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1999 COUNCIL MEETING
Sunday, August 1, 1999
8:00 a.m. - 1:30 p.m.
America's Center, Room 252
St. Louis, Missouri
AGENDA
1. Call to Order and Introductions (Carol Baskin)
2. Approval of Minutes of 1998 Council Meeting
3. Reports of Executive Committee, Editors, Webmaster
(NOTE: All reports, except those of the Treasurer and Business Manager, are available electronically at
http://www.botany.org/bsa/membership/1999reports/ prior to the Council meeting. Please download the
reports, read them prior to the Council meeting, and bring hard copies with you. The Treasurer and Business
Manager will present their reports at the Council meeting. An opportunity to ask questions and discuss the
contents of the reports will be provided at the Council meeting.)
A. President (Carol Baskin)
B. Past President (Nancy Dengler)
C. President Elect (Doug Soltis)
D. Secretary (Pam Soltis)
E. Treasurer (Ed Schneider)
F. Program Director (Wayne Elisens)
G. Editor, American Journal of Botany (Karl Niklas)
H. Editor, Plant Science Bulletin (Joe Leverich)
I. Webmaster (Scott Russell)
J. Business Manager (Kim Hiser)
4. Reports of Committees, Sections, and Representatives
(NOTE: No Darbaker Prize, Esau Award, or Pelton Award will be given this year; there are no additional
reports from those Committees.)
A. Committees
1. Annual Meetings Committee (Wayne Elisens)
2. Archives and History Committee (Alan Whittemore)
3. Committee on Committees (Doug Soltis)
4. Conservation Committee (Kayri Havens)
5. Corresponding Members Committee (Nancy Dengler)
6. Darbaker Prize Committee (Daniel Wujek)
7. Education Committee (David Kramer)
8. Election Committee (Nancy Dengler)
9. Esau Award Committee (Thomas Rost)
10. Financial Advisory Committee (Jack Horner)
11. Karling Awards Committee (Jeff Osborn)
12. Membership and Appraisal Committee (Leo Bruederle)
13. Merit Awards Committee (Greg Anderson)
14. Moseley Award Committee (Jeff Osborn)
15. Pelton Award Committee (Fred Sack)
16. Webpage Committee (Scott Russell)
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17. Development ad hoc Committee (Judy Jernstedt)
18. Meetings Organization ad hoc Committee (Wayne Elisens)
19. Public Affairs ad hoc Committee (J. S. Shipman)
20. Conant Travel Awards ad hoc Committee (Dan Crawford)
B. Sections
1. Bryological and Lichenological Section (Paula DePriest)
2. Developmental and Structural Section (Jean Gerrath)
3. Ecology Section (Maxine Watson)
4. Economic Botany Section (Daniel Harder)
5. Genetics Section (Kenneth Wilson)
6. Historical Section (Laurence Dorr)
7. Mycological Section (David Hibbett)
8. Paleobotanical Section (Steve Manchester)
9. Phycological Section (Louise Lewis)
10. Physiological Section (Pete Straub/Denise Seliskar)
11. Phytochemical Section (James Wallace)
12. Pteridological Section (Tom Ranker)
13. Systematics Section (Mark Porter)
14. Teaching Section (Rob Reinsvold)
15. Tropical Biology Section (Andrew Douglas)
16. Midcontinent Section (Wayne Elisens)
17. Northeastern Section (Karl Anderson)
18. Pacific Section (David Bilderback)
19. Southeastern Section (Kathleen Hornberger)
C. Representatives to other Organizations
1. AAAS
2. AIBS (Judy Verbeke)
3. CSSP (Nancy Dengler/Doug Soltis)
4. ASC (Larry Skog)
5. Old Business
A.
B.
C.
D.
Bylaws changes (Pam Soltis)
"Fire Sale" of back issues of AJB (Kim Hiser)
Update on JSTOR electronic archives (Kim Hiser)
Other items of Old Business
6. New Business
A.
B.
C.
D.
E.
F.
G.
H.
1999 BSA Budget (Ed Schneider)
1999 Business Office, AJB, and PSB Budgets (Kim Hiser)
Report/visit from Conferon representative(s) about Botany-2000 at 9:30 a.m.
Plans for Botany-2000
Ecology Software Consortium Discussion
New Editor of Plant Science Bulletin
Careers in Botany
Publication of Symposia
7. Election of Council Representative to Executive Committee
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8. Other Business
9. Adjournment
REMINDERS:
Annual Business Meeting: Tuesday, August 3, 7:30-9:00 a.m., America's Center, Room 130. Light breakfast
provided.
BSA Social, co-hosted with CBA and SBM: Thursday, August 5, 7:00-10:00 p.m., Missouri Botanical Garden
(ticket required).
President's Report, 1999
1.
America Journal of Botany is now online at site http://www.amjbot.org/, and we appreciate all the things
Scott Russell did (and continues to do) on this project.
2.
Editor-in-Chief of AJB for the next 5-year term is Karl Niklas. We appreciate his hard work on AJB
during his first 5-year term as Editor and are grateful he is willing to continue. Many thanks are due to the
Committee to Recommend Individuals as Editor-in-Chief of AJB: Beryl Simpson (Chair), Peter Crane,
Ned Friedman, Nels Lersten and Diane Marshall.
3.
Collection of a complete set of AJB that could be scanned for the journal storage project (JSTOR) was
successful. Many thanks are due the Mann Library of Cornell University and the various individuals who
loaned volumes of AJB to JSTOR for scanning.
4.
The Editor of PSB, Joe Leverich, ends his term of service on 31 December. We are grateful to Joe for all
his fine work on PSB. Now, we are faced with the challenge of finding a new Editor of PSB. The
Committee to Recommend Individuals as Editor of PSB [Allison Snow (Chair), Donald Galitz and Joe
Armstrong] is working on a ranked list of applicants; however, there is still time for you to be considered
if you are interested in becoming Editor of PSB.
5.
Two complete sets of PSB have been donated to BSA: one by Sydney Greenfield (Jersey City, NJ) and the
other by Herbert Hull (Tucson, AZ). The Society deeply appreciates these gifts.
6.
Contributions to the Karling and Conant Funds were made by many BSA members, and this support for
the future generation of botanists is gratefully acknowledged.
7.
The Karling Award Committee is now a BSA standing committee; see report by Jeffrey Osborn,
committee chair.
8.
The Conant Committee for 1999 consisted of Dan Crawford (Chair), Judy Jernstedt, Ruth Stockey, Pam
Soltis and Brian McCarthy. All their hard work in figuring out how to award the $8,700 in the Conant
Fund is appreciated.
9.
Many by-law changes were approved by the BSA membership via a ballot in the 1999 Spring Mailing.
The Executive Committee spent many hours reading, thinking and emailing with regard to these by-law
changes.
10.
An Annual Meeting Coordinating Committee is now a new BSA standing committee; this is one of the bylaw changes recently approved by the BSA membership. The Annual Meeting Coordinating Committee is
charged with oversight of all logistical arrangements for the annual meeting.
11.
The Annual Meeting Program Committee is charged with arranging the scientific program for the Society;
the Program Director will chair this committee.
12.
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Membership in BSA without AJB has been discussed by the Executive Committee, AJB Editorial Board
and the AJB ad hoc Task Force, and a few individuals wrote letters or emailed expressing their opinions.
The decision has been made to delay any action on this matter until the financial impact of having AJB
online can be evaluated.
13.
ASPT decided to established a business office at the University of Wyoming.
14.
BSA received a check for $4,527.00 from AIBS. This money is BSA's share of profits from the 1998
AIBS Meetings in Baltimore; 285 of the 2774 registrants at AIBS indicated they were members of BSA.
15.
The Careers in Botany booklet is slated for revision, and a committee is being formed to work on this
project.
16.
Planning for future BSA meetings is being guided by our Program Director, Wayne Elisens, and the
Society appreciates all his time, devotion, hard work and clever bargaining. See Wayne's report for an
update on Botany-2000 in Portland, OR, and for the status of plans to meet in Albuquerque, NM, in 2001
and Madison, WI, in 2002.
The theme for Botany-2000 is "New frontiers in botany, and the Plenary Session Committee for Botany2000 [Carol Baskin (Chair), Barbara Hoshizaki, Chris Haufler, Wayne Elisens, Clyde Calvin and Brent
Mischler] has been working hard.
17.
Many things will be discussed during the course of the 1999 Annual meeting of BSA in St. Louis,
including:
(a)
(b)
(c)
(d)
(e)
(f)
(g)
(h)
(i)
(j)
Impact of having AJB online,
The BSA Website
Invitation to join the Ecology Software Consortium
Invitation to become involved in the AIBS BioOne
Future activities of the Education Committee
Finding a new Editor of PSB
Revision of Careers in Botany
Maybe some day introducing an online journal separate from AJB
Planning for Botany-2000
Budget planning for BSA and for AJB
and much more. Thus, you can see that BSA is an active and vigorous society!
18.
Joint social for CBA/ABC, BSA and SBM at IBC will bring together botanists from northern Canada to
southern Mexico (quite a range of latitudes, climates and biomes!) for an evening of food, fun, awards
and more (e.g., Doug Soltis will give a talk). It has been a real pleasure working with Denis Barabé
(President of CBA/ABC) and Ken Oyama (President of SBM) to help Wayne Elisens and Peter Hoch
organize this event.
19.
The BSA membership greatly appreciates the opportunity to hold its 1999 Annual Meeting in Conjunction
with IBC. Further, we express our deep gratitude to Peter Raven, Peter Hoch, Barbara Kitrel and Barbara
Schaal for all their efforts in organizing IBC and facilitating the 1999 Annual Meeting of BSA.
20.
I appreciate the honor of being President of BSA. The members of the Executive Committee, members of
the Council, Chairs of the Committees, Editors, Business Manager and Representatives to Other
Organizations are dedicated, hard-working people, and it has been a privilege and a joy to serve the
Society with them.
Respectfully submitted,
Carol C. Baskin
17 July 1999
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Past President’s Report
1999
The Past President chairs the Corresponding and Election Committees (see separate reports),
evaluates nominations for the Young Botanist Awards, and organizes the Past President’s
Symposium.
1)Young Botanist Awards. Nominations for the 1999Young Botanist Awards were evaluated by a
local committee, consisting of Spencer C.H.Barrett and Nancy G. Dengler, University of Toronto. Of a
total of 22 nominations, 15 received certificates for Special Achievement as Young Botanists and 4
received Recognition as Young Botanists. Overall, the committee was very impressed by the
dedication, enthusiasm and accomplishments of these young people and selected those actively
involved in research or other special projects for recognition for Special Achievement. We thank Kim
Hiser for looking after sending letters and certificates to all awardees early in May so that this
recognition by the Botanical Society of America could be made public at the time of graduation.
2) Past President’s Symposium. The 1999 Past President’s symposium is organized as a general
symposium of the International Botanical Congress in St. Louis. The theme of the symposium is
“Leaf morphogenesis: from classical morphology to molecular biology” The goal of the symposium is
to integrate knowledge gained from different approaches to the study of leaf development, including
comparative morphology, mutant characterization, clonal analysis of genetic mosaics, and molecular
biology, in order to evaluate the current state of knowledge and to identify future directions. .
Speakers include Don Kaplan (UC Berkeley), Rob Martienssen (Cold Spring Harbor Laboratories),
Michael Marcotrigiano (University of Massachusetts), Michael Freeling (UC Berkeley), Neelima Sinha
(UC Davis) and Darleen DeMason (UC Riverside). The symposium will be introduced by Hirokazu
Tsukaya, University of Tokyo and funding from the Botanical Society of America will be
acknowledged.
Nancy G. Dengler
BOTANICAL SOCIETY OF AMERICA
Report of the President Elect
to the BSA Council
July 20, 1999
The duties of the President Elect are to chair the Committee on Committees, participate in the activities
of the Executive Committee, and present the address at the annual banquet (this year, social) of the BSA. My
report for the Committee on Committees is provided separately. I will present a short talk at Thursday night's
social.
Respectfully submitted,
Doug Soltis
BSA President Elect
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BOTANICAL SOCIETY OF AMERICA
Secretary’s Report to the BSA Council
July 20, 1999
The following list summarizes my activities as BSA Secretary during the 1998-99 year.
1. I sent names of Society and affiliated award winners announced at the 1998 annual banquet to Joe Leverich,
PSB Editor, for publication. Where appropriate, I sent the titles of the awardees’ presentations.
2. I sent copies of all Executive Committee Officers’, Section Officers’, and Committee Chairs’ annual reports
to Joe Leverich, PSB Editor, for publication.
3. I maintained correspondence directed to the BSA Secretary.
4. I made copies of all meeting agendas, minutes, reports, and formal correspondence from the 1997-98 year for
deposition at the BSA Business Office in Columbus, OH, and in the BSA Archives at the University of Texas,
Austin, TX.
5. I revised the Secretary’s Duties as described in the Society’s Duties of the Officers handbook to reflect more
accurately the Secretary’s current duties.
6. Webmaster Scott Russell and I instituted a plan for the electronic receipt and distribution of annual reports of
the BSA Officers, Section Chairs, Committee Chairs, and representatives to affiliated societies, as adopted at
the 1998 Council meeting. Thanks to everyone for preparing reports a little earlier than in the past! And a
special thanks to Scott for posting all of the reports on the website for us.
7. I established a file of template citations for all BSA awards, and those affiliated awards that are typically
presented at the BSA Banquet. These citations are read by the President as she/he announces the awardees. The
file will be passed on to the next BSA Secretary.
8. Most of the Secretary's duties fall in the summer. These include helping to plan the BSA Council and
Business Meetings and the agenda for the BSA Banquet ("Social" this year), distributing the agenda for the
Council meeting, coordinating the receipt and distribution of reports for the Council meeting, and coordinating
the Society and affiliated awards.
Respectfully submitted,
Pamela S. Soltis
BSA Secretary
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1999 Annual Report
BSA PROGRAM DIRECTOR
Submitted: Wayne J. Elisens
1 August 1999
Planning visit for 1999 meeting
There was no planning visit for the 1999 meeting with IBC-16.
Coordination and assembly of materials for the annual meeting program
General information for 1999 meeting.
Because the 1999 meeting was held in conjunction
with the XVI International Botanical Congress and the program was subsumed into the IBC meeting, a “General
Information” flyer was included in the fall 1998 BSA mailing. The flyer included information about the nature
of the 1999 IBC scientific program, submission of contributed posters, and procedures for scheduling BSA
sectional business meetings and social events.
Call for Symposia.
There was no “Call for Symposia” distributed for the 1999 meeting. A
“Call for Symposia” for the 2000 meeting was posted on the BSA website and distributed in the spring 1999
mailing with a proposal submission deadline of 1 July 1999. Symposium proposals were submitted to
sponsoring sections and then forwarded to the BSA Program Director.
Call for Workshops.
A “Call for Workshops” for the 2000 meeting was posted on the BSA
website and distributed in the spring 1999 mailing with a proposal deadline of 15 October 1999. This is the first
call for workshops ever initiated by BSA.
Call for Papers
.
There was no “Call for Papers” distributed for the 1999 meeting.
AJB Abstract Supplement.
There was no abstract supplement for 1999.
The 1999 program: Council and business meetings, and social functions
There was no scientific program for the 1999 meeting. The final BSA program consisted of the premeeting Executive Committee meeting (Saturday, 31 July), Council meeting (Sunday 1 August), Business
meeting (Tuesday 3 August), AJB editorial board luncheon (Tuesday 3 August), Social for North American
botanists at the Missouri Botanical Garden (Thursday 5 August), and the post-meeting Executive Committee
meeting (Saturday 7 August).
There was no Past-President’s symposium for 1999. The “Social for North American botanists” is
cosponsored by the Canadian Botanical Association (CBA/ABC) and the Sociedad Botánica de México (SBM).
An address by the president-elect, Doug Soltis, will be presented at the social.
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1. Publication status
Received
Total Pages
Year
MS
Papers
1,8201
1998 – 1999
301
1997 – 1998
1,802
325
1812
212
1996 – 1997
1995 – 1996
1994 – 1995
1993 – 1994
1992 – 1993
1
An average of 152 pages per issue; 15 articles per issue; 10 pages per article.
2. Status of current manuscripts
1998 – 1999
Accepted or at Allen Press
113
Tentatively accepted & in revision
48
Out for review
73
total
2343
3
181
176
185
178
184
171 regular papers; 7 brief communications; 3 special papers; 3 book reviews.
1997 – 1998
105
57
68
232
1998 – 1999
Receipt to editorial decision
excluding split reviews
including split reviews
Receipt to publication
5
1,728
1,618
1,673
1,513
1,460
1996 – 1997
92
75
42
209
1995 – 1996 1994 – 1995
95
92
58
54
46
45
199
191
Does not include 58 ‘split decision’ manuscripts currently out for revision by authors (see footnote 4).
3. Summary of production schedule
4
2
323
325
352
322
282
1997 – 1998
1.1
1996 – 1997
1.0
4
1.4
7.5
7.7
1.0
1.1
1.7
5
1995 – 1996
6
8
1994 – 1995
< 1.0
6
11
6.5
13
Out of the 298 manuscripts received this budget year, 135 (> 45%) received a ‘split decision’; rejection rate in this category was ~ 40% (rejection rate is otherwise 25%).
All manuscripts; an average of 7 months for normal manuscripts not receiving split reviews; an average of 4 months for brief communications; < 3 months for special papers.
Our ‘receipt to publication’ statistic can be improved in only one of two ways: increase rejection rate or increase number of pages (and cost) per issue.
Between 15 Jan. and 3 June, the e–AJB received, on average, 10,749  835 requests per week from 1,423  66 unique hosts per
week (activity varied little over a 24 hour cycle; indicates world-wide usage). Three mentions of the AJB in ScienceNews and other popular press science journals. Reduction in time allotted authors
to revise manuscripts has improved our ‘receipt to publication’ statistic, but this is artificial (see footnote 4). The use of an electronic review site has reduced costs and turn around time. We have
launched a ‘reviewer survey form’ on the BSA Internet webpage (data to be downloaded into the AJB Editorial Office computer). All past issues for the JSTOR project have been located and are
being scanned for electronic access.
4. Highlights of 1988 – 1999 budget year:
5. Issues and recommendations for 1999 – 2000:
th
rd
Strongly recommend we increase rejection rate of manuscripts (rather than pages per issue) to increase ‘time to publication’
statistic. Do we publish symposium proceedings in the AJB? Editorial Board has discussed this issue in light of our option to purchase software to launch a new, totally electronic journal devoted to
the publication of BSA symposia and other ‘special’ events [e.g., Past-President’s Symposia; BSA (and IBC) symposia]. Continue free-access to the e–AJB. Revenues gained by advertising in the e–
AJB. Electronic submission of manuscripts for review.
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Plant Science Bulletin
Report of the Editor
July 15, 1999
1. Publication Schedule — Four issues of Plant Science Bulletin have appeared in the last year. All
issues have appeared on schedule.
2. Number of pages — For volume 44, quarterly issues ranged from 32 to 40 pages; the average is 32
pages. This is similar to previous years, and accommodates present needs. There is no backlog of
material at this time.
3. Books received — In the last year, Plant Science Bulletin listed 133 books received to be considered
for review.
4. Books Reviewed — Sixty-two books were reviewed in Plant Science Bulletin in the last year.
5. Articles — We continue to seek quality articles of general interest to the membership. PSB received
favorable response after we reprinted the first article from the first issue of PSB (entitled “The
Challenge to Botanists” from 1955) in the Spring 1999 issue. We have also been fortunate to have
several outstanding contributions from the Teaching Section.
6. Editorial Assistance — From September 1998 through May 1999, Ms. Marlo Morrow was Editorial
Assistant. Her work-study position was partially supported by the Department of Biology at Saint
Louis University.
7. Electronic Publication — The contents of Plant Science Bulletin continue to be available on the BSA
website, thanks to the outstanding efforts of Scott Russell. His tireless efforts are truly valuable in
making PSB available world-wide.
Respectfully submitted,
Joe Leverich
Editor
Botanical Society of America
Webmaster's Report:
March 1997 to July 1999
Total hits: 377,346 hits (from March 4, 1997 through June 30, 1999)
In June 1999, there were 19,962 hits with logons from 5406 unique hosts. This represents 33.0, requests/day and
794.6 requests per day (counting unsuccessful ones). The highest month was May, 1999 with 26,054 hits with
logons from 6102 unique hosts. This represents 40.5, requests/day and 972.4 requests per day (counting
unsuccessful ones). The second highest month was March 1999, with 23,551 hits (logons from 6030 unique
hosts), representing 918.8 requests per day (38.3 requests/hour). Each of the first five months of the year have
exceeded the monthly counts from 1998. May also had the highest number of different countries of visitors: 69.
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The highest daily usage ever was July 28, 1997 when the site was featured as site-of-the-day by Yahoo!!,
receiving 3,966 hits on that day. The second highest was March 18, 1999 with 1,553.
Requests from the following 70 countries (a new high!) were received in June 1999 (in descending numbers
of requests): Canada, Brazil, Germany, United Kingdom, Japan, Australia, South Africa, France, Italy, Malaysia,
Greece, Netherlands, Israel, New Zealand, Mexico, Sweden, Belgium, India, Spain, Philippines, Poland,
Singapore, Chile, Finland, Venezuela, Portugal, Hong Kong, Switzerland, Costa Rica, Argentina, Russian
Federation, South Korea, Denmark, Slovenia, Turkey, Hungary, Colombia, Estonia, Tonga, Thailand, Jamaica,
Yugoslavia, Czech Republic, China, Austria, Norway, United Arab Emirates, Iceland, Ecuador, Taiwan, Ireland,
Slovak Republic, Jordan, Indonesia, Peru, Saudi Arabia, Oman, Nepal, Macedonia, Lithuania, Georgia, Armenia,
Latvia, Madagascar, Uruguay, Dominican Republic, Mauritius, Qatar, and Romania.
In 1998, visits from 98 countries outside the U.S. were logged. Here is an alphabetical list of the countries:
Argentina, Australia, Austria, Bahamas, Bahrain, Barbados, Belarus, Belgium, Bermuda, Bosnia-Herzegovina,
Brazil, Brunei Darussalam, Bulgaria, Canada, Chile, China, Colombia, Costa Rica, Croatia, Cyprus, Czech
Republic, Denmark, Dominica, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, Estonia, Ethiopia, Finland, Former USSR, France,
Georgia, Germany, Greece, Guyana, Hong Kong, Hungary, Iceland, India, Indonesia, Iran, Ireland, Israel, Italy,
Jamaica, Japan, Jordan, Kenya, Kuwait, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malaysia, Malta, Mauritius, Mexico,
Micronesia, Moldavia, Morocco, Namibia, Nepal, Netherlands, New Zealand, Nicaragua, Norway, Oman, Pakistan,
Peru, Philippines, Poland, Polynesia (French), Portugal, Qatar, Romania, Russian Federation, San Marino, Saudi
Arabia, Singapore, Slovak Republic, Slovenia, South Africa, South Korea, Spain, Sri Lanka, Sweden, Switzerland,
Taiwan, Tanzania, Thailand, Tonga, Trinidad and Tobago, Turkey, Ukraine, United Arab Emirates, United
Kingdom, Uruguay, Venezuela, Virgin Islands (USA), and Yugoslavia.
The following access statistics are available on the web site:
 Monthly statistics
 Weekly statistics
 Daily statistics
 Hourly statistics
 Domain statistics - types/locations of viewers by high level domain (*.edu,*.com, etc.)
 Country statistics
The following information on pages accessed are available on the web site:
 By page
 By sub-directory
 By topics
BSA website established on the International Thomson Publishing server: March 4, 1997
Total number of hits during first full year of use: 86,759 (March 4, 1997 through March 3, 1998)
1997: 58,994 hits (March 4, 1997 through December 31, 1997)
1998: 184,266 hits (January 1, 1998 through December 31, 1998)
1999: 134,126 hits (January 1, 1999 through June 30, 1999)
1999 Annual Report
BSA Annual Meeting Committee
Submitted: Wayne J. Elisens, Chair
Committee members:
1 August 1999
Secretary of each BSA section
The 1999 Annual Meeting was held in conjunction with the International Botanical Congress
held at America’s Center, St. Louis, MO from 1-7 August 1999.
The scientific program and fieldtrips were subsumed into the IBC program. The BSA meeting
program only consisted of the following social events and meetings: Executive Committee meeting
(Sat, 31 July; 2:00 to 6:30 PM), Council meeting (Sun, 1 Aug, 8:00 AM to 1:30 PM), Business meeting
11
(Tues, 3 Aug, 7:30 to 9:00 AM), AJB Editorial Board Luncheon (Tues, 3 Aug, 11:30 AM to 1:00 PM),
Social for North American Botanists (Thurs, 5 Aug, 7:00 to 10:00 PM) at the Missouri Botanical
Garden, and Executive Committee meeting (Sat, 7 Aug, 4:30 to 6:30 PM). There is no Past-President’s
symposium. The address of the President-Elect, Dr. Doug Soltis, will take place during the Social for
North American Botanists.
1998-1999 report for the Archives and History Committee
Botanical Society of America
The archival material is still in the possession of Jim Mauseth in Austin, Texas, and no new material has
been received over the course of the year. Over the past year, the Committee has dealt with two requests
for information, one concerning the history of the Darbaker Award, the other concerning the role of the
University of Wisconsin, and particularly Charles Reid Barnes, in the foundation of the Society.
Alan Whittemore
COMMITTEES--NEW MEMBERS
ANNUAL MEETING COMMITTEE
Wayne Elisens (1999) (Chair)
The Secretary of each Section
ARCHIVES AND HISTORY COMMITTEE (2 members; 5 year terms)
Alan Whittemore (1999) (Chair)
Darleen DeMason (2000), Immediate Past Secretary, ex officio
Ronald Stuckey (2005)
new member: Lee Kass-volunteered
COMMITTEE ON COMMITTEES (6 appointed members; 3 year terms)
Douglas Soltis (1999), President Elect, Chair, ex officio
Susan Kephart (1999)
skephart@willamette.edu
Andrea Wolfe (1999)
wolf.205@osu.edu
Cynthia Jones (2000)
cjones@uconnvm.uconn.edu
Bijan Dehgan (2000)
bd@ifas.ufl.edu
Gar Rothwell (2001)
rothwell@ohiou.edu
Richard McCourt (2001)
mccourt@say.acnatsci.org
Pamela Soltis (2000), Secretary, ex officio
new members:
Linda Graham--has agreed
Tom Ranker--has agreed
President Elect
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CONSERVATION COMMITTEE (6 members; 3 year terms)
Kayri Havens (1999) (Chair)
Kathleen Shea (1999)
Larry Zettler (2000)
Kaius Helenurm (2000)
Diane Elam (2001)
William Hahn (2001)
new members:
Dan Watts--volunteer
Pati Vitt -- has agreed
DARBAKER PRIZE COMMITTEE (3 members; 3 year terms)
Daniel Wujek (1999) (Chair)
Annette Coleman (2000)
David Garbary (2001)
new member Louise Lewis -- has agreed
EDUCATION COMMITTEE (6 members; 3 year terms)
David W. Kramer (2001) (Chair)
Carol Baskin (1999), President, ex officio
Donald S. Galitz, (1999), Secretary of the Teaching Section, ex officio
Pamela Soltis (2000), Secretary, ex officio
Daniel Gilmore (1999)
Page Owen (1999)
Joe Leverich (2000), Editor of the Plant Science Bulletin, ex officio
Chester Wilson (2000)
J.S. Shipman (2000)
Steve Rice
new members:
David Leutz-- has agreed
Rob Reinsvold-- has agreed
ELECTION COMMITTEE (3 members; 3 year terms)
Nancy Dengler (1999), Past President, ex officio (Chair)
Christopher Haufler (1999)
Pamela Soltis (2000), Secretary, ex officio
Darlene Southworth (2000)
John LaClaire (2000)
new member: Gerry Gastony -- has agreed
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ESAU AWARD COMMITTEE (3 members; 3 year terms)
Thomas L. Rost (1999) (Chair)
Jean Gerrath (2000)
Phil Gibson (2001)
new member: Jeff Carmichael--agreed
FINANCIAL ADVISORY COMMITTEE (3 members; 3 year terms)
Harry T. Horner (2001), (Chair) Representing Carol Baskin, President, ex officio
Joseph Armstrong (2000)
Pamela Soltis (2000), Secretary, ex officio
Judy Jernstedt (2001)
Charles Daghlian (2001)
Edward Schneider (2001), Treasurer, ex officio
John LaDuke (1999)
new member: Edith Taylor
KARLING AWARD COMMITTEE (6 members; 3 year terms)
Jeffrey Osborn (2000) (Chair)
Cynthia Jones (2000)
Kathleen Kron (2001)
Diane Greene (2001)
Carolyn Howes Keiffer (2001)
George Yatskievych (2000)
no new members needed
MEMBERSHIP AND APPRAISAL COMMITTEE (5 members; 5 year terms)
Leo Bruederle (2000) (Chair)
David Giannasi (2001)
Kathleen Shea (2002)
Diane Marshall (2002)
Donald Hauber (2003)
Wayne Elisens (1999), Program Director, ex officio
new member: Lyn Loveless -- has agreed
MERIT AWARDS COMMITTEE (3 members; 3 year terms)
Gregory Anderson (1999) (Chair)
Carol Baskin (1999), President, ex officio
John Doebley (2000)
14
Linda Graham (2001)
new member: Maxine Watson -- has agreed
MOSELEY AWARD COMMITTEE (3 members; 3 year terms)
Jeffrey Osborn (1999) (Chair)
Larry Hufford (2000)
Michael Frohlich (2001)
new member: Bill Stein -- has agreed
PELTON AWARD COMMITTEE (3 members; 3 year terms)
Fred Sack (2000), Chair
Lewis Feldman (1999)
Michael Christianson (2001)
Edward Schneider (2001), Treasurer, ex officio
Kim Hiser, Business Office Manager, ex officio
new member: Scott Russell-- has agreed
PUBLICATIONS OF THE SOCIETY
Plant Science Bulletin
Joe Leverich, Editor
Editorial Committee for Volume 44
Nikolas M. Waser (1999)
Mick Richardson (2000)
Vicki Funk (2001)
Ann E. Antlfinger (2002)
new member: James Mickle -- has agreed
Annual report of the Conservation Committee of the Botanical Society of America
Submitted by Kayri Havens, Chair
This year our activities included:
1. Kayri Havens attended the Native Plant Conservation Initiative (NPCI) 1999 Action Agenda
meeting in Austin, Texas. BSA is a cooperator with NPCI. The action agenda for conserving native
plants of the United States resulting from that meeting should be finished this fall, at which point it
will be forwarded to the BSA president.
15
2. Reviewing for possible BSA endorsement a number of conservation-related statements.
Kayri Havens, Ph.D.
Manager of Endangered Plant Research
Chicago Botanic Garden
1000 Lake Cook Road
Glencoe, IL 60022
tel: 847-835-8378
fax: 847-835-5484
email: khavens@chicagobotanic.org
Report of Corresponding Members Committee - 1999
The Corresponding Members Committee is forwarding three nominations to BSA Council for
approval.
Prof. Friedrich Ehrendorfer -- Department of Higher Plant Systematics and Evolution,
Institute of Botany, University of Vienna, Austria
Friedrich Ehrendorfer has made many significant contributions to plant systematics and
evolution, including numerous original research papers and important syntheses in reviews
and book chapters. His research has incorporated karyotypic studies, phenetic and cladistic
analyses of morphological characters, enzyme electrophoresis, and DNA sequencing. He is
widely recognized for his work on the evolution of insular floras, chromosome evolution, and
the adaptive significance of major taxonomic characters. Prof. Ehrendorfer has influenced
generations of students and colleagues through his enthusiasm and broad knowledge of
plants, as well as service of director of the Institute of Botany and of the Botanical Garden,
University of Vienna, and as editor of Plant Systematics and Evolution. (Nomination by Tod
Stuessy, supporting letters from Mark Chase, Dan Crawford, Jeff Doyle, Doug Soltis, Pam
Soltis.)
Prof. Wolfgang Hagemann -- Institute of Systematic Botany and Plant Geography, University
of Heidelberg, Germany
Wolfgang Hagemann is widely recognized for his original and insightful contributions to
plant morphology. He has made fundamental contributions to the understanding of shoot
apical meristems and leaf development. Prof. Hagemann has elucidated the basic
morphological principles of meristem behavior in both pteridophytes and seed plants,
emphasizing the evolutionary context of developmental patterns. He also has made major
contributions in the area of theoretical plant morphology, including the “organismal”nature of
land plant construction, a view that has influenced many molecular biologists. He has hosted
numerous international colleagues and has been a stimulating mentor to many
students.(Nomination by Stefan Gleissberg, supporting letters from Peter Endress, Ryoko
Imaichi, Judy Jernstedt, Don Kaplan)
Prof. Jerzy Rzedowski – Centro Regional del Bajio, Instituto de Ecologia, Patzcuaro,
Michoacan, Mexico
Jerzy Rzedowski’s extensive analyses of the ecology and phytogeography of the Mexican
flora have culminated in the widely used Vegetacion de Mexico, floristic studies such as the
16
two volume Flora Fanerogamica des Valle de Mexico (prepared jointly with Graciela Calderon
de Rzedowski), and the multivolumed Flora del Bajio. He has also contributed significantly to
the taxonomy of the Burseraceae and Compositae, and to the history of Mexican botany.
Included amongst his major achievements is the development of the herbarium of the Instituto
Politecnico Nacional as an outstanding research herbarium with over 200,000 specimens. Dr
Rzedowski is widely recognized for his generosity to foreign botanists and for inspiring
generations of students. (Nomination by Shirley Graham, Allan Graham, supporting letters
from Chris Anderson, John Beaman, Richard Spellenberg)
Nancy G. Dengler, Chair
Daniel J. Crawford
Barbara A. Schaal
Botanical Society of America
Education Committee
Report to the Council
August 1, 1999
The committee continued work on several major projects:
Improvement of Pre-College Science Education
GOAL: To support the improvement of science education through participation at conventions of
science teachers.
STATUS: Again this year, the Education Committee and the Teaching Section cooperated in
representing the BSA at annual meetings of the National Association of Biology Teachers in Reno, NV
(November 4-7, 1998) and the National Science Teachers Association in Boston (March 24-28, 1999).
Rob Reinsvold has written a full report of these activities which are summarized here.
NABT: Rob Reinsvold and Ethel Stanley presented a workshop for secondary and community
college teachers, “Leave It to the Plants.” The room had a capacity of 50 persons but an
additional 30-40 teachers stood around the edges of the room. Teachers asked for more
workshops of this type.
NSTA: Rob, Ethel, and J. Shipman staffed the BSA booth. This was strategically located
adjacent to booths sponsored by ASPP, American Phytopathological Society, Wisconsin Fast
Plants, and C-Fern. This area was dubbed “The Plant Place” by convention participants and was
very popular. Conference attendance totaled 21,154 teachers (of all the sciences) and we had
direct contact with approximately 1,500 of them. Visitors to our booth started their own pocket
gardens which were attached to their name badges. Each “garden” had an onion set with a label
containing the BSA logo and the URL of our web site. In the course of several days the onion
sets produced roots and shoots and the teachers learned how they could be used to teach a variety
of principles of plant biology. A survey of booth visitors indicated a need for more workshops
and hands-on plant lessons. Rob’s excellent report contains more details.
17
This outreach was supported by a $5,000 appropriation to our committee by last year’s Council. The
success of this outreach effort attests to the need for expansion of these efforts. Rob and Ethel have been
accepted as workshop presenters at the 1999 meeting of NABT, October 27-30 in Fort Worth, TX. We
will not have a booth at that meeting because we missed the reservation deadline. The appropriation
requested below includes funds for a booth at the NABT meeting in 2000 (October 25-28, Orlando, FL)
because we must reserve space and pay for it before next summer’s meeting of Council. If funds are
appropriated (motion below), we will participate again at the NSTA meeting, April 6–9, 2000 in
Orlando, FL. Again, we have asked to be located adjacent to the other societies. If we can find BSA
members who are willing to attend regional conferences of these organizations, we want to encourage
that.
Motion: That the Council approves a sum, not to exceed $10,400 (for travel, lodging,
registration fees, and booth rental) for selected BSA members to attend national, regional,
or state meetings of organizations like the National Association of Biology Teachers and
National Science Teachers Association for the purpose of presenting workshops on plant
biology in the K-12 curriculum and distributing educational materials in support of
expanding the quantity and quality of plant biology. The proposed budget:
1999-2000 PROPOSED BUDGET
NABT: Booth
$1500
BSA Volunteers (3 X $1000)
$3000
Handout Materials
$ 500
Sub-Total
$5000
NSTA*: Booth
BSA Volunteers (3 X $1000)
Handout Materials
Sub-Total
TOTAL
$1700
$3000
$ 700
$5400
$10,400
*Expenses at NSTA are higher because it is a much larger conference (more attendees)
and, therefore, tends to be in places that charge more for exhibit space.
If the Council approves the expenditure, the Education Committee will select members to represent BSA
in these activities and will authorize payments upon proof that the workshops and other outreach
activities were performed as proposed.
Digitized Botanical Images
GOAL: To digitize the BSA's collection of 35mm slides, then to make the images available through a
web page or CD-ROM or both.
STATUS: Thomas W. Jurik (Dept. of Botany, Iowa State University) chaired a subcommittee in charge
of this project. Tom and David T. Webb (Botany Dept., University of Hawaii) have finished digitizing
the slides. Scott Russell is nearly finished putting them on the BSA website. Temporary access for beta
18
testing is at http://129.15.38.204/bsa/images.html. We have asked for a permanent address and expect to
get approval for http://images.botany.org/bsa/images.html. This collection consists of 799 images in 14
categories. Some work on the web site remains to be done, but the initial databases are finished and a
search engine is built. Each of the images is available as a thumbnail, medium resolution (640 x 480
range, i.e., a screen-full) and high resolution (1600 x 1200 range, i.e., more than a screen-full!).
Many of the captions need to be expanded now that the slides are available to teachers and students who
may not be as familiar with the subject matter. Scott is programming a limited-access editing function
so we can expand and correct the captions. We are enlisting the help of several Education Committee
members and volunteers in that phase.
The Education Committee (and all members of BSA) are indebted to Tom and David for digitizing
the slides and to Scott Russell for designing and mounting the web site. We think all members will
find the images useful in their teaching and will be proud of having made this collection available
to teachers throughout the world.
The Education Committee wants to expand this collection of images and is working with Scott Russell
to determine the best way of doing that in the coming year.
Participation in Workshops of Project Kaleidoscope (PKAL)
GOAL: The Botanical Society should cooperate with other professional societies in plant biology to
improve undergraduate education in the life sciences.
STATUS: David Kramer and Gordon Uno and other members of BSA will be participating in two
round table discussions sponsored here at IBC by Project Kaleidoscope. Organized by Susan Singer,
these discussions are scheduled for 7 am to 8:45 am on Tuesday and Wednesday mornings in the
East Room of the Holiday Inn Select. The goals are “1) to identify critical issues in plant biology
education for college and university faculty and 2) to create an agenda for a 3 day plant biology
education workshop to be held in Keystone the week of July 16, 2000.”
Additional Goals for 1999-2000:
GOAL: To publish hands-on, discovery-type plant biology exercises for use in schools as well as at
colleges and universities. These could be published on our website and/or in hard copy.
GOAL: To offer assistance to publishers who are seeking professional review of manuscripts for plant
biology books. We want to make sure the plant biology content is correct before it is published.
Final Comment
In addition to its appointed members, the Education Committee has a number of volunteers who help
with various projects. Any member who wants to be actively involved with any of the committee
projects should contact the chair.
19
The chair thanks all members and volunteers of the committee for their support and especially thanks the
officers of BSA for supporting the work of this committee and encouraging the BSA to be more active in
educational outreach.
Respectfully submitted,
Dr. David W. Kramer, Chair
Assistant Professor
Department of Evolution, Ecology, and Organismal Biology
Ohio State University at Mansfield
1680 University Drive
Mansfield, OH 44906-1547
(419) 755-4344
FAX: (419) 755-4367
e-mail: kramer.8@osu.edu
Report of the Elections Committee 1999
There were elections for the offices of President-elect and Program Director, with two
nominees for each office. Patricia G. Gensel, University of North Carolina, was elected
President-elect and Jeffrey M. Osborn, Truman State University, Missouri, was elected
Program Director.
Nancy Dengler, Chair
Chris Haufler
John LaClaire
Pamela Soltis
Darlene Southworth
1999 Annual Report of the Financial Advisory Committee (FAC)
Date: July 22, 1999
To:
Executive Committee and Council of Botanical Society of America
Pam Soltis, Secretary of Botanical Society of America
Carol Baskin, President of Botanical Society of America
From: Financial Advisory Committee: Joe Armstrong, Charles Daghlian, Jack Horner (Chair), Judy
Jernstedt, John La Duke, Kim Hiser (Business Manager, ex officio), Ed Schneider (Treasurer,
ex officio) and Pam Soltis (Secretary, ex officio)
Re:
1999 Annual Report of the Financial Advisory Committee (FAC)
The FAC has the responsibility of managing the BSA Endowment Fund. The BSA assets are invested
through Salomon Smith Barney (SSB) and are divided among (as of June 27, 1999):
Money Funds . . . . . . . . . $
55,709.35
20
Mutual Funds . . . . . . . . . $1,292,936.42
Certificates of Deposit . . $ 75,000.00
$1,423,645.77
The BSA Endowment fund has grown 9.6% since June, 1998 ($1,299,525) and has grown 61% since its
inception 5.5 years ago (12/93; $884,317). This represents an average increase of about 11% per year.
The FAC did not change any of the investments during the present fiscal year. It did enter into dialogue
with SSB regarding the management strategy of the BSA Endowment Fund. This dialogue is still
continuing as the FAC raised a number of questions that are awaiting answers.
The FAC anticipates that the market will remain strong for this coming year. As a result, it anticipates
that the growth of the Endowment Fund will equal or exceed its present rate.
The Endowment Fund Guidelines are included here for the Executive Committee and the Council. They
were approved in August, 1997 and amended in August, 1998. The FAC now submits an amendment
for approval by the Executive Committee and Council at it August, 1999 annual meeting. This
recommended amendment deals with replacing Guideline 4. As indicated below:
Endowment Fund Guidelines of the Botanical Society of America
Approved August, 1997; Amended August, 1998; Proposed Amendment August, 1999
1. Purpose of Endowment Fund: The purpose of the Endowment Fund is to increase the monetary
assets of the Society in order to provide income to fund major initiatives, travel grants,
scholarships, and other activities that enhance the effectiveness of the Society to fulfill its Mission
(see Bylaws). The Financial Advisory Committee (FAC) is responsible to and empowered by the
Executive Committee and the Council to manage the Endowment Fund. The FAC makes no
recommendations for use of the Endowment Fund.
2. Contributions to Endowment Fund: All monetary gifts, stocks, and bonds designated
“Endowment Fund” shall be immediately deposited in either the Endowment Money Market Fund
or in the Endowment Fund directly, and then invested in a timely fashion by the FAC. Other
gifts, such as property, shall be individually handled by appropriate legal procedures to integrate it
into the Endowment Fund.
3. Solicitation of Membership to Contribute to Endowment Fund: Solicitation shall be carried
out in two ways: first, the membership will be provided ‘purpose and giving’ information in each
issue of the PSB and on the annual membership dues form; second, a more select portion of the
membership that includes long-time (=/>20 years) members, and members whose ages are 50
years and older, will be individually solicited once every other year (odd-numbered).
4. Use of Endowment Fund Income: After the Endowment Fund reaches 1.1 million dollars, up to
15% of the annual income based on the average earnings of the previous 12 quarters can be used
for purposes outlined in 1. The percent that can be used annually shall increase as the fund grows:
to 25% when the fund reaches 1.5 million dollars; to 50% when the fund reaches 2.0 million
dollars; and to 60% when the fund reaches 2.5 million dollars. Any portion of the unused annual
income (10%, 25%, 50% or 60%) from each calendar year will be added to the principle.
21
FAC Proposal to replace present Guideline 4 (see above)
Use of Endowment Fund Income: The value of the BSA Endowment Fund (all non-restricted, nonsectional funds) will be averaged over the previous twelve (12) quarters, in July of each year. The
‘usable income’ available for use during the next fiscal year will be 2% of the previous 12 quarters
averaged total value, and this amount will be reported at the BSA annual Council Meeting. The FAC
will annually evaluate the % used to generate income such that if growth goals are being met, or if
growth is too slow, the % ‘usable income’ will be adjusted accordingly. Any ‘usable income’
unallocated or unused by the end of the fiscal year (June 30) shall revert to the Endowment Fund
principle. As a means of checks and balances, the % allocated for annual use shall be determined by
the FAC in keeping with its charge to increase the value of the Endowment Fund at a rate exceeding
inflation. Use of the Endowment Fund ‘usable income’ shall be determined by the Council (see
Guideline 5. of Endowment Fund Guidelines).
5. Approval of use of Endowment Fund: Any member, committee, section, or ruling body of the
Society may submit a request to use the Endowment Fund for purposes outlined in 1. The
request(s) must be submitted to the Executive Committee for consideration and recommendation
to the Council. The Council at its regular meeting in August, or at a special called meeting, or by
e-mail vote in unusual circumstances, will act on the recommendation(s). Approval of any
recommendation(s) by the latter three ways will be determined by a majority (51%) of all eligible
council members. If the recommendation(s) is/are approved, the Treasurer of the Society will be
empowered to distribute the money according to the approved recommendation(s). If an
individual member of either the Executive Committee or the Council submits a recommendation,
that member is excused from voting on the recommendation.
Ed Schneider, BSA Treasurer and ex officio member of the FAC, stated that the Executive Committee at
its Spring, 1999 meeting approved the following two items that impact Section monies in the
Endowment Fund. They are –
1) Effective with the 3rd quarter statement, section cash accounts with the balance of over $1,000 will
earn 2% quarterly; 8% per year.
2) Also effective with the 3rd quarter statement all special funds with a balance of $2,500 or greater will
earn the same percentage market rate as the Society’s Salomon Smith Barney portfolio. Please note
that in some quarters this may result in an actual loss of funds, but based on historical averages, each
section should enjoy improved growth of their special fund account(s). Those sections whose
balance in below $2,500 may wish to move the special fund balance into the cash account fund and
take advantage of the 8% yearly rate of return.
If there are any questions about the Fund, you may direct them to any member of the FAC.
22
Annual Report of the Karling Graduate Student Research Award Committee
Presented at the Botanical Society of America Council Meeting
August 1, 1999 * St. Louis, Missouri
Purpose and Funding:
The purpose of the Karling Graduate Student Research Award is to support and promote graduate
student research in the botanical sciences. To be eligible, a student must be a member of the Botanical
Society of America (BSA), a registered full-time graduate student, have a faculty advisor who is also a
member of the BSA, and not have won the award previously. Funds for the Awards come from interest
on the Karling and the BSA Endowment Funds, and from the sale of BSA logo items.
Committee Organization:
During the previous two years, Karling proposals were submitted to the BSA Disciplinary Sections,
reviewed and ranked by sectional officers, and then forwarded to the BSA Executive Committee for
further review and funding decisions. This year has been the first year that the Karling Graduate Student
Research Award Committee has been charged with the entire process. The Committee revised and
distributed the "Call for Applications," reviewed all proposal submissions, made funding decisions,
and communicated with all applicants.
1998-1999 Committee Membership:
Diane Greene (Oregon State University)
Cynthia Jones (University of Connecticut)
Carolyn Howes Keiffer (Miami University)
Kathleen Kron (Wake Forest University)
Jeffrey Osborn (Truman State University), Chair
George Yatskievych (Missouri Botanical Garden)
1999 Submissions:
Forty three proposals for Karling Graduate Student Research Awards were submitted in 1999. A
summary of the submissions by BSA sectional affiliation is as follows:
Bryological/Lichenological
Developmental/Structural
Ecological
Mycological
Paleobotanical
Physiological
Pteridological
Systematics
Tropical
1
4
8
2
3
1
1
22
1
The Committee was generally impressed with the overall quality of the proposals and found that
there were a greater number of excellent proposals submitted than there were Awards available.
1999 Awards:
Ten Karling Graduate Student Research Awards will be presented at the 1999 BSA 'Banquet.' Each
awardee will receive a certificate and a $500 Award. The 1999 awardees are as follows:
23
1) Ms. Laura Boykin
Affiliation: University of New Mexico
Yr & program: 1st, Ph.D.
BSA Section: Systematics
Advisor: Timothy K. Lowrey
Proposal Title: "Evolutionary relationships of
Orcuttieae (Poaceae) revealed: Transition from
land to water?"
6) Ms. Tatyana Livshultz
Affiliation: Cornell University
Yr & program: 3rd, Ph.D.
BSA Section: Systematics
Advisor: Melissa Luckow
Proposal Title: "Systematics and evolution of
ant associations in Dischidia R. Br.
(Marsdenieae, Asclepiadaceae)"
2) Ms. Amy B. Carroll
Affiliation: University of Missouri-Columbia
Yr & program: 3rd, Ph.D.
BSA Section: Ecological & Physiological
Advisor: Candace Galen
Proposal Title: "Responses of floral traits to
drought: Implications for attractiveness to
pollinators"
7) Mr. J. Chris Pires
Affiliation: University of Wisconsin - Madison
Yr & program: 5th, Ph.D.
BSA Section: Systematics
Advisor: Kenneth J. Sytsma
Proposal Title: "Integrating biosystematics and
phylogenetics: Floral diversity, polyploidy, and
serpentine endemism in the recently resurrected
plant family Themidaceae"
3) Ms. Ranessa L. Cooper
Affiliation: University of Alberta
Yr & program: 2nd, Ph.D.
BSA Section: Developmental and Structural
Advisor: David D. Cass
Proposal Title: "Structural adaptation of
endemic willow taxa (Salicaceae) to the Lake
Athabasca sand dunes"
4) Ms. Tara Forbis
Affiliation: University of Colorado at Boulder
Yr & program: 2nd, Ph.D.
BSA Section: Ecological
Advisor: Pamela K. Diggle
Proposal Title: "Sexual reproduction and
genetic structure in alpine plant communities"
5) Ms. Kristina M. Hufford
Affiliation: University of Georgia
Yr & program: 4th, Ph.D.
BSA Section: Tropical
Advisor: J. L. Hamrick
Proposal Title: "Viability selection at three
early life stages of the tropical tree,
Platypodium elegans"
8) Ms. Valerie Reeb
Affiliation: University of Illinois at Chicago
and The Field Museum
Yr & program: 1st, Ph.D.
BSA Section: Mycological
Advisor: Francois Lutzoni
Proposal Title: "Monophyletic circumscription
of the family Acarosporaceae and the genus
Acarospora (lichen-forming ascomycetes), and
the origin of polyspory"
9) Ms. Jennifer A. Tate
Affiliation: University of Texas at Austin
Yr & program: 3rd, Ph.D.
BSA Section: Systematics
Advisor: Beryl B. Simpson
Proposal Title: "Systematics and evolution of
Tarasa (Malvaceae), an enigmatic Andean
polyploid genus"
10) Mr. Michael Zanis
Affiliation: Washington State University
Yr & program: 3rd, Ph.D.
BSA Section: Systematics & Genetics
Advisor: Doug Soltis
Proposal Title: "Molecular systematics and
floral evolution in monosulcate angiosperms"
24
Respectfully submitted,
Jeffrey M. Osborn, Chair
Karling Graduate Student Research Award Committee
Membership and Appraisal
An attempt was made to contact approximately 320 members of the Botanical Society of America who
had previously agreed to serve as campus representatives for the Society - the responsibilities of
representatives are to distribute recruiting materials and promote membership. On average, 65 percent of
those contacted responded, with over 90 percent of them agreeing to continue in their role as campus
representative. Materials including posters will be distributed prior to the beginning of the academic year.
In order to increase the number of representatives, as well as the campuses represented, all members
having e-mail addresses will be contacted in late July or August requesting their participation, as well.
*************************************
Leo P. Bruederle, Ph.D.
Associate Professor of Biology
Department of Biology, Campus Box 171
University of Colorado at Denver
P.O. Box 173364
Denver, CO 80217-3364
Office and voice mail:(303) 556-3419 Lab:(303) 556-2130 FAX:(303) 556-4352
Report of the Merit Awards Committee
Greg Anderson, Chair
Three people were selected to receive BSA Merit Awards for 1999: Dan Crawford, Ohio State
University; Barbara Schaal, Washington University; and Tod Stuessy, University of Vienna. These
awards will be presented at the BSA Social on Thursday, August 5.
Annual Report of the Maynard F. Moseley Award Committee
Presented at the Botanical Society of America Council Meeting
August 1, 1999 * St. Louis, Missouri
The Maynard F. Moseley Award was established in 1995 to honor a career of dedicated teaching,
scholarship, and service to the furtherance of the botanical sciences.
Committee Structure and Purpose:
The purpose of the Award, as stated in Article X, Section 4 (f), is as follows: "Moseley Award"
consisting of a chair appointed by the President and two other members, chosen by the President in
consultation with the Developmental and Structural Section and Paleobotanical Section chairs, each
serving three-year terms with one new member being appointed each year. The prize is awarded to a
student who is the sole or senior author of a paper, orally presented in the Developmental and Structural
Section or Paleobotanical Section of the annual meeting, that best advances our understanding of the plant
anatomy and/or morphology of vascular plants within an evolutionary context.
25
1998 Award Recipient:
Michelle McMahon (Washington State University), for her paper entitled "Corolla-androecium
synorganization in the flowers of the tribe Amorpheae (Fabaceae)"
1999 Committee Membership:
Michael Frohlich (University of Michigan)
Larry Hufford (Washington State University)
Jeffrey Osborn (Truman State University), Chair
1999 Award:
A Moseley Award will not be presented in 1999, as the annual meeting will be held in conjunction
with the International Botanical Congress (IBC) and the majority of student presentations will be posters.
The decision to not present a 1999 Award was made at the 1998 BSA Annual Meeting and took into
consideration the formal guidelines for the Moseley Award, logistical issues planned for the IBC that were
discussed at the 1998 BSA Council meeting, and the plans for other 1999 BSA student awards.
Respectfully submitted,
Jeffrey M. Osborn, Chair
Maynard F. Moseley Award Committee
Annual Report of the Web Page Committee
The Web Page Committee was formed by a 1998 amendment to the bylaws. The charge of the committee
is to maintain the Society's Webpage and advise the President and the Council on policies and changes
necessary for effective Internet communications. During the past year, the BSA site there have been over
239,000 page requests from over 100 countries. The web page includes the following major sections (use
in % for the past 6 months in parentheses): Announcements (6.23%), Botany in the News! (0.54%),
American Journal of Botany (42.63% of which 36.96% is abstract use), Plant Science Bulletin (13.30%,
of which 11.79% is full electronic text access), Careers in Botany (6.09%), Botany for the Next
Millennium (3.79%), an Online Directory, Annual Meeting Sites (2.97%), Membership Information Pages
(bylaws, awards, officers)(1.83%), Section Home Pages (1.51%), WWW Botany Sites (3.53%), and Web
Site Statistics (1.13%). The home page accounted for 15.70% of the visits, so the "average visit" reached
a depth of five pages. New features: "Botany in the News" gathers articles about plants from the media
(usually ABC News—which in contrast to most sites—has a stable archive). Although the archive is not
commonly used, the feature is prominently featured on the home page and receives more attention during
the school year. The "Careers in Botany" site moved from OU to the BSA server late in April; "Careers"
is a very popular site, receiving about 17% of the hits in May and June. Many of the visitors are K-12
students looking for information on careers as part of a school assignment, and others are interested in
careers in general. American Journal of Botany abstracts—posted on the BSA server for 1997 and 1998—
became redundant with the opening of the AJB Online site at http://www.amjbot.org/ on January 15, 1999.
Past abstracts have now been removed from the BSA server and a hyperlink has been placed on the error
page to the abstract site at AJB Online.
New initiatives: (1) The Teaching Section's Slide Collection has been digitized largely through the efforts
of Tom Jurik, Dave Webb and David Kramer, in cooperation with the Teaching Section and the Education
Committee and the Webmaster. This has been mounted on a new server at OU located at:
http://images.botany.org/bsa/. This server is a Pentium 120 operating under Linux providing a convenient
interface to the 799 current images. If anyone has a newer computer that can be devoted to this, let me
know! We hope to continue this through purchasing a slide scanner and soliciting future donation of
26
teaching images. (2) The "Ask-a-Botanist" project has grown out of the one or two questions per day that
I get on plants during the school term! Botanists are now accessible. I am planning to develop a
listserv/website interface that will direct questions to a panel of botanist volunteers. The questions and
their answers will be posted through the BSA web site. (3) We hope to develop further teaching resources
to be available via the web pages on teaching using plants. (4) If you know anyone who would be
particularly appropriate to serve as a member of this committee, please let Doug know, as we are still
organizing this committee under our new "permanent committee" status.
-Scott Russell, Webmaster and Chair
1998-99 Annual Report
Ad Hoc Committee for the Endowment
Botanical Society of America
Prior to the 1998 BSA Annual Meeting, then-President Nancy Dengler appointed a special ad hoc
committee of six members to explore ways for significantly increasing the BSA endowment, especially
the Conant Travel Fund and the Karling Graduate Research Fund. An immediate goal was to solicit
contributions to the Conant Fund to support attendance at the International Botanical Congress in St.
Louis.
A letter from the Committee requesting donations was included in the 1998 fall mailing to
approximately 2,700 BSA members (all categories). Thirty-six members responded to this plea, with
contributions ranging from $10 to $500, thereby raising $1,480 for the Conant Fund and $1,470 for the
Karling Fund. Another $1,281 for the Conant Fund and $116 for the Karling Fund was included with
members' renewals at the end of the year.
The challenges for the "development" committee for the coming year(s) include:
(1) Encouraging a greater proportion of BSA members to make these tax-deductible contributions
to the Society;
(2) Devising and implementing an effective and sustained endowment campaign; and
(3) Setting a realistic goal and timetable for such a campaign.
Respectfully submitted, Ad Hoc Committee for the Endowment
Judy Jernstedt, Chair, July 18, 1999
John Herr
Dan Crawford
Joe Armstrong
Ed Schneider
Kim Hiser
27
1999 Annual Report
BSA Meetings Organization ad hoc committee
Submitted: Wayne J. Elisens, Chair
Committee members:
1 August 1999
Carol Baskin, Barbara Schaal, Susan Singer
I. GENERAL ISSUES
1. Meetings Coordination. The committee recommended to the EC that a standing committee
be initiated to oversee meeting logistics (The Annual Meeting Coordination Committee) and that an
individual be identified to serve as BSA “meetings coordinator”. The meetings coordinator would oversee
logistics of meetings and act as a liaison between participating societies and the meetings management
company. This would allow the Annual Meeting Program Committee and the Program Director to focus
their efforts directly on the meeting program.
2. Meetings Management. The committee recommended to the EC that, for the short term, BSA
does not require additional paid staff to oversee meetings. The BSA can utilize services provided by
Conferon and outsourced providers to manage its meetings.
Conferon provides many meetings-management services based on commission income from
contracts negotiated with hotels and suppliers. Services from Conferon include: initial screening for site
selection, facilitating contract negotiations with hotels and suppliers (AV, transportation, exhibitor
decorators, etc.), pre-meeting planning, and on-site assistance. Hotel commissions also pay for services of
an Account Planner to oversee meeting planning and on-site assistance.
3. Professional consultation.
It was recommended to the EC that BSA continue using the
services of an independent meeting consultant, and that his fee be increased to ensure continued and
timely service. BSA has an agreement for contract and meeting consultation with Mr. Ed Suddath,
executive director of the National Association of Catering Executives (NACE) based in Columbia, MD.
Mr. Suddath provides an independent and experienced appraising of contracts and meetings-related items.
He also provides input for our contractual dealings with Conferon.
II. BOTANY 2000 MEETING.
Oregon Convention Center, Portland, OR;
6-10 August 2000.
1. Participating societies: ABLS, AFS, ASPT, BSA.
2. Title and Theme: “Botany 2000”;
New Frontiers in Botany in the next millenium.
3. BSA local site representative: Clyde Calvin, Portland State University. Local support
provided by other local botanists.
4. Program development: Plenary lecture speaker committee, BSA Annual Meeting Program
Committee, BSA Annual Meeting Coordinating Committee, ABLS, AFS, and ASPT
programs.
5. Meeting logistics:
Contracts signed - Signed contracts in place with Oregon Convention Center (rental fee
$13,300), host hotel (Doubletree/Lloyd Center), and overflow hotels (Best Western, Holiday Inn,
and Comfort Inn).
Total contracted room block
Fri
Sat
Sun
Mon
Tues
Wed
Thur
8/4
8/5
8/6
8/7
8/8
8/9
8/10
60
241
400
500
500
413
65
Total room nights blocked = 2179
28
Contracts needed - Registration, AV services, Exhibit decoration and exhibit coordination,
Transportation, Airline discount provider, etc.
Services where bids have been received - Registration, Exhibit coordination
Items under development - Budget, Exhibitor prospectus, Botany 2000 logo, T-shirt
production, promotional and registration materials
6. Fall planning visit:
Thurs 30 Sep to Sat 2 Oct in Portland, OR: Local reps +
program officers for participating societies + BSA meetings coordinator + account planner
from Conferon.
III. BOTANY 2001 MEETING.
Albuquerque Convention Center, Albuquerque, NM;
12-16 August 2001.
1. Site selection: Site visits were conducted and bids received from Albuquerque and Reno.
The committee recommended that the EC select Albuquerque as the 2001 meeting site, and
that Reno, NV should be considered for future meetings as a potential site. There was
more local support in Albuquerque and the convention center bid was very competitive.
2. Participating societies: ABLS, AFS, ASPT, BSA. Possible juxtaposition with IOPB
meeting.
3. Title and Theme: Title and theme under development.
4. BSA local site representative: Tim Lowrey, University of New Mexico. Local support
provided by other local botanists.
5. Meeting logistics:
Contracts signed - Signed contracts in place with host hotel (Hyatt), and overflow hotels
(Doubletree, Ramada, Plaza Inn). Letter of agreement signed with Albuquerque Convention
Center (rental fee $5,000).
Total contracted room block
Fri
Sat
Sun
Mon
Tues
Wed
Thur
8/10
8/11
8/12
8/13
8/14
8/15
8/16
73
340
440
500
500
420
50
Total room nights blocked = 2323
Contracts needed during FY 2000 - Albuquerque convention center, registration, exhibit
coordination.
Items under development - Budget, Exhibitor prospectus, logo for meeting, promotional
materials.
IV. BOTANY 2002 MEETING.
1.
2.
3.
4.
Pyle and Lowell Conference Centers and UW campus
buildings, University of Wisconsin, Madison. 3-8 August 2001.
Site selection: Site visits were conducted and bids were received from two venues in St.
Paul, MN (St. Paul convention center, ‘RiverCentre’; U of Minnesota-twin cities campus)
and three venues in Madison, WI (Dane County Exposition Hall, Monona Terrace, UWMadison campus). Although transportation to Madison is a minor concern, the brand new
UW Pyle Center has state-of-the-art AV, has no rental fee, and is large enough to hold our
meeting with few outside rooms necessary. Campus dorm and hotel space is extremely
reasonable. Local support at UW-Madison was exceptional.
Participating societies: ABLS (under discussion), AFS, ASPT, BSA, CBA. Possible
inclusion of PSA and International Association of Wood Anatomists.
Title and Theme: Title and theme under development.
BSA local site representative: Ray Evert, University of Wisconsin. Local support provided
by many other local botanists.
29
Contracts signed - Signed agreement in place with UW-Madison Pyle Center and
convention services. 133 campus hotel rooms reserved; a large number of dorm rooms are
available (150 reserved).
Contracts needed during FY 2000 - Overflow hotels near campus (at least three)
Items under development - Budget, Exhibitor prospectus, logo, promotional materials,
recruitment of PSA and International Association of Wood Anatomists (IAWA).
V. BOTANY 2003 MEETING.
southeastern USA, particularly near Gulf or
Atlantic Coasts under consideration.
1. Site selection: Potential venues will be reviewed and visited by Meeting Coordination
committee members during 1999-2000. A recommendation wil be forwarded to the EC.
VI. BOTANY 2004 MEETING.
venue open for discussion.
1. Site selection: A revised proposal is due shortly from the RiverCentre in St. Paul, MN to
hold the 2004 meeting. Local support and preliminary bid was very competitive. An
excellent and reasonably-priced venue for our meeting.
Conant Committee Report
The Conant Committee (Judy Jernstedt, Brian McCarthy, Pamela Soltis, Ruth Stockey, and Dan
Crawford) awarded travel grants to 31 people in support of attendance at the International Botanical
Congress. Three awardees are nontenured professionals, two are postdoctorals, 20 are graduate students,
and six are undergraduates. Recipients include attendees from three foreign countries. Awards of $325
were made to those traveling from greater distances and $225 was given to those within one travel day of
St. Louis. The awardees giving posters were asked to display the BSA logo and acknowledgment of
Conant Travel grants in a corner of their posters, and those presenting symposia papers were asked to
mention the support.
Respectfully submitted,
Dan Crawford
Chair, Conant Travel Award Committee
Annual Report of the Bryological and Lichenological Section
The Bryological and Lichenological Section participated in a joint American Bryological and
Lichenological Society (ABLS), International Association of Bryologists (IAB), and Moss 99 Meeting at
Southern Illinois University, Carbondale, July 30-August 1, 1999. The three-day meeting included an A.
J. Sharp Award session with 15 student presentations, two field trips, and a Moss 99 conference. The
conference “Bryophytes as Model Systems” included six major presentations and a panel discussion. The
winner of the A. J. Sharp award was John R. Clark (University of Cincinnati) for his presentation coauthored with Jerry Snider, “Observations in development of the cleistocarpous moss, Eccremidium
floridanum Crum (Ditrichaceae). In addition, the section was active at the International Botanical
Congress, August 1-7. Members of the sections presented in eight symposia and celebrated the 100th
anniversary of ABLS with a special banquet. -Paula DePriest, section chair.
30
Annual Report for the Developmental and Structural Section
This year has been a quiet one in the Developmental and Structural Section of BSA, as the new
Chair, Jean Gerrath, learned what was expected of the person in the position. The fact that 1999 is not a
normal BSA meeting also meant that there was less activity than normal.
We have created a new Listserv, so that all section members for which we have correct e-mail
addresses can be quickly contacted.
We will not hold a Section annual meeting this year, nor will the judging for the Esau Award be
carried out. It was decided that we would use our allotment to cover the cost of student registrants at the
Congress. Six students applied for help, and all were funded.
Only 1 Symposium suggestion for the Portland Meeting from our section that made the July 1
deadline. It was submitted by Bruce Kirchoff, and is a suggestion for a different symposium format, in
which informality and discussion play the major role. The title of his submission is "Open Space".
Apparently it works like this. A committee plans a theme. It is organized on site by a previously chosen
facilitator who is appropriate to the theme. The theme is advertised, and people come on the day with
topics that relate to the theme. Those who provide topics become the conveners, and their sessions may
be lectures, discussions, or open floor exchange of ideas. The executive committee is interested
encouraging Bruce to try something new that would provide a forum for the exchange of ideas much as
happens during the coffee breaks. Like all experiments, it will require thought, planning, and good luck.
Next year will be a more normal one for our section, with the more typical complement of activities.
Respectfully submitted,
Jean Gerrath, Section Chair
(This report has input from me, and from Cindi Jones (Treasurer) and Liz Harris (Program Convener).)
Ecological Section Annual Report
Botanical Society of America
Meeting of the International Botanical Congress
August 1999
The Ecological Section is sponsoring four symposia at the 1999 International Botanical Congress:
“Archeopteris, the world’s first forest tree: biology, ecology and systematics of a late Devonian
progymnosperm” co-chaired by Steve Scheckler (Virginia Polytechnic) and B. Meyer-Berthaud;
“Developmental phenology and its influence on plant ecology” co-chaired by Maxine Watson (Indiana
University) and Heidi Huber (University of Utrecht, The Netherlands); “Rooting strategies and
belowground competition” co-chaired by Brenda Casper (University of Pennsylvania) and Hans de Kroon
(University of Wageningen, The Netherlands); “Ecology and Evolution of specialized seed dispersal,
dormancy and germination strategies” co-chaired by Carol Baskin (University of Kentucky) and Nancy
Garwood (Natural History Museum, United Kingdom). At the Section meeting held in August 1998, it
was decided that support would be provided in the form of a $300 grant to each foreign speaker
participating in these four symposia.
Carolyn Keiffer (Miami University) organized the competition for best student poster and best
student paper at the 1998 meetings. Jochen Schenk,(University of California, Santa Barbara) was awarded
first prize for best Oral Presentation for his paper entitled “Directional and spatial patterns in a desert
31
plant community.” Bruce Robart, (Illinois State University) won first prize for his poster, entitled “
Double function pollination as a transitional stage in the evolution of the beaked floral form among
taxonomic varieties of Pedicularis bractaeosa”. Their awards and checks, for $150, will be presented in
St. Louis at the BSA Social on Thursday, August 5, 1999.
Maxine A. Watson
Ecological Section Chair
Report of the Economic Botany Section
Botanical Society of America
1) For the 1999 BSA Meeting at the XVI International Botanical Congress in St Louis we have organized
a symposium entitled: "Anthropogenic Plant Migrations: Habitat Transformations by Overt and
Inadvertent Introductions" scheduled for Friday, August 6th.
Organizers: David Lentz, Chairperson of EBS/BSA, New York Botanical Garden, C. Edelmira Linares,
and Robert Bye, Jardin Botanico del Instituto de Biologia UNAM
Invited speakers for the symposium include:







Robert Bye (Jardin Botanico del Instituto de Biologia UNAM)
Daniel Harder (Missouri Botanical Garden)
Lawrence Kaplan (Biology Department, University of Massachusetts, Boston)
David Lentz (NYBG)
C. Edelmira Linares (Jardin Botanico del Instituto de Biologia UNAM)
Richard Mack (Department of Botany, Washington State University, Pullman)
Deborah Pearsall (American Archeology Division, University of Missouri, Columbia).
The Symposium is sponsored jointly by the Economic Botany Section of BSA and the Society for
Economic Botany.
2) The Economic Botany Section has decided again to present a $100 award for the best student
paper/poster presented for excellence in execution of research and presentation and interpretation of
results.
Treasurer's report:
As of March 1999 (per Cash and Section Accounts Report) the Economic Botany Section had $620. Of
this balance expected expenditures for this year include:
$100 to be awarded to one student (paper or poster) presented at the International Botanical Congress best
fitting the objectives of the Economic Botany Section.
Respectfully submitted,
Daniel Harder, Secretary - Treasurer
Economic Botany Section of the Botanical Society of America
32
Genetics Section
The Genetics Section published one newsletter during the 1998-99 academic year and sponsored the
symposium entitled "Genome Evolution in Hybrid Plant Species" at the International Botanical Congress.
Election of a secretary/treasurer will be held in the near future via email. - Jeri Higginbotham, Section
Chair
Report of the Historical Section, BSA
The Historical Section program consisted of one paper and one poster during the 1998 annual
meeting held in conjunction with the American Institute of Botanical Sciences in Baltimore. Officers for
the Section were elected for the 1998-2001 term. They include: Vassiliki Betty Smocovitis (University of
Florida), Chair; Peter F. Stevens (University of Missouri at St. Louis), Vice-Chair; and Laurence J. Dorr
(Smithsonian), Secretary-Treasurer.
At the XVI International Botanical Congress in St. Louis the Section is sponsoring a symposium
entitled "The Recent History of Botanical Science" and co-sponsoring with the Council on Botanical and
Horticultural Libraries a second symposium entitled "Towards an International Plan for Preserving
Botanical Documentation: Critical Problems and Potential Solutions." The Section also voted to allocate
its available annual allotments to support the attendance at the Congress of Dr. Susana Pinar (Madrid). Dr.
Pinar, an historian of botany, will present a paper in the symposium on the recent history of botanical
science.
Laurence J. Dorr
Smithsonian Institution
16 August 1999
Mycological Section 1999
The Mycological Section of the BSA did not support any activities at the International Botanical Congress
in St. Louis.
Attendance levels and abstract submissions for Mycological Section sessions in recent years have been
disappointing1. This appears to be due to several factors, including indifference on the part of BSA and
MSA members toward the activities of the Mycological Section, lack of coordination between the BSA
and MSA regarding abstract submissions, and the fact that in 1996 and 1998 the meetings of the BSA and
MSA meeting were held separately.
Because of the low level of activity in the Mycological Section of the BSA, we decided that future
Mycological Section activities should be limited to symposia cosponsored by the MSA, presented at joint
meetings of the BSA and MSA. It is hoped that the Mycological Section will be able to find other ways to
serve as a conduit between the BSA and MSA, outside of the annual meeting.
(Report submitted by David S. Hibbett, Section Chair)
1
In 1996, the Mycological Section sponsored a symposium jointly with the Teaching Section, entitled
"Recent advances in mycology for undergraduate botany teachers", (six presentations) as well as one
session of contributed papers (five papers). In 1997, the Mycological Section of the BSA supported one
session of contributed papers (six papers) and one group of posters (six posters) at the annual meeting of
the AIBS in Montreal. In 1998, the Mycological Section received no abstracts.
33
ANNUAL REPORT OF THE PALEOBOTANICAL SECTION
presented at The Botanical Society of America Council Meeting
August 1, 1999 * St Louis, Missouri
The Paleobotanical Section currently has 351 members (278 regular members, 14 emeritus regular
members, 38 affiliate members, 4 emeritus affiliate members, and 17 honorary members). This represents
an increase of 8 members since last year.
This year the Section provided support for five symposia at the International Botanical Congress, and
awarded registration waivers and banquet tickets for 16 students attending the International Botanical
Congress. Members of the Paleobotanical Section submitted approximately 115 abstracts for the
International Botanical Congress, including symposium and poster presentations. The section has
organized a paleobotanical dinner scheduled for Tuesday August 3, for which 118 persons have registered.
The annual business meeting is scheduled for 7:45 AM, Thursday August 5th.
In November 1998, the Paleobotanical Section became a member society of the American
Geological Institute, an affiliation that reflects the cross-disciplinary interests of many of our members.
During the past year the Paleobotanical Section has been raising money for its various endowment funds,
with continued emphasis on the Winfried Remy and Renata Remy Fund. This fund was established in
1997 and will endow the Remy and Remy Award, for the best published paper in Paleobotany or
Palynology during the foregoing year.
The Bibliography of American Paleobotany for 1998 was mailed to members and to 39 institutional
subscribers in May 1999. Copies will be provided for the BSA Archives and for the editor of the Plant
Science Bulletin. Others may purchase copies for $18 each.
The Section continues to maintain a Paleobotany News List (PALEOBOT) on the internet and a
homepage on the World Wide Web. To subscribe to the list, interested persons should send an e-mail
message to < PALEOBOT@dartmouth.edu containing the following message:
subscribe PALEOBOT your name
The WWW homepage can be visited at http://www.dartmouth.edu/~daghlian/paleo/ or via the BSA
homepage.
Respectfully submitted,
Steven R. Manchester, Secretary-Treasurer
Paleobotanical Section, Botanical Society of America
Phycological Section 1999
The Phycological section of BSA partially supported two symposia at the International Botanical
Congress in St. Louis. Annette Coleman and David Kirk, organizers of the symposium "Volvocales,
gateway to physiological and evolutionary analysis of development", received sectional funding to
supplement the support obtained from the International Botanical Congress.
The symposium included the following papers:

Annette Coleman, Phylogenetic analysis of Volvocales useful for comparative genetic studies.
34
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




Patrick Ferris, Genetic control of sexuality in Volvocales.
Arthur Grossman, Pathways of control during nutrient limitation of Chlamydomonas.
David Kirk, The evolution and molecular basis of cellular differentiation in the volvocine algae.
Hisayoshi Nozaki, Morphology and evolution of sexual reproduction in the colonial Volvocales.
Jean-David Rochaix, Assembly of photosynthetic complexes in Chlamydomonas.
George Witman, Molecular genetic analysis of microtubule motors in Chlamydomonas.
A second symposium, entitled "Convergent evolution and the systematics of coccoid green algae", was
also partially supported by the section. This symposium was organized by Eberhard Hegewald and Louise
Lewis, and included the following invited papers:






Thomas Friedl, Evolution of coccoid green algae as inferred from DNA sequence analyses - an
overview.
Eberhard Hegewald, Better understanding of the genus Scenedesmus through DNA/RNA sequencing.
Volker A. R. Huss, A polyphasic approach to the systematics of the genus Chlorella.
Lothar Krienitz, Present state of systematics of picoplanktonic chlorophycean algae.
Hiroshi Takeda, Chemotaxonomy of Chlorella and Chlorella-like algae based on the cell wall
chemical composition.
Shin Watanabe, Inference of phylogenetic status of some coccoid ulvophycean green algae based on
ultrastructure and 18S rDNA sequence data.
(Report submitted by Louise A. Lewis, chair)
Physiological Section Report
1999-2000 Chair Peter Straub, Stockton College, Pomona NJ
1999-2000 Program Denise Seliskar, University of Delaware, Lewes, DE
The 1998 meeting was well attended and the section managed a full paper and poster session at the
Baltimore meeting. In addition, a symposium was supported on American Beachgrass. The business
meeting was attended by about 10 people and plans were put forth to support student attendance at the
IBC and to prepare for our next full meeting in Portland in 2000. Since the 1999 meeting is being held
under the auspices of the IBC, the section planned to meet again in a luncheon format in Portland.
Respectfully, Pete Straub
1998/1999 Annual Report of the Pteridological Section
of the Botanical Society of America
I. Activities of Section at 1998 AIBS Meeting
A. Symposium: The Pteridological Section, jointly with the American Fern Society, sponsored a
symposium entitled “Conservation Biology of Pteridophytes”, organized by Tom Ranker, University of
Colorado at Boulder. Thirteen invited presentations were scheduled on a broad range of topics.
A good time was had by all.
B. Contributed paper session: Eight papers were presented in the contributed paper session.
35
II. Support for the Annual Review of Pteridological Research
The Pteridological Section continued its tradition of providing financial support for the publication
of the Annual Review of Pteridological Research, published jointly by the BSA Pteridological Section and
the International Association of Pteridologists. For the publication of Volume 11, 1997, a contribution of
$400 was made and for the upcoming publication of Volume 12, 1998, a contribution of $300 was made.
III. Planned activities for the XVI International Botanical Congress in St. Louis, MO, August 1999.
The Pteridological Section will offer awards for the two best posters presented in pteridology and
four awards will be offered to students of pteridology to help defray the cost of the meeting registration
fee.
Respectfully submitted by
Tom A. Ranker
Secretary/Treasurer
Pteridological Section
15 July 1999
Report of the Teaching Section 1999
Report to Carol Baskin, President of Botanical Society of America on the BSA-sponsored,
educational outreach activities at NABT, CELS and NSTA
Submitted by Rob Reinsvold,
Chair of Teaching Section and Member of Education Committee
In partial response to the society’s call to action in Botany for the Next Millennium to “promote effective
botanical education of K-12”, the Education Committee and the Teaching Section sponsored an
educational booth at the national conference of NSTA (National Science Teachers Association),
sponsored a workshop for teachers at NABT (National Association of Biology Teachers) and joined other
plant biology societies in a symposium on botanical literacy organized by CELS (Coalition for Education
in the Life Sciences). All these activities had a significant impact and placed BSA in the forefront of the
efforts to promote greater awareness of the fundamental importance of plants to society and scientific
advancement.
CELS Workshop “Toward Literacy in Plant Biology”
July 2, 1998 Madison, WI
The Coalition for Education in the Life Sciences (CELS) organized a one-day workshop that brought
together representatives of eleven different professional organizations interested in improving public
awareness and literacy of plants and plant biology. The two goals of the workshop were 1) to broaden the
discussion of what should be taught about plants and plant biology in a general life science curriculum and
2) to encourage the improvement in teaching and instructional materials using plants. The organizations
represented included Botanical Society of America, American Society of Plant Physiologist, American
Phytopathological Society, American Society of America, Coalition for Education in the Life Sciences,
Association of College and University Biology Educators, Society for Developmental Biology,
BioQUEST, American Institute of Biological Sciences, Council for Agricultural Science and Technology
and Crop Science Society of America.
36
John Markwell of ASPP presented ASPP’s Twelve Principles of Plant Biology to initiate the discussion.
These principles are now available on their website and have been connected to national and state content
standards. Representing BSA, Rob Reinsvold and Ethel Stanley shared the perspectives of BSA on
formal and informal education in botany. Copies of Botany for the Next Millennium were distributed to
all participants. The other societies expressed their willingness to collaborate with BSA, ASPP, and
CELS to advance botanical education at all levels (K-college).
NABT Workshop “Leave it to the Plants”
presented at annual meeting NABT, Nov 4-7, 1998, Reno, NV.
To promote the educational outreach goals of BSA, Rob Reinsvold and Ethel Stanley conducted a
workshop for secondary and community college teachers at the national convention of the National
Association of Biology Teachers (NABT). This conference is one of the largest that brings together
biology teachers, especially at the K-12 levels. The workshop presented several innovative approaches
that presented plants as ideal organisms for teaching unifying concepts of biology. These activities
explored concepts in ecology, development, biochemistry, and adaptation by considering the leaves on a
tree as a population.
The workshop had a room capacity of 50 although at least 30-40 people additional people stood around
the edges. These participants express the general need for more plant-related workshops and lessons.
Teachers want more than the standard review of prepared slides. They also do not want lessons that
introduce more new terms than most foreign language courses. They appreciated BSA for taking a
proactive role in botanical education.
NSTA Booth,
annual meeting of NSTA, Mar 24-28, 1999, Boston, MA.
For the second consecutive year, BSA had a visible presence at the National Science Teachers
Association. Last year we shared booth space with American Society of Plant Physiologists. This year,
BSA had there own booth in the exhibitor’s hall. Our booth was adjacent to booths sponsored by ASPP,
American Phytopathological Society (APS), Wisconsin Fast Plants, and C-Fern. The combined row of
booths provided a coordinated effort to promote the use of plants to teach biological principles. We
organized all the booths so attendees could flow from one booth to the next.
The total attendance at this convention was 21,154. This included teachers and administrators from
Kindergarten through college, representatives from science museums, commercial exhibitors, funding
agencies, federal research institutes, and other professional societies. All attendees had access to the
booth and BSA received great exposure along with the other plant-related booths. Based on the number
of learning activities and BSA bookmarks distributed the BSA display actively engaged at least 1500
teachers. The BSA investment of $3500 (for booth rental, materials, and accommodations of presenters)
translates to approximately $2.30 per “engaged teacher”. Although the total cost appeared high at first
glance, the potential impact was impressive.
To attract teachers to our booth we had several low-cost, hands-on activity at the booth we called “Badge
Botany”. The participants started their own pocket gardens that we attached directly to their name badge.
We used these individual “gardens” to illustrate a wide variety of student activities that could be
incorporated into a curriculum to illustrate important biological concepts and scientific investigation.
Each pocket garden had the BSA logo and website for future reference. By the end of the conference, the
small onion sets had sprouted roots and shoots. Throughout the entire conference center, participants
were seen with these pocket gardens hanging from their badges. This attracted more conference attendees
37
to our booth and the other plant-related booths. Soon the our row of booths was referred to as “The Plant
Place”.
Once we had their attention, we informed the teachers about other botanical resources available for their
teaching needs. In addition, we conducted a survey of these teachers to identify the perceived obstacles to
using plants more in the classroom and their needs. They expressed an overwhelming need for more
workshops and plant-related lessons. Teachers in the K-12 levels often come to the NSTA and NABT
conventions to get ideas and lesson plans and BSA can help fill this need.
The BSA booth was the standard 9’ by 10’. This was just adequate to provide work space for the making
the “Badge Botany” and to provide display space for handouts on other activitites or resources. We
distributed 500 BSA posters, 500 BSA “Careers in Botany”, 250 Botany in the Next Millennium, 1500
BSA bookmarks, and 1500 other handouts on other plant lessons such as “Flying seed competition”,
“Organismal olympics”, “Making a low-cost plant press”, and lists of recent publications. The BSA
banner and table skirt clearly displayed the BSA logo. The booth was staffed by Rob Reinsvold, Ethel
Stanley, and J Shipman of the Teaching Section and Education Committee of BSA. The BSA booth and
the booths of APS, ASPP, Wisconsin Fast Plants, and C-Ferns were busy that entire time.
Recommendations for next year:
1. BSA should continue to budget funds for educational outreach. Our impact is worth the investment.
The K-12 educators greatly appreciate BSA’s efforts and want more.
2. I think BSA should continue to provide an exhibit at NSTA in coordination with other plant-related
societies. For the money invested, this is the most effective way to reach the greatest number of
motivated teachers at one time. It lets K-12 teachers know BSA really does value education as stated
in Botany in the Next Millennium. The representatives from ASPP and APS also recognized the
significance of reaching the teachers and have recommended to their societies to sponsor booths again
next year. We are in the process of encouraging additional plant-related societies to join us and
increase the success of a row of plant-related booths called “The Plant Place.”
3. Next year’s booth should profile the digitized slide collection since we have invested so much time
and effort into the transfer from slides to CD.
4. The next national convention of NSTA in Orlando, FL on April 6-9, 2000. Deadline for booth
reservation is
5. Teachers have requested more workshops on specific lessons using plants. These workshops allow
more time to explain and illustrate botanical lessons. NABT and NSTA conventions provide
opportunities for such workshops, but regional meetings or summer programs should also be
considered. NABT has accepted our proposal (Ethel Stanley and Rob Reinsvold as presenters) for a
workshop at next year’s meeting.
6. To increase the impact, we need more BSA members involved. To staff the booth at NSTA, 3-4
people could be kept busy the entire time. To allow for opportunities for the booth staffers to make
other connections at the convention and have breaks, at least 6 people are needed.
7. The Education Committee should compile a set of tested learning activities for various levels. These
should be presented in both hard copy for distribution and available on the website.
8. BSA should continue to endorse the efforts of all those promoting the use of plants to learn biology.
Tropical Biology Section - Annual Report
The Tropical Biology Section, in collaboration with the Association for Tropical Biology (ATB), cosponsored two symposia during the IBC, one on "Coastal sand dunes: their ecology and restoration,"
organized by Marisa Martínez and Roy Lubke, the other on "Phenological studies on tropical plant
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communities," organized by Patricia Morellato and Lucinda McDade. The Section allocated all its funds
for FYs 98-99 and 99-00 of $1400 to support the attendance of symposium speakers from tropical
countries at IBC.
The Section's treasurer, Andrew Douglas, has accepted a position in the Biology Department at the
University of Mississippi (adouglas@olemiss.edu).
The Section currently has 305 members, and it would be appropriate for it to (co)sponsor a
contributed paper session, or one of the symposia, planned for the BSA's Portland meeting next year. If
you have information about symposia that have to do with the tropics or know of coming contributed
papers that might usefully be grouped and then in some way supported by the Section, please contact
Susanne Renner (biosrenn@admiral.umsl.edu)
1999 Annual Report
BSA Mid-Continent Section
Submitted: Wayne J. Elisens, Chair
1 August 1999
Section officers: Vice-chair: Randy Allen; Secretary-Treasurer: Ken Freiley;
Vice Secretary-Treasurer: Allan Nelson.
1999 General and Business meetings. The Mid-Continent Section met with the annual meeting of
the Southwest Association of Naturalists (SWAN) at the Universidad Autonoma de Nuevo Leon;
Monterrey, Nuevo Leon, Mexico in April. Because of the sparse attendance by BSA members, there were
no sponsored symposia, no business meeting, and no awards for student presentations held at the meeting.
Consequently, no funds were spent from the BSA allotment during FY 1999. Elections and new and old
items of business were discussed by e-mail among the officers and members of the section. An active
program at the SWAN meeting in April 2000 is anticipated.
Nominations and Elections.
The terms of two officers expired during 1999, the chair (Wayne
Elisens, Oklahoma University) and the vice-chair (Randy Allen, Texas Tech University). Several
nominations for these positions were received. We are happy to announce that, starting in August 1999
for three year terms, Dr. Rob Wallace (Iowa State University) will serve as chair and Dr. Craig Freeman
(Kansas University and Natural Heritage Inventory) will serve as vice-chair.
Officers of the Mid-Continent section for 1999-2000
Chair (2002):
ROBERT S. WALLACE
Department of Botany
Bessey Hall
Iowa State University
Ames, IA 50011-1020
Phone: 515-294-0367;
fax: 515-294-1337;
e-mail <rwallace@iastate.edu>
Vice Chair (2002):
CRAIG C. FREEMAN
Kansas Biological Survey
2041 Constant Avenue
Lawrence, KS 66047
Phone: 785-864-3453;
fax: 785-864-5093;
e-mail <c-freeman@ukans.edu>
Secretary/Treasurer (2001):
KENNETH J. FREILEY
Biology Department
University of Central Arkansas
Conway, AR 72035
Phone: (501) 450-5926;
fax: (501) 450-5914;
e-Mail: <kennethf@mail.uca.edu>
Vice Secretary/Treasurer (2001):
ALLAN D. NELSON
Department of Biology
Science Building, Rm 226
Box T-0100
39
Tarleton State University
Stephenville, TX 76402
Phone: (254) 968-9159;
fax: (254) 968-9157,
e-Mail <nelson@tarleton.edu>
REPORT - 1999 - PACIFIC SECTION
Botanical Society of America
Presented by David E. Bilderback
The Pacific Section met at San Francisco State University on June 19-23, 1999 with the Pacific Division
of the American Association for Advancement of Science. The Program included an illustrated lecture
on "The Mystery of Carnivorous Plants", by Peter D'Amato, co-owner of California Carnivores; and a
symposium entitled, "Plant Self-defense Against Pests and Pathogens", organized by Clarence A. Ryan,
Institute of Biological Chemistry, P.O. Box 616340, Washington State University, Pullman, WA 991646340.
In 2000, the Pacific section will meet with the Pacific Division of the AAAS at Southern Oregon
University on June 11-14.
Annual Report for the Southeastern Section of Botanical Society of America
The annual business meeting of SE-BSA was conducted during the 60th Annual Meeting of the
Association of Southeastern Biologists, hosted by the University of North Carolina – Wilmington, from
April 14-17, 1999. John Herr, a former SE-BSA Activities Committee Chair, presided in the absence of
Kathy Hornberger.
Elections were held for Secretary-Treasurer and Chair of the Activities Committee. The
individuals elected were Larry J. Davenport from Samford University in Birmingham, AL and Frank D.
Watson, from St. Andrews College in Laurinburg, NC, respectively.
A teaching workshop entitled “Transgenic plants: Using green fluorescent protein and
insecticidal genes in ecology and population biology” was presented by Dr. C. Neal Stewart and several
graduate students from UNC – Greensboro.
An announcement was made that there were several hundred dollars available for graduate
students travelling to IBC this summer in St. Louis, MO.
SE-BSA was one of seven professional biological organizations represented at this meeting, with
285 papers and posters listed in the program; over 50% were botanical in scope or closely allied.
Kathy Hornberger, Chair
Report of BSA Representative to the CSSP 1999
The Council of Scientific Society Presidents is an organization of presidents or other representatives
of about sixty scientific societies and federations and societies whose combined membership numbers
well over 1.4 million scientists and science educators. The goals of the CSSP are to “facilitate
cooperation across multiple scientific disciplines; deliberate and adopt public policy positions and act
upon the science research and education issues of national or international scope; develop ways to
enhance the public understanding and appreciation of science; foster scientific research and
40
dissemination of discoveries; and provide a mechanisms for communicating among the various scientific
disciplines through he presidents of scientific societies.”
The CSSP meets twice a year in Washington D.C.; this year, unfortunately, it was not possible for a
BSA representative to attend. Due to the cost of travel to these meetings, the BSA Executive Committee
recommends that, in the future, a representative from the Society should attend one of these per year.
Additionally, because the CSSP program includes workshops on issues such as providing leadership for
scientific societies, public affairs and press relations, science education, and interacting with government
agencies, it is recommended that the President-Elect act as BSA representative.
-Nancy Dengler
DATE:
TO:
FROM:
SUBJECT:
20 July 1999
BSA Council
Laurence E. Skog, BSA Representative to ASC
Highlights of ASC Activities-1999
As newly appointed BSA representative to ASC, I served in 1999 primarily to forward requests for
information from ASC from BSA. The requests were forwarded to Business Manager Kim Hiser.
ASC has developed two databases that are now available via Internet on the website of the National
Biological Information Infrastructure (NBII). The first is a database of taxonomic experts (TRED) that
identifies and is searchable by expert's name, taxonomic expertise, geographic expertise, and habitat
expertise. The second is a database of research-quality systematics collections in museums, universities,
and other agencies and associated information resources (DRSC), predominantly in the U.S., along with
collections on five other continents. Both databases are accessible at the ASC website at www.ascol.org.
ASC has requested that BSA inform its members of these databases. Subsequently, BSA President
Carol Baskin sent a cover letter to the ASC director to accompany a request from ASC to BSA members
for information for the database project.
ASC distributes on-line a bi-monthly newsletter of ASC activities and highlights of recent news about
systematic collections, in addition to the printed ASC Newsletter. The electronic newsletter is available
to ASC member institutions and societies, and can be sent to interested recipients on request.
The next ASC annual meeting will be held in Baltimore 14-15 May 2000 and will honor the 50th
anniversary of the National Science Foundation. Dr. Rita Colwell, NSF director will be a keynote
speaker.