News from the Society, the Sections and the Committees, part 2
News from the Society, the Sections and the Committees, part 2
At the 1997 AIBS/BSA Meeting in Montreal, a symposium entitled, "Models of Working with Indigenous Communities: New paradigms for Botany", was organized by David Lentz and James Miller. Seven speakers presented papers at the symposium including: Rowena Richter, James Miller, David Lentz, Timothy Johns, Hans Beck, Janis Alcorn and Miguel Alexiades. Following the symposium, the section sponsored a luncheon which was well-attended. Hardy Eshbaugh gave the after lunch talk on Capsicum taxonomy.
Following the luncheon, a business meeting was held. Dan Harder was elected secretary-treasurer to replace Jim Miller who served his term of office. Dr. Harder will serve from 1997 until 2000. Also at the business meeting we discussed plans for future symposia.
At the 1998 AIBS/BSA meeting in Baltimore a symposium entitled, "Economic Botany and Ethnobotany: Subjects that Generate Interest in Plants," was organized by David Lentz. This symposium was initiated as a joint session with the BSA Teaching Section. Robert Reinsvold, Chair of the Teaching Section, will preside at that session. Six speakers have been invited to speak: Mark Schlessman, Neal Barnett, Beryl Simpson, Charlotte Gyllenhaal, David Bates, and David Lentz. Following the symposium there will be an Economic Botany Section luncheon. Dr. Thomas Elias, Director of the National Arboretum, will be the after lunch speaker. A business meeting will follow immediately after the talk. In the afternoon, a contributed papers session, organized by Carlos Ramirez-Sosa, will take place. There are 11 speakers scheduled including: Susan Lamont, Eve Emschwiller, Cynthia Durgan, Carlos Ramirez-Sosa, Cynthia Riccardi, Kathleen Hahn, Camille Tipton, Alfredo Gomez-Beloz, John Stepp, Suzanne Downey and Joshua Rosenthal. A cash prize will be awarded to the best student presenter.
At the 1999 BSA Meeting at the XVI International Botanical Congress, a symposium jointly sponsored by the BSA Economic Botany section and the Society for Economic Botany was proposed by organizers David Lentz, C. Edelmira Linares, and Robert Bye. The symposium, entitled, "Anthropogenic Plant Migrations: Habitat Transformations by Overt and Inadvertent Introductions," has been accepted and scheduled for Friday, August 6, 1999. Speakers at the symposium will include: Daniel Harder, Lawrence Kaplan, Richard Mack.
Deborah Pearsall, Daniel Austin, Robert Bye, and David Lentz.
David Lentz, Chair Reports from the Sections:
Economic Botany Section
During the meetings in Montreal the Margaret Menzel award was given to Jerome Laroche. Steven J. Novak was elected Secretary-treasurer, Jeri Higgenbotham was elected vice Chair, and Kenneth G. Wilson was elected Chair of the Section. This coming week the Genetics section has scheduled Dr. Pamela S Soltis as the Margaret Menzel guest lecture for this year. Monday Evening.
Contributed papers: Population and Conservation Genetics, Molecular Evolution and Genetics, and Cytogenetics - 12 presentations. Posters - 5 presentations. We are joint sponsors of a Symposium: Population Genetics and Gene Flow in Tropical with the Tropical Biology Section and the Association of Tropical Biology- 12 presentations. This gives a total of 31 presentations for the meeting.
We are in the process of developing an electronic poster session. This was approved for this year but the details have not been developed. We are trying to reach out to the many plant geneticists who are not members of this society.
This Section remains in the black and is able to give awards each year. Our hope is to give an award to the best electronic poster.
Kenneth G. Wilson, Chair
1998 General Meeting: The BSA Mid-Continent Section met with the Southwestern Association of Naturalists (SWAN) at their annual meeting at the University of New Mexico in Albuquerque from 9-11 April 1998. Tim Lowrey of UNM served as the local site representative. Fifteen papers and posters were presented in addition to a half-day symposium. No student awards were presented tt this year's meeting.
Business Meeting: The business meeting was held on Friday, 10 April 1998. It was decided that the Mid-Continent section continue to meet with SWAN in 1999 at their meeting venue in Monterrey, Mexico. It was proposed and accepted Ray Jackson be awarded a Special Service Award for his efforts to promote a botanical forum in the rnid-continent region and to rename the award for outstanding presentation by a student at the annual meeting the "Ray Jackson Award".
Nominations and Elections: Nominations and elections were held for two offices in the section, Secretary-Treasurer and Vice Secretary-Treasurer. Allan Nelson (Tarleton State University, Texas) was elected as Vice Secretary-Treasurer and Ken Freily (University of Central Arkansas) was elected as Secretary-Treasurer.
Sponsored symposium: One half-day symposium was sponsored at the 1998 General Meeting entitled "Plant invasions of southwestern ecosystems", which was organized by Diane Marshall and Anna Sher. Funds were used to sponsor four speakers.
Wayne J. Elisens, Chair
The annual business meeting of SE-BSA was conducted during the 59th Annual Meeting of the Association of Southeastern 
Biologists, hosted by Northeast Louisiana University in Monroe, from 15-18 April, 1998. This meeting preceded the business meeting of the Southem Appalachian Botanical Society, which co-hosted the traditional Friday breakfast gathering.
SE-BSA was one of eight professional biological organizations represented at the annual meeting, with 220 papers and posters listed in the program, and close to 50% being botanical in scope or closely allied.
There was no teaching update workshop sponsored this year.
During the business meeting of the section, members were informed that David Hill had resigned as Secretary-Treasurer, effective by the close of 1997, due to additional obligation at his home institution. The section was currently seeking nominations for this position, which was up for re-election in spring 1998.
Kathy Hornberger, Chair
The Systematics Section of BSA sponsor 202 contributed papers and 21 posters at the annual AIBS meetings in Baltimore, in conjunction with American Society of Plant Taxonomists (ASPT).
In addition, the Systematics Section co-sponsored a Colloquium entitled "Systematics of the North American Senecioneae. The half-day colloquium was co-sponsored with ASPT. This symposium was organized by Theodore M. Barkley and included 13 invited papers. The Systematics Section also sponsored a Symposium -Me Relation of Phylogeny and Species Distribution to Spatial Environmental Parameters. The halfday symposium was organized by Gerald F. Guala and included five invited papers.
Sixteen proposals for the Karling Award were received by the Section. Five of the applicants received funding: J.C. Barber, University of Texas at Austin; L. Goertzen, University of Texas at Austin; D. Goldman, University of Texas at Austin; R. Small, Iowa State University; and A. Woodfill, Michigan State University.
The Section Chair reviewed and made suggestions for updates to the taxonomy for a German-English volume on phytotherapeutic plants: Die naturliche Verwandtschaft der Heilmittel (The Natural Relationship .of Remedies) by Angelika Bolte and Jorg Wichmann.
Kathleen A Kron, Chair
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| From the Annual Meeting in Baltimore: Speakers at the Past-President's Symposium "G. Ledyard Stebbins and Evolutionary Biology... " August 5, 1998. From left to right: Pamela S. Soltis, Douglas E. Soltis, Mark W. Chase, Daniel J. Crawford, Michael L. Arnold, Betty Smocovitis, Donald A. Levin. Photo by Ronald L. Stuckey. |