pinpointing sites and stages of
expression of the genes that are discovered, and of suggesting mechanisms.
The same kind of thing can be said for studies of self-incompatibility, where
again genetics led the way to molecular genetics, and integration with cell
biology is now beginning. It is to be hoped that there will be similar progress
on the problem of sex determination, but at present there remains a large
gulf between the classical
95
genetic
and cytogenetic work, and molecular genetics. The emphasis on cell biology
on this book therefore seems rather too great, given that it has not yet illuminated
as much as one might hope.
It
is also a great pity that there is no chapter on homomorphic sporophytic self-incompatibility
by any of the groups that work on the molecular biology of the incompatibility
genes (though there is a chapter on heteorstyly by Barrett and Cruzan). This
was the first system where the very fruitful molecular approach was successful,
and there are plenty of new interesting results from groups such as the Nasrallah
and Bernatzky laboratories, among others. Even the one chapter on the genetics
of such systems (by Lewis) focuses on the contentious issue of gametophytically
expressed modifier loci. The theoretical evolutionary chapter (by Clark and
Kao) also focuses almost entirely on gametophytic systems, and does not even
mention that the theory they review applies to this subset of incompatibility
systems, although there has been some interesting theoretical work on sporophytic
systems. Another omission is cytoplasmic male sterility (only one paper, on
Petunia, though very interesting data are being published on several wild
species with male sterility). Despite these quibbles about content and balance,
the book is in general successful, and should be a very useful addition to
university libraries.—Deborah Charlesworth, Department of Ecology and
Evolution, University of Chicago
Genes,
Populations, and Species. Eherenfeld, David, ed., Society for Conservation
Biology and Blackwell Science, Inc. 1995. — This volume is one of a
series of six anthologies on various topics drawnfrom the first thirty issues
of Conservation Biology, a publication that hasbeen growing in size and interest
since its beginnings. The collection focuses on "species-specific" conservation
issues, and although only six ofthe 32 articles deal directly with plants,
the rest of the volume is of muchgencrai interest.
The
first two articles deal with the nature and value of species as the focus
of conservation efforts. The species is the most "natural" of the possible
biological levels on which to focus conservation efforts, but what do we mean
by a species? Intensive definitions raise all the categorical problems well
known in biology, and mask the actual evolutionary diversity existing, many
components of which probably should be protected — but this brings us
into the whole whirl of discussion about the status of subspecies, local "races"
and other kinds of genetic diversity which may have no obvious status in terms
of populations. Extensive definitions, focusing on exiting populations and
regional variants, are easier to explicate to the policy-makers and public,
and make the species a nice pretext for habitat and ecosystem protec-
tion.
How to choose? (Rojas, "The species problem and conservation: what are we
protecting?") Once you have a definition, though, how to rank species in terms
of urgency of threat, to facilitate the allocation of resources? Population
viability analysis may provide the basis for such prioritization (Mace and
Land, "Assessing extinction threats"). Oliver and Beattie suggest a "Possible
method for the rapid assessment of biodiverisity" using trained field technicians,
to respond to the urgent lack of taxonomists working in the field, which is
one bottle-neck in both conservation theory and the development of specific
protection plans. These themes - How shall we decide what to protect? What
are the biological consequences of our decisions? Are addressed in several
studies of specific populations, including insects, large and small mammals,
birds, turtles, and fish. A fascinating debate on the biological and conservaton
status of the gray and red wolf occupies eight articles in point and counterpoint.
Other celebrated cases are also represented (black rhinoceros and tigers),
as well as the little discussed question of the preservation of varieties
of domesticated animals.
The
plant articles take up the same themes. Megnes ("Seed germination increases
with population size in a fragmented prarie species") points out anotherexample
of the possible effects of small population size on the viability of plant
populations. In his study, populations of the royalcatchfly (Silcne regia)
containing more than 150 individuals had dependably high germina-
tion
percentages (> 85%), while smaller populations had more variable and
generally lower rates. Although the reasons are unclear, the study has important
implications for the design of plant species conservation plans, and especially
for the criteria of "success" in plant conservation actions, whether protection,
enhancement, or creation of populations. Lescia and Allendorf's article ("Are
small populations of plants worth preserving?") show that studies of plant
population genetics suggest that small plant populations can preserve significant
amounts of genetic variation, and should therefore be preserved. Population
dynamics of the sort that Menges describes, however, must weigh heavily in
the design of reserves for plant populations, which may only be adequate for
short-term conservation of species and varieties. The fragmented distribution
of once-widepread species will very often lead to significant genetic differentiation.
Conservation plans, especially those involving an ex situ component, whenever
possible should reflect that, since the genetic differentiation will in some
cases at least reflect geographical adaptation, as suggested by Walters et
al. "Restoration considerations for Wiregrass (Aristida stricta) alllozymediversity
of populations."
96
A
final article, "Radish as a model system for the study of engineered gene
escape rates via crop-weed mating" (Klinger et al.) raises the issue of human
enhancement of a species' genetic variety. Plant breeding systems and seed
dispersal mechanisms provide many ways for genotypes to overcome geographic
barriers and distance, so transgenic crops, especially if they are planted
near wild relatives or varieties, are likely to be hard to contain under normal
agricultural practice.
There
is a another whole volume in this series devoted to plants (Plant Conservation),
but the present volume will be useful to students and teachers looking to
survey current issues and techniques in species-centered conservation biology.
—Brian Drayton, TERC, Cam-bridge, MA
History
of the Australian Vegetation: Cretaceaous to Recent. Robert S. Hill, ed. Nov.
1994, ISBN 0-521-401976 (Cloth US$125.00) Cambridge University Press, 40 West
20th Street, New York, NY 10011-4211—Most of the classic English language
paleobotany texts have devoted very little space to the tertiary flora (66
million years to the present). This is unfortunate since a proper understanding
of the existing flora surely requires knowledge of past history to properly
understand floral associations, ecology, and potential instability resulting
from the onslaughts of fungi, insects, and humans. Furthermore, these same
paleobotany texts rarely deal with the fossil history of those continents
below the equator.
Both
of these problems have now been admirably dealt with, first by the publication
of Mary E. White's The Flowering of Gondwana (Princeton University Press,
1990), beautifully illustrated with color photographs of Australian plant
fossils and their living counterparts, and now a very comprehensive documentation
of the Australian tertiary flora in a book edited by R.S. Hill, a professor
in the Department of Plant Science at the University of Tasmania.
This
book is a result of collaboration between 23 geologists, paleontologist, botanists
and ecologists who have attempted to explain the complexity of the living
Australian flora in terms of all aspects of the prehistoric record. To be
sure, there are many questions still to be answered, such as absence of authentic
fossils of Australia's most important living forest tree prior to the late
Miocene. On the other hand, the analyses presented in this book are all the
more remarkable given the sorry state of Australian paleobotany until the
1950's when Cookson resurrected plant macrofossil research. Hill quotes E.W.
Berry who wrote in 1992, "There have been more worthless articles written
about the Cretaceous and tertiary floras of Australia than any other equal
area of the earth's surface." Criticism from within and without brought Australian
paleobotany research almost to a halt, and this "stigma still endures in the
minds of some paleobotanists" (p. 411).
During
the last two decades the tide has reversed. Rapid expansion of palynology,
frequently associated with oil, mineral, and groundwater exploration, and
the elegant explanantion of earth history provided by the theory of plate
tectonics have had a major impact in the revival of Australian paleobotany.
Research is now progressing at an all-time high. In Hill's introductory chapter
it is suggested that this hook may represent the last occasion in which a
concise review of such a large period of time can be accomplished for the
whole of Australia.
Background
for floristic studies is provided in five chapters in which maps of Mesozoic-Cenozoic
Gondwana break-up are discussed, 144 million years of Australian palcoclimate
and paleogeography are presented, palcobotanical evidence for Tertiary climate
is summarized, the nature and evolution of Australian landscapes are discussed,
and the history of Australian mammals are used to infer paleohabits. The latter
is an example of supposed interaction between palco-fauna and flora and is
an example of a particularly interesting new field in which flowering and
fruiting phenology, modes of pollination, nature, and degree of herbivory,
etc., on floral succession are deduced. There is much promise for the future
as ongoing study proceeds.
The
remainder of the book deals with floral history based on microfossils (spores
and pollen) and macrofossils (roots, wood, leaves, fruits, flowers, and cones.)
Although the Australian continent has had a relatively quiescent geological
history (compared to North America and Asia) especially since the separation
of Australia from Antarctica beginning in the Eocene. With the changes in
sea level, migration of the continent to the north, and changes in air circulation
patterns, we see a number of habitats, e.g. rain forest, open forest, sclerophylous
flora, etc. coexisting at any given period of time. In contrast to the dominance
of ecualypts (over 530 species) and acacias (more than 900 species) today,
neither of these groups was of any consequence prior to the Miocene. Nothofagus,
the Antarctic beech, is the most prominent taxa in the fossil record. Other
important families are the Podocarpacea, Araucariacca, Proteaceae, and Casuarinaceae.
Unfortunately,
we tend to have two disparate interpretations of the floral past depending
upon the types of fossils being examined. Thus we have either microfossil
flora or a macrofossil flora. This problem also exists, of course, in North
American and European paleobotany. Blackburn and Sluiter (Chap. 14) have dealt
with this problem in a new piece of original research on the Oligo-Miocene
coal floras of Southeastern Australia. Informa-
97
tion
was combined form both types of systems. This permitted correlation with a
high degree of certainty for at least one hundred biological taxa because
leaves and pollen were isolated from the same samples. When only leaves were
present, it was concluded that fossil taxa were local and probably represented
7 to 50% of all the pollen in the coal samples but was not present at
all as a macrofossil. The authors of this chapter concluded that much more
work is needed since only 1.3 meters of a 30 M stratum has been studied thus
far.
This
reviewer whole-heartedly recommends that this book be purchased (in spite
of its expense) and placed on the bookshelves of all those individuals involved
in the study of plant history, be they geologists, paleobotanists or those
botanists who need to expand their geographical horizons. Not only is this
book thoroughly researched with many references, some not readily accessible
to North Americans, but it represents a model for books that ought to be written
summarizing the tertiary floras of North America, Asia and Europe. Since paleobotany
seems to also have a new lease on life in North America, it is time to produce
a similar volume which combines the multiple disciplines of geology, geography,
polynology, and macrofossil paleobotany.—Herbert L. Hergert, Repap Technologies
Inc., Valley Forge, PA.
Amino
Acids and Their Derivatives in Higher Plants. R.M. Wallsgrove, ed. 1995 ISBN
0-521-45453-0 (cb US$64.95) 280pp. Cambridge University Press, 40 West 20th
St., New York NY 10011-4211. —This is a volume resulting from a meeting
held at Rothamsted Experiment Station in September 1993, one of several held
to honor the 150th anniversary of the Station. It is not, as one might guess
from the title, a taxonomic survey of free amino acids in the plant kingdom.
Only two articles include taxonomic data (betaines and toxic non-protein amino
acids). It is otherwise a series of reports on different aspects of amino
acid metabolism. As with most symposium volumes, it would be quite useful
to those interested in the particular topics covered.
The
16 articles are by contributors from the western Europe, U.S., Canada and
Australia. Most are reports of the authors' recent works, but one is a 17
page review (of betaines and stress) with 13 pages of references! Biosynthesis
is dealt with in several articles: glutamine, proline and other heterocycles,
glutathione, betaines, polyamines, cyanogenic glucosides, glucosinolates.
Several articles deal with the regulation of synthetic pathways: aspartate
derivatives, branched chain AA's. Some of these deal with physiological problems,
such as stress. Ethylene synthesis from methionine is dealt with in one article.
The complexities of serine and glycine metabolism are considered in two articles,
in photosynthetic and non-photosynthetic tissues. Several authors, of course,
use mutants in sorting out pathways, but one article is an explicit survey
of biochemical geneticcs of glucosinolates. —John H. McClendon, Professor
Emeritus, University of Nebraska
Inducible
Gene Expression, Vol. 1 and 2 Bauer-le, P.A., ed. 1995. ISBN 0-8176-3728-1
(vol. 1), ISBN 0-8176-3734-6 (vol. 2) Birkhāuser Boston 160 Imlay St.
Brooklyn NY 11231. —One of the key features of life is permanent change
and adaptation to new situations. These changes may become necessary because
of external stresses as well as internal stimuli connected to the phenotypic
development of an organ-ism. Both areas receive detailed atttention here:
The two volumes of Inducible Gene Expresison are on the mechanisms governing
the signalling between the stimulus, i.e. environmental stresses, nutrients,
hormones, and the responses of the organism.
On
the cellular level the adaptation to these signals is mediated by the adjustment
of the enzymatic pools to the new situation. Rapid and enormous changes in
the quality of the protein composition as well as in the quantiy of single
protein species have been reported in the literature in response to external
stresses but also to endogenous stimuli. Research of the last decades has
revealed that transcriptional regulation of the protein pattern is pre-dominant
over translational, posttranslational and post-transcriptional control. Small
activator proteins are required to start mRNA synthesis by binding to promoter
regions in the proximity of the genes to be read from. The regulation of these
(trans)activators and their interaction with promoters and enhancers is without
doubt one of the most exciting fields of research. Understanding the nature
and functions of the switches that have to be turned in order to start or
inhibit mRNA synthesis gives insight in the fundamental processes of life.
The
patchiness of the research information from various organisms, stress situations,
internal signals and regulation mechanisms, however, has prevented insight
into general phenomena of signalling in eucaryotic cells. Even the regulation
of protein pools by hormonal action and other internal signals is not well
understood, al-though we make daily and extensive use of hormones and activators.
In this point of view, the compilation of reviews on eucaryotic transactivators
that allow cells to react on various extraccllular stimuli or to endogenous
signals is a necessary attempt to summarize state of the art knowledge and
perhaps find a new starting point for future research. The editor succeeded
in activating leading scientists in the field of stress and hormone research
98
to
contribute to this compilation.
The
first volume covers environmental stresses, the reaction to which, as the
editor states in his preface, is an archaic leftover that has gained actuality
in our struggle against the modern pollutant climate. In an ever-changing
environment, all organisms have to find ways to adapt to stresses but also
to exploit the benefits of favorable situations. Some of the stresses that
are en-countered by organisms are pathogens, temperature, reactive oxygen
species and xenobiotics, to name but a few.
Subdivided
into eight chapters, differences between prokaryotic vs. eukaryotic transcription
control, heat shock response, phorbol ester and UV light response, pathogen
and stress defense proteins, the role of steroid hormones, dioxin binding
and heavy metals and iron are reviewed and discussed. It is fascinating to
see how organisms are able to react to environ- men-
tal
stresses by rapid and transient
activation
of trap, and how they cont.') correct intensity o1 answer by feedb mechanisms.
The
second vo ume on hormona signalling is dedi cated to mamma and insect systems
only. Eightchapters. cover reviews of cAMP signalling, tf role of the c-fos
et ment in canceroge esis, cell cycle cc trol, transcription f tors with SH2
do glucocorticoid an(
hormone
receptors, retinoic acid receptors and on the regulation of transactivators
involved in early stages of Drosophila development. Although many of the underlying
principles of hormone action are well investigated, there is still an enormous
lack of information in the field of intracellular signalling. We must accept
that we are stuck in the middle of uncovering how complex inducible gene expression
is.
Each
of the chapters of both volumes maybe regarded as an independent review without
closer connection to the other chapters. This may have been intended, be-cause
Inducible Gene Expression is not and does not claim to he a textbook. Instead,
the reader finds a summary of opinions and a discussion of theories in several
of the reviews. Connected to this more selective choice of topics, some areas
of research may be found lacking by workers in the field. For example in the
context of xenobiotic detoxification the extensive liter-
ature
on AP-1 and EpRE as well as on the inducibility of detoxifying enzymes such
as glutathione transferases and P450 is only sketched briefly.
Furthermore,
although 1 personally agree that much more information is available on signalling,
induction and hormones in animals, it is a pity that not one of the chapters
is dedicated to plants and their adaptations to environmental stresses or
to hormonal gene induction in plants.
According
to the editor, a central intention of the
books is to allow comparison of various molecular
mechanisms for intracellular signalling. This object is
achieved by the comprehensive and up-to-date compi-
lation on the topics of environmental stresses and hor-
mones. However reading Inducible Gene Expression
requires at least some scientific training and some
insight into current literature. It may well be used as an
excellent reference source and can be regarded as a
ons. Therefore the two
nterest to both graduate
practicing scientists in
olecular biology, genet-
)chemistry. — Peter
, PhD, Institut fur Bio-
: he Pflanzenpatholo-
F-Forschungszentrum
iwelt and Gesundheit,
:uherberg, D-85758
berschlei(heim, FRG.
The
Vascular Cambium: Development and Structure. Philip R. Larson. 1994. ISBN
3-387-57165-5 (cloth US$290.00), Springer-Verlag, New
YorK
dv Y—Larson, who recently re-ti red from the USDA Forest Experiment
Station in Rhinelander, Wisconsin, has written this very de-tailed account
of how we arrived at our current knowledge of the vascular cambium and its
functioning. The book is a major addition to anatomical literature. Larson
has emphasized the history of cambial investigations and the thoroughness
of his treatment is exemplified by the 66 pages of literature references.
His laudable goal of establishing priorities for discoveries is followed throughout.
It is particularly valuable to have the literature that was written in German
during the past 150 years covered so well, since many young scientists are
not being trained to read German and these many early papers would be otherwise
unknown to them. French language literature is similarly well covered. The
637 pages of literature review include 340 illustrations, most of which are
line drawings and graphs.
The
most immediate problem in studying the vascu-
99
lar
cambium is that the cambium is considered to be only one cell, or at most
a few cells, thick in the radial direction, and is in the shape of a tapering
cylinder. the limitations of trying to study directly this fragile, thin tissue
with microtome sections has led most botanists to attempt to infer what the
cambium was doing by studying instead the nature of cambial derivatives. The
rationale of these many investigators is that if, for instance, there is not
much elongation of conifer tracheids after they have been cut off from the
cambium, then the preserves series of tracheids after they have been cut off
from the cambium, then the preserved series of tracheids in the annual rings
of the secondary xylem can be used to estimate the length of the fusiform
initials of the cambium at the time each tracheid was formed. Much of the
literature on angiosperm cambium, similarly, consists of studies of the xylem
rather than the cambium as such, with attempts to infer cambial characteristics
from the length of vessel elements or xylem parenchyma strands (on the assumption
that their lengths were little different form those of the fusiform initials
at the time they were cut off).
Changes
in the fusiform and ray initials over both an annual growing season and a
span of many decades are the major interest of most cited papers, whether
they are based on direct observation of cambium or of the derivatives. The
longest chapter (164 pages) is on anticlinal cambial divisions. Periclinal
divisions are covered in a 44 page chapter, the effects of cambial wounding
in one of 88 pages.
The
value of Larson's historical approach and meticulous scholarship is obvious,
but it does not make for easy reading. For instance, one statement can be
followed by parentheses enclosing 28 different references. Remarkably few
misprints or errors were noted (al-though l was surprised to see the unicellular
alga Caulerpa referred to as having "vascular tissue"[p.127]).
Several
areas that one might expect from the book's title to be discussed are not
covered in detail. One mentioned in the Preface is the development of cambium
from procambium. Another is anomalous cambia, which Larson (p.361) felt was
adequately reviewed in Iqbal's and Carlquist's recent books. The literature
on variations among secondary xylem and phloem derivatives was considered
to be so extensive that only a brief survey could be included (p.324). Finally,
physiological aspects of cambial development are scanted, only a few references
to reviews being mentioned (e.g. p.290). However, within these guidelines,
Larson has done a splendid job of summarizing the pertinent papers of the
last 150 years.—William P. Jacobs, Princeton University
Plants
of the Western Boreal Forest and Aspen Parkland. Derek Johnson, Linda Kershaw,
Andy MacKinnon and Jim Pojar. 1995. ISBN 1-55105-058-7 (cloth CAN$24.95, US$19.95),
392 pp. Lone Pine Publishing, 206, 10426-81 Ave., Edmonton, AB, T6E 1 X5,
CANADA —This is the first field guide written to specifically cover
plants of the western boreal region in North America encompassing the regions
of western Ontario, Manitoba, Saskatchewan, Alberta, the Yukon and Northwest
Territories, British Columbia, and Alaska. The most common and widespread
species are described in the greatest detail with rare species, or species
with limited ranges, or near the edge of their geographic range omitted. The
introduction of this field guide provides an excellent synopsis of the location,
climate, physiography, geology, and soils characteristic to the western boreal
forest. A brief primer on the ecology of the western boreal forest and a Plants
and People section discussing the importance of boreal plants to aboriginal
peoples are also provided in the introduction. Individual keys are provided
to identify trees, shrubs, wildflowers, aquatic plants, Graminoids, pteridophytes,
bryophytes, and lichens. A unique feature of this guide is the inclusion of
a four page colored flower key to aid the user in identifying different groups
of non-woody plants. High-quality color photographs are provided for each
species along with a thorough systematic and phytoecological description.
Both the amateur and professional botanist will benefit from the notes section
for most species which includes a description on aboriginal uses, present
day uses, and local folklore. — Daniel W. Gilmore, Canadian Forest Products,
Ltd., Wood-lands Division, Grande Prairie, Alberta
8th
Guide to Graduate Study in Botany Published
The
8th edition of the Guide to Graduate Study in Botany for the United States
and Canada has been completed by William Louis Stern and Bijan Dehgan, both
of the University of Florida. It was published in October 1995 and consists
of 222 pages. An article by Stern describing the Guide and some of the history
behind it appears on pp. 80-8] of this issue of PSB. Dr. Stern has requested
that he be notified of errors and omissions in the current Guide. Readers
may send notices of errors and omissions to him at the Department of Botany,
University of Florida, Gainesville FL 32611-8526.
100
Books
Received
If
you would like to review a book or books for PSB, contact the Editor, stating
the book of interest and the date by which it would be reviewed (15 February,
15 May, 15 August or 15 November of the appropriate year). Send E-MAIL, call
or write as soon as you notice the book of interest in this list, be-
cause
they go quickly!—Ed.
*
= book in review or declined for review ** = book reviewed in this issue Conservation
Biology
Canada's
Biodiversity Mosquin, Ted, Peter G. Whiting, & Don E. McAllister 1995.
ISBN 0-660-13073-4 (paper US$45.00) 293pp. Canadian Museum of Nature, P.O.
Box 3443, Station D, Ottawa ON Canada KIP 6P4
*Collecting
Plant Genetic Diversity Guarino, L., V. Ramanatha Rao, & R. Reid 1995.
ISBN 0-85198-964-0 (cloth US$120.00) 748pp. The University of Arizona Press,
330 S. Toole Avenue. Suite 200, Tucson AZ 85701-1814
Fundamentals
of Conservation Biology Hunter, Malcolm L. 1995. ISBN 0-86542-37 1-1 (cloth
US$42.95) 488pp. Blackwell Science, 238 Main Street, Cambridge MA 02142
Ironwood:
An Ecological and Cultural Keystone of the Sonoran Desert Nabhan, Gary Paul,
& John L. Carr 1995. ISBN 1-881173-07-0 (paper US$10.95) 92pp. Conservation
International, Department of Conservation Biology, 1015 18th Street NW, Suite
1000, Washington DC 20036
Managing
Habitats for Conservation Sutherland, William J. & David A. Hill 1995.
ISBN 0-521-44776-3 (cloth US$84.95, paper US$29.95) 399pp. Cambridge University
Press, 40 West 20th Street, New York NY 10011-421 1
Ecological
Biogenic
Trace Gases: Measuring Emissions from Soil and Water Matson, P. & R. Harris
1995. ISBN 0-632-03641-9 (paper US$49.95) 386pp. Blackwell Science, 238 Main
Street, Cambidge MA 02142
Ecology
of Infectious diseases in Natural Populations Grcnfell, B.T. & A.P. Dobson
1995. ISBN 0-521-46502-8 (cloth US$59.95) pp.521. Cam-bridge University Press,
40 West 20th Street, New York NY 10011-4211
Genecology
and Ecogeographic Races Kruckcberg, Arthur R., Richard B. Walker & Alan
E. Lcviton 1995. ISBN 0-934394-10-5 (cloth US$28.95) 285pp. Pacific Division,
American Association for the Advancement of Science, California Academy of
Sciences, Golden Gate Park, San Francisco CA 94118
Physiological
Plant Ecology, Third Ed. Larchcr, Walter 1995. ISBN 3-540-58 1 1 6-2 (cloth
US$44.50) 506pp. Springer-Verlag New York, P.O. Box 19386, Newark NJ 07195-9386
Plant
Invasions : General Aspects and Special Problems Pysek, Petr, Karel Prach,
Marcel Rejmanek & Max Wade 1995. ISBN 90-5103-097-5 (paper US$50.00) 263pp.
SPB Academic Publishing, c/o Demos Vermande, Order Dept., 386 Park Ave. S.,
Suite 201, New York NY 10016
Tropical
Forests: Management and Ecology Lugo, Ariel E. & Carol Lowe 1995. ISBN
0-387-94320-X (cloth US$98.00) 461pp. Springer-Vcrlag New York, P.O. Box 19386,
Newark NJ 07195-9386
Urban
Ecology as the Basis of Urban Planning Sukopp, H., M. Numata, & A. Huber
1995. ISBN 90-5103-096-7 (paper US$47.00) 218pp. Kugler Publicaitons. P.O.
Box 1498. New York NY 10009-9998
Vegetation,
Modeling and Climatic Change Effects Vcroustraete, F., R.J.M. Ceulemans, LI.P.
lm-pens, & J.B.H.F.Van Rensbergen 1994. ISBN 90-5103-090-8 (paper US$47.00)
249pp. Kugler Publicaitons, P.O. Box 1498, New York NY 10009-9998
Plants
and Animals in the Life of the Kuna Ventocilla, Jorge, Heraclio Herrera &
Valerio Ndnez 1995. ISBN (paper) 0-292-78725-1, (cloth) 0-292-78726-X (paper
US$12.95, cloth US$25.00) 160pp. University of Texas Press, P.O. Box 7819,
Austin TX 78713-7819
Economic
Botany
Ethnobotany
Schultes, Richard Evans & Siri von Reis 1995. ISBN 0-931146-28-3 (cloth
US$49.95)
pp.416. Timber Press, Inc. 133 S.W. Second Avenue, Suite 450. Portland OR
97294-3527
101
Genetics
Plant
Cytogenetics Singh, Ram J. 1993. ISBN 0-8493-8656-X (cloth US$84.95) 391pp.
CRC Press Inc., 2000 Corporate Blvd., N.W., Boca Raton FL 33431
Historical
*Botany
in India, Vol. 2 Johri, B.M. 1995. ISBN 1-886106-05-3 (cloth US$80.00) 480pp.
Science Publishers Inc., 52 LaBombard Road North, Lebanon NH 03766
Catalogue
of the Botanical Art Collection at the Hunt Institute White, James J. &
Elizabeth R. Smith 1995. ISBN 0-913196-42-8 (paper US$24.00) 1303pp. Hunt
Institute for Botanical Documentation. Carnegie Mellon Universtiy, 5000 Forbes
Avenue, Pittsburgh PA 15213-3890
Evolution
Extended Barlow, Connie 1995. ISBN 0-262-52206-3 (paper US$17.95) 333pp. The
MIT Press, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge Massachusetts
02142
Horticultural
Control
of Crop Diseases Carlile, W.R. 1995. ISBN 0-521-48345-X (paper $US19.95) 145pp.
Cam-bridge University Press, 40 West 20th Street, New York NY 1001 1-4211
In
Vitro Culture and its Applications in Horticulture Aug6, R. 1995. ISBN 1-886106-07-X
(cloth US$69.95) 231 pp. Science Publishers Inc., 10 Water Street, Room 310,
Lebanon NH 03766
*Pasture
Doctor : A Guide to Diagnosing Problems in Pastures Miller. Jo 1995. ISBN
0-7506-8930-7 (paper US$25.00) 62pp. 13utterworth-Heineman Australia, 18 Salmon
St., Port Melbourne 3207,
Australia
Molecular
Biology
Biotechnology:
Proteins to PCR a Course in Strategies and Lab Techniques Burden, David W.
& Donald B. Whitney 1995. ISBN 0-8176-3756-7 (cloth US$79.50) 317pp. Birhauser
Boston, P.O. Box 19386, Newark NJ 07195-9386
DNA
Fingerprinting in Plants and Fungi Weising, Kurt, Hilde Nybom, Kirsten Wolff,
& Wieland Meyer 1995. ISBN 0-8493-8920-8 (paper)
322pp.
CRC Press Inc., 2000 Corporate Blvd.. N.W., Boca Raton FL 33431
Gene
Transfer to Plants Potrykus, I. & G. Spangcnberg 1995. ISBN 3-540-58406-4
(paper US$79.00) 361pp. Springer-Verlag New York, P.O. Box 19386, Newark NJ
07195-9386
In
Situ Polymerase Chain Reaction and Related Technology Gu, Jiang 1995 ISBN
0-8176-3870-9 (cloth US$39.50) 143pp. Birhauser Boston, P.O. Box 19386, Newark
NJ 07195-9386
Recombinant
DNA Methodology Wu, Ray 1995. ISBN 0-12-765561-1 (paper) 904pp. Academic Press,
525 B Street, Suite 1900, SanDiego CA 92101-4495
Mycological
Fungus
Diseases of Tropical Crops Holliday, Paul 1980. ISBN 0-486-68647-7 (paper
US$22.95) 607pp. Dover Publications, 31 East 2nd Street, Mineola NY 11501
Mycorrhiza:
Structure, Function, Molecular Biology, and Biotechnology Verma, A. &
B. Hock 1995. ISBN 3-540-58525-7 (cloth US$249.00) 747pp. Springer-Verlag
New York, P.O. Box 19386, Newark NJ 07195-9386
Paleobotany
Paleohotany
: Plants of the past, their evolution, Paleoenvironment and applicaiotn in
exploration of fossil fuels Agashe, Shirpad N. 1995. ISBN 1-886106-08-8 (cloth
US$55.00) 359pp. Science Publishers, 52 LaBombard Rd. N., Lebanon NH 03766
Physiological
Mineral
Nutrition of Higher Plants Marschner, Horst 1995. ISBN 0-12-473543-6 (paper
US$29.95) 889pp. Academic Press, 24-28 Oval Road, London NW1 7DX
Phytochemical
Modern
Methods of Plant Analysis Vol. 15 Alkaloids Linkskens, H.F. & J.F. Jackson
1994. ISBN 0-387-52738-9 (cloth US$196.00) 237pp. Springer-Verlag New York,
P.O. Box 19386, Newark NJ 07195-9386
102
Structural/Developmental
Genetic
Preservation of Plant Cells in Vitro Grout, B. 1995. ISBN 3-540-57481-6 (paper
US$79.00) 168pp. Springer-Verlag New York, P.O. Box 19386, Newark NJ 07195-9386
Methods
in Cell Biology Parts A & B Galbraith, David W., Hans J. Bohnert, &
Don P. Bourque 1995. ISBN 0-12-273871-3, 0-12-273871-3 (pa-per US$99.00) 1
128pp. Academic Press, 525 B Street, Suite 1900, SanDiego CA 92101-4495
Plant
Cell, Tissue, and Organ Culture Gamborg, O.L. & G.C. Phillips 1995. ISBN
3-540-58068-9 (paper US$89.00) 358pp. Springer-Verlag New York. P.O. Box 19386,
Newark NJ 07195-9386
Terrestrial
Orchids From Seed to Mycotrophic Plant Rasmussen, Hanne N. 1995. ISBN 0-521-45165-5
(cloth US$64.95) 444pp. Cambridge University Press, 40 West 20th Street, New
York NY 10011-4211
Systematics
A
Guide to Wildflowers in Winter Levine, Carol 1995. ISBN 0-300-06560-4 (cloth
US$40.00/paper US$20.00) 329pp. Yale University Press, P.O. 13ox 209040, New
Haven CT 06520-9040
An
Excursion Flora of Central Tamilnadu, India Matthew, K.M. 1995. ISBN 90-5410-286-1
(cloth US$ 1 15.00) 682pp. A.A. Balkema Uitgevers B.V., Postbus 1675, NL-3000
BR, Rotterdam Nederland
The
European Garden Flora: A Manual for the Identification of Plants Cultivated
in Europe both out-of-Doors and Under Glass Cullen, J. 1995. ISBN 0-521-42095-4
(cloth US$150.00) 602pp. Cambridge University Press, 40 West 20th Street,
New York NY 10011-4211
Flora
Malesiana Mabberley, D.J., C.M. Pannell, & A.M. Sing 1995. ISBN 90-71236-26-9
(paper
Dn.
100,00) 407pp. Rijkshcrbarium/Hortus Botanicus, Publications Department. P.O.
Box 9514, 2300 RA Leiden, the Netherlands
Latmoss:
A Catalogue of Neotropical Mosses Claudio, Delgadillo M., Bello Benardina
& Cardenas S. Angeles 1995. ISBN 0-915279-35-5 (paper US$20.00) 192pp.
Missouri Botanical Garden, P.O. Box 299, St. Louis MO 63166-0299
Mountain
Plants of the Pacific Northwest Taylor, Ronald J. & George W. Douglas
1995. ISBN 0-87842-314-1 (paper US$20.00) 437pp. Mountain Press publishing
Company, P.O. Box 2399, 1301 S. Third Street W., Missoula MT 59806
The
New Key to Wild Flowers Hayward, John 1995. ISBN 0-521-48346-8 (paper US$24.95)
278pp. Cambridge University Press, 40 West 20th Street, New York NY 1001 1-4211
Only
in Arkansas : A Study of the Endemic Plants and Animals of the State Robinson,
Henry W. & Robert T. Allen 1995. ISBN 1-55728-326-5 (cloth US$38.00) 121pp.
The University of Arkansas Press, Mcllroy House, 201 Ozark Ave., Fayetteville
AR 72701
Orchids
of Jamaica Gloudon, A. & C. Tobisch 1995. ISBN 976-640-002-4 (paper US$25.00)
254pp. The Press - University of the West Indies, I A Aqueduct Flats, Mona,
Kingston 7 Jamaica, W.I.
Plants
of Saratoga and Eastern New York Howard. H.H. 1995. ISBN 0-912756-01-2 (cloth
US$15.95) 326pp. Syracuse Universtiy Press, 1600 Jamesville Ave., Syracuse
NY 1 3244-5 1 60
Teaching
The
Botanical World Northington, David K. & Ed-ward L. Schneider 1996. ISBN
0-697-24279-X (paper) 480pp. Wm. C. Brown Publishers, 2460 Kerper Boulevard,
Dubuque IA 52001
103
Call
for Nominations:1996 Young Botanists Award
The
Botanical Society of America requests nominations for the Young Botanist Awards
for 1995-1996. The purpose of these awards is to recognize outstanding graduating
seniors in the plants sciences, and to encourage their participation in the
Botanical Society of America. Award winners will receive a Certificate of
Recognition signed by the President of the Botanical Society, which is forwarded
to the nominating faculty member for presentation.
Nominations
should document the student's qualifications for the award (academic performance,
research projects, individual attributes) and be accompanied by one or more
letters from faculty who know the students well. Nominations should be sent
to the Past-President, Harry T. Horner, Department of Botany, Iowa State University,
Ames, IA 50011-1020 no later than 1 March 1996.
BOTANICAL
SOCIETY OF AMERICA LOGO ITEMS
always available to contributors to the
BSA
Endowment Fund
Short
sleeved T-shirts (100% cotton) Grey with small green logo on front, large
purple and green logo on back.
Adult
sizes S, M, L, XL, XXL — $14
Child
sizes XS, S, M, L — $12
Long
sleeved T-shirts
Adult
sizes S, M, L, XL — $16
Totebags
Cotton
canvas — $12
Cricket
Hats
Sizes
S, M, L, XL — $25
Cloisonnē
pin
White
with kelly green logo and gold border — $6
Botany
for the Next Millennium Posters
Full-color,
16"x 20" beauty — $5
(please
include $3 for shipping posters)
All
prices (except poster) include $2.00 for postage and handling. Specify item(s),
style(s) and size(s). Make checks payable to BSA Endowment Fund. Mail to:
Kim
Hiser, Business Manager
Botanical Society of America, 1735 Neil Ave., Columbus OH 43210-1293
104
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