PLANT SCIENCE Bulletin Summer 2012 Volume 58 Number 2 BSA’s Highest Honor Goes to... 2012 Merit Award Winners......page 38 BSA Legacy Society Celebrates !...pg ?? In This Issue.............. BSA Board Student Representatives It’s the season for awards....pp. 38 BSA election results...pp. 51 visit Capitol Hill...pp. 44 From the Editor PLANT SCIENCE The day after the last issue ofPSB arrived in hard BULLETIN copy, I had a telephone call from an old friend, Hugh Editorial Committee Iltis. Hugh has been weakened by strokes and his voice lacks the volume he used to project, but his passion is Volume 58 undiminished. He wanted to inform me of the typo in Peter Raven’s printed address (see Erratum, p. 38) but Root Gorelick also to take issue with what he felt was a major omission (2012) related to human population growth—its underlying Department of Biology & cause. Hugh’s issue was that Peter did not mention School of Mathematics & the need for any kind of birth control, which is a main Statistics factor responsible for population growth. Of course, Carleton University population growth was not the focus of Peter’s article so Ottawa, Ontario it is not surprising that he did not elaborate on it. On Canada, K1H 5N1 the other hand, Hugh had a point that we frequently [email protected] overlook. We, as botanists, tend to focus on the immediate problem of feeding people while protecting the environment, but this is a Band-aid solution to the Elizabeth Schussler (2013) underlying problem of human population growth itself. Department of Ecology & The discussion with Hugh reminded me that we have an Evolutionary Biology educational opportunity, and with our science majors University of Tennessee I feel we have an educational obligation, to emphasize Knoxville, TN 37996-1610 the limits as well as the power of science in solving the [email protected] problems we face as a society. Peter focused on what we can do as botanists to alleviate the ever-increasing need for feeding more people, but in a sustainable way. Hugh would argue that by limiting ourselves to these solutions we are only making the problem worse. Christopher Martine Together they illustrate that science, by itself, will not be able to solve the problem. There are ethical, religious, (2014) political, and economic factors that provide a context Department of Biology Bucknell University for science; it is our role as science educators to teach Lewisburg, PA 17837 both the power and limits of science and to be open [email protected] to dialogue with professionals trained in other ways of knowing. We should be teaching this to our students and demonstrating it by example. This is a perfect segue to the report in this issue by our student members on their recent trip to Capitol Carolyn M. Wetzel Hill. One purpose was to inform legislators of the (2015) importance of maintaining support for plant science Department of Biological Sci- and young scientists may ences & Biochemistry Program Smith College be our best advocates. Northampton, MA 01063 But, it is also important for our student advocates Tel. 413/585-3687 to be aware of alternative viewpoints and to report back innovative ways Lindsey K. Tuominen of supporting botany in (2016) a larger perspective. It Warnell School of Forestry & is our job as faculty to Natural Resources cultivate this awareness. The University of Georgia Athens, GA 30605 [email protected] -Marsh Summer 2012 Volume 58 Number2 Table of Contents Erratum .........................................................................................................38 Society News Awards ..............................................................................................................................38 BSA Student Activists Visit Capitol Hill .........................................................................44 2012 Triarch “Botanical Images” Student Travel Award Winners ...................................47 BSA Science Education News and Notes PlantingScience . ..............................................................................................................48 Education Bits and Bobs ................................................................................................ 49 Editors Choice Reviews ................................................................................50 Personalia BSA Election Results ......................................................................................................51 Past-President Karl Niklas Named One of “Best 300 Professors” ...................................51 Meetings and Conferences The Legacy Society Celebrates! ......................................................................................52 Celebrating 30 Years of the Flora of the Bahamas: Conservation and Science Challenges ....................................................................... 54 Missouri Botanical Garden Ethnobotanists Receive National Geographic Society Grant .. For Study At Crow Creek Indian Reservation .............................................................56 Special Lecture at Botany 2012 . ..................................................................................... 57 Announcements Four Prominent Botanical Institutions Announce Plans to Create First Online World Flora ...................................................................58 Reports and Reviews Blanche and Oakes Ames: A Relationship of Art and Science .. ......................................60 Book Reviews ...............................................................................................65 Books Received ............................................................................................75 www.botanyconference.org 37 Society News Erratum research, including rigorous field and laboratory work, has contributed significantly to our From “Saving Plants, Saving Ourselves”: p. 3, understanding of plant diversity at the time when column 2, line 5. “ …reach 7 million by next spring major lineages of land plants were emerging. (April, 2012)…” should read “…reach 7 billion by Through careful morphological and anatomical next spring (April, 2012)….” investigations she has brought “to life” extinct genera of early land plants and improved our understanding of the ecosystems in which these The Botanical Society of plants participated. She is active as Professor of America’s Merit Award Botany at the University of North Carolina, where The Botanical Society of America Merit Award is she has taught since 1975 and has encouraged and the highest honor our Society bestows. Each year, collaborated with many students and colleagues the Merit Award Committee solicits nominations, internationally. Pat served as president of the evaluates candidates, and selects those to receive Botanical Society of America in 2000–2001, an award. Awardees are chosen based on their during a time of great transition as the Society outstanding contributions to the mission of began managing its annual Botany conferences our scientific society. The committee identifies independently of AIBS. recipients who have demonstrated excellence in basic research, education, public policy, or who have provided exceptional service to the professional botanical community, or who may have made contributions to a combination of these categories. Based on these stringent criteria, the 2012 BSA Merit Award recipients are: Dr. Walter Judd University of Florida, Gainesville Dr. Judd is recognized worldwide for his contributions to plant systematics, taxonomy, and phylogenetics. Although he is very well Dr. Patricia Gensel known for his academic achievements, where he University of North Carolina has focused on the systematics of the Ericaceae and Melastomataceae, as well as floristics in the Dr. Gensel is an international leader in the southeastern United States and the West Indies, investigation of early land plant evolution. Her Dr. Judd is also an accomplished teacher, where 38 Plant Science Bulletin 58(2) 2012 at the University of Florida, he has been awarded fellows, fostered extensive collaborative numerous times for his excellence in pedagogy. He research activities, and made significant service also has taught an internationally renowned class contributions to botanical and systematic societies. in tropical botany for the past 30 years at Fairchild The integration of his excellent research program Tropical Botanical Gardens and The Kampong in with public outreach activities through the Burke Miami. Dr. Judd is the lead author of the influential Museum of Natural History and Culture and the textbook, Plant Systematics: A Phylogenetic University of Washington herbarium serve as a Approach, which has been adopted throughout the model for how we should be sharing our botanical world as a model for teaching plant systematics and knowledge to improve the world. taxonomy. Dr. Judd’s passion for teaching, research, as well as learning, is ever influential to the graduate and undergraduate students he mentors. The 2012 BSA Merit Award is a much-deserved honor for Dr. Judd. Dr. Allison Snow Ohio State University Dr. Allison Snow is recognized for her outstanding contributions to botanical science in the areas Dr. Richard Olmstead of basic research, education, and professional University of Washington service. Allison’s research on pollination biology, gene flow, and risk assessment of transgenic crops Dr. Olmstead is recognized for his outstanding represent significant contributions to the field. She contributions to reshaping the field