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Volume 16, No. 1 | January-March 2002 |
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COMPOSITAE PROJECT RECEIVES $300,000 FROM NSF Flora of North America Association is delighted to announce that on 18 March 2002, the National Science Foundation awarded a grant of $300,000 to complete the three Compositae volumes for FNA. The award is from the Biotic Surveys and Inventories Program and will be managed through the FNA Editorial Center at the Botanical Research Institute of Texas. Ted Barkley is the P.I. The Compositae project is overseen by the Compositae Editorial Committee, consisting of Dr. Barkley, Luc Brouillet, and John L. Strother. More details about the grant should appear in a future issue of the Newsletter. FNA VOLUME UPDATE Volume 4 The Flagstaff Editorial Center at The Arboretum at Flagstaff is pleased to report that it is entering the home stretch for Volume 4, Caryophyllidae (Part I). This volume will treat 886 species in 118 genera and 10 families. All treatments have been received, reviewed, and revised, and are now in the technical editing stage, with the exception of five Cactaceae genera (being completed by the taxon editor) and Amaranthus (nearly ready for review). Some map and illustration issues remain, but the goal is delivery to prepress in late spring of this year. The center is also responsible for map production for all of the volumes, and has processed the 1,000+ maps for upcoming Volume 26. The editorial staff wishes to express its thanks to authors, reviewers, editors, and other staff for their hard work on Volume 4. Volume 5 Volume 5, Caryophyllidae, Part 2, will contain a total of three families, 70 genera, and over 1000 species. Processing will be handled at the Hunt Institute Editorial Center. The target date of completion is December 2003.
Nine treatments in the Caryophyllaceae have entered the review process and are available on the ftp site. Taxonomic and regional reviewers were notified when treatments were posted. A number of treatments in the other |
Volume 5 families, Polygonaceae and Plumbaginaceae, have also been received. Volume 23 Volume 23, which treats Cyperaceae, the sedges, is in the final stages of editing and is on track for publication in March 2003. The volume describes 480 species of Carex, 96 species of Cyperus, 68 species of Rhynchospora, 67 species of Eleocharis, and the monotypic North American endemic Cymophyllus. For information on preordering this volume and Volume 26, see related article, page 3. Volumes 24 and 25 The editorial center at the Intermountain Herbarium, Utah State University, reports that all but three genera (14% of the total species) in Volume 25 are ready to be sent to contributors for final approval and copyright transfer. Some changes may be required, and inconsistencies in three tribal keys must be corrected, but editing should be completed very soon. Illustrations are arriving at a steady rate, and high-resolution monochrome maps are being developed for the printed volumes. Completed illustrations are placed on the Web site ( http://herbarium.usu.edu/grassmanual) as time permits. The site also features occasional notes with the treatments, providing a way to explain points that are not easily interpreted from a written description. For an example, see Echinochloa crus-galli. Like the illustrations, notes are posted as time allows. The first of the Volume 24 treatments have been sent for review. Work is progressing as quickly as possible, with a goal of publication in 2003. Due to the delay in completing Volume 25, however, it is possible that Volume 24 will not appear until 2004. Immediate goals for the Grass Manual are to 1) get publication-ready copy of Volume 25 to OUP by this September, and 2) edit 75% of treatments and illustrate 50% of species for Volume 24 before 2003. |
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For more detailed information on the Grass Manual project, see the Grass
Manual Newsletter at
http://herbarium.usu.edu/grassmanual/newsletters/ news12.pdf. Volume 26 Treatments of all genera in Volume 26, Liliales and Orchidales, have been submitted, sent to the editorial center at the Missouri Botanical Garden, and set into proof. Further editing work and other preparation for submission to Oxford University Press is underway, and Volume 26 will be sent to the publisher very soon. Publication is expected by September 2002. For information on preordering this volume or Volume 23, see related article, page 3. BFNA, BUFFALO The BFNA Web site,
http://www.buffalomuseumofscience. Richard Zander, Emeritus Curator of Botany at the Clinton Herbarium and Lead Editor
of the FNA Editorial Center at Buffalo, has a new e-mail address. He may be reached
at rhzander@sciencebuff.org.
ELECTRONIC RESOURCES Latin Texts Online Dr. Dana F. Sutton, Professor of Classics, University of California, Irvine, |
presents "An Analytic Bibliography of On-line Neo-Latin Texts" on the
Web site
http://eee.uci.edu/~papyri/bibliography. Some 5,452 digitized Latin texts
on botany and many other subjects, written
during the Renaissance and later, are accessible as PDF files and may be downloaded
for free. Works include Linnaeus's Species Plantarum, De Candolle's
Prodromus, Martius's Flora Brasiliensis, and many others. The site
enables a user to search for texts by the author's last name. Updates are added often
are listed according to the month in which they were posted.
Anyone able to suggest additions or corrections to the bibliography, as well as those who post new texts on the Web, are encouraged to contact Dr. Sutton at danasutton@mac.com. Neotropical Botany Pages Unveiled The Neotropical Botany Pages: A Cooperative Information Center for Digital Documentation of Neotropical Plant Diversity is now online at http://www.botanypages.org. The site includes numerous links to sections on Myristicaceae, Lecythidaceae, Bat_Plant Interactions, and the botany of a new conservation concession in Madre de Dios, Peru, known as Los Amigos. The concession has an image gallery of about 1,200 images, mostly of plants, searchable by family. Plant specialists in various groups are invited to send their determinations of unidentified species. Some of these sites are undergoing various additions and stages of improvement. Comments and suggestions are welcome and should be directed to Amanda Neill (aneill@nybg.org) or John Janovec (jjanovec@nybg.org). REPORT FROM THE FNAA MANAGEMENT COMMITTEE The Flora of North America Association (FNAA) Management Committee held its mid-year meeting in St. Louis on15 and 16 March 2002, addressing a number of important issues in the continued rebuilding and strengthening of the project. High on the agenda was the issue of simplifying the creation of distribution maps for the printed Flora. The Committee resolved that in the future, distributions will be illustrated using politicalboundary dot maps. (These illustrations could more properly be called graphical respresentations of known occurrence, rather than maps.) A single dot will be placed in the center of each of the lower 48 states in which the taxon occurs. For the Canadian provinces, Alaska, St. Pierre and Miquélon, and Greenland, the single dot may be located in that portion of the area where the plants are present, with the proviso that only a limited number of fixed variations in the placement of dots will be used. Recommendations for this placement are being worked out in coordination with Luc Brouillet. The need for an institutional repository for copies of all FNA botanical |
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materials was discussed. Jim Zarucchi will evaluate the accumulation and management
of botanical materials for the project to determine where to keep backup copies of
all manuscripts and other works-in-progress, other than at the relevant editorial
center or with the corresponding taxon editor. He will report his findings to the
Management Committee.
The Committee also adopted the important proposal of the reorganization committee, chaired by Craig Freeman. Highlights of the reorganization, the goal of which is to improve productivity and enhance fundability, include: creation of a new Executive Committee (to which the Executive Director would report) focusing on management issues; reshaping of the current Management Committee into an Editorial Management Committee to focus on issues involved in creating the content of the Flora; and drafting and adoption of general procedures and policies covering financial procedures, annual budgeting, relationships between the various boards and committees, redrafting of the bylaws, term limits for board and committee members, retirement of members from committee posts, and job descriptions that clarify the roles and responsibilities of the various participants in the project. Charles Levine and Jim Zarucchi will be responsible for preparing a more complete reorganization document for general circulation, in consultation with the members of the Management Committee, with the goal of having the Editorial Committee vote on the completed plan at its next meeting in October 2002. Other items of note that were discussed include the consequences of reduced funding during 2002; the on-going relationship with BONAP in light of the decision to simplify the depiction of distributions; the urgency to clarify with Oxford University Press a strategy for digital and Web use of the Flora; the setting of and time-table for fund-raising and other goals for the balance of 2002; and the on-going progress of the various volumes at each editorial center. DEATHS EDWARD W. GREENWOOD, FNA contributor and Research Associate of AMO, the herbarium of the Asociación Mexicana de Orquideologia, died in Ottawa on 24 February 2002. He was 84. Mr. Greenwood was an engineering chemist and naturalist with wide-ranging knowledge, but his avocation was the study of orchids, particularly those native to Canada and Mexico. An advocate of both field and herbarium study, he led field trips and interacted with local botanists to identify native Canadian orchid colonies. He retired to Oaxaca in 1973 and spent the next twenty years continuing his research on Mexican terrestrial orchids. He described ten new orchid species, and another nine, plus a species and variety of cactus, were named in his honor by Mexican colleagues. Most of Mr. Greenwood's twenty or so papers on Mexican orchids were published in the Mexican journal Orquidea, of which he was coeditor for fifteen years. His treatment of the Mexican orchid genus Govenia will appear in FNA Volume 26. Colleagues will remember Mr. Greenwood not only for his passion for orchids, but also for his energy, enthusiasm, and good humor. He was a talented storyteller and source of encouragement to those who worked with him. THOMAS MORLEY, 85, Professor Emeritus at the University of Minnesota, died at his home on 2 February 2002. Dr. Morley was a specialist in Mouriri and Votomita, tropical trees of the Melastomataceae, and he described various new species in these groups from central Amazonia. WILLIAM D. REESE, Taxon Editor for the FNA Bryophyte Project, died on 4 |
February 2002. His BFNA Editorial Committee colleagues depended greatly on his considerable
editorial expertise and common sense in developing the three BFNA volumes (27-29)
and in maintaining direction. His many treatments were submitted in good order some
time ago and may be viewed on the BFNA Web site,
http://www.buffalomuseumofscience.org/bfna/bfna menu.htm. VOLUMES 23 AND 26 AVAILABLE FOR PREORDER The next volumes available in the Flora of North America series, volumes 23 and 26, may now be preordered from Oxford University Press. All volumes, including those already published, are being offered at a 20% discount for orders placed before 31 August 2002 (U.S. only). The price of each volume is $75.00, plus $5.00 shipping and handling per copy; beginning 1 September the price will increase to $95.00. To preorder volumes 23 or 26, or to order any of the published volumes, call OUP at (800) 451-7556; fax (212) 726-6442; or visit http://www.oup-usa.org/reference/sprintro.html. OTHER NEWS LuEsther T. Mertz Library and NYBG Herbarium to Open in May The New York Botanical Garden is pleased to announce the inauguration of new and renovated facilities for the NYBG Herbarium and the LuEsther T. Mertz Library, both the largest collections of their kind in the Western Hemisphere. The Herbarium, with more than 6.5 million plant and fungi specimens, is housed in a new, state-of-the-art, 70,000-square-foot facility featuring ample work space for employees and visitors, and carefully controlled environmental conditions, including a special cold storage room for mycological collections. With more than 775,000 print and nonprint items in 30 languages, and nearly a mile of archival materials, the LuEsther T. Mertz Library maintains more than 75% of the world's literature on systematic botany. The new 18,500-square-foot facility also houses published literature, photographs, seed and nursery catalogs, and art, all in the areas of botany, horticulture, and landscape design. The grand opening will take place on 1 May 2002. The centerpiece of this celebration will be a symposium titled Biodiversity Research: A Scientific Frontier Opens for the Twenty-First Century. Eight distinguished speakers from various botanical and educational institutions will give presentations. The symposium will be followed by a dedication ceremony, featuring remarks by Garden staff, friends, and government officials. Tours will be offered of the Herbarium, Library, and laboratories of the Lewis B. and Dorothy Cullman Program for Molecular Systematics Studies. Guests may also view the first exhibition in the new William D. Rondina and Giovanni Foroni LoFaro Library Exhibition Gallery, entitled Plants and Gardens Portrayed: Rare & Illustrated Books from The LuEsther T. Mertz Library. A poster presentation on current graduate research at NYBG will also be featured. There is no fee to attend this event, but registration is required. For information about the symposium or any aspect of the grand opening celebration, please contact Dr. Barbara M. Thiers, Acting Vice President for Botanical Science, bthiers@nybg.org. |
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University of Michigan Herbarium Move
Update The University of Michigan Herbarium's move into temporary quarters (announced in the Flora of North America Newsletter 15(3), July-September, page 19) is complete. While the staff is still unpacking from the move and settling into their new space, the collection and library is once again accessible. Researchers planning to visit the herbarium before 1 June should contact the appropriate curator prior to their visit be sure that the necessary portion of the collection is available for their use. Most telephone numbers, including the main number, (734) 764-2407, and the fax number, (734)647-5719, remain the same. Loan activity from the fungus collection has resumed, and information on the other collections can be obtained from the appropriate curator. There is a backlog of shipments and requests involving the vascular plant collection, so it may take longer to process new requests. Shipments to the herbarium should be sent to the University of Michigan Herbarium, 3600 Varsity Drive, Suite 112, Ann Arbor, MI 48108-2287. Thieret Named Kentucky Naturalist of the Year John Thieret, Professor Emeritus of Northern Kentucky University and taxonomic editor for FNA, was named Kentucky Naturalist of the Year 2001 at the annual meeting of the Kentucky Society for Natural History. Dr. Thieret served as a taxonomic reviewer for Liliaceae in FNA Volume 26 and contributed the treatments of several grass genera for Volume 25. Lecture Series at NYBG The New York Botanical Garden is pleased to present Plants in Medicine, Art, and Culture, a Sunday afternoon series of stimulating lectures, book signings, and customized guided tours to highlight NYBG's role as a leader in plant science and to mark the May 2002 opening of new and renovated facilities, The William and Lynda Steere Herbarium and The LuEsther T. Mertz Library (see related article at left). Marking this milestone is a distinguished lineup of experts who will deliver compelling insight into the world of plants. The lecture schedule is as follows: 21 April, "From Botany to Integrative Medicine: The Journey of a Plant Lover," given by Andrew Weil, author and Director of the Program in Integrative Medicine at the College of Medicine, University of Arizona; 5 May, "The Botany of Desire: The Forgotten Power of Plants," given by Michael Pollan, author and contributor to The New York Times Magazine; and 19 May, "Drawing Conclusions: Botanical Illustration as Documentation," Bernadette Callery, Librarian, Carnegie Museum of Natural History. For more information on this series, including cost and registration, please visit the Continuing Education page on the NYBG Web site, http://www.nybg.org/edu/conted/spprog.html. MEETINGS Plant Species-Level Systematics Symposium A three-day international symposium on Plant Species-Level Systematics: Patterns, Processes and New Applications will take place from 13 to 15 November 2002 in Leiden, The Netherlands. The symposium seeks to review current insights on systematics from the fields of molecular biosystematics and speciation, in particular focusing on plant species radiations; molecular evolution in time and space; multiple genomes; plant hybrids, polyploids, and systematics; and identification and diagnostics. The meeting brings together a panel of internationally known experts, as well as scientists from the Nationaal Herbarium Nederland. There will be invited papers and contributed papers, which are open for registration. In addition, there will be ample opportunity for poster presentations. Confirmed speakers include Hans-Jürgen Bandelt, Tim Barraclough, Jeffrey Bennetzen, Mark Chase, Thomas Givnish, Joachim Kadereit, Peter Linder, Jeanine Olsen, Vincent Savolainen, Johannes Vogel, Jonathan Wendel, and Niklas Wikström. For more details, visit http://www.nationaalherbarium.nl/symposium2002, or send e-mail to symposium2002@nhn.leidenuniv.nl. Major Plant Conservation Conference to Meet in Ireland, July 2002 Science for Plant Conservation: An International Conference for Botanic Gardens, an international conference on research to promote plant conservation, will |
be held at Trinity College, Dublin, 8-10 July 2002. This exciting
meeting includes three days of contributed and invited presentations, and pre- and
post-conference trips to explore the plant diversity of Ireland. Although oriented
toward the global botanical garden community, anyone interested in plant conservation
is encouraged to participate.
Plenary sessions include Causes of Endangerment, Monitoring, and Integrated Conservation. Parallel sessions include Recovery and Reintroduction, Invasive Species, Demography and Population Management, Propagation Science, Restoration Ecology, Sustainable Utilization, Genebanks and Seed Biology, and Administration and Funding. For more information and all registration materials, please visit the conference Web site, http://www.rbg.ca/cbcn/science. Symposium on Plant Life of South Asia An international symposium on the biodiversity of flowering plants of South Asia
is being organized for 1-5 November 2002 by the Department of Botany, University of
Karachi. The program will consist of plenary lectures, paper presentations, and poster
sessions on the following topics: classical and experimental taxonomy, phytogeography,
reproductive biology, ethnobotany, wild relatives of cultivated plants, conservation
biology, and molecular systematics. Those interested in attending the symposium may
contact Dr. Mohammed Qaiser, Department of Botany, University of Karachi, Karachi-75270,
Pakistan; e-mail flora@super.net.pk or
mqaiser@super.net. POSITIONS AVAILABLE GRADUATE STUDY IN INVASIVE PLANT SPECIES, ST. CLOUD UNIVERSITY. The Department of Biological Sciences, St. Cloud University, seeks a graduate student interested in pursuing an M.A. in Plant Biology. Beginning summer 2002, the Department of Military Affairs at Camp Ripley will fund a two-year study in which the successful candidate will research invasive plant species and their effects on the native flora of Camp Ripley and the Arden Hills Army Training site. A full graduate research assistantship, including tuition waiver and stipend, is available pending funding approval. Applicants should submit an application including a letter of interest, resume, transcripts, GRE scores, and a list of references to Dr. Jorge E. Arriagada/Dr. Bill Faber, Department of Biological Sciences, St. Cloud University, MS 262, 720 Fourth Ave. S, St. Cloud, MN 56301-4498; fax (320) 255-4166. For more information, see the SCSU Herbarium Web site, http://herbarium@stcloudstate.edu. Applicants may also contact Dr. Jorge E. Arriagada, jarriagada@stcloudstate.edu, (320) 255-3456; or Dr. Bill Faber, wfaber@stcloudstate.edu, (320) 255-4135. Deadline for applications is 1 May 2002, with fieldwork commencing no later than 1 June. DIRECTOR, GATEWAY WILDLANDS PROGRAM, MISSOURI BOTANICAL GARDEN. Qualifications include a Master's degree and five years' relevant experience, as well as demonstrated leadership abilities, a proven fundraising track record, and experience working within a committee environment. For more details, send e-mail to jobs@mobot.org. Resumes, including salary history and the names of three references, should be directed to the Missouri Botanical Garden, HRM Department, Attn: GWP, P.O. Box 299, St. Louis, MO 63166. The closing date is 29 April 2002. PH.D. POSITIONS, UNIVERSITY OF ZURICH. Applications are invited for two Ph.D. positions at the Institute of Systematic Botany, University of Zurich, Switzerland. The successful candidates will be involved in a research program investigating the patterns of speciation in the Cape flora of South Africa. Applicants should submit a curriculum vitae and the names of two references to Dr. Peter Linder, plinder@systbot.unizh.ch. Funding for the positions is available immediately, so interested students are urged to apply as soon as possible. FUNDING OPPORTUNITIES Assembling the Tree of Life The National Science Foundation invites research proposals from multidisciplinary teams to conduct creative and innovative research that will resolve phylogenetic relationships for large groups of organisms on the Tree of Life. Teams of investigators will also be supported for projects in data acquisition and analysis, algorithm development, and dissemination in computational phylogenetics and phyloinformatics. For a description of Tree of Life activity and guidance on proposal preparation, please see the Funding page on the NSF Web site, http://www.nsf.gov, as well as the Program Solicitation (NSF 02-074) on the Documents Online section, http://www.nsf.gov/cgi-bin/getpub?nsf02074. The deadline for proposals is 17 May 2002. |
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