PLANT SCIENCE BULLETIN
A Publication of the Botanical Society of America, Inc.
VOLUME 48, NUMBER 3, 2002
The Botanical Society of America:
The Society for ALL Plant Biologists
ISSN 0032-0919 - Electronic version ISSN 1537-9752
Address Editorial Matters (only) to:
Marsh Sundberg, Editor
Dept. Biol. Sci., Emporia State Univ.
200 Commercial St.
Emporia, KS 66801-5057
Phone 620-341-5605
email: sundberm@emporia.edu
POSTMASTER: Send address changes to:
Johanne Stogran, Business Manager
Botanical Society of America
PO Box 299
St. Louis, MO 63166-0299
Phone/Fax: 314-577-9566
email: bsa-manager@botany.org
Editorial Committee for Volume 48
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
James E. Mickle (2004)
Department of Botany
North Carolina State University
Raleigh, NC 27695-7612
james_mickle@ncsu.edu
Andrew W. Douglas (2005)
Department of Biology
University of Mississippi
University, MS 38677
adouglas@olemiss.edu
Douglas W. Darnowski (2006)
Department of Biology
Washington College
Chestertown, MD 21620
ddarnowski2@washcoll.edu
Contents
Plant Blindness: "We have Met the Enemy and He is
Us." (David Hershey)..............................78
News from the Society
Annual Reports
President.............................................................................................................................85
Past President.....................................................................................................................86
President-Elect...................................................................................................................86
Secretary.............................................................................................................................86
Treasurer............................................................................................................................87
Program
Director................................................................................................................88
The
American Journal of Botany.......................................................................................89
Plant
Science Bulletin.......................................................................................................89
Webmaster..........................................................................................................................90
Committees
Committee
on Committees..............................................................................................91
BSA
Conservation..........................................................................................................92
Darbaker
Prize................................................................................................................93
Education........................................................................................................................93
Elections.........................................................................................................................93
Financial
Advisory.........................................................................................................93
Karling
Awards..............................................................................................................94
Membership
and Appraisal............................................................................................94
Merit
Awards.................................................................................................................95
Jeannette
Siron Pelton Award........................................................................................95
BSA
Publications...........................................................................................................95
Web
Page.......................................................................................................................96
Sections..................................................................................................................................96
Council of Society of Scientific
Presidents............................................................................98
Natural Science Collections Alliance....................................................................................98
Letter to the Editor.................................................................................................................98
Personalia
In Memoriam: Judith Lee
Gerow Croxdale, Plant Morphologist, 1941-2002......................100
Sherwin Carlquist Awarded Linnean
Medal........................................................................101
Announcements
Special Opportunities
Biology
and Systematics of the Saprolegniaceae..............................................................101
Plant
Anatomy Images Available......................................................................................101
Symposia, Conferences, Meetings
Diversity
and diversification processes in high mountain ecosystems: bridging
the gap between population,phylogenetics, and ecological approaches........................102
Janet Meakin
Poor Research Symposium: Invasive Plants - Global Issues,
local Challenges...........................................................................................................102
Wetland
Stewardship: Changing Landscapes and Interdisciplinary Challenges...............103
SSB/SSE/ASN
Joint Annual Meeting.............................................................................103
Positions Available
Cycad Biologist................................................................................................................103
Harvard
University Bullard Fellowships in Forest Research...........................................103
Book Reviews..........................................................................................................................104
Books Received........................................................................................................................122
Botanical Society of America Logo Items................................................................................124
PLANT SCIENCE
The article on "Plant Blindness" by Wandersee and Schussler in volume
47 (1) of Plant Science Bulletin struck a chord with many readers.
I continue to receive positive comments about the article and it was frequently
mentioned at the Education Forum that preceded the Botany 2002 meeting
in Madison. Although the article was directed primarily to those of us
who teach, it also had wider interest and applicability. One could speculate,
for instance, on the degree to which plant blindness afflicts our elected
representatives and decision makers at funding agencies. To my eyes we
clearly have a problem!
In this issue's lead article, David Hershey provides some additional
insight into the problem of "seeing" plants. David suggests that some additional
related factors may be at least as important as "Plant Blindness" and makes
some suggestions for things we can do as individuals to address the problem.
More importantly, he has several suggestions for Society activities that
could make a dramatic and positive impact on the public - - Executive committee
take note! Wouldn't it be fun, for instance, to periodically see Michael
Christensen on the Jay Leno show "talking plants" with an exotic plant
or two to show the audience or to hear Karl Niklas "talking plants" as
a regular feature on "All Things Considered?" David may be correct in paraphrasing
Pogo - - "We have met the enemy and he is us." However, we are also the
ones that can do something about it. Lets get started!
- editor
Plant Blindness: "We Have Met the
Enemy and He is Us"
Wandersee and Schussler (1999, 2001) coined the term "plant blindness"
to describe the widespread lack of awareness of plants and neglect of plants
both in biology education and in the general population. This seems a very
useful term to focus attention on those problems. It is well established
that "plants are the most important, least understood, and most taken-for-granted
of all living things" (Wilkins 1988).
However, Wandersee and Schussler (2001) have also hypothesized that
plant blindness can also be take almost literally as a human "default condition"
due to limitations in human visual perception of plants. To avoid confusion,
I will use the first definition of plant blindness in this article. Wandersee
and Schussler (2001) make many interesting points in their discussion of
visual principles relating to plant blindness, however, they do not eliminate
plant neglect and zoochauvinism as causes of plant blindness.
Case for Visual Perception Causing Plant Blindness
The literature cited by Wandersee and Schussler (2001) on the limits
to human visual perception apparently contains no specific experiments
on human perception of plants. Zoochauvinism, plant neglect, and other
causes of plant blindness have substantial concrete evidence to support
them. Wandersee and Schussler (2001) present a very circumstantial case
for a visual perception limitation as the main cause of plant blindness.
Much of their evidence could also be used to support zoochauvinism and
plant neglect as important reasons for plant blindness.
While the conclusion that people typically know less about plants than
animals seems reasonable, it could be caused solely by plant neglect and
zoochauvinism. It is not necessarily related to the figure that under 2.5%
of the U.S. population is directly involved in raising farm crops. The
percentage of the population involved in raising farm animals is probably
not that far from 2.5%. The 2.5% figure may be misleading because it probably
does not include people who process and sell farm crops; those who produce
and sell flowers, turfgrass, nursery plants, bulbs, forest tree seedlings
and gardening supplies; those who build and maintain landscapes, parks,
arboreta, botanic gardens and golf courses; those who garden outdoors or
indoors, those who make and sell fertilizers, pesticides, and other plant
chemicals, etc.
Has there ever been a nationwide survey or test comparing student knowledge
of plants versus animals? I have frequently heard of national tests of
student knowledge in math, science, geography and history. Those reports
usually seem to conclude that the majority of students are sadly deficient
in the particular subject examined. It would be interesting to test the
botanical literacy of biology teachers as well as students.
The argument that plants are nondescript when not in bloom ignores the
fact that plants change dramatically with the seasons, more dramatically
than animals in most cases. In the northern U.S., there is a nearly continuous
change with the seasons starting with a burst of new plant growth in spring
which is noticeable because of the new leaves on deciduous trees and the
light green or sometimes red-tinted new leaves on evergreens. New leaf
growth is accompanied and followed by a succession of blooming and fruiting
from bulbs, trees, shrubs, vines, herbaceous perennials, bedding plants,
weeds and wildflowers until frost. Then there are spectacular fall leaf
colors followed in winter with deciduous tree and shrub branch silhouettes,
colorful "berries" or intriguingly-shaped fruits, and textured or colored
barks. Plant breeders have achieved nearly continuous blooming of many
bedding plants so there is much less of a problem of plants being nondescript
when out of bloom. Unlike animals, plants often possess pleasant fragrances.
The argument that people who have had few meaningful experiences with
plants may pay little attention to plants seems reasonable but it could
just be caused by plant neglect or zoochauvinism because the person never
had a plant mentor.
The observation that although people see a lot of pennies during their
lifetimes they cannot draw an accurate picture of a penny is not directly
relevant to the situation with plants. To determine if students have a
default visual limitation that prevents them from accurately drawing plants,
but not animals, would require experimentation. For example, students could
be given a lesson which focused equally on a plant and an animal, such
as a bird nesting in a saguaro cactus or an ant and its myrmecophyte. Students
would then be asked after the lesson to draw the plant and the animal.
If they could accurately draw the animal but not the plant, then that might
be evidence of a visual limitation specific to plants.
Preference Versus Interest in Plants
There are a few limited studies that indicate a majority of students
prefer to study plants rather than animals. The largest study appears to
be Wandersee and Schussler's unpublished survey of 274 grade four to seven
students in one city which indicated that students preferred to study animals
compared to plants by a "nearly" 2:1 margin (Wandersee and Schussler 2001).
Considering how plants are virtually absent or in the background on most
children's TV shows, cartoons, movies, books, and toys, having only two-thirds
of students preferring to study animals over plants is surprisingly low.
One weakness of such surveys is that there has apparently been no attempt
to determine if a preference for animals over plants is a default condition
or a learned condition due to zoochauvinism or plant neglect in the school
curriculum and media. Were any of the
teachers of the surveyed students good plant mentors or were they too
suffering from plant blindness?
Another important consideration is that a student preference for animals
does not necessarily mean they have no interest in plants, nor do student
preferences even seem that important in biology teaching. Biology curricula
should not be determined by the preferences of the students but by what
is important for students to know about biology. Many students object to
animal dissections and teaching of evolution but biology teachers have
strongly opposed changes in those areas. Thus, how significant to the case
for plant blindness are surveys that say students tend to prefer animals
over plants as objects of study?
In contrast to the student preference surveys is substantial evidence
that many people are interested in plants. Plant curricula on Wisconsin
Fast Plants, C-Fern, and gardening have proven popular with students. Gardening
has often been named the top leisure activity in Gallup polls, and gardening
is a huge, tens-of-billions of dollars per year business. There are thousands
of gardening books in print. Cut flowers, flowering container plants, and
other plant materials are standard gifts, symbols, and decorations for
almost all occasions including holidays, birthdays, weddings, and funerals.
There are hundreds of arboreta and botanical gardens, and many are popular
tourist attractions. Each spring there are major flower and garden shows
that draw large crowds. There are hundreds of gardening and plant-specific
organizations plus thousands of local gardening clubs. The most visited
exhibit at Walt Disney's EPCOT Center has often been the hydroponics display
in The Land Pavilion. The flowering of the Washington, D.C. cherry trees
is a major cultural event, as are similar festivals for blossoms of apple,
peach, azalea, tulip, etc. in other areas. The fabulous flower-covered
floats in the annual Rose Parade attract tens-of-millions of viewers each
year. Excursions to see fall leaf colors are very popular. Wildflowers
and other plants, such as redwoods and giant sequoia are big draws in parks.
Each state celebrates Arbor Day, and trees are often planted as memorials.
Every state has a state flower and state tree. There is a national flower
and a campaign for a national tree. There is significant interest in champion
trees (Jorgenson 1992), heritage trees (Meyer 2001) and exceptionally old
trees (Lewington and Parker 1999). Plants are important elements in art,
architecture, fashion and interior design. Two of the world's most expensive
paintings are van Gogh's "Irises" and "Sunflowers." Plants are one of the
most common themes on postage stamps.
Plant Mentors
It does seems very reasonable that having a plant mentor may be a key
factor in preventing or overcoming plant blindness by nurturing an interest
in plants (Wandersee and Schussler 2001). However, the effectiveness of
plant mentors is not direct evidence for a visual perception limitation
causing plant blindness. Plant mentors could simply spark an interest in
plants, thereby overcoming plant neglect or zoochauvinism.
I can personally add to the anecdotal evidence to support the value
of plant mentors. When I was a child my mother and aunt encouraged me to
grow plants on the windowsill. I still have a now forty year old grapefruit
tree grown from a seed when I was a child. I remember being fascinated
by the common philodendron my aunt grew in clear glass jars filled just
with colorful glass marbles and water. Other positive experiences I remember
were growing cotton and a sweet potato vine indoors, backyard gardening,
making a weed collection in a high school biology class, and visiting Longwood
Gardens. I remember being impressed by some of the plant activities described
by Chesanow (1987). I also remember how boring a high school assignment
on photosynthesis was because it involved no experimentation, but just
looking up the answers to questions in the library.
Some examples of good plant mentoring would include the Wisconsin Fast
Plants (Williams 1989) and C-fern (Renzaglia et al. 1995) curricula, Wandersee
and Schussler's (2001) plant blindness poster, and "The Plant Lady", who
visits 3rd and 4th grade classes to teach about plants (Rohrbaugh 1997).
Other innovative examples of plant mentoring are Winterthur Gardens "Enchanted
Woods" children's garden (www.winterthur.org/Enchanted/enchanted.description.htm)
in Winterthur, Delaware and the May 11, 2002, Mini Page "A Kid's Guide
to Flowers" which appeared in many of the nation's newspapers.
A unique example of plant mentoring is found at Bonfante Gardens (www.bonfantegardens.com),
a plant-themed amusement park in Gilroy, California which includes 25 of
the world famous grafted "circus trees" created by Axel Erlandson beginning
in the 1920s. The park opened on June 2001 and features gardens, a large
greenhouse, educational exhibits and plant-themed rides, such as Garlic
Twirl, Banana Split, Strawberry Sundae and Artichoke Dip.
Proven Causes of Plant Blindness
In contrast to the lack of specific evidence for a visual perception
limitation as the cause for plant blindness, there is substantial concrete
evidence that zoochauvinism and plant neglect are major causes of plant
blindness. Zoochauvinism or animal chauvinism is the widespread tendency
of biologists to consider it more important to study and teach about animals
than about plants (Bozniak 1994, Darley 1990, Greenfield 1955, Hershey
1996). Speaking for biology teachers, Maura Flannery, longtime American
Biology Teacher columnist, has more than once stated the zoochauvinist
attitude. "I have to admit I don't give enough attention to plants ...
in biology courses. ...I'm afraid this is a problem I share with many biology
teachers. ... We are all more interested in animals: They react, they move,
they even think. We can relate to them more easily because they are more
like us." (Flannery 1991). "I am not alone in my prejudice; to many, botany
is synonymous with what is dry, complicated, and uninteresting in biology"
(Flannery 1987).
The high school biology text by Biggs et al. (1991) even had an anti-botany
quotation by James Thurber, "I passed all the other courses that I took
at my University, but I could never pass botany ..." Math teachers created
a national outcry when the talking Barbie doll said that "Math class is
tough" (Schroeder 1992) but biologists didn't make a peep when botany was
maligned in the same way in a biology textbook. In sharp contrast, the
quotation for the Human Biology unit of Biggs et al. (1991) was by Shakespeare,
"What a piece of work is a man!" and the quotation for the Vertebrate unit
was from "The Eagle" by Alfred Lord Tennyson,
He
clasps the crag with crooked hands,
Close to the sun in lonely lands,
Ringed with the azure world he stands.
The wrinkled sea beneath him crawls;
He watches from his mountain walls,
And like a thunderbolt he falls.
Zoochauvinism, which results in plant neglect in biology courses, is
an extremely important problem in biology education because it distorts
the reality of biology. "Our knowledge about the world around us is incomplete
if we do not include plants in our discoveries, and it is distorted if
we do not place sufficient emphasis on plant life" (National Research Council
1992). It is almost unbelievable that so many biology educators are apparently
largely ignorant about and often biased against plants, which are such
an essential component of life on Earth. However, they were taught that
way by their biology teachers, and they will likely pass that ignorance
of plants and bias against plants along to their students unless botanists
work to break the cycle.
Contrary to Wandersee and Schussler (1999) who dismissed zoochauvinism
as a cause of plant blindness by calling it a "bugbear of zoological conspiracy",
zoochauvinism seems all too real. I have never heard zoochauvinism characterized
as a conspiracy. Nichols (1919) described how zoologists were the primary
instigators in combining separate zoology and botany courses into biology
courses, presumably with the best of intentions. However, the more numerous
zoologists wrote most of the biology textbooks and taught most of the biology
courses. Therefore, it is not surprising that biology courses tended to
ignore botany and overemphasize zoology. This "plant-lite" vision of biology
in biology courses has apparently established great inertia over time.
Botanists and botanical organizations have failed to mount a serious and
sustained effort to reverse the situation and assure that biology courses
give plants the attention they deserve. This has contributed to a downward
spiral in plant biology research and education (National Research Council
1992).
Plant neglect is often the result of zoochauvinism by biology educators
but
even botanists have sometimes been unwilling to do their share in teaching
introductory biology courses (Greenfield 1955). Eliminating botany classes
and replacing them with biology classes is an old and apparently chronic
problem. Nichols (1919) described how botany course elimination resulted
in "biology taught by a zoologist." In the late 1980s or early 1990s, the
University of Maryland eliminated their introductory botany course, and
the Horticulture Department had to establish a new introductory horticulture
course to teach the basic botany that Horticulture majors needed for later
courses. There has been a recent precipitous drop in introductory botany
textbook sales attributed to the same type of replacement of introductory
botany courses with introductory biology courses (Uno 2001).
Plant neglect is widespread in biology curricula at all levels (Flannery
1991, Honey 1987, Kurtz 1958, Stern 1991, Taylor 1965, Uno 1994, Walch
1975). Plant neglect is evident in many biology textbooks and many biology
courses which have minimal plant coverage relative to animal coverage (Uno
1994). Plant neglect is evident in the course offerings of many college
biology programs which offer few or no botany courses or offer botany courses
much less frequently than zoology courses. Biology programs sometimes do
not require biology majors to take any botany classes, yet typically do
require one or more zoology courses. Few, if any, botany courses exist
that are designed to fill the needs of education majors, so how can botanists
expect precollege teachers to teach students much about plants or be good
plant mentors?
Plant Neglect Outside Schools
There are many examples of plant neglect beyond schools and colleges
but the Kew Mural (www.ibiblio.org/herbmed/pictures/misc/kew-mural.jpg) discussed by Wandersee and Schussler (2001) is not
one of them as the Kew brochure on the After the Storm Trail explains (Kew
1994). The mural was not commissioned by Kew Gardens but was a gift from
a then 16 year-old Robert Games, who was impressed by the 1987 storm's
destruction of Kew's trees. Games explained that he was inspired by a turkey
oak that had fallen on Kew's two stone lions without damaging them. Wandersee
and Schussler (2001) are incorrect that about two-thirds of the mural was
covered by animals being displaced by the storm. Nearly two-thirds of the
mural is the violent storm depicted as dark clouds and a giant man plus
the two large stone lions that stood at the entrance to Kew gardens and
figuratively defended it from the storm. There are a squirrel, rabbit and
bird fleeing the storm but also a greenhouse and over ten trees or shrubs
depicted. Games spent 1,000 hours making the mural and went to the trouble
of using different types of wood from trees felled in the storm. It stands
at the entrance to the After the Storm Trail which takes two hours to walk
and visits thirteen of the tree species whose wood was used in the mural
(Kew 1994). The spectacular Kew Mural is not an example of plant neglect
but actually a good example of plant mentoring because it commemorates
the sudden loss of a thousand trees at Kew and promotes an appreciation
of trees.
Plant neglect is prevalent in science reporting. The June 6, 2002, demise
of America's oldest white oak, the Wye Oak, was not intensely reported
yet the April 26, 2002, rescue of a dog from a sinking ship was. May 2,
2002, was an unusual day for plant reporting because there were two botany
stories on the internet wire services. The Associated Press reported on
the discovery of the oldest angiosperm fossil, Archaefructus sinensis,
and Reuters reported on the blooming of Amorphophallus titanum at
Kew Gardens (www.kew.org/titan/). Often, weeks or months go by without
a single botany story appearing. There are certainly enough botanical discoveries
that at least one or two plant stories should appear each week on the wire
services.
A major aspect of plant neglect is the near total lack of plant characters
in cartoons, movies, books, toys and games, which are filled with thousands
of anthropomorphic animal characters. Mr. Potato Head is one of the few
well-known plant characters. If there were some well-known plant characters
on Sesame Street, at Disney studios, and in the newspaper comic pages,
plants might be more popular with children. The VeggieTales video series
is an example of how effective computer-animated plant characters can be
in education. VeggieTales uses plants such as Tom the tomato, Larry the
cucumber, Frankencelery, and Junior asparagus, to tell Biblical stories.
The 19 VeggieTales videos have sold over 28 million copies and will soon
spawn a movie, a book, a video game and other products (Luscombe 2002).
It seems likely that animated plant characters would be effective in teaching
children about botany too.
Animals are the main focus on all of the many natural history TV series,
such as Wild Kingdom, Wild America, Animal Adventures, Zoboomafoo,
and Crocodile Hunter. Animal biology is a prime focus of the Animal
Planet network and a major topic on the Discovery channel. The Home and
Garden network focuses on gardening but not the scientific aspects of plants.
There has apparently never been a long running TV series that featured
plant science. The six-episode mini-series, The Private Life of Plants,
is about the closest to a botany TV series. Only occasionally are there
plant episodes on the PBS series, Nature, such as "Deathtrap", "Obsession
With Orchids", "The Seedy Side of Plants" and "Sexual Encounters of the
Floral Kind". The series, Bill Nye the Science Guy, had a memorable
photosynthesis episode where Nye drove an old car covered with living lawn.
There seems to be no good reason why an entertaining natural history or
science TV series on plants would not be successful.
Zoos frequently get tremendous publicity from the birth of animals or
acquisition of new specimens such as pandas or polar bears. However, botanical
gardens and arboreta rarely seem to be in the news. Perhaps they could
be if they had more unusual exhibitions, e.g. titum arums, parasitic plants,
or Linnaeus' flower clock. Another marketing technique might use more of
the fascinating stories behind many of their existing specimens, such as
ginkgo, dawn redwood, handkerchief tree and carnivorous plants. It is unfortunate
that more publicity has not been obtained for the recent discoveries of
two new conifer species, Wollemi pine (Wollemia nobilis) in 1994
and golden Vietnamese cypress (Xanthocyparis vietnamensis) in 2001.
Plant Neglect by Botanists and Biologists
Hoekstra (2000) identified the main culprit behind plant blindness,
i.e. "Botanists work very hard to make their science second-rate in the
eyes of the public." Or perhaps most botanists and botanical societies
simply don't work much to promote botany or botany education (Hershey 1989,
Mathes 1983). Hence, the title of this article, Plant Blindness: "We Have
Met the Enemy and He is Us". The quote is by Walt Kelly from his famous
Pogo cartoon for Earth Day 1971.
A dramatic example of plant neglect can be seen in the color covers
of American Biology Teacher. Of the last 100 covers that featured
nonhuman animals or plants, just 21 featured a plant while seven identified
an animal and a plant. The remaining 72 featured animals. Several of the
72 animal covers also had a plant in the background, often occupying a
greater area than the animal, but the plant was not identified.
American Biology Teacher columnist Maura Flannery (1999) asked
"Why deprive ourselves of the joy of learning about organisms [plants]
that have come up with so many fascinating strategies to deal with the
challenge of life on Earth." However, in over twenty years and over 160
Biology
Today columns (through May, 2002), Flannery has had only ten columns
devoted mainly to plants. A couple dozen other columns briefly mentioned
plants so all told around ten percent of Biology Today has dealt
with plants. That is too low a percentage to be considered anything but
plant neglect. By comparison, Uno (1994) found high school biology textbooks
devoted a meager 14% of their chapters and 20% of their lab exercises to
plants and botanical topics, including algae, biomes and photosynthesis.
It is rather ironic that over three years and 28 issues have passed since
Biology
Today was last devoted to plants (Flannery 1999), a column that discussed
the problem of plant blindness.
The many plant errors in the biology teaching literature is another
sign of plant neglect. Too few college-trained botanists write precollege
botany books so many are written by botanically-illiterate authors. It
should not be surprising that precollege botany books often contain many
serious errors. For example, Bonnet and Keen (1989) has at least a couple
dozens errors such as saying that xylem transports waste, that phloem transports
starch, that chlorophyll is a catalyst, that celery is a monocot, that
plants can exhibit hydrogen deficiency symptoms, and that iodine is an
essential element for plants.
The National Gardening Association's Growlab elementary grade gardening
curriculum (Cohen and Pranis 1990, Pranis and Hale 1988) has serious errors
such as stating that plants only respire at night, that every seed is either
a monocot or dicot, that a cotyledon is attached to the stem above a true
leaf, and that the carbon dioxide level in the atmosphere was less than
50 ppm in 1850. The Life Lab curriculum (Jaffe and Appel 1990) also teaches
elementary science through gardening but reinforces the long outdated view
that plants eat soil in the song, Dirt Made My Lunch. Even a teacher
who I had never met expressed her dismay at that song when it was sung
at the National Science Teachers' Association national meeting. It certainly
seems to be plant neglect by plant science societies when National Science
Foundation funding for plant science curriculum development goes to nonscience
organizations, such as the National Gardening Association, rather than
to actual plant science societies.
The botany inaccuracy problem even extends to the refereed biology teaching
literature apparently because too few botanists write or review teaching
articles. A
1999 article on "Supermarket Botany" in American Biology Teacher
(Avery and Smith 1999) was authored by a Ph.D. herpatologist and a Ph.D.
ornithologist and generated four letters-to-the-editor complaining of the
numerous errors. Ironically, the "Supermarket Botany" article appeared
in the same issue as Wandersee and Schussler (1999). A recent article by
a Ph.D. animal physiologist (DeGolier 2002) contained several errors such
as saying that all cold hardy plants thermoregulate. In truth, thermoregulation
is a rarity in the plant kingdom, and only a few flowers, such as skunk
cabbage, thermoregulate (Seymour 1997).
What to do to fight plant blindness?
If botanists want to overcome plant blindness then undergraduate and
precollege education must be made a priority by professional plant science
societies. The prevalence of "research chauvinism" in the scientific societies
and universities also needs to be overcome (Hershey 1996). It seems logical
that a lot of the education effort has to be aimed at precollege teachers,
particularly elementary school teachers, who can act as plant mentors before
students are turned off to plant study for life. Plant science societies
could become important in the fight against plant blindness by having hands-on
botany exercises and current information useful to precollege teachers.
Currently, these websites have very little of use to precollege teachers,
especially the 100,000-plus elementary school teachers. Plant science societies
could fight plant blindness in the following ways:
1. Develop a curriculum for a service college course designed specifically
for precollege teachers, especially elementary school teachers, which gives
them experiences with innovative hands-on plant activities and curriculum
materials about plants that they can use in their teaching. Assist college
botanists to establish such courses nationwide.
2. Make sure that introductory biology textbooks at all levels have
adequate and accurate plant coverage and place online model biology textbook
chapters for plants. Biology textbooks with accurate and adequate plant
coverage could be given some kind of a botanical society seal of approval.
3. Make the main page of every botanical society website a tool to fight
plant blindness. It should visually and intellectually promote an interest
in plants for nonbotanists. It should support precollege teachers and college
biology teachers who are nonbotanists by providing the following:
a. Interesting, educational features that keep the website fresh, such
as a daily birthday bio of a famous botanist in history, a daily botany
quotation, botany question of the week, a weekly plant profile, weekly
plant misconception, and plant-themed activities or games for children.
b. Simple, inexpensive, and fast hands-on plant exercises for class
labs for all levels pre-K to college (Uno 1994).
c. Lists of plant examples for general biological concepts (Uno 1994).
d. An online glossary of botanical terms to help standardize botanical
terminology and provide a ready reference for teachers and students.
e. Frequent teacher updates online for traditional plant teaching topics,
such as photosynthesis, tropisms, fall leaf coloration, transpiration,
and plant taxonomy and newer topics of great importance, such as phytoremediation,
bioengineered plants, and ecosystem destruction by introduced plants.
f. Recognition of innovative and dedicated botany teachers and their
innovative plant biology teaching methods.
g. Bibliography of botanically accurate teaching materials.
4. Publish plant teaching articles in the society's refereed paper journals
or in an online teaching journal to show that botanical societies genuinely
value teaching scholarship and to encourage more such scholarship.
5. Fund a special plant issue of American Biology Teacher.
6. Sponsor a plant science exhibit at major flower shows.
7. Have a botanist periodically appear on TV talk shows, such as The
Tonight Show with Jay Leno, to show fascinating plants. Leno's show
frequently features exotic animals.
8. Issue at least one plain English press release per month on a recent
botanical discovery. Seasonal press releases should also be issued on seasonal
topics such as pollen allergies, blooming of the Washington D.C. cherry
trees, Arbor Day, fall leaf coloration, Christmas trees and poisonous holiday
plants. Press releases on plant topics in the news should also be made
available so that the public has some plant experts to rely on for situations
such as the infamous 60 Minutes Alar scare.
9. Offer annual awards for an excellent plant teaching article or website.
10. Reach out to instructors of introductory college biology courses
who are not botanists to encourage them to include an appropriate amount
of botanical coverage so that "The first year course, then, should make
a bright young student feel that this is the golden age in which to be
a biologist and the golden age in which to be a botanist" (Steward 1967).
Conclusions
Plant blindness seems to be a useful and catchy term for widespread
botanical illiteracy and neglect of plants in biology teaching but there
is no concrete evidence that plant blindness is caused by a limitation
in human visual perception of plants. In contrast, there is much solid
evidence that zoochauvinism and plant neglect are widespread and are important
causes of plant blindness. Therefore, to improve the state of botanical
education, the most productive approach would be to work to reduce zoochauvinism
and plant neglect. Greenfield (1955) provided good advice on these issues,
"The wisdom of experience dictates ... a calm and realistic acceptance
of any situation, however bad, with dedicated resolution to work towards
solving the problems and improving conditions."
David R. Hershey
dh321z@yahoo.com
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News from the
Society
I. Annual Reports of Executive Committee, Editors, and
Webmaster
(note: below are summares of report highlights. The
complete reports may be viewed on the BSA website: www.botany.org.)
President's Report, 2001-2002
Retirement of Kim Hiser, BSA Business Manager, effective
November 30, 2001. Temporary reassignment of responsibilities amongst Treasurer,
CPA, Secretary, and Business Office staff.
Invitation from Peter Raven to locate BSA headquarters
at the Missouri Botanical Garden, site visit Jan. 1-2, 2002, with Pres.-Elect
Scott Russell, agreement between BSA and MBG signed March 21, 2002.
Renewal of MOU with Department of Plant Biology at Ohio
State University, to house Meetings Office and Meetings Manager.
Job description, advertising and search for first BSA
Executive Director; appointed Search and Screening Committee.
Agreement with Daniller + Co. for fundraising
consultation, David Northington principle contact.
Appointment of joint ad hoc
committee with American Association of Botanic Gardens and Arboreta (AABGA) to
explore ways of collaboration and cooperation.
Appointment of Centennial Planning Committee. -Judy
Jernstedt
Past President's Report, 2002
Committee on Corresponding
Members: this committee did not function this year as there is a full
complement of Corresponding Members at present, and no new ones were to be
added.
Elections Committee: As
Chair of the Elections committee, I initiated solicitation for nominations, the
committee established a list of potential nominees, these were contacted and a
roster of candidates prepared. The nominees for President-Elect were Linda
Graham* and Loren Reiseberg, and the nominees for Program Director were Jeff
Osborn* and W. Carl Taylor. *elected
Plenary Speaker: After
several trys, I invited Dr. Martin Apple, President of the CSSP (Council of
Scientific Society Presidents) to be Plenary Speaker for Botany 2002. It is a
good idea to start at least a year ahead on finding a Plenary Speaker. In the
process we also invited Peter Raven to give a Special Lecture, and I invited
Neil Campbell to be Speaker at the Forum.
Plenary Symposium: In
consultation with the President's of participating societies in Botany 2002, the
theme for the Plenary Symposium was selected to be "Evolution- highlighting
plants". This is appropriate since plants provide many important insights into
the pattern and process of evolution, and frequently are overlooked when
examples of evolution are sought for teaching or research. Speakers for the
symposium include: Dr. Michael Donoghue (systematic/phylogenetic perspective),
Yale University, Dr. Loren Rieseberg, Indiana University (microevolution,
processes, speciation), Dr. Gar Rothwell, Ohio University (contribution of the
fossil record), Dr. Todd Vision, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
(genome level evolution), and Dr. Anj Petto, University of the Arts (Evolution
in the classroom).
Young Botanist's Awards.
Fourteen students were nominated for Young Botanist's
Awards. After considering these, we determined that eight merited the
Certificate of Special Achievement and 6 the Certificate of Recognition.
Following is a list of the awardees, their institution, and primary nominator.
Young Botanist Awardees for
2002
Certificate of Special
Achievement
Name
Institution
Nominator
Carolyn
Reilly
Ohio
University
Dr. John Mitchell
Anna
Sherwood
Washington State
Univ.
Dr. Pam Soltis
Eva
Hager
Miami University,
Ohio Dr.
David Francko
Sabrina
Byrum
Miami University,
Ohio Dr.
David Francko
Katie
Kettler
Miami University,
Ohio Dr.
David Francko
Ryan
Blenkush
Univ. Calif.,
Davis
Dr. James H. Richards
Selena
Smith
Univ.
Alberta
Dr. Ruth Stockey
Stephen
Reynolds James Madison
University Dr. Conley K.
McMullen
Certificate of Recognition
Cary S.
Miller
Ohio
University
Dr. John Mitchell
Shannon
Beach
Univ. of
Illinois
Dr. Janice Coons
Pieter
Badenhorst
Southern Ill.
Univ.
Dr. Barbara Crandall-Stotler
Andrew
Ertley
Miami
University
Dr. David Francko
Karl
Gustafson
Miami
University
Dr. David Francko
Mark
Tancig
University of
Florida
Dr. Doug Soltis
-Patricia G. Gensel
President-Elect's Report, 2002
The major responsibilities of the President-Elect are:
(1) to appoint committees that will be activated at the close of this meeting,
(2) to prepare a banquet address for the BSA banquet, (3) prepare to take office
and (4) perform demised duties as assigned by the President. Reports on these
activities are available elsewhere or will be evident by the close of this
meeting. In addition to these activities, I have also been involved in the
decisions of the BSA to move its business office to Missouri Botanical Garden
facilities in St. Louis, Missouri, which will occur soon. I also serve as a
member of the search committee to name the BSA's first Executive Director and
will serve as president when the Executive Director starts. Among my demised
duties have been serving as liaison to libraries during the transition of the
American Journal of Botany Online to controlled access. These discussions
resulted in improved long-term strategies to achieve competitive pricing for the
journal that will allow it to continue to flourish. In upcoming years, we have
connections that we can use to continue to gather data on the impact of
subscription increases.
-Scott Russell
Secretary's Annual Report, 2002
I served as the Society's Secretary at the BSA Annual
Meeting in Albuquerque, NM, Saturday, Aug. 11 through Thursday, Aug. 16, 2001.
In this capacity I took minutes at the Executive Committee meetings Saturday
night and Thursday morning, at the BSA Council meeting on Sunday, and at the BSA
Business meeting on Tuesday. In addition, I served as the recorder for the BSA
Strategic Planning meeting on Thursday, Aug. 16, and summarized and distributed
to the meeting participants the results of this planning exercise. I also
prepared the announcements for the Society Awards presented at the BSA Banquet.
The award descriptions and winners were given to PSB
Editor Marsh Sundberg and published in the Plant Science Bulletin, as were the
BSA Council reports.
I participated in, took notes, and distributed summary
minutes from the spring Executive Committee meeting in St. Louis, OH, April 5-7,
2002. I participated in the on-going Executive Committee discussions and
decisions on BSA business, which occur via e-mail throughout the year. I also
responded to inquiries and correspondence directed to the BSA Secretary. I sent
out reminders to Committee members concerning deadlines for their Committee
work. I have worked with Marsh Sundberg and Jeff Osborn to develop ideas for
affiliated society memberships and begun to organize re-writing the Duties of
Officers handbook.
With the help of Webmaster Scott Russell, I collected
the annual reports of the Executive Committee, the BSA Council members, and the
Committee Chairs, compiled the reports, and posted them on the BSA webpage. I
helped President Judy Jernstedt and President-elect Scott Russell plan the
agendas for the 2002 BSA Council and Business Meetings and the agenda for the
BSA Banquet, as well as the agendas for the pre- and post-meeting Executive
Committee meetings.
-Jennifer H. Richards
TREASURER'S REPORT
1. Assets of The Botanical Society of America (as of 30
June, 2002)
Endowment Funds (includes all sectional
accounts and special funds)
Common stock &
Options $1,514,061.29
Money
Funds
$ 324,813.63
Total
$1,866,619.85
Bank Accounts
Society's
Checking
$ 39,326.90
Society's
Saving
$101,389.63
Business Office
Checking
$ 80,050.00
Business Offfice
Savings
$129,654.16
Total
$350,420.69
2. Allocation of funds to sections.
A proposal was presented to the Council for a more
equitable and flexible allocation of funds to sections. This proposal
establishes eligibility standards (representation at the Council, an annual
report, a business meeting) for receiving an annual allocation. Alocations will
be based upon activity at the annual meeting rather than membership numbers.
These changes are intended to give active sections more resources and encourage
more activity at the annual meeting.
3. 2001-2002 Fiscal Year
As of
30 June, 2002, the end of the third quarter, the Society's revenues fell well
short of their projections (budgeted - $867,600, YTD - $723,145.23, shortfall -
$144,454,.77). However Society expenses were also considerably less than
anticipated (budgeted - $897,600, YTD - $447,827.93, shortfall - $426,789.37).
Since many expenses are incurred in the 4th
quarter, I project that the Society will end the fiscal year with a budget
surplus. Smile!
4. 2002-2003 Budget Proposal
The new initiatives undertaken may stretch the Society's
resources in the short term, but a reduction in publication costs (30% reduction
in number of printed copies since onset of online version) allows some
redistribution to new expenses. These actions are anticipated to improve the
Society's fiscal picture in the long term, but since fund raising and
development activities have a lag time before realization, expenses and revenues
will be watched closely.
The proposed budget is based upon anticipated revenues
of $881,700. The proposed expenses of $880,000 would produce a surplus of
$1,700. Even if membership revenues fail to meet estimates, the deficit will be
manageable, so generally speaking, the Society's finances are in good shape. If
the 2002-2003 fiscal year follows patterns of recent years, both revenues and
expenses will fall somewhat below targeted figures. The hiring of an Executive
Director and new business office personnel, the move and setup of the business
office, the addition of E-commerce capability for membership renewal, and the
relocation of the web page and its management, means some new expenses will be
realized and no large surplus can be expected. Excess funds from fiscal year
2001-2002 will be used if some of these transitional expenses threaten to
generate too much red ink.
5. Annual Meeting - A Budgetary Perspective
Budgetarily the post-AIBS Annual Meetings have been a huge
success. In simple terms they have paid for themselves while incorporating many
costs usually borne by the Society's operating budget, e.g., plenary speaker and
program director expenses. This year's Educational Forum appears to be improving
upon past years' successes. Presently meetings are budgeted on a break even
basis: they are not a source of revenue. For next year's budget, this includes a
shift of an additional 25% of Johanne Strogan's salary (Meetings Manager) and
duties to the Meetings budget (proposed 75% meetings manager/25% business
office) as well as the travel and other expenses incurred the by the Program
Director.
-Joseph E. Armstrong
PROGRAM DIRECTOR's REPORT
Coordination of the Scientific
Program for Botany 2002
News Coverage. The news divisions of four national
periodicals, Science magazine, National Geographic, TheScientist, and Science
News were contacted with information about Botany 2002 and an inquiry about
obtaining news coverage. At this date, reporters from National Geographic and TheScientist will be attending. A press release about
Botany 2002 was also prepared for distribution to local and regional news
outlets.
The Forum Program for Botany
2002
This year's inaugural Forum, focusing on botanical
education and outreach, will begin on Friday evening, August 2, with early
registration and an welcoming reception. The main Forum program will occur on
Saturday, August 3, with a Keynote Address by textbook author Dr. Neil Campbell
titled "Botany Education in our Schools and Colleges: An Optimistic Forecast,"
and 23 one-hour sessions, including two on funding opportunities available at
the National Science Foundation (NSF). The individual sessions are grouped
within five topical themes, or `threads,' that span the Forum program, and these
have been scheduled such that those from the same thematic thread don't overlap
at the same time slot. A range of topics will be addressed in interactive panel
and roundtable discussions, breakout groups, as well as informational sessions.
On Sunday, August 4, the Forum is formally linked to the
annual scientific meeting via workshops and field trips, for which attendees
register separately. Sixteen hands-on workshops are available as two-hour,
half-day, and full-day events. Two workshops are sponsored by the NSF and the
Deep Gene Research Coordination Network, and these are free to registrants.
Although the principal focus of the Forum is
undergraduate education and related outreach, K-12 teachers have been encouraged
to participate, and several hands-on workshops are targeted for K-12 educators.
The Forum is sponsored in part by the National Science
Foundation (NSF), Project Kaleidoscope (PKAL), the Council on Undergraduate
Research (CUR), the Deep Gene Research Coordination Network, and Prentice Hall
publishers. There were approximately 300 participants.
The Scientific Program for
Botany 2002
All BSA disciplinary Sections have some function(s)
scheduled at Botany 2002 except for the Bryological and Lichenological Section
(ABLS is meeting independently in 2002) and the Mycological Section. However,
the Mycological Section is a co-sponsor of one symposium. Detailed schedules for
the sectional programs are presented in the final Program, and summary
information for the number of presentations and sessions for the entire
conference is presented below. Approximately 1000 pre-registered.
Total number of
presentations 748
Talks
570
Contributed
papers
443
Symposium
presentations 121
Special lectures and
addresses 6
Posters
176
Regular
submissions
143
Recent
Topics
33
Discussion
Sessions
2
Total number of
sessions
61
Contributed
Papers
43
Symposia /
Colloquia
13
Special
Lectures
2
Posters
1
Discussion
Sessions
2
Future Annual Meetings
2003 - Mobile, Alabama. Botany
2003 will be held from July 26-31, 2003 in
Mobile, Alabama. In addition to the BSA, other societies participating in the
conference will include: the American Byrological and Lichenological Society
(ABLS), the American Fern Society (AFS), and the American Society of Plant
Taxonomists (ASPT). The theme for the conference is "Aquatic and Wetland Plants:
Wet & Wild," and a logo has already been designed. In addition, Harvard
biologist E. O. Wilson has accepted an invitation to deliver the Plenary
Address.
Calls. The "Call for
Symposia," "Call for Workshops," and "Call for Field Trips" for the 2003 Annual
Meeting were distributed in the BSA-wide Spring 2002 mailing and posted on the
Botany 2003 web site. Copies of these "Calls" were also sent to the Program
Chairs of participating societies. Deadlines for submissions of on-line
proposals are as follows: Symposia (July 15, 2002 for the Paleobotancial and
Systematics Sections, and September 15, 2002 for all other Sections); Workshops
and Field Trips: (October 15, 2002). The "Call for Papers" will be distributed
in the BSA-wide Fall 2002 mailing, as well as posted on the web site.
2004 - Snowbird, Utah. Botany
2004 will held at the Snowbird Conference Center in Snowbird, Utah from
August 1-5, 2004. Programmatic Planning for this meeting has not begun in any
significant way, but a Plenary Speaker will soon be invited.
2005 - Location not yet determined. 2005 is also the
year of the next International Botanical Congress (IBC), and this may affect our
annual meeting registration numbers.
2006 - Location not yet finalized. This is the BSA's
Centennial year, and we're hopeful that the conference will be held at one of
the Society's founding institutions. In addition, special programming will be
included in the conference to celebrate the Societies 100 years.
-Jeffrey M. Osborn
The American Journal of
Botany
1. Publication status
Year
MS Received Total
Pages Publications
2001 -
2002
356
2,1891
2322
2000 -
2001
347
2,184
224
1999 -
2000
325
1,804
189
1998 -
1999
301
1,820
181
1997 -
1998
325
1,802
212
1996 -
1997
323
1,728
181
1995 -
1996
325
1,618
176
2. Manuscript
status
2001-2002
2000-2001 1999 - 2000
Accepted
or at Allen Press 116
147
166
Out for
review
110
45
47
total
226
192
213
3. Production
schedule 2001-2002
2000-2001 1999 - 2000
Receipt
to final editorial decision
excluding split
reviews 1.2
1.1
1.2
including split
reviews
2.14
3.5
7.4
Receipt to
publication
4.55
7.4
8.3
1 On average, 182 pages
per issue; 19.9 papers et al. per issue; 9.4 pages per paper (decline in the
length of papers, e.g., 9.8 pages per paper in 2000 _ 2001).
2 225 research articles;
8 brief communications; 3 special papers. An additional 7 book reviews were
published. Total = 239 manuscripts.
4 ~17% of all
manuscripts received a `split decision'; 54% of all of these manuscripts were
accepted; rejection rate for all manuscripts, on average, was ~ 41%.
5 Receipt of final manuscript to appearance in print. Time from submission to appearance in print ~ 11.5 months due to
delay of authors providing revised manuscripts for 3rd
review or final
manuscripts after successful first round of reviews.
The time to appearance in print in governed by the number of manuscripts
published per issue not by the efficiency of journal staff.
4. Highlights: Backlog of manuscripts reduced
significantly since the adoption of new signatures. Turn-around time from
receipt of final manuscripts to appearance in print
reduced by ~60% (compared to August 2000 _ July 2001). Special Papers and book
reviews have not been actively solicited, although we continue to look for
excellent SPs and will continue to publish reviews of important new books.
Citation Index ranking of the AJB increasing. AJB has been mentioned in Science, Nature, and Science News.
5. Recommendations: Maintain current issue-size.
Maintain manuscript backlog at ~100 manuscripts. Target 6_8 months as optimal
turn-around time from submission to appearance in print. Maintain average
manuscript length by continued rigorous review, encouraging authors to reduce
length, and discourage publication of large data sets, voucher tables, and
similar materials in bound-copy. Shift readership from bound- to
electronic-copy. Support request for staff annual salary increments. Hired a
copy editor at junior level (one of our staff has left for health reasons).
Reduce institutional and individual subscription rates in developing countries
(as defined by NATO). Raise an endowment for the AJB. Increase advertising in the e_AJB. Appoint AJB
editor-in-chief as a non-voting member of the BSA
EC.
-Karl J. Niklas
Plant Science Bulletin
Volume 47
1. Four issues, 180
pages, were published on schedule. This was 40 pages more than the previous
volume. Half of this increase was due to an expanded annual reports section
(Secretary Richards has been very successful in obtaining reports from almost
all sections and committees). The press run was 4500 copies, 100 fewer than
volume 46. It was distributed quarterly, packaged with the American Journal of Botany.
2. Production cost for volume 47 was $14,301.37
3. Feature articles included:
-Toward a Theory of Plant Blindness
47(1)
-Ethics in Science: Preparing
Students for their Career 47(2)
-Educational Program about Wildland Fire Integrates Plant Science into
Curriculum 47(3)
-The E.A. McIlhenny
Natural History Collection 47(4)
4. 160 books, CD's and Videos were received for review;
83 reviews were published. In previous volumes only about 1/3 of the books
received were reviewed; we would like to maintain at least 50%.
5. Both PDF and HTML electronic versions are posted on
the BSA web page.
Volume 48
1. Two issues, 76
pages, have been published on schedule. The press runs were 3800 copies 48(1)
and 4000 copies 48(2). The fall issue is in preparation. Mailing continues to be
with American Journal of Botany.
2. Production cost for volume 48 (1&2) is $5511.60.
3. Feature articles included:
- Why Botany?; The Future of Botany at
the Undergraduate Level; Preparing a Grant Proposal for NSF 48(1)
- Reflections; Some Practical Bioethics
for Botanists 48(2)
Upcoming articles will include: a response to "Plant
Blindness;" articles on the Sarah P. Duke Gardens and Bellingrath Gardens (the
latter as a promotion of our Mobile meeting in 2003).
4. 55 books have been received for review; 35 reviews
were published.
Individuals interested in submitting lead articles or in
suggesting future article topics should contact the editor.
-Marsh Sundberg
Webmaster's Report
Total page requests: Total hits: 1,644,458 hits (from March
4, 1997 through June 30, 2002). There were 571,948 in 2001 and so far 292,832 in
2002 (projection: 585,664), up 2.4%.
Main BSA Site
(www.botany.org): In June 2002, there were 40,827 page requests, with logins
from 13,719 distinct hosts, 2.275 Gbytes (77.657 Mbytes/day) downloaded from the
main BSA site, 84 countries, 2,519 distinct files and 169,798 individual
requests (one day over 2,000; five days under 1,000). Busiest day of the month:
20/Jun/02 (2,153 requests for pages). All-time highs
include: 69,982 page requests (August 2001), 2.275 Gbytes (77.657
Mbytes/day) downloaded from the main BSA site (June 2002), and 240,853
individual requests (April 2002), 97 countries (November 2001), number of
distinct hosts: 19,432 (April 2002), distinct files requested: 3,030 (September
2001). The second highest number of countries visiting was 94 (May 2002). The
seven busiest days have been in August 2001: 3/Aug/01: 4459, 4/Aug/01: 4795,
5/Aug/01: 5799, 6/Aug/01: 5747, 7/Aug/01: 7154, 8/Aug/01: 5934
Requests from 84 countries were received in June 2002 .
A total of 156 countries outside the U.S. have been
logged on the BSA website, from January 1998 to the present (up from 141 last
year).
Access statistics are available for the following BSA
domains from the BSA home page: BSA Main Site = http://www.botany.org/; BSA Images = http://images.botany.org/ ; Botany 2000
(meeting site) = http://www.botany2000.org/ ; Botany 2001
(meeting site) = http://www.botany2001.org/; Botany 2002
(meeting site) = http://www.botany2002.org/ ; Botany 2003
(meeting site) = http://www.botany2003.org/; BSA
Announcements site = http://announce.botany.org/ ; AJB
Supplemental Data site = http://ajbsupp.botany.org/; McIntosh Apple
Development site = http://mcintosh.botany.org/.
BSA runs its own web servers, domain name servers, email
service and security systems. Steve Wolf runs the BSA Directory. This has not
always been reliable (i.e., when the webmaster is out of town) and relies too
heavily on volunteer effort. We are investigating moving all web service to
Missouri Botanical Gardens and are also considering outsourcing an e-commerce
site for membership dues and subscriptions to a company. The web versions of
documents and membership are increasingly becoming the focal set of references
for the BSA. Future web use should increasingly use the web to electronically
archive digital correspondence as it serves as an ideal means of disseminating
information within the BSA membership and leadership and to the outside world.
BSA Image Site: This site
continues to be popular and fluctuates with the academic term. The server has
provided up to 7746 pages of data in one month with almost 3 gigabytes of data
downloaded. The home page was reorganized to emphasize the search feature. This
has improved utility of the site somewhat. This was moved to a faster server in
December 2001.
American
Journal of Botany Online has now been in operation for over three years.
Last year, over 500,000 page retrievals occurred with a total of 72.5 Gigabytes
of data downloaded. Both of these are 100% increases. With access control
instituted, we will find much lower data transfer rates. The average weekly
number of PDFs downloaded has gone from 3000 per week to 300 per week, and data
transfer rates are about 1/3 of what they have been. We are still building our
online subscriber base, however, and they will never be this low again! Of the
members, 1,027 have activated their accounts, whereas 1,270 have not.
Of subscibing institutions, 48 have activated their subscriptions, whereas
42 are not activated.
-Scott Russell
II
Committees
Committee on Committees
Almost all positions are filled. The entries below are
color-coded: automatic appointments are blue, new appointments are green,
important notes are red. Following is the constitution of committees as of
July 26, 2002.
Standing Committees
(Administrative):
COMMITTEE ON COMMITTEES (6
appointed members; 3 year terms) (ONE OPENING)
New
President-Elect (2003), Chair, ex officio
Ned Friedman (2003)
Jerrold Davis (2003)
Missy Holbrook (2004)
Gar Rothwell (2004)
Bob Jansen
(2005)
Jennifer Richards
(2003), Secretary, ex officio
FINANCIAL ADVISORY COMMITTEE (3 members; 3 year terms) (FILLED)
Harry T. Horner (2004), (Chair)
Russell Chapman (2003)
Greg
Anderson (2004)
Scott Russell (2003), President,
ex officio
Joe Armstrong
(2004), Treasurer, ex officio
Business Manager, ex officio
ANNUAL MEETING COORDINATING COMMITTEE (3 members; 3 year
terms) (COMMITTEE DISSOLVED)
ANNUAL MEETING PROGRAM COMMITTEE
(NO OPENINGS)*
Jeffrey M.
Osborn (2002) (Chair) - New Program Director
(2005), ex officio
Program
Organizer of each Section
Chair, Local Organizing Committee
Representatives of Other Societies
meeting with BSA
ARCHIVES AND HISTORY COMMITTEE (2 appointed members; 5
year terms) (NO OPENINGS)
Ronald Stuckey (2003) (Chair)
Lee Kass (2004)
Pamela Soltis (2003), Immediate
Past Secretary, ex officio
CONSERVATION COMMITTEE (6 appointed members; 3 year
terms) (FILLED)
Tom Ranker (2004) (Chair)
Harvey Ballard (2003)
Diane Horton (2003)
Paul Wolf (2004)
Nancy
Morin (2005)
Jon Shaw (2005)
EDUCATION COMMITTEE (6 appointed members; 3 year
terms) (FILLED)
Rob Reinsvold (2004) (Chair)
Neil Sawyer (2003)
Stephen Scheckler (2003)
Margaret Kuchenreuter (2004)
Tom Rost (2004)
Gordon Uno
(2005)
Scott Russell (2003), President, ex officio
Jennifer Richards (2003),
Secretary, ex officio
J. S.
Shipman (2003), Secretary of the Teaching Section, ex officio
Marsh Sundberg (2004), Editor of
the Plant Science Bulletin, ex officio
David Kramer (2004), Immediate
Pair Chair, Education Committee, ex officio
ELECTION COMMITTEE (3 appointed members; 3 year terms) (FILLED)
Judy Jernstedt
(2003), Past President, Chair ex officio
Barbara Crandall-Stotler (2003)
Richard Olmstead (2003)
Steven
Manchester (2005)
Jennifer
Richards (2003), Secretary, ex officio
MEMBERSHIP AND APPRAISAL COMMITTEE (5 appointed members;
5 year terms) (FILLED)
Donald Hauber (2003)
Lyn Loveless (2004)
Massimo Pigliucci (2005)
Michael Mayer (2006)
Ruth
Stockey (2007)
Business
Manager, ex officio
PUBLICATIONS COMMITTEE (5 appointed members; 3 year
terms) (FILLED)
Nancy Dengler (2003) (Chair)
Pat
Herendeen (2004)
Andrea Schwarzbach (2004)
Mary
Barkworth (2005)
Diane Marshall (2005)
Karl Niklas, Editor, AJB, ex
officio
Marshall Sundberg,
Editor, PSB, ex officio
Scott
Russell, Webmaster, ex officio
Business Manager, ex officio
WEBPAGE COMMITTEE (5 appointed members; 3 year terms) (FILLED)
Scott Russell, Webmaster &
Chair
Jim Reveal (2003)
Pam Diggle (2004)
James Mickle (2004)
Janice
Glime (2005)
Carl Schlichting (2005)
Rob Reinsvold (2004), Education
Committee Chair, ex officio
Marsh Sundberg (2004), Editor, PSB, ex officio
Karl Niklas (2004), Editor, AJB,
ex officio
Jennifer Richards
(2003), Secretary, ex officio
Business Manager, ex officio
Standing Committees
(Awards):
CORRESPONDING MEMBERS COMMITTEE (Past Presidents) (NO OPENINGS)*
Pat Gensel (2004), ex officio
Douglas Soltis (2003), ex officio
Judy
Jernstedt (2005), ex officio
MERIT AWARDS COMMITTEE (3 appointed members; 3 year
terms) (FILLED)
Chris Haufler (2003), Chair
Chris Campbell (2004)
Lynn Bohs
(2005)
Scott
Russell (2003), President, ex officio
DARBAKER PRIZE COMMITTEE (3 appointed members; 3 year
terms) (FILLED)
Robert Bell (2003), Chair
Debabish Bhattacharya (2004)
Rick McCourt (2005)
ESAU AWARD COMMITTEE (3 appointed members; 3 year
terms) (FILLED)
Geeta Bharathan (2003), Chair
Dennis Stevenson (2004)
Larry
Hufford (2005)
KARLING AWARD COMMITTEE (6 appointed members; 3 year
terms) (NO OPENINGS)
Gene Mapes (2003), Chair
Kathleen Pryer (2003)
Javier Francisco-Ortega (2004)
Amy Litt (2004)
James Quinn (2004)
Susanne Renner (2004)
MOSELEY AWARD COMMITTEE (3 appointed members; 3 year
terms) (FILLED)
Kathleen Pigg (2003), Chair
Cindi Jones (2004)
Frank Ewers (2005)
PELTON AWARD COMMITTEE (3 appointed members; 3 year
terms) (FILLED)
Elliot Myerowitz (2003), Chair
Darlene Southworth (2004)
Sarah Hake (2005)
Ad Hoc Committees:
MEMBERSHIP TIERS COMMITTEE
(COMMITTEE DISSOLVED)
EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR SEARCH COMMITTEE
Ed Schneider, Chair
David Northington
Judy Jernstedt
Scott Russell
PUBLICATIONS OF THE SOCIETY
American Journal of Botany (NO OPENINGS)
Karl
Niklas, Editor-in-Chief (2004)
Plant Science Bulletin (FILLED)
Marshall Sundberg, Editor (2004)
Editorial Committee for Volumes 47/48
Norman C. Ellstrand (2003)
James Mickle (2004)
Andrew Douglas (2005)
Douglas Darnowski (2006)
Andrea Wolfe (2007)
Representatives to Various Organizations:
AAAS COUNCIL (NO OPENINGS)
Patrick Herendeen
AIBS COUNCIL (NO OPENINGS)
Patricia Gensel
ASSOCIATION OF SYSTEMATICS COLLECTIONS (NO OPENINGS)
Laurence E. Skog (2003)
BIENNIAL INCORPORATION, STATE OF CONNECTICUT (NO OPENINGS)
Kent E. Holsinger
COUNCIL OF SCIENTIFIC SOCIETY PRESIDENTS (EACH
PRESIDENT-ELECT) (NO OPENINGS)*
New
President-Elect (2003)
NATIONAL RESEARCH COUNCIL COMMISSION ON LIFE SCIENCES
BOARD OF BASIC BIOLOGY ( NO OPENINGS)
Jennifer Richards (2003),
Secretary, ex officio
-Scott D. Russell
BSA CONSERVATION COMMITTEE
At the request of President Judy Jernstedt, the
Conservation Committee reviewed a proposal by the US Department of Agriculture,
Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service to modify certain phytosanitary
rules, a summary of which follows.
"SUMMARY: We are proposing to revise our regulations
regarding the movement of plant pests by adding risk-based criteria for
determining the plant pest status of organisms, establishing a notification
process that could be used as an alternative to the current permitting system,
providing for the environmental release of organisms for the biological control
of weeds, and updating the text of the subpart. These proposed changes would
clarify the factors that would be considered when assessing the plant pest risks
associated with certain organisms, facilitate
the
importation and interstate movement of regulated organisms, and address gaps in
the current regulations."
After reviewing the entire proposal, the Conservation
Committee informed President Jernstedt that the proposed changes seemed
relatively insignificant and should have a minor impact on the botanical
community.
-Tom A. Ranker
Darbaker Prize Committee
The Darbaker Prize for 2002 will be awarded to Dr.
Arthur R. Grossman at the 2002 BSA Banquet. This prize includes a certificate
and check for $1000.
-Louise A. Lewis
Education Committee
The Education Committee sponsored workshops for K-12
teachers at the Texas Regional Science Convention and the National Science
Teachers Association Annual Meeting in San Diego. We also sponsored a booth at
the NSTA Convention where over 20,000 teachers from across the nation attended.
The two workshops organized by Tim Gerber and Rob Reinsvold were well received
and well attended (in both cases we exceeded the seating capacity of our
assigned rooms). At the booth we had an interactive activity to help teachers
explore more ways to incorporate more plants in their teaching of biological
concepts. Based on our records we talked with nearly 1500 teachers and
administrators. The new apple development posters were a big hit and will be in
classrooms across North America (we gave out nearly 1000 poster in the first
couple of days.)
The Education Committee also commends Jeff Osborne and
the Forum Committee in organizing the first Pre-conference Forum in Madison.
Based on the initial plans this looks like it will be a success.
In the past several years the Education Committee has
help lead the botanical educational outreach efforts for the nation. We have
collaborated with other societies to prepare materials and sponsor workshops for
teachers. We have concentrated on NSTA and NABT national meetings to get the
most "bang for the buck". We are requesting $10,000 for next year to continue
the educational outreach activities.
-Rob Reinsvold
Elections Committee
This year election of President-Elect and Program
Director was needed. A call for nominations by the membership was conducted and
their reponses tallied. The Elections Committee generated a list of names of
possible candidates for election to the offices of President-Elect and Program
Director. Potential candidates were contacted and the following ballot list
resulted: President-Elect: Linda Graham, University of Wisconsin, Loren
Rieseberg, Indiana University; Program Director: Jeffrey Osborn, Truman State
University, W. Carl Taylor, Milwaukee Public Museum. Results of the voting is:
President-Elect- Linda Graham and Program Director- Jeff Osborn.
Some discussion took place, within the Election
Committee, and in conversations with potential candidates, which raised points
we consider important for future consideration:
1. What characteristics should we be looking for in a
potential President? Here, name recognition, knowledge of how BSA works,
contribution to the society were some attributes mentioned. Some prior
experience, such as having served on one or more committees or on the Council,
or holding a previous office was judged important by some but not all
individuals. Commitment to the society is important.
2. It has been suggested that the Program Director
should not be an elected position, but an appointed one.
-Pat Gensel
Financial Advisory Committee (FAC)
The FAC has the responsibility for managing the BSA
Endowment Fund. The BSA assets are invested through Salomon Smith Barney (SSB)
under a management group (managed funds). About 23 percent of the endowment is
retained in an unmanaged money market fund within SSB. Normally this percent is
maintained at 15 percent, but the decrease in the value of the stocks has
changed this percent. All of these funds are divided among the following
categories (as of June 28, 2002):
Managed money funds -
Cash balance . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
$ 155.40
Money funds . . . . .
. . . . . . $ 20,406.00
Accrued
dividends. . . . . . . . . . . $ 11.84
Common stock & options . . $1,386,565.18
Unmanaged money funds
Money funds . .
. . . . . . . $ 324,982.46
Accrued
dividends. . . . . . . . $ 168.55
Total
$1,732,289.23
The present BSA Endowment fund ($1,732,289.23) is less
than at the end of June 2000 ($1,867,492.41). However, the fund has grown 95.6%
since its inception 8.5 years ago (12/93; $884,317). This represents, with this
year's losses, an average increase of 11.28% per year.
The economic events prior to and following September 11,
2001, and the continuing volatility in the stock market, especially this past
June, have affected the growth of the BSA endowment. However, financial
restructuring of these funds in 2000 greatly reduced the impact of these more
recent events.
Last August, two recommendations were approved: $27,400 was recommended for use from the Endowment Income
for the `special initiatives' during the 2001-2002 fiscal year, as determined by
the Executive Committee and Council per Guideline 4. (see Guidelines below);
and both section and special accounts are to have an
interest rate equal to the endowment interest rate.
Daniller + Company was hired for at least a three-year
period to aid the EC and Council in a strategic plan to increase the visibility
of the BSA and to enhance its gift-giving for society initiatives.
Recommendation: The FAC
recommends that $13,700 be used from the Endowment
unmanaged money market portion of the endowment for the `special initiatives'
during the 2002-2003 fiscal year, as determined by the Executive Committee and
Council per Guideline 4 (see Guidelines below).
Rationale for
Recommendation: The severe economic conditions of the past year have
affected the stock market significantly. Fortunately, the BSA Endowment Fund was
reasonably protected because of its reorganization and restructuring the
previous year. Nonetheless, the losses that have been incurred are reflected in
the reduced amount recommended by the FAC for the 2002-2003 fiscal year. Even
though there was a loss, the FAC feels that BSA `initiatives' for the 2002-2003
fiscal year are vitally important to the continued growth and development of the
Society and need to be supported, even at a reduced level, through the Endowment
Fund.
The Endowment Fund Guidelines and
Interest Earnings for Special and Section
Accounts are available on the web to clarify
decisions related to the operating procedures of the FAC and the determinations
by the BSA Treasurer of how 1) the annual amount for BSA initiatives is
determined; and 2) the annual interest percentages for the special and section
accounts are determined.
Karling Awards Committee
Karling Awards were made to the following students. The
list gives the student's name, university, title of the project, and award
amount.
Name
University
Award
Alvarez,
Aida. New York Botanical Garden
"Phylogeny of Prescottinae and systematics of
Gomphichis
(Orchidaceae)"
$500
Baumert, Anthony. University of
Pittsburgh "Application of resource competition theory to
ecosystem
succession"
$500
Bell,
John.
University of Wisconsin, Milwaukee "The effect of interspecific
competition for pollinator service on the mating patterns and pollen
dispersal in Mimulus
ringens"
$500
Cortes-Burns, Helen. University of Texas "Phylogenetic
and biogeographic study of
Bell-flowers (Walhlenbergia) in the sourth ern hemisphere of Oceanic
Islands
$500
Cortes-Palomec, Aurea. Ohio University "Reproductive
systems and population genetics of a
Mexican Viola
species"
$500
Cronin,
James. University of Pittsburgh
"Herbivory and the top-down regulation of
terrestrial plant communities: A test of two prominent theoretical lineages"
$500
Dunn,
Michael. Ohio University "The
Mid-Carboniferous Floral Break: a crucial and
enigmatic episode in the evolution of the terrestrial
ecosystem $500
Forest,
Felix. Royal Botanic Gardens,
Kew "A molecular systematic study of the South
African endemic genus Muraltia
(Polygalaceae)
$500
Hernandez-Castillo, Genaro. University of Alberta
"Taxonomic reevaluation and systematics of
primative conifers from
Euramerica"
$500
Karst,
Lisa.
Portland State University "Phylogeny of Sysrinchium (Iridaceae), genetic
and
morphological"
$500
Moody, Michael. University of
Connecticut "Phylogenetics, hybridity and aquatic origins in
the angiosperm family
Haloragaceae"
$500
Moore, Michael. University of
Texas "The roles of edaphic shifts and long distance
dispersal in the evolution of the American desert genus Tiquilia
(Boraginaceae)"
$500
Morris,
Ashley. University of Florida
"Exploring the biogeographic history of eastern
North American trees: a comparative phylogeographic approach $500
Roncal,
Julissa. Florida International
University "Evolution of the Geonoma macrostachys
(Palmae)
complex
$750
Rydholm,
Carla. Duke University
"Lichenicolours fungi systematics and the transition from
mutualism to parasitism in
Asomycetes"
$500
Specht, Chelsea. New York
Botanical Garden "Systematics and evolution of the tropical
plant family
Costaceae"
$500
Steets,
Janette. University of
Pittsburgh "Ecological correlates of Pollen Limitation" $500
Thompson, James. University of
Florida "Phylogeny and the evolution of breeding systems in
the moss Pohlia
Cruda"
$500
Thompson, Stacey. University of British Columbia
"Transmission of apomixis in a Townsendia
hybrid
zone
$500
Wu,
Carrie.
University of California "Ecophysiological variation among natural hybrids
in an Ipomopsis (Polemoniacae) hybrid
zone."
$500
-Gene Mapes
Membership and Appraisal Committee
Membership in the Botanical Society has been fairly
constant over the last ten years, with total membership fluctuating from a high
of 2902 in 1997 to the current membership of 2282. There were 2363 members in
2001. The year 2002 was the first year with the printed journal was separate
from membership and 959 members received the printed journal.
Suggestions for revising the poster and brochure
primarily include adding changes in fee structure, now that the hard copy of the
journal is separate from membership, and making the poster more colorful with
less text. Past photos from AJB covers could be added to the poster. The
membership web site (http://www.botany.org/#membership ) should
be highlighted as providing more information and downloadable membership forms.
Another suggestion is to have the brochures available in an attached envelope on
the poster, instead of the tablet of tear-off application forms.
-Kathleen Shea
Merit Awards Committee
The Committee included myself as Acting Chair, Maxine
Watson, Christopher Campbell, and Judy Jernstedt, BSA President, ex officio.
We received only one Merit Award nomination this year,
and that was one that was being reconsidered from 2001. This nomination
was submitted before last year's meeting, but it arrived quite late in the
process and because there was only one supporting letter, the committee decided
that more extensive documentation would be needed before rendering a decision.
Unfortunately, no more letters were included with the resubmitted
nomination. Therefore no Merit Award will be presented this year.
-Christopher Haufler
Jeannette Siron Pelton Award
The Jeannette Siron Pelton Award is made by the
Conservation and Research Foundation of New London, CT through the Botanical
Society of America for sustained and creative contributions in experimental
plant morphology. BSA appoints the committee and gives the award at the annual
meeting. Beginning in 1998, the awarding of the Pelton has included an
invitation to provide a special address. The Pelton Award is made irregularly
based on availability of funds and an appropriate candidate. For 2002, there
will be an award.
The awardee will be Karl J. Niklas. The inscription of
the award is as follows: "The Conservation and Research Foundation through the
Botanical Society of America is pleased to present the Jeanette Siron Pelton
Award to Karl J. Niklas for his sustained and imaginative contributions in
experimental plant morphology, especially for his theoretical and experimental
examination of plant form, strategy, and evolution. His pioneering studies
applying mathematical and structural modeling to describe plant geometry have
provided a strong basis for understanding the optimization of plant form. He has
effectively applied this approach to the three basic vegetative structures as
well as to flowers, strobili, and inflorescences. His studies have produced an
extraordinarily rich and diverse series of publications that will serve the
field for many years to come." A special lecture is scheduled for Tuesday
afternoon.
-Scott Russell
BSA Publications Committee
The BSA Publications Committee discussed four proposals
related to electronic publication of the American Journal of Botany and made
recommendations to the Executive Committee. Other issues relating to BSA
publications, such as the revised pricing schedule for online subscriptions,
will be presented by the Executive Committee. The Editor-in-Chief will report on
the current status of manuscript backlog reduction.
1. e-letters. The committee supported the proposal to
initiate electronic letters to the editor of the American Journal of Botany.
Highwire Press will offer for each paper a hyperlink to an e-letters site where
readers can submit comments, criticisms, and questions about that specific
paper. The AJB Editor-in-Chief, Karl Niklas, in consultation with the Editorial
Board, submitted a draft policy for e-letters that was ratified by the Executive
Committee.
2. CiteTrack. The committee supported the proposal to
purchase ($1500) the CiteTrack utility that allows registered viewers to sign up
for a daily watch on specific keywords or authors names in about 200 HighWire
Press journals. This feature is to be inaugurated with online subscriptions.
3. Hold-back charge for pay-per-view. The committee
supported the proposal for a $2500 hold-back charge to cover costs incurred by
Highwire Press for developing the AJB pay-per-view site. According to this
model, HWP would hold back the first $2500 of revenue and then share subsequent
revenue on a 50:50 basis with the BSA.
4. eIFL (Electronic Information for Libraries Project)
HighWire Press is joining other publishers (Blackwell,
Elsevier, Harcourt, Springer, Wiley, etc.) in providing discounts for online
subscriptions for countries in 3 categories ("developing", "impoverished", and
"not well off"). An advantage of joining this initiate is that AJB will be
exposed to institutions that might not subscribe to AJB individually, but would
wish to receive it as part of a package.
Web Page Committee
This year a major milestone was met as the main BSA web
server served its millionth page. So far, as of June
30, 2002, 1,644,458 pages have been served from the main site
American Journal of Botany
Online service:
Here is a summary of the activity of the American Journal of Botany Online server run by
HighWire Press on behalf of the Botanical Society of America. The free period of
web service ended June 12, 2002. After that time, access is by password for
individual users and by IP blocks for institutional members. This clearly
reduced the usage of the site. The experience of other HighWire Press journals,
however, has been that usership rapidly increases to free levels once users are
used to it being a paid site.
Requests
Requests-OK
Requests-Fail
Distinct Files
Totals 1999
657,469
315,491
52,435
193,376
Totals 2000
1,060,440
395,342
18,246
341,997
Totals 2001
1,653,407
517,583
52,295
555,074
Totals 2002 so far
917,358
329,036
31,871
301,209
Total
3,371,316
1,228,416
122,976
1,090,447
This represented an increase in usership of
over 100% per year for each of the last three years. HighWire Press finds these
statistics surprisingly high when we were compared among clients of similar size
and mission.
-Scott Russell
II. B. Sections
Bryological and Lichenological
Section
The Bryological and Lichenological Section participated
in the American Bryological and Lichenological Society (ABLS) Meeting at the
University of Connecticut, Storrs, 26-28 July 2002. To encourage student
participation in the annual meeting, ABLS provided travel awards for graduate
students and presented the A. J. Sharp Award for the outstanding student
presentation. Twelve students competed for the 2002 award, which was won by
Rebecca Yahr (Duke University) for the presentation "The structure of symbiotic
communities: Population-level patterns of association between lichen fungi and
their algal photobionts." Honorable mention went to Linda Fuselier (University
of Kentucky) for the presentation "Growth and reproduction of Marchantia inflexa from single-sex and bi-sex
populations," and to Frank Bungartz (Arizona State University) for
"Biologically-induced mineralization by the endolithic lichen Verrucaria rubrocincta Breuss in the Sonoran Desert."
The annual Tuckerman and Sullivant Awards (best lichen and bryophyte papers
published in The Bryologist during the last year) went to Dianne Fahselt, Susan
Madzia, and Vagn Alstrup for "Scanning electron microscopy of invasive fungi in
lichens" (Bryologist 104: 24- 39) and to D. Nicholas McLetchie for "Sex-specific
germination response in the liverwort Sphaerocarpos
texanus (Sphaerocarpaceae) (Bryologist 104: 69-71), respectively.
-Paula de Priest and James Bennett
Developmental and Structural
Section
At the 2002 BSA meetings the Developmental and
Structural Section will sponsor three symposia:
1)
Generating diversity: The link between developmental morphology and phylogeny
(co-sponsored with the CBA).
2) Conifer reproductive
biology: A tribute to Dr. John N. Owens (co-sponsored with the CBA).
3) Biocomplexity in mycorrhizae (co sponsored with the
ecology section) In addition, we will sponsor the Pelton Award Lecture to be
given by one of our members, Karl J. Niklas of Cornell University, Ithaca, NY.
The title of his lecture is Plant morphogenesis: Logic and mechanism.
The "Open Space" forum that was initiated by our section
several years ago has now become
the "Discussion
Sections" sponsored by the Society. This year there are two scheduled
Discussion Sections:
1) Forensic botany, led by Jane H.
Bock and David O. Norris.
2) Uses of nuclear ribosomal
RNA repeats, ITS2 sequences, led by Annete W. Coleman, and Mark W. Chase.
Members of our section will present 32 contributed
papers distributed among three sessions, and fifteen posters.
The Katherine Esau Award goes to the graduate student
who presents the outstanding paper in developmental and structural botany at the
annual meeting. The 2001 Award went to Steven Jansen from the Institute of
Botany and Microbiology, K.U. Leuven, Kasteelpark Arenberg, for his paper
"Vestured pits: a wood anatomical character with strong phylogenetic signals at
high taxonomic levels." Co-authors were Pieter Baas and Erik Smets.
The Maynard Mosely Award recognizes a student paper that
best advances our understanding of the anatomy and/or morphology of vascular
plants within an evolutionary context. Two awards were presented in 2001.
1) Genaro Hernandez-Castillo from the University of Alberta, Edmonton,
Alberta, Canada for his paper "Evidence for compound pollen cones in Paleozoic
conifers". Co-authors were Gar Rothwell and Gene Mapes, and 2) Maria Von
Balthazar from the University of Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland, for her paper
"Floral structure and phylogeny of Buxaceae." Her co-author was Peter Endress.
The section also presented travel awards to six student
members: Athena McKown, Jennifer Winther, Erin Bissell, Ken Chapman, Caroline
Mitchell, Allena Volskay.
-Pamela K. Diggle
Ecological Section
The Ecological Section has new officers this year, each
beginning a 3-year term: Suzanne Koptur (Chair), Tim Bell (Vice-Chair) and Joe
Colosi (Secretary). Normally elected prior to the annual meeting, these new
officers were elected in November 2001 and will serve through summer 2004, with
new officers elected prior to the meetings in 2005.
We received 45 contributed papers and 27 poster
abstracts for the Madison meetings, and Joe Colosi organized these into 4
contributed papers sessions.
Membership in our section has decreased substantially in
the last few years, reflected in the smaller section budget. We will be seeking
ways to encourage increased membership in the BSA by ecologists of all kinds who
work with plants. This year our section is sponsoring two symposia (Evolution of
mating systems in the genus Mimulus, and
Biocomplexity in mycorrhizae) and will present monetary awards and banquet
tickets for best student presentations.
The Ecological Section will soon have a list-serve to
promote the sharing of news, notices, and discussion of potential interest to
members of the section. Please contact us with any ideas you have for ways in
which the section can better serve the BSA.
-Suzanne Koptur
Economic Botany Section
For the 2002 Economic Botany Section of the Botanical
Society of America Meeting in Madison, a Symposium was organized by David
Spooner on the Ethnobotany of the Solanaceae. The Section's annual allotment
will support the Luncheon and its speaker. Prof. Emeritus Hugh Iltis will speak
following the luncheon on, "Domestication of Zea: first for sugar, only then for
grain? A novel idea with vast implications".
-Daniel Harder
Genetics Section
Briana L. Gross received the 2001 Margaret A. Menzel
Memorial Award at the BSA banquet in Albuquerque, NM for her paper entitled
"Potential multiple origins for Helianthus
deserticola, a diploid hybrid species." The paper was co-authored by Andrea
Schwarzbach and Loren Reiseberg. The award included a certificate, $200.00, and
a ticket to the BSA banquet.
Hannah Thornton received the 2001 Genetics Section
Poster Award for her work entitled "Genetic variation in fragmented populations
of an endangered dune plant: implications for its conservation." The poster was
co-authored by Cynthia Lane and Javier Francisco-Ortega. The award included a
certificate, $100.00, and a ticket to the BSA banquet. Lena Hileman received the
2001 Graduate Student Research Award of $500.00.
-Jeri W. Higginbotham
Phycological Section
The Darbaker Prize for 2002 will be awarded to Dr.
Arthur R. Grossman at the 2002 BSA Banquet. This prize includes a certificate
and check for $1000. The Darbaker Committee consisted of: Bob Bell, Debashish
Bhattachayra, Louise Lewis (chair).
-Louise A. Lewis
Physiological Section
The Physiological Section met in Albuquerque, New Mexico
in August 2001 with two contributed paper sessions and a poster session. The
paper sessions were chaired by Peter Straub of Richard Stockton College of New
Jersey and Bruce Smith of Brigham Young University of Utah. Tara Lin Greaver
from the University of Miami received the LiCor Prize for the best student paper
for her presentation entitled "The effects of reflected light on the anatomy and
photosynthesis of Ipomoea pescaprae (L.) R. BR.
(Convolvulaceae), a tropical sand dune vine."
For the 2002 meeting in Madison, along with the usual
contributed paper and poster sessions and the annual business meeting luncheon,
a symposium on restoration of major plant ecosystems is being organized by
Anitra Thorhaug and Henri Maurice. This symposium is being co-sponsored with the
teaching section.
-Denise Seliskar
Pteridological Section
At the Botany 2001 Meeting in Albuquerque, NM, the
Pteridological Section of BSA cosponsored with the American Fern Society a
symposium entitled, "Evolution and adaptations of pteridophytes in dry
climates", in which 7 papers were presented. In addition, 19 contributed papers
and 3 posters were presented.
The Edgar T. Wherry Award for best paper presented was
given to Sabine Hennequin and Jean-Yves Dubuisson for their paper entitled,
"Systematics of the fern genus Hymenophyllum s.l. (Hymenophyllaceae) inferred
from rbcL and rps4
nucleotide sequences and morphology."
The Pteridological Section contributed $400 to the
publication of The Annual Review of Pteridological Research, Volume 14, 2000.
-Tom A. Ranker
Tropical Biology Section
For the Madison meeting, the Tropical Section received
six paper abstracts and one poster abstract, and these will be presented in a
session, followed by the Section's annual business meeting. The Section's chair
will also be attending the BSA council meeting.
The Section's annual allocation will support a symposium
on "Tropical intercontinental disjunctions: Gondwana break-up, immigration from
the boreotropics, and transoceanic dispersal".
-Susanne Renner
Pacific Section
A meeting was held for Pacific Section members at the
Botany 2001 meetings in Albuquerque. Twenty-seven members of the Society from
states represented by the Pacific Section attended, during which a lively
discussion was held regarding the Section and potential activities
During the past year, the Interim Chair has contacted
BSA members in areas comprising the
Pacific Section,
soliciting their ideas and willingness to participate more activity. Some
interest has been expressed, especially with regard to coordinating events in
their respective areas.
-Dieter Wilken
C. Representatives to
other Organizations
CSSP REPRESENTATIVE'S REPORT
The Council of Scientific Society Presidents (CSSP) met
Nov. 16-19, 2001 in Washington, DC, at the American Chemical Society
headquarters
a) Much discussion about terrorism, counter-terrorism,
security, what scientists can do to help, etc. No discussion of alternative
energy sources, increasing gas mileage standards, etc.
b) An interesting talk by Marsha Landolt, Dean of
Graduate Studies and Vice-Provost, Univ. of Washington, about re-envisioning
doctoral education. (www.grad.washington.edu/envision ).
c) Electronic publication: one of the most interesting
talks was by someone from the Association for Computing Machinery, who discussed
the pros and cons of electronic journals, member services, etc. ACM now has
about 50% of their approx. 800 institutional subscribers also receiving the
e-subscriptions. ACM publishes 22 journals and charges $4,500 for print
subscription and $7,800 for online (my notes are not clear whether this is in
addition to or for both print and e-).
d) Rita Colwell gave a nice talk about the need for
scientists to get involved in K-12 education, teaching teachers, increasing
underrepresented groups, interdisciplinary research, etc.
Virtually all societies are seeing a slow decline in
membership and institutional subscribers—nothing dramatic but just a gradual
erosion. It seems that the younger set is less likely to join a scientific
society than in earlier generations, which troubles a lot of us. I met Richard
O'Grady and see in him a new attitude at AIBS. He was very complimentary about
and appreciative of the BSA members who have served AIBS over the years (cheers
to Pat!). No sign of ASPB the entire meeting. Crop Science Society and Agronomy
Society were closest to BSA, with similar organismal interests and challenges.
-Judy Jernstedt
Natural Science Collections Alliance
During 2001-2002 the Association for Systematic Collections
changed its name to become the Natural Science Collections Alliance, which is
believe to more fully represent the goals of the membership of institutions,
societies, and individuals. The further reason for a name change was to make the
organization and its aims more understandable to the lay public, policymakers,
and other scientists.
Throughout the year NSC Alliance continued to
distribute, in addition to the printed monthly newsletter, called the Alliance
Gazette, an on-line bi-monthly newsletter of NSCA activities, called Washington
Initiative, which highlights of recent news about systematic collections, as
well as actions in Congress affecting members. The electronic newsletter is
available to NSCA member institutions and societies, and can be sent to
interested recipients on request. This source is particularly valuable in
highlighting funding for and available from NSF.
The major activity of the current year was the annual
meeting of NSCA held in Washington, DC 6-8 June at the Smithsonian Institution.
Information on the meeting is available at the NSCA website at www.nscalliance.org. Over 200 members and VIP
guests attended from the US and nine other countries. 120 speakers and
presenters from museums and organizations participated in two days of panel
meetings, and breakout sessions dealing with communicating science, permitting,
digital libraries, etc. The opening reception was held at the National
Geographic Society with a presentation on the Megatransect in Africa. The
plenary session was a panel of distinguished speakers discussing how natural
history museums are shaping the future. The new president of NSCA is Dr. John E.
Heyning of the Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County. The 2003 meeting is
planned for Berkeley, California sponsored by the U.C. Berkeley Museums.
-Larry Skog
Letters to the Editor
Congratulations to the organizers of the first ever
Teaching Forum that took place at Botany 2002. I sincerely hope this is an
annual event.
I live in three worlds. I am a botanist who is also a
campus executive, and who still has the luxury of being able to teach a general
botany course each year. From my vantage point, the Teaching Forum is a critical
component of the mission of BSA. Neil Campbell's plenary remarks, linking the
forum to Botany for the Next Millennium were right
on the mark. The Millennium call for promoting
"excellence in teaching and its recognition as the co-equal of research" has yet
to be achieved.
I have three challenges for all botanists who wish to
achieve the vision of Millennium.
1. More botanists should consider serving a portion of
their career as college and university administrators, be that as a department
chair or president of the institution. When more plant biologists take on this
burden, efforts to gain parity with other disciplines will advance. Far too many
administrators come from disciplines outside the natural sciences, and as such
lack a central understanding of how science and the teaching of science takes
place most effectively.
2. There has been a historical disparity in faculty
workload given for teaching "lectures" versus the laboratory. This is
counterintuitive to what we know is the best method for teaching science -
active learning, the type of learning that takes place in the laboratory is more
likely to be deep and meaningful learning. Yet most administrators take it for
granted that teaching a lab "counts" only a fraction of what teaching the
lecture portion of a course "counts." Perhaps this is a carry over of the old
days when faculty told students what they should do and left students to their
own devices. You and I know that teaching a laboratory - guiding young students
to think outside their boxes, generating experimental design and testing
hypotheses - takes more, not less effort than
delivering a lecture. I challenge you to challenge your administrators to give
credit where credit is due. Ask them to justify why they do things the way they
do, and don't accept the answer "because that's how every other school does it."
3. My final challenge is to departments who educate
graduate students, particularly those with Ph.D. programs. Preparation for
teaching at all levels of higher education should be a component to the graduate
program. For several years, Dr. Wayne Becker in the Department of Botany at the
University of Wisconsin-Madison has offered a summer course for students in the
sciences who wish to learn about teaching and develop teaching philosophies.
There are similar courses elsewhere, but they are too few in number. Simply
because there are far more PUI's (Primarily Undergraduate Institutions) than
Land Grant Research Universities there is a great chance that today's graduate
students will have a career that requires excellence in teaching as well as
research. Our graduate students need these courses. As an administrator hiring
faculty, I actively seek individuals who have taken courses such as this, as
well as those who have some teaching experience.
The vision of Millennium is
alive and growing. With help from all of us now, we can ensure that plant
biologists will achieve the vision.
-James W. Perry, Professor of Biological
Sciences,University of Wisconsin-Fox Valley, Menasha, Wisconsin
Personalia
In Memoriam:
Judith Lee Gerow Croxdale, Plant Morphologist,
1941-2002.
Judith Lee Gerow Croxdale of Madison died suddenly of a
heart attack on June 14, 2002. Judy was born on August 27, 1941 and grew up in
Modesto, California. Judy began work on a degree in English at the University of
Colorado and then married Michael Croxdale in 1960 and had a son. Upon her
divorce in 1966 she resumed her academic studies, this time in Botany at the
University of California-Berkeley. She got an A.B. and then Ph.D. from Berkley
under Professor Donald Kaplan. Judy's first professional position was at the
Virginia State University but in 1979 was recruited to UW-Madison. She rose
through the ranks of Assistant, Associate, and Full Professor of Botany.
Judy's research focused on plant morphology. In the
1970s she worked on morphogenesis in the fern Davallia followed by work on the formation of submerged
leaves in Salvinia. In the 1990s Judy started an
extensive investigation of pattern formation in leaves, especially the patterns
that determine the spacing of stomata. In the most recent work from Judy's lab
it was shown that genes that affect trichome development also affect stomatal
patterning, indicating that these genes affect development in the epidermis more
than simply affecting trichomes.
Judy was frequently invited by leading journals to write
on pattern formation in plants. A fun part of Judy's research was applying her
expertise to pattern development under altered gravitational conditions. She was
part of a team that was involved in perhaps the first crop produced in space
when potato tubers were grown on the space shuttle. Judy analyzed the structure
of the tubers grown in space. Judy's research program attracted many visiting
scientists and provided many opportunities for undergraduates to participate in
her laboratory. Judy was also recognized for her general scholarship with an
invitation in 1999 to become Editor-in-Chief of the Journal of Plant Growth
Regulation. Judy taught Principles of Plant Development, Structural Plant
Development, and Plant Microtechnique courses. She also participated in a
Colloquium in Teaching College Biology each fall, a course to help Teaching
Assistants prepare for teaching.
Judy was very active in university service. Among the 20
committees that Judy served on at one time or another is the Faculty Awards
Committee. In this role Judy nominated many of her colleagues and was very
effective in presenting their accomplishments. At the University level Judy
participated in a wide range of committees including the Undergraduate Teaching
Improvement Council Committee. Judy was perhaps most active in college
committees. As Chair of the college Curriculum Committee Judy guided the college
through important reforms. Judy was active in groups such as Women in Science
and Engineering and worked hard to encourage women graduate and undergraduates'
participation in the sciences.
Judy was a very independent, adventurous woman. Like
many academics she spent a lot of time on her career but she also had many other
interests. Judy was a pilot for a number of years. She had a particular love for
contemporary and emergent art. Judy rode her bicycle as often as she could and
advocated for the rights of bicyclists. Judy was particularly committed to
exercise and a healthy lifestyle, for several years teaching aerobics, making
the circumstances of her death so surprising to those who knew her.
Judy is survived by her son Leyton and daughter-in-law
Lisa of Seattle, WA, and brother Michael Gerow and mother Winifred Liberini of
Modesto, CA. She was preceded in death by her father, Harold Gerow. There will
be a celebration of Judy's life September 18, 2002 at the Botany Department,
UW-Madison. A fund has been established to help support women beginning research
careers, one of Judy's passions. Donations may be sent to "UWF/Croxdale
Scholarship Fund", PO Box 8860, Madison WI 53708.
-Tom Sharkey
Sherwin Carlquist Awarded Linnean Medal
Dr. Sherwin Carlquist, Research Botanist at the Santa
Barbara Botanic Garden has been awarded the 2002 Linnean Medal for Botany. Dr.
Carlquist was cited for being "...pre-eminent as a plant biogeographer and
island biologist and the leading living authority on wood anatomy... When viewed
as a part or as a whole, Dr. Carlquist's career is one of magnificent
achievement in terms of his innumerable intellectual contributions to biology
and in shaping the thinking of generations of biologists."
"Carlquist is the author of numerous and highly
acclaimed books as well as the primary author of hundreds of publications, many
of which are recent. Dr. Carlquist's voluminous publications reveal previously
undetected trends in the evolution of wood of dicotyledons. ...His legacy
continues to be felt in such diverse fields as cladistic analyses, by virtue of
the hard anatomical data amassed by this studies, and plant biomechanics, by
virtue of his pioneering functional morphology and anatomy. As a teacher, he
continues to inspire students by emphasizing the need for careful observation
and analytical thinking. As a scholar, he serves as a role model by showing
organismic and molecular data are essential aspects of the same discipline such
that neither can be ignored and both must be embraced. As a scientist, he
epitomizes love of scholarship and enthusiasm for careful but creative
thinking."
Dr. Sherwin Carlquist is professor emeritus of Botany at
Pomona College. After his retirement from Pomona he served as adjunct professor
of biology at the University of California, Santa Barbara, and today continues
his pioneering research under the auspices of the Santa Barbara Botanic Garden.
He is noted by the Linnean Society for being "...as productive at 71 years of
age as any younger colleagues, and continues to contribute significantly to a
broad range of biologically important research areas, spanning plant diversity,
ecology, and evolution."
The Linnean medal for botany is awarded annually, but
rarely to Americans. It is the highest honor of the Linnean Society of London, a
leading forum for contemporary discussions on genetics, natural history,
systematics, biology, and the history of plant and animal taxonomy. The world's
oldest extant biological organization, the Society was founded in 1788, and
takes its name from the Swedish naturalist Carl Linnaeus, the father of modern
plant and animal classification.
Announcements
Special Opportunities
Biology and Systematics of the Saprolegniaceae
Terry W. Johnson, Jr., Roland L. Seymour, and David E.
Padgett are pleased to announce the on-line publication of their Treatise
entitled Biology and Systematics of the Saprolegniaceae. This work includes a
critical interpretation of world literature (in all languages) dealing with all
aspects of watermold morphology, physiology, and ecology (30 Chapters) as well
as a comprehensive revision of the systematics (with keys and extensive
illustrations) for all genera and species (20 Chapters). In excess of 2800
reference are cited. This Treatise is made available (on or before 1 August
2002) to the scientific community at no cost and can be accessed on-line using
the URL http://www.ilumina-dlib.org. Select "advanced
search" (bottom of first screen). In the advanced search screen enter the
contributor name "Padgett" in the "search for" window, check "Book" in the
"Learning Resource Type" section, then click on "submit" at the bottom of the
same screen.
Plant Anatomy Images Available
Nels Lersten, Mike Nowak and John Curtis placed a set of
approximately 1500 plant anatomy teaching and research images on the internet
at:http://botweb.uwsp.edu/anatomy/ . There are no
restrictions on the use of these images.
Symposia, Conferences,
Meetings
Diversity and diversification processes in high mountain
ecosystems: bridging the gap between population, phylogenetic and ecological
approaches.
International meeting. Aussois (France)
June 23-27, 2003
Per unit land area, some data suggest high mountain
biota can be biologically as rich as surrounding lowlands. What makes many high
mountain ecosystems so diverse, and is there a common set of historical,
ecological and evolutionary characteristics shared by biologically-rich high
mountain ecosystems?
Mountains and highlands cover about 25% of the earth
terrestrial surface, and represent islands of colder climate in seas of
tropical, desert or temperate areas.
They therefore harbor both refugial (from glaciation
periods), and locally adapted floras and faunas. Moreover, mountain and highland
biota are highly fragmented: mountain ranges are usually separated by deep (and
large) valleys, and within ranges, there are very sharp variations in
exposition, slope, soil type, etc. leading to high local habitat diversity.
Human activities are increasing the fragmentation of mountain habitats.
The aim of this workshop is to bring together scientists
working on different types of organisms (plants, animals and microorganisms), at
different biological scales (communities, species and populations) and using
different approaches (phylogeny, phylogeography, ecology and population
biology), all addressing diversity and diversification in montane habitats.
The workshop will be organised over 3 days of plenary
sessions, contributed papers, posters and discussions, and a one-day field trip
in the French Alps. Aussois is an old traditional French alpine village located
east of Chambéry at 1500m asl, very close to the Parc National de la Vanoise,
where marmots, ibex and Chamois can be easily observed, in addition to a rich
flora.
Irene Till-Bottraud
Biologie
des Populations d'Altitude, CNRS UMR 5553
Universite
Joseph Fourier, BP 53 X
38041 Grenoble cedex, France
Tel : (33) 04 76 63 56 07 Fax : (33) 04 76 51 42 79
E-Mail : irene.till@ujf-grenoble.fr
Mary Kalin Arroyo
Centro Mileno
para Estudios Avanzadas en Ecología y Investigaciones en Biodiversidad
Universidad de Chile
Casilla 653,
Santiago, Chile
Fono: 56 2 276 0351; 56 2 678 7331
Fax : 56 2 271 5464
e-m: southern@abello.dic.uchile.cl
Janet Meakin Poor Research Symposium: Invasive
Plants-Global Issues, Local Challenges
Chicago Botanic Garden, Glencoe, Illinois
October 27-30, 2002
Invasive species are an enormous threat to native
plants, animals and ecosystems all around the world. In the United States,
invasive plants and animals are threatening the environment and economy. Nearly
half of the species listed as threatened or endangered under the Endangered
Species Act are at risk due to competition with or predation by non-native
species, and the non-native species are costing the country more than $125
billion per year.
The Center for Integrated Conservation Science and the
School of the Chicago Botanic Garden welcome you to this international
symposium, where you will have the opportunity to discuss the issues, develop
strategies for improvement and debate the methodology for reducing the threat of
invasive plants. Join key international terrestrial and aquatic plant scientists
and land managers for three days of informational programming.
For registration information, visit our Web site at http://www.chicagobotanic.org/symposia/jmpsymp.html
.
Doris Phelan
Administrative
Assistant
School of the Chicago Botanic Garden
Email: schooladmin@chicagobotanic.org
Phone: (847) 835-6928
Fax: (847)
835-6874
Wetland Stewardship: Changing Landscapes and
Interdisciplinary Challenges
24th Annual Conference
of the Society of Wetland Scientists
June 8-June 13,
2003, New Orleans, Louisiana, USA.
The conference will address interdisciplinary,
innovative approaches and technologies that are currently being applied to
sustaining wetlands across diverse environments and spatial scales of the
world. Symposia and workshops should combine traditional and applied
wetland sciences with ecological, physical, engineering, economic and/or social
sciences.
The deadline for submittal of
symposia and workshop proposals is September 30,
2002. For detailed information on the requirements and format of
proposals, please see the 2003 New Orleans meeting website (http://www.sws.org/neworleans/ ) or contact
Dr. Robert R. Twilley, Program Co-chair, Center for Ecology and Environmental
Technology, University of Louisiana at Lafayette, PO Box 42451, Lafayette, LA
70504 USA; Email: ceet@louisiana.edu; Phone: (337)
262-1776; Fax: (337) 262-1866.
SSB/SSE/ASN Joint Annual Meeting, Chico, CA, 2003.
The joint meetings of the Society of Systematic
Biologists, the Society for the Study of Evolution and the Society, and the
American Society of Naturalists will be held in Chico, CA from the 20-24 June,
2003 hosted by California State University, Chico. Please check the meetings'
web site at <http://www.evolution2003.org/> www.evolution2003.org. Starting in January,
the site will accept title submissions for presentations and abstracts. Titles
will be accepted on a first-come-first-serve basis and the number of slots
available for talks will be limited by the number of concurrent sessions being
held. Title submission will end on March 31, 2002. The site will have a link to
the registration page. You must register in order to submit a title. Early
registration will terminate on March 31, 2002. Late registration will be
available until the time of the meetings. For any additional information,
contact
Kristina Schierenbeck
Associate
Professor, Herbarium Director
California State
University, Chico
Department of Biology
Chico, CA 95929-0515
phone:
530-898-6410
(kschierenbeck@csuchico.edu ).
Positions
Available
Cycad Biologist
Montgomery Botanical Center in southern Miami, a
120-acre scientific botanical institution with extensive collections of palms
and cycads, is seeking a full-time Cycad Biologist. Biologist must commit to
enhancing the scientific, education, and conservation value of the cycad
collection. Graduate degree in botany and experience with cycads are preferred,
but not required. Fax (305-661-5984) or email (walters@fiu.edu) resume and cover letter to
Dr. Terrence Walters. For additional information, call him at 305-667-3800 ext.
22.
HARVARD UNIVERSITY 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 fellowships, which include stipends up to
$35,000, are intended to provide individuals in midcareer with an opportunity to
utilize the resources and to interact with personnel in any department within
Harvard University in order to develop their own scientific and professional
growth. In recent years Bullard Fellows have been associated with the Harvard
Forest, Department of Organismic and Evolutionary Biology and the J. F. Kennedy
School of Government and have worked in areas of ecology, forest management,
policy and conservation. Fellowships are available for periods ranging from six
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 postdoctoral candidates.
Information and application instructions are available on the Harvard Forest web
site (http://harvardforest.fas.harvard.edu). For additional
information contact: Committee on the Charles Bullard Fund for Forest Research,
Harvard University, Harvard Forest, P. O. Box 68, Petersham, MA 01366 USA or
email (drecos@fas.harvard.edu). Annual deadline for
applications is February 1.
Book Reviews
In this issue:
Ecological
-Elements of Mathematical
Ecology. Kot, Mark - John B. Pascarella
..................................105
-Faunal and Floral Migrations
and Evolution in SE Asia-Australasia. Metcalfe, Ian, Jeremy M.B. Smith, Mike
Morwood, and Iain Davidson. - Satish L.
Srovastava................................106
-Flammable Australia the Fires
Regimes and Biodiversity of a Continent. Bradstock, Ross A.,
Jann E. Williams, and A. Malcolm Gill (eds). - Douglas
Darnowski......................................107
-The World According to Pimm: A
Scientist Audits the Earth. Pimm, Stuart. - Marshall
Sundberg..................................................................................................................................107
Economic Botany
-Botanical Dietary Supplements:
Quality, Safety and Efficacy. Mahady, Gail B., Harry H.S. Fong, and Norman
R. Farnsworth. - Scott
Ruhren....................................................................108
-The Desert Smells Like
Rain. Nabhan, Gary Paul. - Dorothea
Bedigian................................109
-Evolution of Wild Emmer and
Wheat Improvement. Population Genetics, Genetic Resources, and Genome
Organization of Wheat's Progenitor, Triticum dicoccoides. Nevo, E., A.B.
Korol, A. Beiles, and T. Fahima. - Verne
Grant.......................................................................110
-Insects and Gardens.
Grissell, Eric. - Agah
Uguz..................................................................110
-The Looking Glass Garden:
Plants and Gardens of the Southern Hemisphere. Thompson, Peter. - Gregory J.
Moncada.....................................................................................................111
-Plants and People of Nepal.
Manandhar, Narayan. - Dorothea Bedigian...............................112
Genetics
Intrinsic Value and Integrity of
Plants in the Context of Genetic Engineering. Heaf, David and Johannes
Wirz.-Christopher
Frye......................................................................................113
Historical
-The Alfred Russel Wallace
Reader: A Selection of Writings from the Field. Camerini, Jane R (ed) -
Nancy
Cowden...............................................................................................................114
Mycology
- Illustrated Dictionary of
Mycology. Ulloa, Miguel and Richard T. Hanlin. - Marshall
Sundberg...................................................................................................................................115
Paleobotany
-Phytolithe: Applications in
Earth Sciences and Human History. Meunier, Jean Domnique and
Fabrice Colin. -Satish K.
Srivastava........................................................................................116
Physiology
- Environmental Physiology of
Plants, 3rd ed. Fitter, Alastair H. and Robert K.M. Hay. - Daniel
Taub..............................................................................................................................118
Systematic
-Seeds of New Zealand
Gymnosperms and Dicotyledons. Webb, Colin, J. and Margaret J.A.
Simpson. - Mary
Leck..............................................................................................................118
Teaching
-10th International Exhibition
of Botanical Art and Illustration. White, James J. and
Lugene B. Bruno (eds). - Douglas
Darnowski..........................................................................119
-Perception of the Visual
Environment. Boothe, R.G. - James Wandersee.............................120
Elements of Mathematical Ecology. Kot, Mark. 2001. ISBN
0-521-80213-x (Cloth US$80.00) ISBN 0-521-00150-1 (Paper US$39.95) 452 pp.
Cambridge University Press, 40 West 20th Street,
New York, NY 10011-4211 - Recently, I have been reading a number of textbooks on
Population Biology, looking for one that I could use in an introductory
undergraduate (junior/senior level) course. Among the possible candidates have
been Hastings "Population Biology: Concepts and Models (1998), Gotelli's "A
Primer of Ecology, 3rd edition (2001), and
Alstad's "Basic Populus Models of Ecology (2001). Each of these books attempts
to explain mathematical models to biologists and each has strengths and
weaknesses. Kot's book, also published in 2001, takes a different approach-it is
primarily a book about the math behind the models, with the intended audience
mathematicians and theoretical biologists, rather than the general undergraduate
biology major. Of the aforementioned books, it is by far the most detailed and
challenging mathematically and this likely limits its application as a textbook
to advanced courses with considerable math prerequisites. It is unlikely that I
will be using this book for an introductory course.
Kot divides the book into two sections, the first
dealing with unstructured population models and the second with structured
population models. The unstructured population models include single-species
models (growth, harvest, stochastic, discrete-time, delay, and branching
process) and interacting population models (predator-prey, competition, and
mutualism) while the structured population models include both spatially
structured and age-structured models. Kot uses the book in a two-semester course
with one semester for unstructured population models and the second semester for
structured population models.
Each chapter begins with a description of the model and
an analysis of the model, with emphasis on both the stability and dynamics of
the model. Numerous figures as well as detailed numbered equations illustrate
the text. Included in most chapters are problem sets, historical notes, and
mathematical meanderings that provide additional information about the
particular model, its development, and use. Each chapter concludes with a
concise list of recommended readings.
Overall, I found the book well written although the
number of equations does mean it is not an easy read. Most of the chapters are
brief in the review of a particular model-for many models, the recommended
readings might be needed to flesh out the utility and application of the model
to biological questions. A couple things that would be nice in the 2nd edition would be a glossary, the answers to the
problem sets (perhaps these could be put on a password protected website?), and
a few more examples of the use of the models to flesh out the mathematics. -
John B. Pascarella, Valdosta State University, Valdosta, Georgia 31698.
Faunal and Floral Migrations and Evolution in SE
Asia-Australasia. Ian Metcalfe, Jeremy M. B. Smith, Mike Morwood, and Iain
Davidson. 2001. ISBN 9058093492 (Cloth US$130.00) 416 pp. A. A. Balkema
Publishers, Lisse/ Abingdon/ Exton (Pa)/ Tokyo; c/o Ashgate Publishing Company,
2252 Ridge Road, Brookfield, VT 5036-9704. - During the presentation of his
paper in 1863, Alfred Russell Wallace indicated the biogeographic separation of
the western Indo-Malayan and the eastern Australo-Malayan regions with a red
line passing down the Makassar Strait on the map. The Wallace Line, as Huxley
called it in 1868, has held its significance for the last 140 years despite
intense debates and proposals of alternative lines. Wallace based the line of
demarcation on his study of modern birds, whereas other lines, such as
Lydekker's or Weber's lines, are based on various other criteria. The composite
transitional area encompassing all these lines has been named Wallacea.
At the time of Wallace's study of vertebrate fauna, the
only definitive work available on geology was Lyell's three volumes published
from 1830-1833. Plate tectonic theory had not been envisaged. Biotic migrations
were explained by imaginary bridges, narrow water-gaps or low sea-levels, and
disjunct distributions by long-distance dispersal mechanisms. Wallace's genius
lies in observing a distinct separation of two faunas and in considering that it
was due to the past geological history of the continents. The faunal separation
has been confirmed by a restudy of the birds collected by Wallace which are
preserved in various museums (p. 113).
This book consists of six sections with each section
dealing with related geological or biotic subjects. The first section has two
papers on Paleozoic to Cenozoic paleogeography and biogeography of the area. The
continental paleogeography of SE Asia is complicated due to many large and small
land fragments in the area. To determine the evolution of each piece is like a
jig-saw puzzle where many pieces may have been lost or newly appeared during the
processes of geological history. Thus, the up to date descriptions of the
Paleozoic-Cenozoic tectonic evolution of the area and its changing patterns of
land and sea given here form the basis of the information necessary to test the
validity of the Wallace line as discussed in the following sections.
In the Paleozoic and Mesozoic geology and biogeography
section, the first paper considers conodonts which are an extinct group of
enigmatic marine microfossils. The conodonts of East Asia terranes have
biogeographic affinities with those of Australasia from the Cambrian to Permian.
The second paper uses a single group of brachiopods, benthonic marine animals,
to define Permian provinces of Gondwana and demonstrates a "Wallace line" in the
geological past. The next paper reviews the Early Permian flora from Papua and
concludes that the flora has affinity with both the Gondwanaland and Cathaysian
floras. A comparison of dinosaurs and associated vertebrate faunas from the
Mesozoic of Australia and Southeast Asia showed almost nothing in common of
biogeographic significance. In the last paper of this section, deep marine
pelagic radiolarian fauna from the early Middle Jurassic Xialu chert in the
Yarlung Zangbo Suture Zone indicates that the Ceno-Tethys was a wide ocean far
from southern continents by the early Middle Jurassic.
The validity of the Wallace line is the subject of
discussion in the six papers of the third section. On the basis of various
biogeographic separation lines and a transition area, it is deliberated whether
the Wallace line should be erased. Biogeographic lines differ from each other
depending on taxa and spatial scales used. One cannot expect that all taxa will
march together for migration to another area at the same time. Thus, it is
considered that biogeographic lines have a heuristic value and should be
evaluated in that context. On the basis of a cladistic study of certain genera
of recent butterflies, it is inferred that during their evolution, these
butterflies have been crossing the water barrier between Asia and Australia in
both directions since the Tertiary. Reasons for honeyeater birds conforming to
the Wallace line are analyzed and none appear to explain the phenomenon. Human
influence in animal translocation across and east of the Wallace line since
prehistoric time is also analyzed. The final paper in this section examines the
validity of the Wallace line in the context of marine organisms by examining the
distribution of staghorn corals (Acropora) which have their highest worldwide
diversity in the Wallacea region.
In the section on plant biogeography and evolution, the
first paper concludes that the primitive angiosperm flora of the rain-forest of
the Asia-Australasia area is the relict flora of Cretaceous-Tertiary floras that
originated in various parts of the world. The next paper reviews Australian
Paleogene vegetation and environments and provides evidence for paleo-Gondwana
elements in the fossil records of Lauraceae and Proteaceae. The following paper
describes the vegetation and climate during the Last Glacial Maximum on the
basis of the study of pollen data from terrestrial and marine cores in lowland
southeast Asia, and, comparing to the present time, concludes that the
precipitation was 30-50% lower; the mean temperature was 6-7OC lower; montane
forest elements had somewhat descended to lower levels; and the sea level fell
almost 120 m. The next paper discusses the distribution of the Restionaceae and
claims that it is almost exclusively restricted to the southern hemisphere. The
last paper in this section traces the evolutionary history of Alectryon of the
family Sapindaceae in Australia.
The section on non-primates consists of seven papers. An
analysis of the distribution of Trichoptera, an aquatic insect order, concludes
that only a minor part of the Asian and Australian groups are involved in the
Austral-Asian interchange. The distribution of butterflies in the context of the
Wallace line is analyzed without the emergence of any distinct pattern. The
third paper analyzes the possible reason for the depauperate nature of
vertebrate fauna in Wallacea. The fourth paper shows that the opposition between
dispersal and vicariance is an artifact of poorly defined concepts and
identifies five processes that affect plant and animal distribution but operate
over different time scales. The time scales discussed are ecological time,
geomorphological time and geological time. Examples illustrating dispersal as a
process are: introduced species that modified the New Zealand avifauna operated
in ecological time; transitional biota in Wallacea operated in geomorphological
time; and the paleobiogeography of the gymnosperm genus Agathis (family
Araucariaceae) in geological time. Discussing the Australian rodent fauna on the
basis of fossil evidence, three phases of immigration were found - two from SE
Asia directly and one from New Guinea. In the sixth paper, the occurrence of
Early Cretaceous fossils from Australia, possibly an erinaceid Eutheria, is
described. The final paper of this section discusses the origin and dispersal of
mammals in Sulawesi which was a cluster of separate islands until quite late in
geological time.
The final section has six papers on primates of the
area. The study of the radiation and evolution of three species of macaque
monkeys indicates that crab-eating monkeys (Macaca fascicularis) may have
originated in Sri Lanka or southern India; they first dispersed eastward until
they met the geographical barrier of the rising Qinghai-Tibetan Plateau in the
Pleistocene, then turned south to penetrate southeastern Asia. The next paper
analyzes the Quaternary ecology of the area and discusses various barriers
formed during the glacial and interglacial periods which affected the migration
pattern of primate fauna of the area. The next paper analyzes divergence,
interbreeding and migration by mathematical models, and concludes that results
based on interpretation of fossils may be incorrect in some cases. The next
paper considers implications of Early Pleistocene hominid colonization of Flores
Island in Wallacea. It is proposed that hominids crossed the deep water barrier
to the island by watercraft. The following paper assesses the requirements for
humans to colonize Australia and argues that humans developed many abilities,
including language and the ability to build watercraft, at the time of the sea
crossing to Australia, not Flores. The final paper of this section considers
possible methods that could have been employed by hominids to cross sea gaps,
and, taking inspiration from non-human primates, concludes that natural rafts
may have been employed by Homo erectus to colonize Flores, and H. sapiens to
colonize Australia.
The readers are told in the introduction that two of the
editors conceived this book over a shopping cart in a supermarket on a Saturday
morning. The result was an international conference, Where Worlds Collide:
Faunal and floral migrations and evolution in SE Asia-Australasia, held in the
University of New England Asia Center, Armidale, New South Wales, Australia from
November 29 - December 2, 1999. The thirty-one papers of this book were selected
from forty-five oral and six poster papers presented in this conference. This
multidisciplinary book has sections dealing with relationships and interactions
between paleogeography, biogeography, dispersal, vicariance, migrations and
evolution of organisms in the SE Asia-Australasian region. The book is well
organized and the editors have done a commendable feat in putting together such
a wealth of data from a geologically and geographically complex area that has an
interesting but challenging flora and fauna. This book will be interesting to
geologists, botanists and zoologists alike, particularly those interested in
paleogeography and/or biogeography of the world. Everyone's pocket may not bear
the steep price of this book but all libraries should have it on their shelf so
that everyone interested can refer to this excellent book. - Satish K.
Srivastava, Geology Consultant, 3054 Blandford Drive, Rowland Heights,
California 91748-4825.
Flammable Australia the Fire Regimes and Biodiversity of a
Continent. Ross A. Bradstock, Jann E. Williams, and A. Malcolm Gill (eds).
2001. ISBN 0-521-80591-0 (Cloth US$130.00) 462 pp. Cambridge University Press,
40 West 20th St, New York, NY. - Bradstock et
al. present copious background information and new theory on the role of fire in
Australian ecosystems. The editors are among the thirty authors of the eighteen
papers, grouped into eight parts, contained in this volume. Besides providing
overviews of history and future perspectives on fire in Australia, these papers
deal in turn with grasslands, shrublands, woodlands, and forests, as well as
practical applications of knowledge about the effects of fire on Australian
ecosystems for the management and wise use of these lands.
Australia is widely recognized as the driest of the
seven continents, having this character in part because it has most closely
reached geological equilibrium. Thus, it comes as no surprise that fire plays a
significant role in Australia's landscape and biogeography, affecting among
other factors the species composition of various ecosystems.
A work on fire and its importance for these matters is
especially important when one considers that the highest rates of botanical
endemism in the world occur in the Southwest of Western Australia and that other
areas of the island continent also show very high rates of endemism and species
diversity. Thus much can be learned about fire-affected ecosystems and
biodiversity worldwide by considering the Australian examples.
The importance of the products and the effects of fire
range from clearing of brush to the importance of compounds produced by fire
which promote germinationand flowering. King's Park Botanical Gardens in Perth,
Western Australia, has done significant work on the role of smoke in the
germination of Australian native plants, and the Garden even sells smoke water
extract for use in restoration of native bush plants.
The importance for the content of these landscape and
the nature of the species of natural fires and of fires set by Aboriginal
peoples is well documented, with documented changes in species composition at a
given site, for example in certain areas of South Australia, accompanying
changes in fire regime that followed the drying of Australia and the arrival of
humans during recent prehistory. More recent fire suppression techniques after
European settlement have caused controversy as well as changes in Australian
biodiversity.
All of these topics receive a thorough and current
treatment throughout Flammable Australia the Fire Regimes and Biodiversity of a
Continent, with the focus of chapters varying within the eight parts—e.g. the
consideration of fire in shrublands contains separate chapters on heathlands,
mallee ecosystems, and Acacia-woodlands. Throughout, the illustrations, mostly
tables and graphs, are clear and very helpful, well supported by a text that is
clear and readable, though not outstanding for attracting the reader's
attention.
Who should purchase a copy of Flammable Australia the
Fire Regimes and Biodiversity of a Continent? Certainly college and university
libraries should include this work in their collections, given the fundamental
importance of understanding Australian ecology for similar fire-prone areas of
Mediterranean climate around the world. So too should it be purchased by those
interested in ecology of these Mediterranean areas, and also by anyone wanting
to increase undergraduate excitement and interest in ecology. This last is true
because of the level of interest that anything Australian excites in
undergraduate students, as anyone teaching undergraduates will recognize. -
Douglas Darnowski, Washington College, Chestertown, MD 21620.
The World According to Pimm: A Scientist Audits the Earth.
Pimm, Stuart. 2001. ISBN 0-07-137490-6 (Paper US$24.95) 304 pp. McGraw-Hill,
Two Penn Plaza, New York, NY 10121-2298. _ This book is for Mr. Smith, Mrs.
Jones, and Dr. Brown, three fictitious travelers Pimm introduces in the Epilogue
of this book. Smith is the businessman familiar with economics "who knows the
price of everything but the value of nothing." Throughout the book, Pimm derives
numbers for our environmental resources and how they are used. This provides
tangible data to which Mr. Smith can relate. But more importantly, Pimm develops
an appreciation for the value of the various resources he describes. The first
third of the book develops, in some detail, how we can determine that
approximately 2/5 of terrestrial plant production is utilized by humans. Pimm
introduces the reader to a variety of ecosystems and describes the human impacts
on each in terms that both Mr. Smith (and undergraduates aspiring to be Mr.
Smiths) can understand. What is the economic value of an ecosystem and how can
that value be maximized?
Mrs. Jones "…is like 50 percent of the undergraduates in
the University of Tennessee biology class that I used to teach. She does not
believe in evolution, despises those who teach it, and retains a special venom
for those who teach it and who attend churches more accommodating than the one
she attends." But Pimm acknowledges that her idealism and ethical concerns are
important factors that can help raise public environmental consciousness and
outrage against waste and plunder. It may be because of Mrs Jones that Pimm
frequently cites Joy of Cooking (JoC) for numerical
date. For instance, the second third of the book concentrates on aquatic
ecosystems and a simple way of noting depletion of major fish stocks is to
compare the recipes in his 1997 edition of JoC with his 1974 edition. Of the
four most common fish listed in 1974, only herring also appears in the later
edition (but with only 1 recipe instead of 11!). On the other hand, orange
roughy, unknown in 1974, is included in the later edition (but is currently
being replaced in restaurants by the Chilean sea bass!)
Finally there is Dr. Brown and Dr. Brown is us! Can we
answer our students' simplest questions - - how many species are there? How much
fresh water is there? How large will our population grow? And so on. More
importantly, what are we doing to communicate some of the answers to the public
and to public policy makers? The final third of the book addresses biodiversity
as related to the earlier sections. Why are some spots hot and others not? And
what, in fact, is a species?
I teach an honors biology course that foregoes a
traditional textbook in favor of four or five "general interest" focused texts.
The World according to Pimm
will be my ecology reading next year. It demonstrates the power and limits
of quantitative data, but in an engaging and non-technical format that could
easily lead to group projects to verify or extend claims. It covers many of the
key concepts of introductory ecology with timely and relevant examples. One
could easily be pessimistic about human impact on the planet, but Pimm is not,
as evidenced by his last two sentences. "Our world is a spectacularly beautiful,
interesting, and diverse place. Only by attending to its problems will it remain
so." That is a challenge for us and a charge for our students. - Marshall D.
Sundberg, Department of Biological Sciences, Emporia State University, Emporia,
KS 66801.
Botanical Dietary Supplements: Quality, Safety and
Efficacy. Mahady, Gail B., Fong, Harry H.S. and Farnsworth, Norman R. 2001.
ISBN 9-026-51855-2 (cloth US$ ) 271 pp. Swets & Zeitlinger Publishers,
Lisse, The Netherlands. _ Primarily geared to medical practitioners, this book
will be attractive to anyone interested in modern herbal ("botanical dietary
supplements") usage. Students of botany, ethnobotany and pharmacology, among
others, will refer to the hundreds of references and thousands of years of
history.
The book is arranged in two main parts. First, there is
a short but informative section about the marketing, regulating and
standardizing of botanical dietary supplements. The remainder and bulk of the
text, concise alphabetical synopses of 22 of arguably the most popular botanical
dietary supplements follow this. The reader is introduced to familiar and new
species from black cohosh (Cimcifuga racemosa) to
valerian (Valeriana officinalis). The general format
of the specific summaries is: Synopsis, Introduction, Quality
Information (taxonomy, parts used, native range, chemical summary), Medical Uses, Summary of
Clinical Evidence, Pharmokinetics (warning, not
available for all species), Mechanism of Action, Safety Information (includes contraindications, drug
interactions and toxicology and dosage - extremely important for the countless
people self-medicating) and References.
Readers familiar with North American literature and
clinical studies will be exposed to a wealth of new literature. Of the 22
species reviewed, there are enough warnings and contraindications to question
the popular press endorsement of many supplements. For example, Chaparral (Larea tridentata), long-used for various ailments with
"no clinical or scientific data to support these claims" has also been shown to
be hepatotoxic. Horse chestnut extracts (Aesculus
hippocastanum) may be useful for venous and circulatory function but should
be avoided if renal health is compromised. A theme emerges: over the counter is
not equivalent with safety nor does a long history of use indicate efficacy. The
phrases "use of products containing … should be avoided" "therapeutic indication
is not justifiable" "no controlled clinical trials for…"and "potentially serious
threat to public safety" appear often in this book. This is a cautionary tone.
On the positive side, there are supplements that do not pose a health threat
according to the latest clinical trials. Feverfew (Tanacetum parthenium) may help migraine sufferers.
Cranberry (Vaccinium macrocarpum) is growing in
popularity for the prevention of urinary tract infections and carries "no
contraindications, precautions or side effects." The beneficial blood-thinning
properties of garlic (Allium sativum) are real but
supplements should be avoided prior to surgery. Other potentially beneficial
supplements include kava (Piper methysticum) (recent
news articles mention caution), ginkgo (Ginkgo
biloba), ginger (Zingiber officinale), nettle
(Urtica dioica and U.
urens), and saw palmetto (Serenoa repens), to
name a few.
The production of this book is excellent. Only rare
typographical errors were found (examples: "maybe" instead of may be, "a tea prepared from nettle tea") and these did
not distract from the value of this book. I was disappointed that the attractive
cover photographs are the only illustrative materials contained in Mahady, Fong
and Farsworth's fine book. I wonder if line drawings of each species could be
included in future editions. This may be helpful when identifying botanical
products or verifying the often-questionable package artwork on many of these
over the counter products. Furthermore, species illustrations would complement
nicely the "Introduction" and "Quality Information" provided for each dietary
supplement. Finally, amazingly, there is no index. Perhaps each chapter is meant
to stand alone, and they do very well. However, I wanted to look up several
properties and compare across the taxa but could not without an index. For
example you could not compile a list of all supplements that are potential
carcinogens or cause adverse reactions with medications without reading each
summary. I kept thinking that an index would be a boon to emergency room
personnel.
This book should serve its intended medical audience
well but this does not limit its utility or appeal. Undergraduate and graduate
courses in herbal remedies as well as pharmacology and regulation would benefit.
Will casual readers relish a cover-to-cover reading? Probably not. Will a book
like this affect traditional herbal remedy practices? Perhaps not but Mahady,
Fong and Farnsworth's book is an invaluable reference that should open the eyes
of many doctors, patients and pharmacists. This is a valuable addition to the
debate about herbal supplements. _ Scott Ruhren, Department of Biological
Sciences, Ranger Hall, University of Rhode Island, Kingston, RI 02881.
The Desert Smells Like Rain. Nabhan, Gary Paul. 2002.
ISBN 0-8165-2249-9. (Paper US$16.95) 148 pp. The University of Arizona Press,
355 E. Euclid, Ste. 103, Tucson, AZ 85719. - It is reassuring to learn that The
Desert Smells Like Rain has been reprinted, presumably for use as a
supplementary text book. Originally published in 1982, this new paperback
edition is affordably priced for student budgets. It reveals, in a few pages, a
naturalist's appreciation for the cultural and biological richness of the North
American desert.
The title itself presents a seemingly contradictory
assertion, a device that Nabhan enjoys. It represents a paradox: deserts, by
definition, lack substantial rainfall. How then, could the desert smell like
rain? Nabhan evokes a fragrant response, the scent of the creosote bush after a
storm, aromatic oils released by the rains. Thus Nabhan introduces an example of
a Papago outlook, intrigue by the unpredictability rather than the paucity of
rainfall.
Lecturers in courses about Botany, Economic Botany and
Environmental Science wishing to use rich supplementary readings that extend
beyond the standard textbooks should seriously consider choosing TheDesert
Smells Like Rain. It strikes me as a stunning work to use in a scientific
writing course. Nabhan sets a valuable example to students as well as to his
colleagues, emphasizing his reliance on local informants for the content, and
introducing himself in the role of narrating their knowledge. We readers travel
with Nabhan to the Papago Reservation in Arizona, onto land that is set aside
for their exclusive use, requiring a special permit for access.
Nabhan's natural folksy writing style incorporates
numerous Papago legends, superstitions, and beliefs about the natural world. His
book is well crafted and unlike any other botany textbook. Interspersed among
occasional photographs, are environmental lessons such as the ecological
consequences of irrigation by pumping instead of rain fed agriculture. Nabhan
introduces fundamental subjects that open an opportunity for the course
instructor to provide additional theoretical background and details in lectures.
These include the subject of crop evolution, by understanding the role of wild
progenitors of cultivated plants, and physiological and morphological changes
such as the loss of seed dormancy and alteration of seed color, upon
domestication.
The Desert Smells Like Rain should be a welcome primary
source that can complement the usual texts and will certainly offer students an
enriching experience. Additionally, it has the advantage that it represents
diversity in source material, offering an unusual perspective, of early native
Americans who practiced agriculture long before the arrival of European
colonists. - Dorothea Bedigian, Washington University, St. Louis and Missouri
Botanical Garden.
Evolution of Wild Emmer and Wheat Improvement. Population
Genetics, Genetic Resources, and Genome Organization of Wheat's Progenitor,
Triticum dicoccoides. E. Nevo, A. B. Korol, A. Beiles, and T. Fahima. 2002.
ISBN 3-540-41750-8. (Cloth US $219.00.) 364 pp. Springer-Verlag New York, P.O.
Box 2485, Secaucus, NJ 07096 - The tetraploid Triticum turgidum group
(AABB) plays a pivotal role in the evolution of wheats. This group contains a
range of forms from wild emmer (T. dicoccoides or T. turgidum var. dicoccoides)
through primitive cultivated emmer (T. dicoccum or T. t. var. dicoccum) to
advanced cultivated durum (T. t. var. durum) and other
cultivars with free-threshing grains. The emmer wheats are also the donors of
the A and B genomes to hexaploid bread wheat (T. aestivum, AABBDD).
Eviatar Nevo and his associates in Israel have spent 30
years studying wild emmer and its relatives from every standpoint. This book
presents their many findings, both new and previously published, and the
findings of others.
The book begins with the cytotaxonomic and cytogenetic
background of Triticum. The archaeology of the
cultivated forms is reviewed. The geographical distribution of T. dicoccoides in the Near
East from Israel north to Turkey and east to Iran is described.
Following this introduction is a large section
describing population variation in wild emmer. Polymorphisms are found in
allozymes and various kinds of DNA: RAPD, microsatellites, and ribosomes.
Genetic variability is common. Furthermore, the frequencies of the variants in
many cases are correlated with environmental variables when plotted on a
macrogeographical or microgeographical scale. The best explanation for the
observed variation patterns in many or most cases is control by natural
selection, with or without the influence of other factors. The authors return to
the modes of selection found to be operating in wild emmer in a final section of
the book.
These findings have important practical as well as
theoretical implications, as the authors point out. Much natural variation in
domesticated wheats has been lost in modern cultivation and pure-breeding. But
wild emmer maintains a rich pool of adaptive and preadaptive variations which
can be tapped in the breeding of cultivated emmer and durum and their hexaploid
derivative, bread wheat.
A third large section discusses variation in several
physiological traits of emmer such as drought tolerance, salt tolerance,
pathogen resistance, herbicide resistance, protein content of grains, etc. Some
of this variation can be useful in wheat breeding.
A fourth section covers genome organization. The
distribution of QTLs for agronomic traits among the chromosomes of the two
genomes is shown, and genetic maps for molecular markers are presented. It is
fascinating to see homologous genes on partially homologous chromosomes of the A
and B genomes. Also very interesting is a comparison of the chromosomes of the A
genome in wild emmer (AABB) with those in its diploid ancestor T. urartu (AA). The A
chromosomes of wild emmer, unlike their counterparts in T. urartu, contain
scattered segments of repetitive DNA derived from the B genome. Apparently DNA
has infiltrated from B chromosomes into A chromosomes in tetraploid emmer since
its formation. Little infiltration in the opposite direction from the A to the B
genome has taken place. This process of intergenomic invasion has also been
found recently in tetraploid cotton.
This book presents a tremendous amount of molecular and
physiological information about wild emmer and places the information in an
evolutionary-biological context. It shows how much can be accomplished by a
multidisciplinary approach to the biology of a single plant species. _ Verne
Grant, Section of Integrative Biology, University of Texas, Austin, Texas 78712.
Insects and Gardens. Grissell, Eric. (Photographs by
Carll Goodpasture). 2001. ISBN 0-88192-504-7 (Cloth US$) 345 pp. Timber Press,
Grissel is a research entomologist working for government. His book on insects,
which are found only in ordinary gardens, is written in an entertaining language
and given in three parts. In the first part, after the definition of an insect
is given, orders in the garden are introduced.
Four pages of classification with colored drawings are
also given, which helps one to identify which is which in a garden. It is
stressed that class arachnida and class insecta are quite different from each
other. A spider is not an insect! (I have been trying to explain this to people
for ages.)
The next two chapters in this first part deal with the
subjects like growth, metamorphosis, social interaction and habitats of "class
insecta". In part two of the book, the ecology of gardening is discussed. The
interactions of the insects with the garden and its plants, as well as with each
other are described in this part. In the last part of the book the author
presents the methods of
increasing the diversity in the
garden and how to invite insects to the garden. At the end of the book 62
references for further reading are provided, where some of them are www sites.
Most people like to get rid of the insects in the garden, however this book
tells you how to invite them and why you should invite them.
There are 106 color photographs in the book by Carll
Goodpasture, which I think would urge someone to be an insect fan. Some of the
close-up pictures are so wonderful that one might want to have one of these
cuddly creatures as a pet at home. A photograph of a butterfly on page 101 made
me laugh and I was amazed with the photograph of a ladybird beetle in page 208
taken while it is taking off. There are many interesting data in the book as
well, like "the estimated weight of the insects outweigh the human population by
six times"!!!. The main idea, which is intended to be given in this book is, to
have more plants and habitat diversities in order to have more natural controls
in the garden. The author is strongly opposed to chemicals and recommends
biological control in a garden.
As a whole, the content of the book is neither
comprehensive nor particularly specialized. Every gardener or anyone who has a
garden can easily read and should read this book. I am sure much less pesticides
will be used with the help of this book, well, at least I will be more concerned
in the future. I strongly recommend this book especially to people with
entomophobia. I believe they will be more confident and feel more secure once
reading it. There are actually important messages given in this book. Insects
are creatures of this planet and they were here millions of years before us.
There is nothing to be afraid of nor to be alarmed. - Agah Uguz, Uludag
University, Muhendislik-Mimarlik Fakultesi, Gorukle-16059, Bursa-Turkey. e-mail
: uguz@uludag.edu.tr
The Looking Glass Garden: Plants and Gardens of the
Southern Hemisphere. Thompson, Peter. 2001; ISBN 0-88192-499-7 (Hardbound,
$39.95) 451 pp. Timber Press, Inc, 133 S.W. Second Avenue, Suite 450, Portland,
OR, 97204-3527. - The Looking Glass-Garden by Peter Thompson is a book written
for those wishing to extend their knowledge about plants found in the Southern
Hemisphere. More so, it is a book that provides gardeners and horticulturists
with valuable information on numerous species that are, per chance, dramatic and
exciting, especially in contrast to plants most often found in conventional
Northern Hemisphere gardens.
The premise to the Looking Glass-Garden is straight
forward enough: Émigré's of the northern hemisphere brought to the South
conventional notions of gardening: roses, daffodils, tulips, lilacs, lupins,
oaks and other northern hemisphere plants. Of course, these plantings first
eradicated and then overlooked the strange and peculiar beauty of the indigenous
plants. Given that there is now copious information on indigenous species found
in South America, South Africa, Australia and New Zealand, and that there is
widespread enthusiasm for the preservation of indigenous species, it is now time
to reconsider the conventions of orthodox Northern Hemisphere gardening styles.
Balance of the book describes those plants considered
most dramatic and popular, with an emphasis on many species that are overlooked.
When lesser known species are discussed, references are given to species
presently cultivated.
This book is organized by areas found in gardens:
`Gardens in Sunshine', `Gardens in Shadow,' and `Gardens in Containers,' and the
last part, `Through the Looking-Glass in the Northern Hemisphere: Case Studies,'
discusses various possibilities for gardens
in
California, Mediterranean Europe, the Pacific Northwest and Britain.
Some of the chapters inspire delight: `Oases with
Trees,' `Plants with Attitude,' and `Tropical Drama.' Others get more to the
point: `Shrubs for Sunlit Spaces' and `Flowers of the Forests.'
Hardiness Zones, Maps, and a thoughtful Bibliography are
also provided. The Hardiness Zones chapter list over 800 species mentioned in
the text. Species are largely from South Africa, Australia and New Zealand with
some inclusions from South America and Tasmania.
This book posses' a number of unique positives: It
presents a comprehensive (though not exhaustive) read on plants not often
utilized because of their obscurity or uniqueness. This information is presented
in a prose that reads more like a travel journal than a manifesto to use plants
from the Southern Hemisphere. In the end, the reader is given a sense of the
nuance for the plant—which can be exciting and perhaps create a desire to learn
more. This is accomplished, to a large extent, by Mr. Thompson's thorough and
accurate knowledge of his subjects and descriptions.
This book contains numerous glossy color photographs
designed to entice the reader—which is does admirably. Regrettably, the number
of species mentioned in the book is so vast that very few of the species
mentioned in the book are presented. As such, further knowledge or other texts
would be needed to fully understand the habit of a given plant or plant species.
This is not a book for beginners. Mr. Thompson makes
many references to plants related to those being discussed and if the reader is
not well versed in a given species or cultivar, an alternative text must be used
to sort out the reference, or the nuance is often lost. Fortunately, the
bibliography provides titles of books with a more practical approach.
As such, this book is not a How-to book on growing
Southern Hemisphere plants. Readers may find its extensive prose heavy going if
they are looking to propagate a desired plant. I was at first frustrated with
this format until I realized that this is a book one `dips into' when either
further information is needed or a comprehensive perspective for the habit and
habitat of a given plant is being researched. As such, The Looking Glass-Garden
acts more as a companion to other texts on specialized plantings.
As a final note, The Looking-Glass Garden did inspire my
desire to learn more about the indigenous plants of South Africa. Together with
my wife and two small children, we `truthed' the book by exploring the fields of
Namaqualand in bloom, hunted for cycad `treasure' in Stellenbosch Botanical
Gardens and discovered fields of Welwitschia
mirabilis at the foot of the Brandberg massif in central Namibia.
My eye is now tuned to those who use indigenous
plantings for their gardens here in Johannesburg and above all, I now more fully
appreciate the fabulous beauty and uniqueness of plants otherwise pushed aside
for more common Northern Hemisphere plants. Further, this book conveys a sense
of limitless possibilities, textures and intrigue through the sheer quantity of
`undiscovered' plants that can be used in gardens.
While this book does not follow a conventional, albeit,
practical approach, I am sure our ramblings were due to the nature of Mr.
Thompson's discussions with us through his writings about the many amazing
plants discussed. - Gregory J. Moncada, Middle School Principal and Biology
teacher, The American International School of Johannesburg, Pvt bag X4,
Bryanston 2021, Gauteng Province, South Africa.
Plants and People of Nepal. Manandhar, Narayan P. 2002.
ISBN 0-88192-527-6. (Cloth US$69.95) 636 pp. Timber Press, Inc. 133 S.W. Second
Avenue, Suite 450, Portland, Oregon 97204-3527. - With this work, Timber Press
continues its superb tradition of publishing scholarly titles about ethnobotany.
This comprehensive work, written by a native of Nepal and based on more than 30
years of field study, documents the various uses of 1517 taxa belonging to 858
genera and 195 families. The author's 3-page preface is reading worth requiring
of all students and colleagues who intend to embark on field studies. His field
method put a premium on establishing a firm rapport with his informants, mostly
healers over 60 years of age. Manandhar was determined to avoid using paid
informants, as he found that in Nepal at least, payment is counterproductive and
negatively affects the accuracy of findings, since payment evoked obligation by
the payee to provide long lists of plants and their uses, which were largely
fabricated.
Plants and People of Nepal opens with an introductory
chapter about the geography, climate, vegetation zones and a history of plant
collecting in Nepal. A short introduction to the peoples of Nepal is next,
followed by a general introduction to the ethnobotany of Nepal in food, beverage
and medicine. Perhaps this section's most admirable feature is the series of
color photographs, on 36 pages, of fuel wood stacks, market scenes, spinners and
weavers of baskets and cloth, winnowing, herbal medicines, terraced agriculture,
and fish trappers, printed on glossy paper, inserted into the opening essay on
the ethnobotany of Nepal.
The bulk of the book (420 pages) is a dictionary devoted
to summary plant descriptions and details about each plant's use. The
arrangement is alphabetical by genus. Vernacular names are provided in a variety
of Asian languages. Edible, medicinal and other uses are portrayed briefly. The
author's attractive line drawings of many taxa enhance the text on nearly every
page, and enable the book to be used as a field guide. A short glossary, a list
of references, and lengthy indices of common names and Latin names close the
volume.
Well-bound for continuous use, and attractively priced
for individuals and libraries, this book opens a window on a world and cultures
still hidden to most Americans. - Dorothea Bedigian, Washington University, St.
Louis and Missouri Botanical Garden.
Intrinsic Value and Integrity of Plants in the Context of
Genetic Engineering. 2001. David Heaf and Johannes Wirz, eds. Published by:
Ifgene—International Forum for Genetic Engineering,
Hafan, Llanystumdwy, LL52 0SG, UK. ISBN 0-9541035-0-5. - For three days in March
2001, forty participants from six countries participated in a workshop to
undertake a formidable task—exploring the multitude of issues arising from the
use of plant genetic resources in the context of genetic engineering. Upon
reviewing the list of participants I found that none were Americans, in fact,
there was no representation from North America, nor from the other world leader
in plant biotechnology, China. This was, a European affair, a fact that I find
not so surprising. The biotechnology industry in Europe has faced a fully
engaged (and often outraged) public and debate among policy makers in countries
such as Sweden, The Netherlands, Germany and the United Kingdom is dynamic.
Meanwhile, in the United States the public reaction to genetically modified
organisms has been comparatively mild, generally ignored by the press and with
the exception of standards for organic farms dealt with quietly by policy
makers. Many readers may experience a `culture shock' while reading these
proceedings. I certainly did, even though I felt that I was somewhat better
acquainted with the cultural and philosophical milieu surrounding plant
biotechnology. Twelve short papers provide the bulk of these proceedings
followed by discussions edited from recorded sessions. Both the subject matter
and those presenting come from diverse fields including (broadly) philosophy,
law, business, anthropology and biology. I would suggest that the appendix of
the volume (a discussion document prepared by the editors) be read first as this
provides a most helpful context for the papers.
The general theme to which every paper devotes attention
is defining what is intrinsic value and integrity regarding plants and how this is (or could
be) understood legally, philosophically, ethically, and biologically. Not
surprisingly, we do not get very far with defining terms. I am not surprised
because these sorts of metaphysical questions never have simple answers. Yes,
you will find a lot of metaphysics here but I don't state this to be derogatory.
My only criticism would be that the existing metaphysics of seminal philosophers
such as Immanuel Kant seem to have been overlooked, but perhaps this is the
subject of a future workshop. Klaus Peter Rippe who provides a straightforward
analysis of ethical problems that arise when we ascribe such terms to non-human
organisms presents the most lucid philosophical discussion. This is not a new
problem in bioethics and while other presentations are intriguing, e.g., Jeremy
Narby's ethnobotanical work with the Ashaninca Indians in the Peruvian
Rainforest, they fail to convey the importance of their contribution to the
overall theme.
The two papers dealing with legislative aspects of plant
integrity and dignity are excellent and anyone seeking to understand the
European debate regarding genetic engineering should spend some time reading
these well-referenced papers. Hans Verhoog examines the ethical structure of
Dutch laws regarding "the intrinsic value of animals" and the implications for
plants. Hanspeter Schmidt examines the constitutional law of Germany and
Switzerland regarding the "intrinsic value of the creature" outlining the
ethical as well as the political and semantic issues arising as the result of
the use of the phrase "Würde der Kreatur" which depending upon the translation
may mean: dignity of living creatures; dignity of creation; integrity of living
organisms and so forth.
Also at issue is the sustainable use of biotechnology
and conflicts with the biotechnology industry. The outstanding contribution is
by Florianne Koechlin who provides a compelling example of conflicts arising
between biotechnology (Bt-corn) and traditional, so-called ecologically
sustainable agriculture in Africa. Koechlin clearly illustrates the power of
plant biotechnology to impact the lives and livelihoods of farmers in developing
countries.
For myself, the paper by Michel Haring, a plant
physiologist, was enlightening, not so much for the step-by-step description of
the process involved in producing transgenic tomatoes (which is in and of itself
educational) but for his deep interest in the causes of genetic failures which
occur as the result of the procedures.
In summary, those expecting to find an analysis of risk
factors accompanying genetic engineering will not find it. The difficulty with
this volume is not so much found among the individual papers but rather that it
attempts to cover so much intellectual ground. The full scope of the
presentations take on broad issues in moral philosophy, bioethics, cultural and
societal attitudes towards biotechnology, legal issues, organic farming as well
as criticism of American agriculture, agribusiness and reductionism in science.
This volume will have limited usefulness as reference material in courses
covering bioethics and environmental science. - Christopher Frye, Maryland
Department of Natural Resources, Wildlife and Heritage Service, Annapolis, MD
21401.
The Alfred Russel Wallace Reader a Selection of Writings
from the Field. Jane R. Camerini, editor. 2002. ISBN 0-8018-6789-4 (Paper US
$18.95) ISBN 0-8018-6781-9 (Hardcover US $48.00) 219 pp. The Johns Hopkins
University Press, 2715 North Charles Street, Baltimore, Maryland 21218-4363. -It
is fair to say that, for many of us, Alfred Russell Wallace's significance is as
the force that finally precipitated Charles Darwin's publication of his
observations that natural selection serves as the machine of evolution. Beyond
that we know little. Recognizing this shortcoming, Jane Camerini edited a series
of Wallace's writings that tantalizes readers to learn more about the life and
complex interests of this important figure.
In her opening note Ms. Camerini states that her goal is
to introduce the reader to the life and work of Alfred Wallace. She proves true
to her stated purpose, beginning with a short biographical sketch that forewarns
of intricacies, idiosyncrasies, and contradictions that were part and parcel of
Alfred Russell Wallace. Here the reader gets a first glance at the intellect
that was shaped by society but not constrained by it. We learn that Wallace was
the product of a lower-middle class family, an individual reticent to be
self-promoting but vocal in opinions, a social activist, and an inquisitive mind
whose personal philosophy sometimes led away from recognized and accepted
scientific pursuits.
The main text is subdivided into four sections, each
representing a chronological interval and, in most cases, a location significant
in Wallace's life. Editorial, introductory remarks provided by Camerini give
context to the selected writings appearing in each section.
The book's first section excerpts Wallace's
autobiography and focuses on his experiences as a land surveyor. Each passage is
subtitled, alerting the reader to the specific topic contained within, but it is
not entirely clear whether the subtitles are Wallace's or Camerini's. While this
is of little practical concern, it did leave me wishing I had a copy of the
autobiography readily at hand to satisfy my curiosity while I simultaneously
wondered if this wasn't the editor's specific intent. Regardless, the
autobiography's material illuminates Wallace as a personality seemingly
predisposed to a scientific career; one almost senses that any science would
have done. In a particularly striking excerpt, Wallace tells of his delight in
accurately determining land area by trigonometric calculations, fascination with
geology and recognition that geologic formations differed from one place to
another, increasing interest in things botanical, and his realization that
fossils alluded to local environmental and organismal change over time. I read
this section thinking that Wallace's powers of observation would have lent him
well to anthropology, archaeology, geology or any of the ologies. By luck and
fortune he chose to focus his attention on species that would lead him to
formulate a view later recognized as evolutionary theory. We should all be
thankful that it was biology that won out.
Continuing through the book and Wallace's life, the
middle sections represent the height of Wallace's field naturalist career. The
Amazonian passages suggest the exhilaration Alfred Wallace must have felt as he,
his brother Herbert, friend Henry Bates, and botanist Richard Spruce explored
and collected along the Amazon, Rio Negro, and Rio Uaupé. Even more telling
about Wallace's character are sections detailing the arduousness of the journey
and troubles obtaining supplies and local workers. What rightly might have
degenerated into a self-pitying recounting appears here as matter-of-fact
information for explorers who might follow afterward. This section serves as a
good cautionary tale for any field biologist, aspiring or otherwise, reminding
the reader that field work has always been a combination of inspiration,
perspiration, and an absolute unwillingness to quit. Travel in what was then
called the Malay Archipelago coupled with his experiences in Amazonia yielded
the most seminal of Wallace's work, including the essays that would shake
Darwin's placid progress on evolutionary theory. "On the tendency of varieties
to depart indefinitely from the original type" appears as published in 1858 and
is still stunning in its clarity and simplicity. I only regretted that Camerini
chose not to include Wallace's earlier, companion work "On the law which has
regulated the introduction of new species," and I wondered again whether the
omission was intended to send the reader in search of other Wallace sources.
In her introductory comments to the last section, Ms.
Camerini cautions that the writings contained within diverge somewhat from the
book's main theme. Included are selections that bracket the 50-year span of
Alfred Wallace's writings on human evolution, commentary on his tour of North
America, and an excerpt of a remembrance by his daughter and son. The scattering
of topics proves far less dismaying than what the pieces reveal about the
adventurous, intellectual Wallace present in early sections of the book.
Suddenly we are confronted with a man who, in his later years, contended that
the human brain and its function could not be the result of cumulative,
selective advantages but must be the product of some higher, guiding force.
Adding insult to scientific injury, we also find that, in his North American
travels, Wallace was best compensated monetarily not for any lecture on natural
selection but for a discussion on spiritualism, the alleged ability to
communicate bi-directionally with the deceased. Surely, after the build up of
Wallace as a consummate field naturalist and scientific thinker, these last
readings provide a dramatic crash. Saving utter distress, Camerini includes a
family
remembrance as the last piece of edited text.
This passage, written by William and Violet Wallace, paints a fond portrait of
homes, habits, fatherly attentions, and ever-new delight at discoveries near
family dwellings.
In my opinion Ms. Camerini has done an excellent job of
revealing just enough of Alfred Wallace to make any reader ready to search for
more. In the accompanying notes, list of books by Wallace, and bibliography
Camerini provides ample sources for further reference. The edited selections
contained in The Alfred Russel Wallace Reader a Selection of Writings from the
Field convey the complexity of a powerful, scientifically philosophical mind
rife with contradictions. As such, the book provides lessons for anyone with an
interest in the history of biological thought. The text makes for enjoyable
reading and the occasional illustrations and photographs are informative without
being distracting. — Nancy E. Cowden, Biology Program, Lynchburg College,
Lynchburg, VA 24504.
Illustrated Dictionary of Mycology. 2000. Ulloa, Miguel
and Richard T. Hanlin. ISBN 0-89054-257-0 (Cloth US$99.00) 448 pp. American
Phytopathological Society Press, 3340 Pilot Knob Road, St. Paul, MN 55121-2097.
- Every botany/mycology teaching laboratory should have a copy of this resource
available for its students. It is not a taxonomically oriented dictionary, such
as Ainsworth and Bisby's Dictionary of the Fungi
(Hawksworth et al, 1995), but instead it focuses
on m ore than 3800 terms relating to anatomy, morphology, physiology and ecology
of fungi. There is a brief outline of fungal classification at the end of the
book, based primarily on Alexopoulos et al.(1996) with some additions from
Hawksworth (1995).
Each entry begins with a complete etymology of the word
and most end with a specific taxonomic example of occurrence . Synonyms and
antonyms are also listed. For instance, "Heliophilous (Gr. hélios,
sun + phílos, have an affinity for + L. -osus > OF. -ous, -eus
> E. -ous, possession the qualities of): that
which prefers sunny habitats, or which requires them in order to develop: e.g.,
such as species of Mycena (Agaricales). Also called
anheliophilous. Cf. heliophilous. Of the 12 botanical and mycological
dictionaries and glossaries I have examined, this is the only one to include an
example with nearly every definition.
The definitions are usually more complete, and always
more clearly written, than corresponding definitions from other dictionaries.
This may be a result of its unusual genesis. The dictionary is based on the
first author's Diccionarioilustrado de micología
(1991) which was prepared to provide a Spanish language resource for students of
mycology. The terms chosen were derived from several, mostly English, sources
including Snell and Dick's A Glossary of Mycology
(1971) and Ainsworth and Bisby's.... Specifically
omitted were terms related to the color, taste, or odor of metabolic products
(which are included in Snell and Dick) and taxonomic names below the level of
class (which are included in Hawksworth et al.). The definitions had to be
carefully translated into Spanish to be clear, precise, and useful to students.
In preparing the present volume, the definitions were re-translated back into
English while preserving their accuracy and usefulness. At the same time the
number of terms was nearly doubled.
The most useful feature of the Illustrated Dictionary... for students at all levels is
the illustrations. More than 1300 original photographs, photomicrographs,
line-drawings or diagrams accompany and clarify a corresponding term. Invariably
the caption identifies the organism being illustrated.
I have only two suggestions for improvement - and I have
mixed feelings about one of these. One definite improvement would be to include
an index to illustrated taxa. Students appreciate well-illustrated texts to help
them work through laboratory materials, but the illustrations in most texts are
restricted to common examples and a relatively few structures. The illustrations
provided in this dictionary are a wonderful resource that could be more
effectively used by students in the laboratory if such an index was provided.
Second, all illustrations are black and white. Photographs and photomicrographs
may (or may not) benefit from reproduction in color. For instance, in some cases
where labeling an area or tissue with an arrow may be slightly ambiguous, being
able to refer to a particular colored region may be useful. All-in-all this is
an extremely useful reference and well worth the cost. - Marshall D. Sundberg,
Department of Biological Sciences, Emporia State University, Emporia, KS 66801.
Literature cited.
-Alexopoulos,
C.J., C.W. Mims and M. Blackwell. 1996. Introductory
Mycology, 4th ed. John Wiley, New York, 868
pp.
-Hawksworth, D.L., P.M. Kirk, B.C. Sutton and D.N.
Pegler. 1995. Ainsworth & Bisby's Dictionary of the
Fungi, 8th ed. International Mycological
Institute, CAB International, Wallingford, UK 616 pp.
-Snell, W.H. and E.A. Dick. 1971. A
Glossary of Mycology. Rev. Ed. Harvard University Press, Cambridge, MA 181
pp.
-Ulloa, M. 1991. Diccionario ilustrado de micología. Instituto de
Biología, UNAM, México, D.F., 310 pp.
Phytoliths: Applications in Earth Sciences and Human
History. Jean Domnique Meunier and Fabrice Colin. Editors. 2001. ISBN
90-5809-345X (Hardbound, cloth US$123.75) 378 pp. A. A. Balkema Publishers,
Lisse/ Abingdon/ Exton (Pa)/ Tokyo; c/o Ashgate Publishing Company, 2252 Ridge
Road, Brookfield, VT 5036-9704. - Forty-five years ago I entered the field of
palynology applied to oil exploration. In those days anything smaller than 150µm
was included in palynology. Around 1960, I received a paper describing
phytoliths from Australia which introduced me to the subject and the possibility
that it could be useful in stratigraphic correlations. However, at that time
only spore-pollen and dinoflagellates were used as palynology items in oil
exploration. Intense debates about the limitations of palynology in the 1960s
restricted paleopalynology to acid-resistant organic microfossils. Phytoliths of
opaline silica became a separate independent discipline. However, as
demonstrated in a couple of papers in this book, a synergistic approach between
palynology and phytoliths works well in the Quaternary and in archaeological
problems. Rovner (p. 119) considers his description of phytolith analysis in his
1974 paper as "second palynology" his unfortunate mistake.
This is a much awaited comprehensive book on
applications of phytoliths in diverse fields, such as, paleoclimatology and
paleoecology; diet and health; archaeological structures and ancient
agriculture; and soil-plant interactions. The book is a compilation of thirty
review and original papers. Most of the papers were presented at the Second
International Meeting on Phytolith Research held in Aix-en-Provence (France) in
August 1998.
Phytoliths are microscopic minerals that are
precipitated in plant tissues for various physiological functions in the
life-time of plants. Unless phytoliths are fossilized, they cannot be called
fossils as they are defined in the preface of this book. Readers may find that
authors of various papers in this book have made their own efforts to identify
fossil phytoliths with extant ones. Bowdery et al. have made a preliminary
effort to propose a morphological classification scheme and phytolith
identification keys which eventually may lead to a binomial nomenclature of
phytoliths. In spite of considering himself a lumper, Twiss classified 56
phytoliths forms from grasses into 6 classes and identified differences between
phytoliths from C3 and C4 grasses.
Various methods have been employed in isolating
phytoliths in various chapters of this book, but the sample processing method
employed by Wang et al. produced complete and clean phytoliths from Quaternary
laterite in South China. The illustrated SEM photomicrographs of several types
of phytoliths from various extant plants by Bowdery et al. indicates
that their phytolith extraction technique is suitable for
SEM illustrations although the technique is not described. Their illustrations
also indicate that phytoliths are present in a variety of plant species and are
not restricted to grasses.
Phytoliths are shown to be an excellent tool in refining
biostratigraphy and interpreting paleoclimatology and paleoecology. A rich
phytolith assemblage from a 12.5 m thick late Pleistocene section of loess in
the Columbia Basin shows a greater proportion of Artemisia tridentata and Stipa
phytoliths in the late Pleistocene assemblages than in those of the modern
grassland indicating a cooler and drier climate in the late Pleistocene.
Phytolith assemblages of the last Interglacial, last Glacial, and the Holocene
are distinguished from the eastern region of Towada Volcano in northeastern
Japan, and their paleoclimate interpreted. The study of two slope soil profiles
from the eastern Kivu region of Congo, Africa, yielded well preserved phytoliths
from a 1000 year old soil layer indicating that opal phytoliths can be well
preserved in tropical soils.
Three papers illustrate the application of phytoliths in
diet and health. Morphologically different phytoliths that occur in durum wheat
and bread wheat were used to detect the adulteration of pasta. Phytoliths are
microscopic so can be deposited in very fine cracks and crevices and remain
preserved for millions of years. A method to examine exogenous deposits on
archaeological teeth is described which may be useful in determining subsistence
patterns and interpreting past environments. Another paper compares dental
microstriations and calculus of two populations from different periods and
socio-cultural backgrounds and interprets food habits on the basis of recovered
phytoliths and fragments of starch and cellulose.
Several papers in this book show the usefulness of
phytoliths in precise micro-stratigraphy and for interpreting ancient
agriculture practices. Phytolith analysis of samples from small places and
narrow intervals are shown to be very useful in gaining archaeological
information which may be very difficult to get by any other means.
Identification of maize phytoliths proves that the cultivation of maize started
about two thousand years ago in eastern Uruguay. Similarly the maize phytolith
identified from an archaeological Andean "kitchen" indicates the use of maize
for food about 1500 yrs BP in northwestern Argentina. The fourth paper analyzes
phytoliths in Neolithic ploughing areas at the Zagaje Stradowskie site in the
loess zone of western Malopolska in southern Poland. A combined use of
phytoliths and palynology provides the history of the agrosystem in the Rhône
mid-valley of southern France indicating that an agrarian practice was
maintained from 2000 to 200 yrs BP with the abandonment of the drainage system
during 476-1000 yrs BP. On the basis of phytoliths it is determined that the
numerous pits found scattered in the iron age site of Kilise Tepe in Turkey were
primarily used for grain storage and then recycled for garbage disposal at the
end of their original use. The history of agro-pastoral economies from about 350
to about 40 yrs BC in southern Kazakhstan is deduced on the basis of phytolith
assemblages from two Iron Age Saka-Wusun sites.
A phytolith study of the earliest ash deposit from the
Chalcolithic level (Copper Age; 3000 yrs BC) at Balathal, Rajasthan (western
India), indicates a practice of farming rice and millets in that area. Holocene
phytolith assemblages from soils of 29 sites in West New Britain, Papua new
Guinea, shows that phytoliths can be used to successfully differentiate
vegetation communities according to levels of anthropogenic disturbance.
Phytolith analysis from three discrete areas of a 3,400 year old stemmed
obsidian artifact and a soil sample from the same stratigraphic horizon from
Bitokara Mission, West New Britain shows three distinct assemblages indicating
three micro-environments.
Proficient methods have been devised to identify
phytoliths in sediments and interpret their significance. A phytolith from the
assemblage recovered from a sample taken from a first century hearth structure
in front of a temple at ed-Dur, U.A.E. is identified as that of Phoenix
dactylifera. In another study, phytoliths in prehistoric ash layers from the
Lower-Middle Paleolithic Tabun Cave and Middle-Upper Paleolithic Kebara Cave are
identified with extant taxa by statistical analysis. The morphological data of
69 extant species of Cyperaceae and Gramineae identified by optical and scanning
microscopes and subjected to cluster and canonical correspondence analysis shows
that some sedges and cereal grasses possess fairly specific phytolith spectra
that can be used for their taxonomic identification. In an effort to find a way
to identify phytoliths at species level, inflorescence-bract-produced phytoliths
from four species of wheat and two species of barley are analyzed by
computer-assisted image and statistical analysis and a classification key is
developed. This method appears to be useful to reliably identify phytoliths at
the generic level. Phytolith study from two Middle Archaic Period
hunter-gatherer sites in eastern USA, shows a warming trend over a wide
geographical area. An analytical study of occluded elements in phytoliths shows
that the phytoliths from the leaves of two plant species growing on the same
sediment occlude elements in different amounts. This differential concentration
may lead to methods to identify the source of phytoliths in sediments. Methods
are being improved for resolving phytolith d 13C to identify C3 and C4 grasses
for paleoecological reconstruction. Raman spectroscopy is used to detect
occluded organic and coaly matter in phytoliths to interpret paleo-fires in
archaeological samples.
Experiments have been conducted to determine soil-plant
interaction and its effect on phytolith morphology. Leaves of several gymnosperm
genera, studied by x-ray microanalysis through scanning electron microscope,
shows that silicon and aluminum co-deposited in the outer layer of the needles.
It is suggested that the higher aluminum content in fossil phytoliths may
indicate their gymnospermous source. Biodegraded beech leaves collected and
subjected to microanalysis by transmission electron microscope indicate that
bacteria may be involved in the biogeochemical cycle of silicon. A study of
phytolith assemblages from two profiles taken from a larch forest of the Far
East of the former USSR indicates the existence of stable and unstable
phytoliths. Phytolith assemblages studied from two laterite profiles in the
middle and lower reaches of the Yangtze River shows their great potential for
reconstructing the past vegetation and climate.
The editors have done an excellent job in putting these
thirty papers under one cover. The book provides a glance at recent advances in
phytolith research and application. In spite of its steep price, the book will
be interesting to botanists and geologists alike. All libraries should have this
book on their reference collection shelf. - Satish K. Srivastava, Geology
Consultant, 3054 Blandford Drive, Rowland Heights, California 91748-4825
Environmental Physiology of Plants, 3rd edition, Alastair H. Fitter and Robert K.M.
Hay. 2002. ISBN 0-12-257766-3 (paper US$ ) 367 pp. Academic Press,, 525 B
Street, Suite 1900, San Diego California 92101-4495. This is the latest edition
of a text that has been popular for use in advanced undergraduate and graduate
courses in plant ecophysiology and related areas. The 2nd edition was published in 1987, and considering the
many developments in this field since then, an updated version of this text will
be highly welcomed by instructors who have used this text for their classes.
The third edition largely retains the structure and
content of the 2nd edition. Chapters on Energy
and Carbon; Mineral Nutrients; Water; Temperature; Toxicity, and An Ecological
Perspective provide a broad survey of plant environmental physiology. The text
takes an ecological perspective on these topics, focusing on those aspects of
physiology most relevant to plant adaptation to differing natural environments,
and to coping with real-world stresses.
While the coverage of the classical core of plant
environmental physiology (topics such as adaptation/ acclimation to sun and
shade, or ion transport in soil ) is very solid, I would have liked greater
coverage given to some areas that have become of major interest in the field in
recent years. This edition does include discussion of such "newer" topics as
stable isotopes and the use of phylogenetic information in comparative
physiology. However, there are also a number of other topics that might have
been covered in greater depth, such as the function of the xanthophyll, cycle in
photoprotection, or the role of volatile organic compounds (e.g. isoprene) in
plant carbon budgets and in protection against high temperature damage.
By the authors' own admission, the physiology of
responses to global changes is not "treated in full in this book", although this
edition does feature new sections on "Responses to elevated carbon dioxide
concentrations" and "Life in a warmer world: the case of the Arctic Tundra".
Instructors who wish to emphasize topics such as rising atmospheric CO2, climate change, or increased UV radiation will
need to provide extensive materials to supplement this text.
Apart from the partial neglect of topics such as these,
this is a very fine introduction to the field. The chapters are well-organized
and full of pertinent examples and references to the primary literature, and the
writing is clear and lucid throughout. The coverage of most topics is at a level
of detail that is appropriate for an audience of capable, advanced
undergraduates or beginning graduate students. This book might also be useful to
plant biologists from other disciplines looking for a brief introduction to or
refresher on general plant ecological physiology. - Daniel Taub, Biology
Department, Southwestern University, Georgetown, TX 78627.
Seeds of New Zealand Gymnosperms and Dicotyledons.
Colin J. Webb and Margaret J.A. Simpson. 2001. ISBN 0-9583299-3-1 (Cloth NZ $90)
428 pp. Manuka Press, P.O. Box 12 179, Christchurch, NZ. - Sometimes as I
attempt to identify a Carex or Cyperus specimen or as I set up a germination
experiment, I am awed by the beauty of a seed or fruit. As a child I helped in
the family garden and can still remember handling calendula, beet, and carrot
seeds that came in small brown paper packages from the Burpee Seed Company.
Seeds are tiny miracles, not only for the embryo that they contain, the
mysteries of why, when, and where they germinate, but for themselves. This book
by Webb and Simpson illustrates the diversity of New Zealand gymnosperm and
angiosperm seeds and celebrates seeds.
There are 165 plates accompanied by text that describes
the seeds or fruit, including color and size, and provides taxonomic synonomies,
The text also makes other relevant observations about variability that might
make identification difficult, geographical differences, and range and
age-related changes in seed color. The book includes 94 families, 255 genera,
and 1058 species. Where variation in a genus is slight, only representative
species are shown. The plates are preceded by keys to nine groups, e.g.,
cypselas or mericarps, and within groups to genera. Gymnosperms precede
angiosperms and arrangement is alphabetical by family, subfamily, and then genus
and species. Care was taken to make difficult genera accessible. For
difficult-to-identify species of Coprosma (Rubiaceae), for example, tables
provide information about operculum ornamentation and pyrene length that allow
species to be segregated so that they can then be identified using individual
descriptions, illustrations, and distribution information. Although I have not
used the keys, they seem clearly written. There is a short introduction that
describes the scope of the book and features information about NZ seeds,
referring to pertinent NZ publications. There is also a section covering
conventions and abbreviations.
Unlike other seed floras of which I am aware, Seeds of
New Zealand makes extensive use of scanning electron micrographs as well as
light microscope photographs. Many of the SEMs of small seeds (< 1-2 mm) of
families, of, for example, Ericacae, Loganaceae, and Scropulariaceae, are
themselves works of art. The SEMs are of entire seeds or provide enlarged detail
of seed coats. In some cases, SEMs, for example, of pappus hairs, complement
light micrographs.
Many photographs are of several seeds to show variable
morphology. In addition to the majority black and while photographs, there are
several color plates. These depict, for example, the red arils of Alectron
excelsus (titoki, Sapindaceae) that cap a shiny black seed and the odd greenish
inflorescence of Korthalsella clavata (dwarf mistletoe, Viscaceae) with a seed
being extruded from a fruit. The text description for the Korthalsella is on an
adjacent page, but as a very minor quibble, that for the Alectron is on a
distant page that could have been noted on the color plate. Another set of
colored plates shows seeds of Carmichaelia species (broom, Fabaceae) in an
intriguing array of intra and inter specific color patterns. This genus,
depicted on the book¹s cover has a fruit, that when mature, presents the seed as
in a frame that is a persistent, thickened suture. I have many favorite fruits,
but those of Carmichaella that I saw near Wellington while on a sabbatical
leave, are exceptional. The authors note in the text that Carmichaelia australis
has distinctive regional forms that have been previously given species status.
The colors, patterns, and presentation raise obvious question about evolution
and selective forces.
In addition to the usual explanation of terms, the
glossary contains a color chart where light buff can be distinguished from
medium buff, or light nut brown from nut brown and grey nut brown. Other
glossary figures provide illustrations of testa patterns and seed and embryo
shapes.
The black and white photographs give the book its
substance and will permit seed identification for numerous purposes.
Archaeology, paleobotany, and seed bank studies come to mind. It would also
allow for comparisons of seeds both within and between geographic areas and
taxa. Beyond its uses for plant identification and classification, Seeds of New
Zealand provides a wealth of information for conservation of biodiversity. The
introduction ends on the note that more research is needed to determine
ecological function of seeds in terms of dispersal and germination and how
variations in form relate to phylogeny. These would be instructive regarding
selective pressures and evolutionary pathways. Beyond these, there are
interesting facts to discover: The seeds of Daucus glochidatus (the native
carrot, Apiaceae) are easy to distinguish from the naturalized Daucus carota by
shorter and more sparsely ciliated mericarps with more simply barbed spines and
some, e.g., Geniostoma repestre var. ligustrifolium (hangehange, Loganianceae),
have coalesced seeds, joined by a persistent placenta. There are, too, the
exotic names, at least to the North American of, e.g., Gingidia (Apiaceae),
Oreostylidium (Stylidiaceae), Centipeda (Asteraceae), Alseuosmia
(Alseuosmiaceae), Corokia (Escalloniaceae) or Euchiton (Asteraceae). (These
bring to mind the song about faraway places with strange sounding names).
The groundwork for this book was laid in the 1960¹s when
a seed atlas for identification of New Zealand native plants was undertaken
initially by Ruth Mason, to whom the volume is dedicated. Ruth Mason who was
later joined by Margaret Simpson carried out a seed identification service
provided by the Botany Division of the New Zealand Department of Scientific and
Industrial Research. Colin Webb is a foremost expert on New Zealand seeds. Over
the years many people - photographers, taxonomists, writers, and others - helped
move the project forward. Sadlly, Margaret Simpson died in 1995 before the work
was completed
The book is well produced. However, there are some soft
edges, primarily in some photographs of thick seeds for which depth of field was
a problem. I could also quibble with the placement of the voucher list just in
front of the index so that it gets in the way of using the index, but it
contains the plate number for each species.
Publication of the companion volume on the
monocotyledons is anticipated. I hope it is not far off so I can see what seeds
of New Zealand Cyperaceae look like. - Mary A. Leck, Biology Department, Rider
University, Lawrenceville, NJ.
10th International Exhibition of Botanical Art and
Illustration. James J. White and Lugene B. Bruno (eds). 2001. ISBN
0-913196-73-8 (Paper US$25.00) 183 pp. Hunt Institute for Botanical
Documentation, Carnegie Mellon University, 5000 Forbes Avenue, Pittsburgh, PA
15213-3890. White and Bruno present the catalog of botanical artwork displayed
at the 2001-2002 exhibition at the Hunt Institute of Carnegie Mellon University.
Given the importance of the aesthetic appeal of plants for the promotion of
botany, such artwork comes as an important tool for reaching the general public,
and this book does a fine job of presenting current botanical art and
illustration.
The past few decades have seen an amazing renaissance
for botanical art. Botanical art, beginning with early coins and medical works,
reached its zenith in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries with the work of
luminaries such as Ehret, Redoute, and the Bauer brothers working mostly in
watercolor and gouache on vellum with those works then promulgated via etchings.
With the advent of other techniques of illustration, botanical painting waned,
especially with the coming of photography and mass color printing. Perhaps the
best known publication of botanical art and illustration, Curtis Botanical
Magazine first appeared during the late eighteenth century. However, even this
famous periodical briefly disappeared for a few years in the late twentieth
century before its title was revived.
Many extremely talented new artists from societies such
as the American Society of Botanical Artists, the Society of Botanical Artists,
and the Guild of Natural Science Illustrators are now producing works that rival
the best botanical art of the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries. In
this revival, a key role belongs to the Hunt Institute of Carnegie Mellon
University. That Institute is one of the finest existing repositories of
botanical art and illustration and of information on that field and its history.
The Hunt Institute has conducted regular exhibitions of twentieth century
botanical artists from the mid-1960's onward at approximately three-year
intervals, with over 850 artists now exhibited in these programs.
The catalog of the 2001-2002 exhibition is printed on
heavy weight archival paper with a matte surface, though colored areas do show
some gloss—i.e. it is easily viewed in almost any lighting. Colors are strong
and accurate as expected from such a high-quality work, which introduces or
shows the latest work of artists from ten countries and on six continents.
Artist's biographies are listed in the second part of the catalog, after the
works themselves are presented.
This breadth of submissions seen in this work is one of
the most heartening aspects of the recent renaissance in botanical art,
guaranteeing a very wide coverage of the world's plants in fine art. Most works
are done in watercolor, though a few others range from gouache to pen and ink to
graphite. Most worksare realistic, though some are more stylized. All are
accurate depictions at the scientific level—readers from just about anywhere
will recognize familiar species from gardens and the wild.
10th International Exhibition of Botanical Art and
Illustration belongs in every college and university library both for its value
to botanists and for the connection that its provides to the world of art.
Anyone teaching an introductory course, especially one containing sizeable
numbers of non-science majors, would do well to use a copy in teaching since
extension of scientific topics into the humanities can be such a help in
creating and maintaining student interest. It is a delight for both the mind and
the eyes. - Douglas Darnowski, Washington College, Chestertown, MD 21620
Perception of the Visual Environment. Boothe, R.G.
2002. ISBN 0-387-98790-8 (hardcover, US $90). 407 pp. Springer-Verlag, New York,
NY. - I was asked to review this book because my research group focuses on the
public's biological understanding of plants within the visual environment. Our
research findings have led us to propose and introduce a number of visual
perception and visual cognition-based concepts to improve botany education
(e.g., plant blindness, botanical sense of place,marquee plants, and the LimitingCases™ teaching strategy). So, the contents of
this book were of obvious interest to me and my 30 Ph.D. students, past and
present. However, in wearing my botanist's hat, I had to ask myself: "Of what
value might such a book be to the broad spectrum of botanists represented by the
BSA as its members conduct their research investigations and teach their
students about plants?"
The book's author is a professor of psychology at Emory
University and he teaches a course with the same title as this book. His
research laboratory at Yerkes Primate Center conducts NIH-supported
neurophysiological studies of normal and abnormal development of vision in
monkeys. He tells us that the book's "… primary audience consists of juniors and
seniors majoring in psychology, biology [emphasis added], or neuroscience…. Graduate students
and postgraduates in related fields…form a secondary audience." Given the fact
that future biologists are part of the book's target audience, I then asked:
"What are some examples of how botanists might
benefit from the knowledge this book contains?" To answer that question, first,
a general overview of its contents may prove helpful.
To read this book, no specialized background knowledge
of visual perception, beyond basic concepts one learns in introductory college
biology and psychology, is assumed. Throughout the book, the author compares and
contrasts what it means to perceive the world visually—from a human's, a
monkey's, and a computer's standpoint. Each chapter is supported by a carefully
selected reading list, comprised of approximately 20 accessible sources, drawn
from the vast literature base of visual neuroscience. "The primary purpose of
the book is pedagogical" (p. vii). In keeping with the book's title, 472
illustrations provide visual representations of key ideas—in the form of maps,
graphs, charts, diagrams, and images. Two other features that promote learning
are found on the opening pages of all 12 chapters: (a) a detailed chapter
outline, and (b) a short list of questions that the reader should be able to
answer after having read the chapter.
Here are some representative, verbatim, chapter
pre-questions (one from each of the 12 chapters, in sequence) that might
interest botanists and capture the flavor of this
textbook:
1. Percepts convey to observers "knowledge about what,"
"knowledge about how," and "subjective perceptual experience." Use the example
of the phenomenon of binocular rivalry to illustrate
what is meant by these three distinct aspects of percepts.
2. Distinguish between empirical
knowledge and perceptual knowledge.
3. What are some differences between natural and artificial
environments, and what implications do these differences have on perception?
4. What is the function of perceptual filtering?
5. Illustrate with some examples how the visual system
is organized into functional streams [M-, P-, and K-streams] of processing.
6. Elaborate what it means to conceptualize perceptual
processing as being essentially a statistical procedure.
7. What are hue, saturation,
and brightness [with respect to color]?
8. What kinds of strategies can be employed to try to
infer properties of surfaces from pieces of contour?
9. Describe what it means to assert that stereovision
cannot be based exclusively on either space or time, but must be based on
space-time.
10. Summarize the neural streams of processing that are
particularly concerned with temporal change and motion.
11. What are the Hebbian rules, and how can they explain
some of the effects of environmental influences on perceptual development?
12. Give some examples of perceptual qualities that are
likely to be derived primarily from the observer instead of the stimulus.
In short, this book is designed to move from questions
of what it means to perceive visually; to scientific
ways of determining what is perceived; to what is out there to be perceived; to
how we transduce, sample, and image what is out there; to the biological
hardware and software we use to do this; to how we perceive color, form, 3-D,
and motion; to perceptual system development; to how low-level signals take on
high-level qualities; to the subjective aspects of seeing. It does this with
sufficient scientific rigor for an introductory work, while explaining the
subject in a manner comprehensible to non-specialists.
There is no botanical knowledge in this book. A botanist
who reads it needs to consider whether or not its contents lead to a better
understanding of plants. So, how might perception of the
visual environment intersect with the work that today's botanists do? Plants
are a key component of the visual landscape. Botanical fieldwork takes place in a visual environment that
consists of visible (and invisible) electromagnetic radiation, the earth's
atmosphere, and the surfaces of water, vegetation, fauna, anthropogenic
artifacts and structures, plus other physical features. Each visual
environmental element has the potential to confound the botanist's observations
and records. An awareness of the characteristics, strengths, biases, and
weaknesses of our visual observation systems can only serve to enhance the
quality of our research—whether we are taking field notes by ourselves or
bidding satellites to do our remote sensing. Conversely, botanical laboratory work frequently involves interpretation of
microscopy-based images. Once again, visual perception enters the picture—from
the origin of the image itself to our making sense of it.
Consider another example. Some us may study plant-insect
interactions. In many bee-pollinated flowers, a region of low ultraviolet (uv)
reflectance is found near the center of each petal. This pattern is invisible to
us, because human vision does not extend into the ultraviolet region of the
electromagnetic spectrum. Bees, although blind to red light, can easily
detect ultraviolet light. The contrasting ultraviolet pattern they
see (called a nectar guide) helps a bee to quickly locate the flower's
center. This adaptation leads to visual
cueing that may benefit both the flower (enabling more efficient
pollination) and the pollinator (aiding the bee's rapid collection of nectar).
When I ask students how we could see these nectar guides
for ourselves on living flowers, they often say: "Take a uv light source
outdoors at night and shine it on various flowers to see which species look
different from their daylight appearance and may possess nectar guides." They
mistakenly apply their "black light-fluorescent poster" schema to this research
problem! By failing to understand that sunlight already has a uv component and yet we don't see nectar guides
during the day (because the eye simply cannot detect reflected uv light),
students are unable to design an appropriate experiment. Once he understood more
about visual perception, one student took identical shots of black-eyed Susan
flowers, Rudbeckia hirta, on B&W film using a
35mm camera—one shot with, and one shot without, an ultraviolet filter attached.
The resulting paired photographs simulated the differences between what humans
see and what bees see on the same flower.Some students might say he should have
used color film, but knowledge of visual perception tells us there cannot possibly be any "true" color rendition of
reflected radiation that falls outside the spectral band visible to our eyes. It
is also interesting to note that most digital still cameras and digital video
cameras contain CCDs that are just as sensitive to uv light as silver halide
film is, and can even yield immediate floral images under uv illumination.
Another botanical application: Some of us use Munsell's
Color Charts for Plant Tissues to separate and categorize plants in our research
studies by leaf, flower, or fruit on the basis of differences in hue, value, and
chroma. The accompanying directions state: "Sometimes the color of plant tissues
reveals the genetic origin of plants, effects of toxic substances, or the
actions of parasitic organisms," as well as helps in solving problems of plant
physiology and nutrition." Boothe's book helps the botanist understand the basis
of such visual distinctions as chroma, hue, and value—whether the researcher is
using such direct-comparison color charts, a hand-held colorimeter, or plant
image files to be analyzed with a software-based color-area meter.
At this point, the PSB reader will have to decide if the content of this
book might help to inform his or her own work— be it research or teaching. If
visual perception concepts, principles, or judgments are involved in that work,
then, in the opinion of this reviewer, this book is well worth reading. It
stands up well in comparison to similar scholarly titles which appear in print
today. Marcel Proust once wrote: "The real voyage of discovery consists not
of seeking new landscapes but in having new eyes." In effect, that's what this
book offers an observant reader. —James H. Wandersee, Louisiana State
University, 15º Laboratory, Room 223-F Peabody
Hall, Baton Rouge, LA 70803.
American Journal of Botany back
issues
American
Journal of Botany back issues from 1914 (volume 1) are available on the
JSTOR web site http://www.jstor.org/. Articles can be viewed as
citations, graphics (scalable high quality gif images), or downloaded into
standard or high quality PDF reprints. Contents can be browsed or searched. The
JSTOR material is subject to a five year moving wall; more recent on-line copies
of the Journal will remain at http://www.amjbot.org.
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 (1 February, 1 May, 1 August or 1 November). Send E-mail to sundberm@emporia.edu, call or write as
soon as you notice the book of interest in this list because they go quickly! -
editor.
Barley Science: Recent Advances
from Molecular Biology to Agronomy of Yield and Quality. Slafer, Gustavo A.,
José Luis Molina-Cano, Roxana Savin, José Luis
Araus, and Ignacia Romagosa. 2002. ISBN 1-56022-909-8 (Cloth US$129.95) ISBN
1_56022-910-1 (Paper US$69.95) 566 pp. Haworth Press, Inc. 10 Alice Street,
Binghamton, NY 13904-1580.
Biology of Vanda Miss Joaquim. Sin, Hew Choy, Yam Tim Wing,
and Joseph Arditti. 2002. ISBN 9971-69-251-1 (Paper US $45.00) 259 pp. Singapore
University Press (PTE) LTD, Yusof Ishak House, Ground Floor, National University
of Singapore, 31 Lower Kent Ridge Road, Singapore 119078.
Cacti: Biology and Uses.
Nobel, Park S. (ed). ISBN 0-520-23157-0 (Cloth US$65.00) 290 pp. University
of California Press, 2000 Center Street #303, Berkeley, CA 94704.
Carnivorous Plants of the United
States and Canada, 2nd ed. Schnell, Donald
E. 2002. ISBN 0-88192-540-3 (Cloth US$39.95) 468pp. Timber Press, 133 S.W.
Second Avenue, Suite 450, Portland, Oregon, 97204-3527.
The Ecology of Plants. 2002.
Gurevitch, Jessica, Samuel Scheiner, and Gordon Fox. ISBN 0-87893-291-7 (Cloth
US$89.95) 540 pp. Sinauer Associates, Inc., P.O. Box 407, Sunderland, MA
01375-0407
English-Spanish Dictionary of
Plant Biology: Including Plantae, Monera, Protoctista, Fungi and Index of
Spanish Equivalents. Morris, David W. and Marta Z. Morris. 2002. ISBN
1-898326-97-5 (Paper US$28.95) 647 pp. Cambridge International Science
Publishing, 7 Meadow Walk, Great Abington, Cambridge CB1 6AZ, United Kingdom.
Eucalyptus: The Genus Eucalyptus. Coppen, John J.W. (ed). 2002. ISBN
0-415-27679-1 (Cloth US$75.00) 450 pp. Taylor & Francis Books, Ltd.,
Cheriton House, North Way, Andover, Hampshire SP10 5BE. United Kingdom.
The Fever Trail: In Search of
the Cure for Malaria. Honigsbaum, Mark. 2001. ISBN 0-374-15469-4 (Cloth
US$25.00) 307 pp. Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 19 Union Square West, New York, NY
10003.
Flora of Glacier National
Park. Lesica, Peter. 2002. ISBN 0-87071-538-0 (Paper US$32.95) 480 pp.
Oregon State University Press, 101 Waldo Hall, Corvallis, Oregon. 97331-6407.
Foundations of Tropical Forest
Biology: Classic Papers with Commentaries. Chazdon, Robin L. and T..
Whitmore, (eds). 2002. ISBN 0-226-10224-6 (Cloth US$85.00) ISBN 0-226-10225-4
(Paper US$35.00) 862 pp. The University of Chicago Press, 1427 E. 60th Street, Chicago, Illinois, 60637.
The Freshwater Algal Flora of
the British Isles: An Identification Guide to Freshwater and Terrestrial
Algae. John, D.M., B.A. Whitton, and A.J. Brook (eds). 2002. ISBN
0-521-77051-3 (Cloth/Cd-Rom US$125.00) 702 pp. Cambridge University Press, 40
West 20th Street, New York, NY 10011-4211.
Gentianaceae: Systematics and
Natural History. Struwe, Lena and Victor A. Albert (eds). 2002. ISBN
0-521-80999-1 (Cloth US$130.00) 652 pp. Cambridge University Press, 40 West
20th Street, New York, NY 10011-4211.
The Guarijios of the Sierra
Madre: Hidden People of Northwestern Mexico. Yetman, David. 2002. ISBN
0-8263-2234-4 (Cloth US$49.95) 384 pp. University of New Mexico Press, 1720
Lomas Boulevard NE, Albuquerque, NM 87131-1591.
In Praise of Plants. Hallé,
Francis. 2002. ISBN 0-88192-550-0. (Cloth US$24.95) 334 pp. Timber Press, 133
S.W. Second Avenue, Suite 450, Portland, Oregon, 97204-3527.
Invasive Exotic Species in the
Sonoran Region. Tellman, Barbara (ed). 2002. ISBN 0-8165-2178-6 (Cloth
US$75.00) 460 pp. The University of Arizona Press, 355 S. Euclid, Ste. 103,
Tucson, AZ 85719.
The Lewis & Clark
Herbarium. Spamer, Earle E. and Richard M. McCourt.
2002. ISSN 0097-3254 (CD-ROM US$19.95) Special publication #19. ISBN
0-910006-55-5. The Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia. Available at: www.acnatsci.org/library/scipubs/index.html .
Molecular Plant Biology Volume
1. Gilmartin, Philip M. and Chris Bowler (eds). 2002. ISBN 0-19-963875-6
(Paper US$) 274 pp. Oxford University Press, 2001 Evans Road, Cary, NC 27513.
Molecular Techniques in Crop
Improvement. Jain, S. Mohan, D.S. Brar and B.S. Ahloowalia (eds). 2002. ISBN
1-402-00528-8. (Cloth US$198.00) 616 pp. Kluwer Academic Publishers. P.O. Box
989, 3300 AZ Dordrecht, The Netherlands.
Narcissus and Daffodil: The
Genus Narcissus. Hanks, Gordon R. (ed). 2002.
ISBN 0-415-27344-7 (Cloth US$70.00) 428 pp. Taylor & Francis Books, Ltd.,
Cheriton House, North Way, Andover, Hampshire SP10 5BE. United Kingdom.
A Naturalist's Guide to Wetland
Plants: An Ecology for Eastern North America. Cox, Donald D. 2002. ISBN
0-8156-0740-7 (Paper US$19.95) 194 pp. Syracuse University Press, 1600
Jamesville Avenue, Syracuse, NY 13244-5160.
Orchid Biology: Reviews and
Perspectives, VIII. Kull, Tiiu and Joseph Arditti (eds). 2002. ISBN
1-4020-0580-6 (Cloth US$196.00) 584 pp. Kluwer Academic Publishers. P.O. Box
989, 3300 AZ Dordrecht, The Netherlands.
Plant Signal Transduction.
Scheel, Dierk and Claus Wasternack (eds). 2002. ISBN 0-19-963879-9 (Paper US$)
324 pp. Oxford University Press, 2001 Evans Road, Cary, NC 27513.
Plant Systematics: A
Phylogenetic Approach. 2nd ed. Judd, Walter,
S., Christopher S. Campbell, Elizabeth A. Kellogg, Peter F. Stevens, and Michael
J. Donoghue. 2002. ISBN 0-87893-403-0. (Cloth US$86.95) 554 pp. Sinauer
Associates Inc., P.O. Box 407, Sunderland, MA 01375-0407.
Sex Ratios: Concepts and
Research Methods. Hardy, Ian C.W. 2002. ISBN 0-521-81896-6 (Cloth US$120.00)
ISBN 0-521-66578-7 (Paper US$48.00) 424 pp. Cambridge University Press, 40 West
20th Street, New York, NY 10011-4211.
Shrubs and Vines of New Jersey
and the Mid-Atlantic States. 2002. SVNJ1-4/02 (Spiral US$10.00) 114 pp. New
Jersey Forest Service Forest Resource Education Center, 370 East Veterans
Highway, Jackson,NJ 08527.
Tea: Bioactivity and Therapeutic
Potential. Zhen, Yong-su (ed). 2002. ISBN 0-415-27345-5 (Cloth US$65.00) 267
pp. Taylor & Francis Books, Ltd., Cheriton House, North Way, Andover,
Hampshire SP10 5BE. United Kingdom.
Techniques in Molecular
Systematics and Evolution. DeSalle, Rob, Gonzalo Giribet, and Ward Wheeler
(eds). 2002. ISBN 3-7643-6257-X (Paper EUR 72.90) 420 pp. Birkhäuser Verlag AG,
Viaduktstrasse 42, CH-4051 Basel, Switzerland.
Travels in the Genetically
Modified Zone. Winston, Mark L. 2002. ISBN 0-674-00867-7 (Cloth US$27.95)
280 pp. Harvard University Press, 79 Garden Street, Cambridge, MA. 02138.
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
Cloisonné 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.
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