PLANT SCIENCE BULLETIN

VOLUME 47, NUMBER 2, 2001

Editor: Marshall D. Sundberg
Department of Biological Sciences
Emporia State University
1200 Commercial Street, Emporia, KS 66801-5707
Telephone: 620-341-5605 Fax: 620-341-5607
Email: sundberm@emporia.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. Periodical postage paid at Columbus, OH and additional mailing office.

Address Editorial Matters (only) to:
Marsh Sundberg, Editor
Dept. Biol. Sci., Emporia State Univ.
1200 Commercial St.
Emporia, KS 66801-5057
Phone 620-341-5605
email: sundberm@emporia.edu

POSTMASTER: Send address changes to:
Kim Hiser, Business Manager
Botanical Society of America
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Columbus OH 43210-1293
Phone/Fax: 614/292-3519
email: bsa-manager@botany.org

Plant Science Bulletin
Editorial Committee for Volume 47

Vicki A. Funk (2001)
Department of Botany
Smithsonian Institution
Washington, D.C. 20560
funkvicki@nmnh.si.edu

Ann E. Antlfinger (2002)
Biology Department
Univ. of Nebraska - Omaha
Omaha NE 681823
antlfinger@unomaha.edu

Norman C. Ellstrand (2003)
Department of Botany and Plant Science
University of California
Riverside CA 92521-0124
ellstrand@ucracl.ucr.edu

Andrew W. Douglas (2005)
Department of Biology
University of Mississippi
University, MS 38677
adouglas@olemiss.edu

James E. Mickle (2004)
Department of Botany
North Carolina State University
Raleigh, NC 27695-7612
james_mickle@ncsu.edu

Ethics in Science: Preparing Students for their Career ..............................................................................42
News from the Society
    Botany 2001
            Plenary Lecture: Dr. Gary Nabhan...............................................................................................48
            Symposia....................................................................................................................................49
    Young Botanist Awards.......................................................................................................................49
    The McIntosh Apple Poster.................................................................................................................49
    Botanical Society of America needs a new Webmaster.........................................................................50
Announcements
    In Memoriam
            Dr. Elisabeth (Beth) E. McIver (1941-2001)................................................................................50
    Personalia
            University of Florida and Monsanto Honor Indra K Vasil..............................................................53
            New York Botanical Garden, Director, Institute of Systematic Botany, Dennis W. Stevenson .......53
    Symposia, Conferences, Meetings
            Chicago Botanic Garden hosts Plant Conservation Conference .....................................................54
            Second International Conference on Plants & Environmental Pollution ...........................................54
    Position Available
            Conservation Horticulturalist..........................................................................................................54
    Special Opportunity
            David Starr Jordan Prize................................................................................................................55
    Other News
            Hunt Institute Launches Databases on Website...............................................................................55
            Missouri Botanical Garden Establishes Center for Conservation & Sustainable Development...........56
            New York Botanical Garden Scientists Probe Rain Forests of Belize..............................................57
            Tropical Ecology Course in Australia.............................................................................................58
            "To the Editor"..............................................................................................................................58
Book Reviews..........................................................................................................................................59
Books Received........................................................................................................................................81
BSA Logo Items.......................................................................................................................................84

ISSN 0032-0919
I'm sure that all of you are familiar with the recent controversy concerning the intention of a few scientists to clone a human in the near future. The scientific community, as well as the general public, expressed immediate and vocal concern over the ethics of performing such a procedure. (Imagine my surprise when I learned that one of these scientists was an alumnus of my department - receiving his BS here in Kansas some 30 years ago!) Luckily such ethical dilemmas are restricted primarily to the biomedical sciences - - or are they? What about genetically modified crops? What about collaborating on a manuscript? What is scientific misconduct and what is our responsibility if we perceive it in our lab or in another?

In this issue Dr. Lee Kass, Associate Professor of Botany and Curator of the Elmira College Herbarium and Adjunct Associate Professor at the L.H. Bailey Hortorium, Cornell University, provides some perspective on how we might better prepare our undergraduates for the ethical situations they might encounter in graduate school and beyond. And yes, ethics in science also is a concern for botanists! If you're not familiar with our Botanical Society of America Guidelines for Professional Ethics, enacted in 1997, you can find them at http://www.botany.org/bsa/membership/ethics.html.
-editor

ETHICS IN SCIENCE: PREPARING STUDENTS FOR THEIR CAREER.

INTRODUCTION

In 1932, at the 6th International Congress of Genetics held in Ithaca New York, R. A. Emerson, Chair of the Department of Plant Breeding at Cornell University, gave an opening address titled "The Present Status of Maize Genetics." In his introduction he declared "I cannot refrain from noting here a very real advantage experienced by students of maize genetics ... I am aware of no other group of investigators who have so freely shared with each other not only their materials but even their unpublished data. The present status of maize genetics, whatever of noteworthy significance it presents, is largely to be credited to this somewhat unique, unselfishly cooperative spirit of the considerable group of students of maize genetics. In this connection I want gratefully to acknowledge the help of many persons who have contributed directly or indirectly to this summary statement of the status of maize genetics."

Shortly before that conference Emerson notified maize geneticists of his plan to establish a Cooperation of Maize Geneticists. Soon after the Congress Emerson and his student Marcus Rhoades issued what is considered to be the first "Maize Genetics Cooperation News Letter" (October,1932), in which unpublished data were freely shared among the members. Future Nobel laureates George Beadle, Emerson's student, and Barbara McClintock, Beadle's collaborator, freely submitted their results to this communication, which continues to be published annually. This model laid the groundwork for a similar publication for the "Drosophila" geneticists in 1933, and more recently for the "Worm Breeders Gazette," the community newsletter of the roundworm biologists (Cohen 1995).

The current discussions in the popular and academic press concerning ethics in science lead us as teachers to think about our role in educating students in ethical behavior, both as individuals and as research collaborators. Through the years we have encouraged students to pursue careers in science. After completing their undergraduate work some students who do go to graduate or professional schools write, phone or visit and tell us stories of their disappointment with some of the choices they made. Often this disappointment stems from their idealistic vision of what they expected their graduate experience to be like. The incidents they report often concern perceived misconduct in research, employment practices or personal interactions; areas recently examined by the Acadia Institute's (1994) Project on Professional Values and Ethical Issues in the Graduate Education of Scientists and Engineers. Some students are so disillusioned by their experiences that they leave graduate school, sometimes after they have completed their research and have begun writing their dissertations. Over the past few years reports have appeared alerting faculty and administrators to the perceptions held by both graduate students and faculty of misconduct in the academic community (Swazey, Anderson and Louis, 1993). Anderson and Louis (1994) reported that entering graduate students held views about ethics that did not differ substantially from those who had been in their program for several years. This result, they imply, indicates that "the importance of experiences with and exposure to science as undergraduates may be more important than has been previously thought, or at least more important than graduate school experiences." I believe it is critical, at the undergraduate level, to enlighten students regarding their idealistic expectations for graduate study and to give them the confidence to argue intelligently when faced with issues of perceived misconduct in science.

In this paper, first, I examine the perceptions that entering graduate students have regarding ethics in science. Second I discuss some of the realities our students face in graduate school. Finally, I suggest ways that we may better prepare undergraduate students for the challenge they may face if they do choose an ethical career in science.

UNDERGRADUATE PERCEPTIONS

In a paper published in Research in Higher Education, Anderson and Louis (1994), remind the reader of "Robert Merton's 1942 classical analysis of scientists' behavior, [identifying] the four norms of [academic] research that are fundamental to the scientific ethos." These norms are: Universalism, Communality, Disinterestedness and Organized skepticism (Table 1). These they tell us "are not so much ideals as shared working assumptions about the way research should be conducted" (Anderson and Louis 1994).

        Table 1. Robert Merton's four norms of research fundamental to the scientific ethos (Anderson and Louis 1994).
 
        1. UNIVERSALISM: the separation of scientific knowledge from the personal characteristics of scientists.
        2. COMMUNALITY: the shared ownership of all scientific knowledge, and the full and open communication
                    of all findings.
        3. DISINTERESTEDNESS: the separation of research from personal motives, for the sake of truth and the
                    advancement of knowledge.
        4. ORGANIZED SKEPTICISM: the critical, public examination of scientific work.

With regard to these norms, the academy has "the responsibility for the conduct of its own members" and is therefore entrusted with communicating it to new generations (Anderson and Louis 1994). It appears that many of our undergraduate students come to expect these norms with respect to their science education. Indeed some may embrace science because of the idealistic belief that their professors have "a firm devotion to the pursuit of knowledge and truth" (Anderson and Louis 1994).

Merton of course "recognized that scientists' behavior often deviated from the norms" and Mitroff in 1974, identified a set of "counter norms that are contrary to Merton's norms" (Anderson and Louis 1994). These counternorms are: Particularism, Solitariness, Self Interestedness, and Organized Dogmatism (Table 2). The set of alternative norms, Mitroff suggested are neither superior nor inferior to Merton's norms (Anderson and Louis 1994).

        Table 2. Mitroff's counternorms that are contrary to Merton's norms (after Anderson and Louis 1994).

        1. PARTICULARISM: assessment of scientific knowledge based on the research group presenting it.
        2. SOLITARINESS: the protection of scientific findings to guard priority credit.
        3. SELF-INTERESTEDNESS: competitive research for recognition of personal achievements.
        4. ORGANIZED DOGMATISM: Scientists promote their own findings, theories, or innovations.

Anderson and Louis (1994) cite Rosenzweig's 1985 description of the norm of communality as a "cultural myth" that has a firm basis in reality, but it exaggerates reality in order to serve its real purpose, which is to tell people how they ought to behave, not how they do behave. Anderson and Louis (1994) also cite Zuckerman's 1988 argument that the social significance of norms is indexed in the moral indignation expressed by scientists when such norms are violated. They also point out that the norms stand as statements of widely shared conceptions about appropriate behavior for academic researchers. Our undergraduate students, I believe, share these conceptions.

REALITIES OF GRADUATE SCHOOL

In 1994, Braxton and Bayer (1994) reported that the [1992] survey of members of the AAAS [American Association for the Advancement of Science] found that three fourths of those responding indicated that media coverage had exaggerated the problem of scientific misconduct. However, "37 percent of those polled believe that instances of fraud and misconduct [had increased in the previous 10 years]. Moreover, a separate survey by NSF [National Science Foundation, conducted in 1990]
reported that about 20 percent of the scientists said that they directly encountered fraud, and about 20 percent of graduate deans have dealt with verified cases of misconduct during the [previous] five years."

Certainly the reaction to the highly publicized reports regarding falsifying research, inventing data, and appropriating materials from papers under review, testify to the belief that many scientists do not support this type of behavior in their students or colleagues. Although we would like to believe that these are isolated incidents, the results of a graduate student survey by Anderson et al. (1994) leave "no doubt that many students are in contact with misconduct in their graduate programs." Anderson and her colleagues surveyed 2,000 graduate students in the disciplines of chemistry, microbiology, civil engineering, and sociology for their exposure to what they perceived as misconduct in the areas of research, employment, and personal interactions (Table 3). The 72% response rate suggests a high rate of student concern. This concern seems justified because the survey reported that "the average graduate student was exposed to misconduct by 2-5 graduate students or faculty members" (Anderson et al. 1994). At this point one might ask why the graduate student survey revealed such an unexpectedly high incidence of reported misconduct. Anderson et al. (1994) found that "students are unlikely to report these instances to institutional authorities. Over fifty percent (53%) of the respondents said that they could not report cases of suspected misconduct without expecting retaliation." A similar faculty survey found that only 35% of faculty believe that they could report a colleague without reprisals (Swazey, Louis, and Anderson 1994).

        Table 3. Anderson et. al (1994) surveyed 2,000 graduate students for exposure to perceived misconduct as defined
        below. "...the average graduate student was exposed to misconduct by 2-5 graduate students or faculty members"
        (Anderson et al. 1994, see also their Appendix A).

        1. RESEARCH MISCONDUCT: behaviors that violate the norms and standards specific to the academic enterprise.
        2. EMPLOYMENT MISCONDUCT: conduct that would be deemed inappropriate or illegal in most organizations.
        3. PERSONAL MISCONDUCT: inappropriate or illegal behaviors among individuals with reference to the broader
                social context.

Additionally, the results of a survey by Anderson and Louis (1994) regarding graduate student's subscription to the norms of science indicate that there is "substantial ambivalence about the norms of academic research and considerable support for the alternative counternorms." The survey asked students to indicate the extent that they felt the norms and counternorms "should represent" the behavior of scientists (Anderson and Louis 1994). Overall they found "strong support among graduate students for the classical norms governing the behavior of scientists." They also found however, that "subscription to the norms is not universal and subscription to the counternorms is substantial" (Anderson and Louis 1994). They conclude that this is an indication that "many students do not see norms and counternorms as opposites, but as values that can be held simultaneously without contradiction" (Anderson and Louis 1994). They believe that "students may tend to be more supportive of one set of values or the other, but most are characterized by some ambivalence" (Anderson and Louis 1994). The researchers examined the effects of climate, structure, mentoring, and time spent in graduate school on student's subscription to the norms verses the counternorms of scientific behavior.

As they hypothesized, their results show that "aspects of structure, climate, and mentoring that put students in close contact with faculty will be positively associated with subscription to the norms and negatively associated with support for the counternorms. Smaller working group size, value congruence among the student group, lower levels of exploitation, opportunities to publish with faculty, and technical mentoring are all positively related to support for the norms. Conversely, large group size, formal supervision, and competition are associated with the counternorms" (Anderson and Louis 1994).

Contrary to their hypothesis, Anderson and Louis' (1994) study suggested that "the value orientations of U. S. students may be relatively fixed at the point of entry [into their graduate programs]." They found that "the number of years spent in [a] department is not correlated with support for the norms and is only modestly negatively correlated with support for the counternorms." In addition, they found that for U. S. students not only are there no effects associated with time in the program but "there is also evidence that neither departmental structure, nor departmental climate, nor experience with mentors influences in significant ways the degree to which students subscribe to the norms or counternorms" (Anderson and Louis 1994).

I believe that one important aspect of the Anderson and Louis study, which affects teachers of undergraduate students, is their implication that "the importance of experiences with and exposure to science as an undergraduate may be more important than has been previously thought". "This implication, [they conclude] is consistent with data suggesting that students who attend smaller liberal arts colleges, where they are more likely to have worked closely with their professors, are more likely to attend graduate school and obtain Ph.D.'s than students attending large universities." They presume that this "greater likelihood of attendance is the exposure and anticipatory socialization to a value system that is consistent with the dominant norms" (Anderson and Louis 1994).

PREPARATION FOR GRADUATE SCHOOL

While we may be proud that the science faculty in small liberal arts colleges are socializing students to expect the norm in professional scientific behavior, should we ask ourselves if educators are doing undergraduate students a disservice by not providing them with the preparation to deal with the realities of counternorms and possible misconduct, which they may face in graduate school? In the context of teaching our subjects we can use historical examples to demonstrate and initiate discussions of the norms and counternorms of scientific behavior. We can compare and contrast these historical examples with current behaviors in science. This may result in preparing students for the realities of their careers and perhaps give them the confidence to speak out against it.

The example of Darwin and Wallace's contributions to the theory of evolution is one that can be used to begin an examination of this subject. First year students often learn that Darwin began preparing a manuscript about his ideas on evolution shortly after returning from his voyage as naturalist on the "Beagle". However, because his theories were so revolutionary, he set to work collecting overwhelming quantities of evidence that would dispel the prevailing concepts. Indeed we often use this as an example to teach the scientific method. We may also ask our students to think about who deserves credit for the idea. Although Charles Lyell and Joseph Hooker prodded Darwin for years to publish his ideas, he refused. In 1858, Alfred Russell Wallace, who conceived the same theory independently of Darwin, prepared a 20 page manuscript on the subject, and mailed it to Darwin for approval and requested he send it to Lyell. Darwin of course immediately recognized that Wallace's arguments on the "struggle for existence" agreed with his exactly. Darwin sent the manuscript to Lyell with a note requesting the manuscript be returned so he could offer to send it out for publication. He sadly concluded that his "originality, whatever it may amount to, will be smashed." Lyell and J. D. Hooker solved the problem of assigning credit by proposing a novel solution. They would read part of Darwin's 1844, 230 page manuscript and a copy of an essay he wrote to Asa Gray in combination with Wallace's paper at the July 1st 1858 meeting of the Linnean Society. The reading of Darwin's and Wallace's papers on evolutionary theory, (later published in volume 3 of the "Journal of the Linnean Society") received little attention. However, the publication in 1859 of "On the Origin of Species" was greeted as revolutionary and popularized the theories with the result that Darwin is usually credited with the idea of evolution by natural selection. Students may read for themselves, in the "Introduction" to the first edition of Darwin's "Abstract," how he credits Wallace's ideas. He explains that he has been induced to publish "as Mr. Wallace...has arrived at almost exactly the same general conclusions that [he had] on the origin of species." And he continues by explaining the circumstances of their joint publication.

This example might serve for a discussion of the consequences of the norm of communality and disinterestedness. Had Darwin ascribed to the "counternorms" of "solitariness" and "self-interest" he might have immediately published his own manuscript without attributing any credit to Wallace. What might have been the advantage or disadvantage of that decision? Did Wallace's acceptance of the "norms" detract from his success as a scientist?

This consideration might lead to a discussion of how scientists currently work, and what they expect from their colleagues and students with respect to cooperative research. Or one might use this example to discuss how the process of doing science has changed over the last few decades. In that vein one might examine the competitive nature of science by requiring that students read both "The Double Helix" (Watson 1968) and "Rosalind Franklin and DNA", by Ann Sayre (1975). Students can then be made aware of how, upon the publication of "The Double Helix", it became acceptable for scientists to promote self-interestedness and even to appropriate the ideas of others without their knowledge.

Ann Sayre conducted a private poll of graduate students at one of the New York State University Campuses upon which she based the following paragraph from her book:

    A generation of graduate students in science read "The Double Helix" and learned a lesson: the old morality was dead, and
    they had just been told about its demise by a respected highly successful Nobel Laureate, an up-to-date hero who clearly
    knew more about how science was acceptably "done" than the old-fashioned types who prattled about ethics. One of them
    told me cheerfully that the way to get on was to keep your mouth and your desk drawers locked, your eyes and ears open,
    and "then beat the other guy to the gun." No doubt there have always been ambitious graduate students-and postgraduates,
    too-who thought this way; few of them announced it; none of them thought that such engaging frankness would be a
    recommendation. They have learned differently. Another graduate student said that it was all down in "The Double Helix",
    how to get ahead, and nobody thought the worse of Watson, did they" (Sayre 1975)?

Some U. S. researchers have argued that self-interestedness is really the "norm" and is necessary for our competitive grant application process. Indeed Kass and Eshbaugh (1993) demonstrated that the process is not without error and can lead to misconduct. Their example of the appropriation of a botanical research idea by an NSF program director may be cited to alert students of this possibility. In 1970, William T. Gillis in collaboration with Richard A. Howard, and George R. Proctor, submitted a grant proposal to the Program for Systematic Biology at NSF to prepare a flora of the Bahama Vascular Plants. The grant proposal was rejected. However, in 1973, upon leaving his appointment with the Program for Systematic Biology, the former Director was awarded a grant to prepare a Flora of the Bahama Islands. A comparison of both grant proposals leaves no doubt that the original proposal's ideas and details were resubmitted by the former Program Director, who had access to them. Although Gillis offered to assist with the Bahama flora project he was rebuffed. In reviewing and using the "Flora of the Bahama Archipelago" it was obvious that many of Gillis' contributions to that flora had been ignored (Kass and Eshbaugh 1993).

Returning to some examples from the history of applied botanical science, our students might read Medvedev's (1969) account of the "Rise and Fall of T. D. Lysenko". This reading can show students the methods used by the Lysenkoites to gain recognition for their ideas. "Distortion of facts, demagoguery, intimidation, dismissal, reliance on authorities, eyewash, misinformation, self-advertising, repression, obscurantism, slander, fabricated accusation, insulting name calling, and physical elimination of opponents- all were part of the rich arsenal of effective means by which, for nearly thirty years, the "progressive" nature of scientific concepts was confirmed. ... any free discussion put Lysenkoism in mortal danger (Medvedev 1969:191). These historical accounts may demonstrate the importance of maintaining scientific integrity.

The reading of "Silent Spring" (1962) can also be used as an example to heighten student's awareness of the problem scientists face in getting new ideas accepted. This study can introduce students to the "norms" and "counternorms" of "Organized Skepticism" vs. "Organized Dogmatism." Students can learn that Rachel Carson was ostracized for her ideas, and only with the courage of a supportive editor of a popular magazine was her work first able to appear in public. One might also consider whether her position as a female scientist may have hindered acceptance of her ideas. It is revealing for students to examine the overwhelming data that Carson presents to support her arguments for the correlation of pesticide use and the rise in cancer rates, and to compare it with the arguments made against her hypothesis. Some of these arguments were that DDT had been hailed as the "new war weapon of the Allies," (Sharpe 1994) and that the eradication of typhoid, and the control of malaria was of greater significance than the possibilities of it causing a few deaths from cancer. Indeed Paul Herman Mueller was awarded the 1948 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for his 1939 discovery of the insecticidal powers of DDT. We know of course that Carson's book was influential in having DDT banned in the U. S. in 1973, but it is still manufactured here and exported for routine use in third world countries. With the advent of recent findings (Kelce et al. 1995), that the persistent DDT metabolite DDE is a potent anti-androgen and may be linked to changes in human male reproductive health, including testicular cancer, our students will find yet another subject for discussion.

It is not my intention to have the undergraduate curriculum dwell on this topic. However, just as we incorporated the teaching of "writing across the curriculum" into our classes, we might think about teaching "ethics across the curriculum." We may also wish to consider the causes for misconduct. LaPidus and Mishkin (1990) remind the reader of Nelkin's suggestion that "scientific knowledge has become ... a commodity vulnerable to commercial interests, public demands, and military controls." They add that "the pressure to produce results has become intense and the stakes, in terms of continued research support and access to information, have become much higher. ... It does seem clear [they conclude] that the tensions exist that can interfere with the development of good scientists as well as with the conduct of good research" (LaPidus and Mishkin 1990).

CONCLUSION

In conclusion, with respect to undergraduates, at least at the smaller liberal arts colleges, there appears to be statistical as well as anecdotal evidence to support the idea that science
majors attending these schools have preconceived ideas concerning their expectation for norms of scientific behavior. As graduate students they are often disappointed when they experience a higher number of encounters with research, employment, and personal misconduct than they had expected. It is my belief that there are examples in the history of science that we can teach our students to prepare them for current scientific practice. These lessons of history may be used to prepare our students to face the realities of a career in science and to afford them the confidence to be good scientists and to do good research.

In 1995, Harriet Creighton, former President of the Botanical Society of America, wrote to me (Creighton to Kass, 27 February, 1995) in response to a series of questions I had asked her regarding her graduate school experiences: "We were all there together [at Cornell, 1929-1934] doing what we had been hired to do and taking the courses recommended to us, and doing our research and writing it up, hopefully for publication- -They were all pleasant, decent, honest, active, fun loving (when there was time) people. Had they, or any number of them, been mean, grumpy, crooked and nasty, I might have decided that if these are what botanists are, I don't want to be among them- -But they and the faculty I knew at Wellesley and at Cornell, and botanists I met at the annual scientific meetings were all good people."

I would like to think that we can prepare our students to have a similar experience.

Acknowledgments

I wish to thank Jeanette Mullens for inviting me to present these ideas to the Continuing Symposium on Essential Botanical Knowledge at the College/University Level sponsored by the Teaching Section of the Botanical Society of America in 1995. I am most grateful to my friends and colleagues for their support and encouragement in pursuing this most controversial topic. Specifically I wish to thank Jerry Davis, Robert Dirig, Michael Hanson, Robert Hunt, Melissa Luckow, Beverly Rathcke, and Hardy Eshbaugh for thoughtful insights.

References Cited

Anderson, M. S., K. S. Louis and J. Earle. 1994. Disciplinary and departmental effects on observations of faculty and graduate student misconduct. Journal of Higher Education 65: 331-50.

Anderson, M. S. and K. S. Louis. 1994. The graduate student experience and subscription to the norms of science. Research in Higher Education 35(3): 273-299.

Braxton, J. M. and A. E. Bayer. 1994. Perceptions of research misconduct and an analysis of their correlates. Journal of Higher Education 65: 351-372).

Carson, Rachel. 1962. Silent Spring. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Co.

Cohen, Jon. 1995. Conduct in Science. The culture of credit. Science 268: 1706-1711.

Darwin, Charles. 1859. On the Origin of Species by means of Natural Selection, or the Preservation of Favored Races in the Struggle for Life. Facsimile of the first edition, 1964. Cambridge: Harvard University Press.

Emerson, R. A. 1932. The present status of maize genetics. Proceedings of the Sixth International Congress of Genetics I: 141-152.

Kass, L. B. and W. H. Eshbaugh. 1993. The contributions of William T. Gillis (1933-79) to the flora of the Bahamas. Rhodora 95: 369-391.

Kelce, W. R., C. R. Stone, S. C. Laws, L. Earl Gray, J. A. Kemppainen and E. M. Wilson. 1995. Persistent DDT metabolite p,p'-DDE is a potent androgen receptor antagonist. Nature 375 (6532): 581-585.

LaPidus, J. B. and B. Mishkin. 1990. Values and ethics in the graduate education of scientists. Chapter 16. In: W. W. May ed., Ethics and Higher Education New York: Macmillan.

Medvedev, Zhores A. 1969. The Rise and Fall of T. D. Lysenko. Translated by I. Michael Lerner. New York: Columbia University Press, Anchor edition, 1971.

Sayre, Anne. 1975. Rosalind Franklin & DNA. New York: W. W. Norton & Co.

Sharpe, R. M. 1995. Another DDT connection. Nature 365:(6532): 538-539.

Swasey, J. P., M. S. Anderson, and K. S. Louis. 1993. Ethical problems in academic research. American Scientist 81: 542-553.

Swasey, J. P., K.S. Louis and M. S. Anderson. 1994. The ethical training of graduate students requires serious and continuing attention. The Chronicle of Higher Education March 9: B1-B2.

The Acadia Institute. 1994. Project publications, background papers and reports, and presentations 1987-1994. Project on Professional Values and Ethical Issues in the Graduate Education of Scientists and Engineers. Bar Harbor, Maine.

Watson, J. D. 1968. The Double Helix. New York: Atheneum.

Lee B. Kass, an active member of the BSA Archives and History Committee, is Visiting Professor at the L. H. Bailey Hortorium, Department of Plant Biology, Cornell University. This paper was presented for an invitational symposium sponsored by the Teaching Section of the BSA in August of 1995, San Diego, CA. It was submitted for publication at the urging of then Present W. Hardy Eshbaugh. Her research interests are in the flora of the Bahamas and the history of botany. She has published on the Bahama flora and has written biographies of American botanists. She is the recipient of a 1995-96 Fulbright Scholar Award at the College of the Bahamas, where she and her husband Dr. Robert E. Hunt facilitated the establishment of a National Herbarium for the Bahamas. NSF funding at Cornell University has assisted her research and writing of an Intellectual Biography of Nobel Laureate Barbara McClintock.

Lee B. Kass, Visiting Professor
L.H. Bailey Hortorium
Department of Plant Biology
Cornell University
Ithaca, NY 14853
lbk7@cornell.edu

News from the Society

For More Information Check Out

www.botany2001.org
Plenary Lecture / Symposia

Plenary Lecture

Dr. Gary Nabhan

Bridging Western Science and Indigenous Science: Ethnobiology and Cross-Cultural Conservation Collaborations in the Bi-National Southwest.

Sunday, August 12, 7:30 pm, Enchantment Ballroom, Hyatt Regency Hotel.

Dr. Gary Nabhan is an award-winning writer and conservationist whose wise ranging, prolific work has explored such connections as those between cultural diversity and biological diversity, between people and desert wildf\llife, between wild and cultivated plants, and between poetry and natural science. His second book, Gathering the Desert (1985), received the John Burroughs medal for nature writing. The MacArthur Foundation gave him a "genius" fellowship in 1990, the same year he received a Pew Scholarship on Conservation and Environment. Nabhan has focused his projects and writings mostly on the Sonoran Desert region of Northwestern Mexico and the southwestern United States. Dr. Nabhan is currently director of Northern Arizona University's Center for Sustainable Environments, a research center specializing in the sustainable use of natural resources on the Colorado Plateau.

SYMPOSIA

Plenary Symposium: Functional and Comparative Genomics: Evolutionary Implications. Douglas Soltis, Washington State University, WA

Form and Function in Bryophytes: Development, Constraints, and Consequences. Angela E. Newton, The Natural History Museum, London, UK

Lichen Biodeterioration: Progress and Problems. Larry St. Clair, Brigham Young University, UT and Mark Seaward, The University, Bradford, Yorkshire, UK.

Structural Botany in Systematics: A Symposium in Memory of William C. Dickison. Kenneth M. Cameron and Dennis W. Stevenson, The New York Botanical Garden, NY.

Plasticity in Integrated Phenotypes. Katherine A. Preston and Theodore G. Wong, Stanford University, CA.

Why Leaves Turn Red: The Function of Anthocyanins inVegetative Organs. David Lee, Florida International University, FL; Kevin Gould, University of Auckland, New Zealand; James W. Wallace, Western Carolina University, NC.

Evolution and Adaptations of Pteridophytes in Dry Climates. George Yatskievych, Missouri Botanical Garden, MO; Elisabeth Hooper, Truman State University, MO.

Linnaean Taxonomy: A Viable System for the New Millennium? Jerrold I. Davis, Cornell University, NY.

Biogeography and Phylogeny of Caribbean Plants. Timothy McDowell, East Tennessee State University, TN; Peter W. Fritsch, California Academy of Sciences, CA.

Origins and Biology of Desert Flora. Timothy Lowrey, University of New Mexico, NM.

Young Botanist Awards for 2001

                  Certificate of Special Achievement
Christine Notis ..................................................Iowa State University
Michael Barker ....................................................Dennison University
Ross Mueller ........................................................Lawrence University
Abigail Fox ...............................................................Miami University
Tristan Kraft .............................................................Miami University
Lesley Knoll ...............................................................Miami University
Todd Gorman ............................................................Miami University
Nicholas Ruppel .........................................................Miami University
Kelley Miller ..............................................................Miami University
Kirsten Schmidt .........................................................Miami University
Erin MacDonald ........................................................Miami University
Briana Gross .......................................................Willamette University
Nathan Gushwa ..................................................Willamette University
Jonathan Thompson ...........................................Willamette University
David Des Marais ............................University of California, Berkeley
Jeffrey Morawetz ..............................................University of Wisconsin
Amanda Habel ...............................................................Ohio University
Lorena Brown ................................................................Ohio University
Nile Kurashige ...........................Barnard College-Columbia University
Heidi Marie Hartman .........Southern-Illinois University at Carbondale
Sarah J. Pittman ................Southern-Illinois University at Carbondale
Scott Schuette ....................Southern-Illinois University at Carbondale
Peter R. Girardin ...............Southern-Illinois University at Carbondale
 

The McIntosh Apple Poster is now in full bloom on the Botanical Society's web site:

http://www.botany.org or go directly to the poster at http://mcintosh.botany.org/

After many months of effort on the part of many people, we finally have a site that is useful to teachers and students. My thanks to the artist, Brent Seabrook, for his knowledge and skill as a horticulturalist and for his artist's eye as a photographer. It was a pleasure to work with Bob Hummel and Keith Cooper at the Ohio State University Printing Facility which did an excellent job of digitizing the images and designing and printing the poster. The project would not have been possible without the financial support (more than $3000) from McGraw-Hill and the moral support and encouragement from their sponsoring editor, Marge Kemp. Steve Rice and Amy Russell at Union College have done an excellent job in creating hands-on activities related to the poster. Their carefully conceived pioneering work can serve as a model for additional learning activities which can be added in the months ahead. Finally, our overworked and underpaid web master, Scott Russell, contributed many hours of work to take material from several contributors and mold it into a unified design. The Botanical Society is indebted to each of these people, members and non-members, for their support in our effort to improve the quality of plant science education.

Curricular Materials:
        Development
Gasping for Breath: Bottle Experiments With Mung Beans

        Cultivation
History of Cultivation of McIntosh Apples: A Research Project Flower Stucture and Function
        ( We are looking for submissions here)

        Fruit Structure and Function
Bad Apples: Synchrony in Ripening Fruit
Sailing Seeds: An Experiment in Wind Dispersal

        Coming Soon!
Big and Bendy: On the Biomechanics of Supporting Fruit
 

BSA Needs a New Webmaster

The Botanical Society of America is searching for a webmaster to manage the web activities of the Society, beginning August 16, 2001. The BSA web site was created in December 1995, to meet the worldwide information service needs of the Society as it entered the electronic age. Currently, the web site provides online access to most of the public documents of the Society and maintains information sites on sectional activities, meetings, and electronic versions of various publications. Since 1997, when BSA first obtained the domain "botany.org", over 800,000 page requests have been logged on the main site, with over 3 GB of data transmission in the entire domain (and sub-sites) in the last month.

The BSA Webmaster position will require knowledge of web page construction, how to mount and maintain files on a web server and how to construct pages that can be read by major available browser programs (MSIE is the most prevalent [~50%] while Netscape accounts for~35%, others ~15%). Web pages should be constructed so that viewers from around the world can view them. The BSA Webmaster should be dedicated to the development of the discipline of botany through the web site. The BSA Webmaster is a highly visible volunteer position, with financial support available for purchase of software, selected pieces of hardware and for web page development. The candidate will be able to use existing servers or migrate the site to other servers, if this is in the best interests of the Society and the candidate. The BSA Webmaster also serves as the Chair of the BSA Web Committee, which is a standing committee established under the bylaws answering to the BSA Executive Committee. This is an excellent opportunity to learn about electronic publication and electronic media delivery for the web. For further information, or to apply for the position, please contact Scott Russell (srussell@ou.edu), BSA Webmaster and Chair, Web Committee by email, telephone (1-405-325-6234) or mail (Scott Russell, Department of Botany & Microbiology, University of Oklahoma, Norman, OK 73019).
 
 
 

Announcements
In Memoriam:

DR. ELISABETH (BETH) E. MCIVER (1941-2001).

On April 1st, 2001, Dr. Elisabeth (Beth) Ellen McIver passed away after lengthy battle against cancer. She was an eminent paleobotanist and active member of the International Organization of Paleobotany, Botanical Society of America, American Institute of Biological Sciences and other organizations. Beth was born on July 11, 1941 in Loon Lake, Saskatchewan and grew up amidst the boreal forest, where her interest in nature and wildlife flourished. Following high school, Beth enrolled in the B.Sc. Nursing program at the Regina General Hospital, graduating as a registered nurse in 1962. Her nursing career spanned nearly two decades, and a diversity of positions. Her exceptional competence and organizational abilities suited her well to the demanding role of an operating room nurse, where she earned considerable respect among staff and physicians. After raising a family of three children, Beth enrolled in a B.Sc. program in Biology at the University of Saskatchewan, completing her B. Sc. Degree with Distinction in 1979 and an Honors Certificate in Science in 1983. While her initial intention was pursuit of a medical career, Beth soon became enthralled with botany, particularly plant diversity and evolution. A major influence was Dr. Taylor A. Steeves, who became her first academic mentor, and whose teaching opened the door to a world of discovery that would become Beth's great passion. Beth's interest in plant evolution, combined with her love of nature and fieldwork, drew her to the field of paleobotany. On the strength of her outstanding performance in her undergraduate program, Beth was awarded a prestigious Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada Postgraduate Scholarship. In 1983 Beth embarked on a graduate research program that would earn her a Ph.D. in 1989 from the University of Saskatchewan on the basis of her dissertation on The Fossil Flora of the Paleocene Ravenscrag Formation in Southwestern Saskatchewan.

Beth McIver subsequently was awarded an NSERC Visiting Postdoctoral Fellowship in the Geological Survey of Canada, Calgary, Alberta, held from 1989-1991. In 1991 Beth returned to Saskatoon as a research associate with the Department of Geological Sciences, University of Saskatchewan. She served as Assistant Professor of Plant Systematics in the Department of Biology (1995-1999), and as Adjunct Professor in the Department of Geological Sciences (from 1995). She joined the W. P. Fraser Herbarium of the University of Saskatchewan as a Research Associate in plant systematics, where her collections of extant plants from the Old and New world are deposited.

Beth McIver became an internationally recognized authority in the areas of Early Tertiary Paleofloristics and the origin and evolution of the Cupressaceae, a family that she used as a model to address challenging systematic and evolutionary theories. A major aspect of her research was the reassessment of phylogenetic relationships at the inter- and intrageneric levels in the light of new fossil evidence. She was responsible of the discovery and description of many extinct Cupressaceae, and her synthesis of information from fossil and extant taxa provided her with important insights into the evolutionary and geographic history of the family. Her field research in remote areas of Asia and the Southern Hemisphere to collect and examine living Cupressaceae complemented her global view of the natural history and evolution of the family. As an evolutionary botanist, Beth conducted extensive research on the interpretation of paleoenvironments through correlation of climate, plant morphology, and diversity. More recently, her research focused on the study of the paleoenvironments of Cretaceous/Tertiary boundary beds of Western Canada, including those hosting the dinosaur Tyrannosaurus rex, in which she reconstructed local vegetation on which dinosaurs depended. She used fossil plants as a primary source of information on habitat and climate to reconstruct the local paleoenvironments, and to help her to understand processes surrounding the extinction event. She submitted a manuscript, on the paleoenvironment of T. rex, to the Canadian Journal of Earth Science for publication only two weeks before her death.

In 1987, Beth published the first of what would become a series of highly regarded papers describing fossil taxa of the Cupressaceae, completing major articles on the evolution of Chamaecyparis, Mesocyparis, Fokienia, Thuja, and Widdringtonia. The latter, completed during the last few months of her life, is to be published posthumously in an upcoming issue of the International Journal of Plant Science. Other systematic contributions include papers on Equisetum and a fossil flower she called Kurtzipites, as well as her monographic treatment of the flora of the Ravencrag Formation of Saskatchewan. Publication of her arctic research, carried out in collaboration with her husband, Jim Basinger, contributed substantially to the understanding of Early Tertiary high latitude floristics. During her extensive career, she authored 13 major scientific articles in refereed journals and numerous other contributions, and remained committed to her science to the end. She was also devoted to public scientific education, including on-screen contributions to TV documentaries, the most recent filmed by Cinenova Productions (Discovery Channel) only two months before her death.

Beth is survived by her husband Jim Basinger; daughter Tara Vincent (Danny Remenda), sons Jay Vincent and Jeff (Lean Anne) Vincent, stepdaughter Claire Basinger, grandson Nicholas Remenda; sisters Sharon McIver De Bruyn, Carol (Bill) Bursell, Mary (Russ) Rodman; brothers David (Wendy) McIver, Calvin (Vicky) McIver, Roger (Beverly) McIver, Jon (Dianne) McIver, and Dan (Evelyn) McIver.

Her family, friends and students will remember her as an outstanding and devoted scientist, an inspiring teacher and mentor, and a dynamic and enthusiastic colleague. We all have lost a wonderful friend and colleague too soon. Her passion for nature, endless energy, enthusiasm and profound commitment to scientific research, particularly the paleoflora of North America, will be deeply missed. Her work has already inspired new generations of her former students.

According to her wishes, a Service of Celebration of her life was held in the Geology Atrium and Museum of Natural Sciences, the University of Saskatchewan, a most appropriate setting, with its permanent exhibit of full size replicas of dinosaurs including Tyrannosaurus rex, Stegosaurus and Triceratops, surrounded by ferns, cycads, conifers, and flowering plants.

Photo caption
Dr. Elisabeth E. McIver conducting Arctic field work in Ellesmere Island.

                List of Selected Publications by Dr. Elisabeth E. McIver
McIver, E. E. (in review) The paleoenvironment of Tyrannosaurus rex from southwestern Saskatchewan, Canada. Canadian Journal of Earth Sciences.

McIver, E. E. 1999. Paleobotanical evidence for ecosystem disruption at the Cretaceous-Tertiary boundary from Wood Mountain, Saskatchewan, Canada. Canadian Journal of Earth Sciences 36:775-789.

McIver, E.E. and Basinger, J.F. 1999. Early Tertiary Floral Evolution in the Canadian High Arctic. Annals of the Missouri Botanical Garden 86:523-545.

McIver, E.E. and Basinger, J.F. 1993. Fossil flora of the Ravenscrag Formation (Paleocene), southwestern Saskatchewan, Canada. Palaeontographica Canadiana10:1-167.

McIver, E.E., Sweet, A.R., and Basinger, J.F. 1991. Sixty-five-million-year-old flowers bearing pollen of the extinct triprojectate complex - a Cretaceous-Tertiary boundary survivor. Review of Palaeobotany and Palynology 70:77-88.

McIver, E.E. and Basinger, J.F. 1989. The morphology and relationships of Equisetum fluviatoides sp. nov., from the Paleocene Ravenscrag Formation of Saskatchewan, Canada. Canadian Journal of Botany 67:2937-2943.

                CUPRESSACEAE PUBLICATIONS:

McIver, E.E. (in press). Cretaceous Widdringtonia Endl. (Cupressaceae) from North
America. International Journal of Plant Science.

McIver, E.E. 1994. An early Chamaecyparis (Cupressaceae) from the Late Cretaceous of Vancouver Island, British Columbia, Canada. Canadian Journal Botany 72:1787-1796.

McIver, E.E. and Aulenback, K.R. 1994. The morphology and relationships of Mesocyparis umbonata sp. nov.: fossil Cupressaceae from the Late Cretaceous of Alberta, Canada. Canadian Journal of Botany 72:273-295.

McIver, E.E. 1992. Fossil Fokienia (Cupressaceae) from the Paleocene of Alberta, Canada. Canadian Journal of Botany 70:747-779..

McIver, E.E. and Basinger, J.F. 1990. Fossil seed cones of Fokienia (Cupressaceae) from the Paleocene Ravenscrag Formation, Saskatchewan, Canada. Canadian Journal of Botany 68:1609-1618.

McIver, E.E. and Basinger, J.F. 1989. The morphology and relationships of Thuja polaris sp. nov. (Cupressaceae) from the early Tertiary, Ellesmere Island, Arctic Canada. Canadian Journal of Botany 67:1903-1915.

McIver, E.E. and Basinger, J.F. 1987. Mesocyparis borealis gen. et sp. nov.: fossil Cupressaceae from the Early Tertiary of Saskatchewan, Canada. Canadian Journal of Botany 65:2338-2351.

Submitted by J. Hugo Cota-Sánchez, University of Saskatchewan, Saskatoon, Canada. Jim Basinger, University of Saskatchewan also contributed to this article.
 

Personalia
The University of Florida and Monsanto Honor BSA Member Indra K. Vasil

The University of Florida and Monsanto Company have established an endowed professorship, the Vasil-Monsanto professorship, in honor of Indra K. Vasil, who recently retired from the University of Florida after 32 years. Mark Settles, from Rob Martienssen's group at Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory, who works on the functional genomics of maize (endosperm mutants), has been appointed the first Vasil-Monsanto professor. Vasil, known for his work on pollen development, and the molecular biology and biotechnology of cereals, continues as a Graduate Research Professor Emeritus (ikv@mail.ifas.ufl.edu) at the University of Florida. As President of the International Association for Plant Tissue Culture & Biotechnology (IAPTC&B), he is currently directing most of his effort toward the organization of the 10th IAPTC&B Congress - Plant Biotechnology 2002 and Beyond (www.hos.ufl.edu/iaptcb) to be held June 23-28, 2002, in Orlando, Florida.

The New York Botanical Garden Appoints New Director for the Institute of Systematic Botany

Dr. Dennis W. Stevenson, one of the world's leading authorities on cycads, is The New York Botanical Garden's newly appointed Director for the Institute of Systematic Botany (ISB), a department of The International Plant Science Center, effective February 1, 2001.

As the Director of the ISB, Dr. Stevenson will oversee a full-time staff of 23, including Ph.D. scientists, research assistants, technicians, and support staff. The ISB strives to document plant diversity through field research around the world, to identify and describe plant taxa, to study evolutionary relationships, to inform the scientific community and the public of new finding, and to train future botanists. In the year 2000 alone, ISB researchers conducted some three dozen field expeditions around the work: published 52 papers in scientific journals' published 31 abstracts, book reviews, or popular articles; and managed nine major Web sites. Researchers are active in efforts to conserve ecosystems through compiling floristic surveys for policymakers and studying plant and animal extinction. ISB curators work closely with other ISB scientists from the Garden's Lewis B. and Dorothy Cullman Program for Molecular Systematics Studies to determine patterns of plant evolution and biogeography.

"With momentous technological developments in molecular biology, this is an exciting time to be involved in studies of plant systematics and evolution. We now have new tools to address what were intractable questions a few years ago. Leading the ISB in the incorporation of these new methods into our research repertoire here at the Garden will be both challenging and exciting." _ Dr. Dennis W. Stevenson, Director for the Institute of Systematic Botany and the Plant Research Laboratory.

In addition to his role as Director of the ISB, Dr. Stevenson will continue to serve as the Garden's Director of the Plant Research Laboratory. The Laboratory conducts phytochemical studies; analyzes plant-derived pharmaceutical applications: and collaborates with State agencies to monitor weather and air quality of the New York City metropolitan area. It provides data from scanning electron microscopy for the study of pollen, floral development, and leaf surface structure. The laboratory often hosts visiting researcher from around the world conducting phytochemical research, molecular systematics, and plant anatomical research. It is also actively engaged in the Garden's Graduate Studies Program.

"I am delighted that Dr. Stevenson was able to be persuaded to ad to his already considerable responsibilities at the Garden by taking on the leadership of the Institute of Systematic Botany. He is a first-rate, prolific botanical scholar with broad experience across the discipline. In addition, he is an accomplished teacher and mentor to students. I am confident the ISB and the Garden will be well served by Dr. Stevenson's new appointment." _ Dr. Brian M. Boom, Vice President for Botanical Science and Pfizer Curator of Botany.

Dr. Stevenson is a specialist in Cycadales (cycads), an ancient group of plants recognized as the sister group to all other living seed plants. He pursues active field programs, particularly in the Neotropics, to study cycads. He is also engaged in The Plant Genomics Consortium, a program led by the Garden, Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory, and New York University to conduct genomic studies. His particular genomic research involves the examination of leaf and reproductive development, and the potential role of these plants in the development of medicinal products. He has published numerous research papers and serves on the faculties of Cornell University, Columbia University, New York University, and Yale University.

Dr. Stevenson succeeds Dr. Scott Mori, who will stay with the ISB as Nathaniel Lord Britton Curator of Botany and continue his research on the fungal and plant diversity of central French Guiana.

Chicago Botanic Garden Hosts Plant Conservation Conference "Ecology and Management of Oak Woodlands

The 2001 Midwestern Plant Conservation Conference, hosted by the Chicago Botanic Garden, will be held on September 13 and 14, 2001. This conference is intended to provide a forum for exchanging research results on Midwestern conservation issues, for setting regional plant conservation priorities, and for developing and implementing collaborative conservation projects.

The first day of the meeting will be dedicated to a symposium entitled, "Ecology and Management of Oak Woodlands." Oaks have been a prominent part of North American deciduous forests and a critical component of Midwest ecology. Planned in collaboration with the Morton Arboretum, the symposium will feature talks by Marc Abrams, John Kotar, Craig Lorimer, Louise Egerton-Warburton, Tom Crow, Karel Jacobs, and Roger Anderson addressing such issues as recent ecological changes in oak forests, canopy-understory processes, invasive species management, fragmentation, and other topics.

The second day of the symposium will focus on contributed papers and posters dealing with research and stewardship projects focusing on conservation of Midwestern plants and communities and will include a Midwestern Rare Plant Task Force meeting. Scientists, stewardship professionals, arboreta and botanic garden staff, volunteers, and other interested in botany and conservation biology will want to attend.

For registration materials, contact: Ed Lyon, Symposia & Special Programs Coordinator at (847) 835-8278 or elyon@chicagobotanic.org . Chicago Botanic Garden, 1000 Lake Cook Road, Glencoe, IL 60022.

Second International Conference on Plants & Environmental Pollution (ICPEP-2)

National Botanical Research Institute, Lucknow, India, 5-10 November 2001.

Registration (concessional) and Abstracts: 30^th June 2001.

Registration (normal) at the conference desk: 5^th November 2001.

Conference inauguration byDr.M.S.Swaminathan: 5^th November 2001, 16.00 hrs
                Scientific Sessions: 6-10 November 2001.
                Plenary Session: 10 November 2001.
Conference Secretariat: Dr. K. J. Ahmad
                         Organizing Secretary ICPEP-2
                         National Botanical Research Institute
                         Lucknow - 226 001, India.
    Phone: +91-522-205831 to 35 extn. 223 (Office)
                +91-522-269269 (Residence)
    Fax: +91-522-205836/205839
    Email: isebnbrilko@satyam.net.in
                nbri@sancharnet.in
    Website: http://members.tripod.com/conference-2001/
 
 

Positions Available
Conservation Horticulturist

Fairchild Tropical Garden, a nonprofit botanical garden in Coral Gables, Florida, with internationally recognized programs in science, education and horticulture, seeks to fill the full-time permanent position of Conservation Horticulturist within the Research Department. Responsibilities: Plan, implement and maintain an active conservation horticulture program for the purpose of supporting and augmenting the Garden's conservation programs. Specific duties include: 1) manage an ex-situ collection of approximately 100 species from S. Florida, Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands; 2) manage the Seed Storage Facility and conduct research on tropical seed storage methods; 3) collect and voucher, propagate, cultivate, reintroduce and monitor native plant species; 4) supervise the Assistant Conservation Horticulturist, graduate students, volunteers and interns; 5) interact with local, state, regional and national agencies, in particular the Center for Plant Conservation; 6) coordinate activities with the Horticulture and Education Departments to display and interpret the Lynn Fort Lummus Endangered Species Garden and the new Jewels of the Caribbean exhibit; 7) participate in public outreach events, local, state and regional conferences; 8) teach public and university courses. Qualifications: Ph.D. in horticulture, botany, agronomy, forestry or related science; one-year postdoctoral experience specific to endangered species conservation preferred; M.Sc. with equivalent experience will be considered. Demonstrated excellence in written and spoken communication, grant proposal writing and budget management. Salary: Commensurate with experience, with full benefits. Letter and Curriculum vitae to: Director of Research, Fairchild Tropical Garden Research Center, 11935 Old Cutler Road, Coral Gables (Miami) FL 33156-4299, or research@fairchildgarden.org . Closing date for applications: 30 June 2001 or until position is filled. Equal Opportunity Employer; ADA/Drug-free Workplace Compliant

Updated Positions Available Listings
At BSA Website

Current position announcements are maintained on the Botanical Society's website Announcement page at URL http://announce.botany.org/. Please check that location for announcement which have appeared since this issue of Plant Science Bulletin went to press. To post an announcement, contact the webmaster: <bsa-webmaster@botany.org>.

Special Opportunities

The David Starr Jordan Prize in Evolution, Ecology, Population or Organismal Biology

In 1986, Cornell, Indiana, and Stanford Universities jointly endowed a Prize, international in scope, to commemorate David Starr Jordan, a scientist, educator, and academic leader associated with all three Universities. The Prize is presented every three years to a young scientist (or scientists; normally no more than 40 years old, or not more than 10 years post-Ph.D.) whose research is redirecting work in one or more areas of Jordan's interest: evolution, ecology, population and organismal biology. In addition to receiving a commemorative medal and a cash award of $15,000, the recipient(s) will deliver scholarly presentations of his/her work at each of the participating Universities.

The Prize winner, selected by a committee drawn from all three Universities, will be announced in late 2001. Letters of nomination, accompanied by a) two other letters of support; b) the nominee's full curriculum vitae; and c) copies of five representative publications by the nominee, should be sent, prior to 15 September 2001, to:

Prof. Ward B. Watt
ATTN: David Starr Jordan Prize Committee
Dept. of Biological Sciences
371 Serra Mall
Stanford University
Stanford, CA 94305-5020 USA
(650)-723-4297 · FAX (650)-723-6132

Other News

Hunt Institute Launches Databases on Web Site

At the Hunt Institute for Botanical Documentation, we are in the process of formatting for the Web existing databases of the information contained in our collections and publications. Through the databases, we hope to offer the global community greater access to our information. To date we have launched six databases on our Web site (http://huntbot.andrew.cmu.edu/).

Originally published in nine parts from 1985 to 1998, the Catalogue of the Botanical Art Collection at the Hunt Institute database was compiled by James J. White with the assistance of Elizabeth R. Smith. The database contains information on the 30,000 paintings (mostly watercolors), drawings and original prints in our collection. The data fields include name, nationality, dates, taxon, title, description, printmaker, signature, place of execution, date of execution, medium, support, image size, dimensions, edition, publication, accession number and notes. Currently, the artist's name and nationality, the taxon, and the title of the artwork are searchable fields.

The Categorical Glossary for the Flora of North America Project (Robert W. Kiger and Duncan M. Porter, 2001) is available also as a database. This database contains 2,627 terms with their synonyms, categories, limitations and definitions, and can be searched by one or more of these fields. This selective glossary attempts to reconcile, integrate, and codify the traditional terminology of plant-taxonomic description, and should be especially useful for computer-based comparative databanking of such information. It covers a high proportion of the total complement of structures, characters, and character states pertinent to detailed conventional description of the morphology and higher-level anatomy of plants other than algae.

Compiled by Robert W. Kiger and James L. Reveal, the Comprehensive Scheme for Standardized Abbreviation of Usable Plant-Family Names and Type-Based Suprafamilial Names database is a scheme of four-character abbreviations for all properly usable plant-family names known to have been published to date, and of two-character rank suffixes for coordinated abbreviation of type-based names at standard suprafamilial ranks. The database can be searched by full family name or by four-character abbreviation.

The Index to Binomials Cited in the First Edition of Linnaeus' Species Plantarum database, compiled by Robert W. Kiger, lists all binomials in Carl Linnaeus' Species Plantarum of 1753. The records in the database include fields for genus, epithet and page number. The genus and epithet are searchable fields.

Two parts of the Index to Scientific Names of Organisms Cited in the Linnaean Dissertations together with a Synoptic Bibliography of the Dissertations and a Concordance for Selected Editions (Robert W. Kiger, Charlotte A. Tancin and Gavin D. R. Bridson, 1999) are available as databases. Compiled by Kiger, the Index to Scientific Names database accounts for over 30,700 occurrences of more than 13,900 different formal names of plant and animal taxa that appear in the original editions of the 186 Linnaean dissertations, and is intended to serve as a finding aid. The database includes the scientific names, the dissertation titles, the Lidén reference numbers, pagination and any additional notes. The Original Linnaean Dissertations database incorporates the synoptic bibliography section of the book, which was compiled by Tancin and based on a handlist prepared by Bridson. This database includes in each entry the Lidén number, respondent, title, date of defense, pagination, short title, Lidén title, Soulsby title, Drake title and notes. The searchable fields are Lidén number, respondent, title and date of defense.

As we fine-tune the format and the search capabilities of these databases and those to come, we will appreciate any comments or suggestions.

— Scarlett T. Townsend, Editor
Hunt Institute for Botanical Documentation
Carnegie Mellon University
5000 Forbes Avenue
Pittsburgh, PA 15213
Phone: 412-268-7304
Email: st19@andrew.cmu.edu

.

A Center for Conservation and Sustainable Development has been established at the Missiour Botanical Garden with a $5 million pledge from the Bellwether Foundation of St. Louis and $1.1 million from four other foundations: the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation, The David and Lucile Packard Foundation (each $400,000), the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation ($200,000) and The Summit Foundation ($100,000). Under the terms of the Bellwether pledge, the Garden will raise another $900,000 and the Center will seek program support for its different activities.

The Center, structurally a new division of the Garden, will serve as a clearinghouse for plant conservation efforts, striving to make information about plant diversity readily accessible to all stakeholders _ government agencies, non-government organizations, researchers, farmers and industrialists _ charged with the preservation and sustainable utilization of plant resources.

Roger McManus, former president of the Center for Marine Conservation and currently Advisor for Oceans in the Office of the Secretary, U.S Department of the Interior, was named director of the Center, effective March 7. McManus was trained as a botanist at the University of Arizona and has a career of achievements in the field of conservation, especially endangered species, both for government agencies and non-government organizations.

"The Center's work will be based on the Garden's already extensive global reach to advance international conservation and sustainable development through the world." Said Dr. Peter H. Raven, director of the Garden. Raven, one of the world's most distinguished botanists and conservation advocates, envisioned establishing the Center when he first came to the Garden in St. Louis 30 years ago.

"The establishment of the Center has always been a dream for me. But I knew we had to build our research program first. The Garden now is a world center for the identification and collection of plants under the most rigid international protocols, publishing our discoveries, and making them available in cyberspace, through the largest data base of plant information in the world, to other scientists and interested parties without restriction….The Center will promote development which meets the needs of the present world community without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs…. This means, of course, protecting natural resources and improving living standards and ecological systems for the benefit of all mankind," Raven said, noting that "We are living in a time of runaway extinction, when perhaps a third of all kinds of organisms in the world may disappear, with enormous impact on both the developing and developed world, but especially on those who already are suffering from the deterioration of the world's life-support systems."

The Missouri Botanical Garden's mission is to discover and share knowledge about plants and their environment, in order to preserve and enrich life. Today, more than 140 years after its founding by Henry Shaw, the Missouri Botanical Garden is a National Historic Landmark and a center for research, education and horticultural display. More than 50 Ph.D. botanists and 150 technical support staff are based at one of the world's largest herbariums and a major botanical research library. Its botanists work in 24 countries on every continent, including North America, with a specialty in rain forests of the developing world.

The New York Botanical Garden Scientists Probe the Rain Forests of Belize, Revealing Crucial Data on Vanishing Maya Plant Lore and the Diversity of Plant Life.

Capping 13 years of field and laboratory work, three scientists at The New York Botanical Garden have succeeded in doing what few botanists have the energy or resources to attempt: They have inventoried all the species of plants of an entire country _ Belize. This exhaustive inventory, presented in the publication Checklist of the Vascular Plants of Belize: With Common Names and Uses, includes the historical uses of plants by Maya civilizations and other cultures living in this area.

Full of dense rain forest, fire-scarred savanna, and hundreds of remote off-shore islands, Belize is slightly larger than the state of Massachusetts. Despite the threat of malaria and other tropical diseases, frequent hurricanes, and prolonged periods in remote areas with minimal supplies, Garden scientists and their local collaborators mounted over one hundred collecting expeditions to nearly every corner of the country. Travel through some of the most remote rain forests of Central America was by helicopter, jeep, canoe, unimog, and on foot. Many thousands of specimens were collected. Through painstaking research in the field and in herbaria throughout the United States, the authors have definitively placed the number of species in Belize at 3,560, eliminating much of the uncertainly previously associated with the identification of Belizean plants.

Checklist of the Vascular Plants of Belize, presents the flora of Belize as it exists today and provides insight into how the flora is currently utilized locally and regionally. Working with local people in Belize and specialists throughout the world, the authors, Dr. Michael J. Balick, Dr. Michael H. Nee, and Daniel E. Atha, have synthesized vast amounts of highly technical information into a concise summary that will be used by botanists, ecologists, anthropologists, medical professionals, and ecotourists.

Significant new finding in botany and ethnobotany are presented for the first time. Endemic plants and species never before reported for Belize are identified and discussed. Every species is classified into a comprehensive system utilizing information gained from centuries of classical taxonomic research and the results of modern molecular studies.

Among the ethnobotanical discoveries, the authors show that nearly 40 percent of the plants of the country are used for a variety of purposes, such as food, medicine, and construction, indicating the high degree to which local people still rely on plants for much of their everyday living.

Perhaps the most significant contribution of the work is the linking of thousands of years of Maya traditions of plant use with the latest research and taxonomic interpretations. Though not presented in great detail, the uses of individual plants are linked to valid scientific names, permitting more detailed studies of past, present, and future relationships between local people and the plants around them.

For millennia preceding Columbus' "discovery" of the New World, the species presented in this work provided the Mayas _ widely regarded as the most advanced pre-Colombian civilization of the Western Hemisphere _ with nearly all of their material, cultural, and spiritual needs. The Mayas were the only indigenous Americans to independently develop writing and from the few remaining works, it is clear that plants were central to nearly every aspect of the culture.

Though little remains of their writing, and despite systematic efforts to erase much of their culture, the Mayas succeeded in preserving much of their ethnobotanical heritage (especially the use of plants for healing) through oral tradition. Tragically, these traditions were nearly extinguished as the older practitioners died without passing on their knowledge to the younger generation, who are often indifferent to "the old ways."

Preserving these traditions required a multi-disciplinary approach, let by Dr. Balick and his colleagues in Belize, Drs. Rosita Arvigo and Gregory Shropshire of the IxChel Tropical Research Foundation, in which botanists, working with physicians, interviewed local people and made herbarium specimens of the plants they used. These specimens, and many thousands more,
were crucial in piecing together the whole flora. Without them, the report or suggestion of a species or plant use in Belize (or anywhere else in the world) is conjecture. But with a herbarium voucher specimen, a species can be independently verified by a qualified botanist anywhere in the world. And at any time in the future.

The New York Botanical Garden, founded in 1891, is a public garden and research institution dedicated to the documentation and preservation of the Earth's plant diversity. The Garden's International Plant Science Center is one of the most accomplished, intensive, and distinguished botanical science r\programs in the world. It includes the Institute of Economic Botany for research, teaching, and publication in the field of economic botany and the Institute of Systematic Botany for the research and documentation of plant diversity, plant taxa, and evolutionary relationships. The collections in its Herbarium and the LuEsther T. Mertz Library are among the most extensive resources of their kind. The Lewis B. and Dorothy Cullman Program for Molecular Systematics Studies and The Plant Genomics Consortium are becoming widely recognized as major contributors to our understanding about the origin and evolution of plants.

Tropical Ecology Course in Australia

Aug 3rd-18th 2001

We fly out of LA into Cairns where we will study the Great Barrier Reef, rainforests in the Daintree regions, savannas and wetlands. For more info contact Brent DeMars, PhD, Lakeland College 440 953-7147 or bdemars@lakeland.cc.oh.us , cost $2750.00 all inclusive, even food.

To the Editor-
A little problem of nomenclature

The "In Memoriam" of Dr Rupert Barneby in the Spring 2001 issue of Plant Science Bulletin states that he was born in Monmouthshire, England. Monmouthshire as a county no longer exists, although what was Monmouthshire is now in Wales _ shades of plant systematics and nomenclature?

Rather like the plant Lotus uliginosus* - which oscillates between L. uliginosus and L. pedunculatus on almost a decade basis _ Monmouthshire was in Wales until, in 1536, it was made subservient to English courts. Since then the position has been anomalous. Ecclesiastically it has always remained part of Wales and included in most Acts of Parliament relating to Wales, although excluded from others of importance. This was an uneasy situation. A University College of Wales and Monmouthshire was established in 1883. There was a land tenure bill (Wales and Monmouthshire) and a local government bill (Wales and Monmouthshire) rejected by the House of Commons in London in 1897 and 1902 respectively.

This ambiguity continued. The first language of the local people was Welsh for several centuries after 1536. Many place names in Monmouthshire are Welsh _ probably Celtic originally because of similarity to those in Cornwall and Brittany. Someone born in Monmouthshire was eligible to compete at international level for England or for Wales, although most rugby players chose Wales.

This confusion was eventually resolved in the reorganization of counties in the United Kingdom in the 1970's. Glamorgan and Monmouthshire became Gwent, and Gwnet is in Wales.

*Lotus uliginosus _ (1952) 1^st Edition of Flora of the British Isles by A.R. Clapham, T.G. Tutin and E.F. Warburg, Cambridge University Press.
L. pedunculatus _ (1959) 2^nd Edition of Flora of the British Isles by A.R. Clapham, T.G. Tutin and E.F. Warburg, Cambridge University Press. It was at this stage that New Zealand researchers started a breeding program with material supplied to them under this name.
L. uliginosus _ (1987) 3^rd Edition of Flora of the British Isles by A.R. Clapham, T.G. Tutin and D.M. Moore.
L. pedunculatus _ (1991) New Flora of the British Isles by Clive Stace, Cambridge University Press.
In Volume 2 of Flora Europaea (1968), edited by T.G. Tutin et al., it is clear that P.W. Ball has L. uliginosus and L. pedunculatus as different species.

-David A. Jones, Department of Botany, University of Florida
 
 

Book Reviews
Development and Structure

p. 60 Actin: A Dynamic Framework for Multiple Plant Cell Functions. C.J. Staiger, F. Baluska,