Special Symposium Issue continues on page 10 Department of Botany & the U.S. National Herbarium The Plant Press New Series - Vol. 17 - No. 3 July-September 2014 Botany Profile Biogeography: There’s No Place Like Home By Gary A. Krupnick aird Auditorium at the National raphy, and evolution of Restionaceae and regional hummingbird and plant commu- Museum of Natural History pro- Poaceae. Although Linder was unable to nities to describe the speed of adaptation. vided the location for a full day attend the Symposium, he sent a message To approach this topic, the first step is B th of biogeography talks at the 12 Smith- stating how to develop a sonian Botanical Symposium, “Location, honored well-dated Location, Location...New Advances he was to phylogeny in the Science of Biogeography.” The receive of hum- speakers celebrated the past contributions such rec- mingbird and of biogeography and provided a look ognition: plants. Fossil toward future ones that bring a deeper “Although evidence understanding of the relationship between I have little of wing our planet and its biota. The invited contact to the Andean Asteraceae, I know shape suggests swifts are stem relatives speakers addressed why “location” mat- of the work of José Cuatrecasas. The list of hummingbirds, and precursors of ters with a wide range of modern studies of previous recipients is also very impres- hummingbirds are found in European and applications on the geography of life. sive—a long list of people I have seen as fossils that date back to 34-28 million Held over two days, the Symposium role models, and whose work I have much years ago. Molecular evidence places kicked off on April 24, 2014, with a appreciated. It is very nice to know that the age of modern hummingbirds at poster session at the Conservatory of my work on Restionaceae and the dan- 25-18 million years ago. Looking at the United States Botanic Garden. An thonioid grasses is appreciated.” bird-adapted plant clades, Renner found international group of 24 presenters dis- similar increases in lineages over time, played their posters and spoke about their ach invited speaker was then intro- as demonstrated by data of swordbills research ranging in topics from lichen duced by the Symposium Conve- and passionflowers in the Andes, and biodiversity and algae phylogeny, to the Ener, Vicki Funk. Susanne Renner, hummingbirds and their plants in North evolution of sea slugs and the effects of from the University of Munich, gave the America. climate change on plants. first scientific presentation, “Historical Renner then spoke about the world- The next day, the Symposium began Biogeography and Ecological Biogeog- wide endoparasites Apodanthaceae to with opening remarks by Warren L. Wag- raphy – Come Together Now.” Renner describe the problems of relaxed clock ner, Chair of the Department of Botany. began her talk by noting the first instance models without “good” calibration John Kress, the Interim Under Secretary of biogeography in the scientific literature. fossils. Dating clade divergences help for Science, also welcomed the partici- In 1820, Augustin P. de Candolle hinted us understand the factors that lead to pants and speakers to the Smithsonian at biological geography: because species distribution patterns. For a holoparasitic Institution. become locally adapted, regional floras angiosperm, the host age can be used as The presentation of the 2014 José and faunas differ. De Candolle recognized a calibration point. Renner explained that Cuatrecasas Medal for Excellence in that to understand biogeographic patterns, fossil calibrations estimate older ages Tropical Botany took place as Laurence one needs to study both the speed of eco- of divergence than random local clocks, Dorr announced H. Peter Linder as this logical adaptation and the differentiation leading Renner to place more trust in the year’s recipient. Linder was recognized of regional floras and faunas by speciation local clock estimates. for his many accomplishments as an and extinction. The German geographer Renner’s third area of interest was educator and scientist, including his Friedrich Ratzel coined the word biogeog- applying the fossilized birth-death contributions to the systematics, biogeog- raphy in 1891. Renner’s talk covered three areas of interest. She first spoke about Continued on page 13 Travel Pedro Acevedo traveled to New York, and to access rare taxa in preparation Society for Preservation of Natural His- New York (4/13 – 4/14) to attend a talk on for 13 Flora of Thailand treatments; to tory Collections meeting. the orchids of the West Indies and to work Raleigh, North Carolina (6/18 – 6/25) to Rusty Russell traveled to Djibouti in the herbarium at the New York Botani- attend the Phylogenomics Symposium City, Djibouti (4/29 – 5/15) to conduct cal Garden; to San Juan, Puerto Rico (5/20 and Software School for which she was plant survey and genomic tissue collec- – 5/26) to present a talk on the history of awarded a travel grant, and to present at tion at Lemmonier Air Base; to Riverside, Puerto Rican biodiversity studies, to be the Evolution 2014 annual meeting; and California (6/17 – 6/19) to present a talk interviewed on the botanical contribution throughout the southern United States on citizen science at the AAAS-Pacific of Agustin Stahl in Puerto Rico at the Fun- (6/26 – 7/10) for field collection for meeting at the University of California dacion Luis Munoz Marin (FLMM), and population level sampling of kudzu for at Riverside; and to Cardiff, Wales (6/22 to participate in an advisor board meeting genetic diversity and population genomics – 6/28) to present a talk on specimen to FLMM; and to Barranquilla, Colombia investigation. digitization and a talk on the history of (6/3 – 6/7) to present a plenary talk on Robin Everly traveled to Richmond Alaskan plant collecting at the Society for plant diversity in the Caribbean at the IV and Williamsburg, Virginia (4/29 – 5/3) Preservation of Natural History Collec- Caribbean Biodiversity Symposium held to attend the 46th Annual Meeting of the tions meeting. at Universidad del Norte. Council on Botanical and Horticultural Eric Schuettpelz traveled to Wilming- Andrew Clark traveled to Cardiff, Libraries (CBHL). ton, North Carolina (4/21 – 4/23) to attend Wales (6/22 – 6/28) to present a poster on Vicki Funk traveled to Memphis, Ten- a master’s student seminar and defense; material transfer agreements at the Society nessee (4/15 – 4/18) to present a talk at the to Durham, North Carolina (5/9 – 5/10) to for Preservation of Natural History Collec- University of Memphis; and to Raleigh, meet with collaborators; and to Costa Rica tions meeting. North Carolina (6/20 – 6/24) to attend the (6/30 – 7/8) as an invited instructor for a Ashley Egan traveled to Cambridge, Evolution 2014 annual meeting. Tropical Plant Systematics course offered Massachusetts (5/28 – 6/1) to visit the Carlos García-Robledo traveled to by the Organization for Tropical Studies. Harvard University Herbaria for research Costa Rica (5/1 – 6/22) to conduct field Laurence E. Skog traveled to Cam- relating to phaseoloid legumes (Fabaceae), work on climate change and the extinc- bridge, Massachusetts (5/2 – 5/3) to tions of plants and insects in tropical visit the collections at Harvard’s Arnold The Plant Press mountains; and to Sierra de Los Tuxtlas, Arboretum. Mexico (6/2 – 6/8) to teach a course on Meghann Toner traveled to Cardiff, New Series - Vol. 17 - No. 3 multi-trophic interactions by the Institute Wales (6/22 – 7/3) to present a talk on Chair of Botany of Ecology (INECOL). APG Conversion of the herbarium using Warren L. Wagner Robert Ireland traveled to St. Louis, GIS at the Society for Preservation of ([email protected]) Missouri (6/1 – 7/7) to visit the Missouri Natural History Collections meeting. Botanical Garden where he examined Alain Touwaide and Emanuela EDITORIAL STAFF moss specimens that he collected in south- Appetiti traveled to Philadelphia, Penn- Editor central Chile (funded by two grants from sylvania (6/21) to attend the meeting of Gary Krupnick the National Geographic Society). the American-Hellenic Educational Pro- ([email protected]) Carol Kelloff traveled to Cardiff, gressive Association (AHEPA) to present Wales (6/24 – 6/30) to present a poster research on the medicinal plants of ancient Copy Editors “Salvaging an Historical Herbarium” at Greece. Robin Everly, Bernadette Gibbons, and Rose Gulledge the Society for Preservation of Natural Jun Wen traveled to Beijing, China History Collections meeting. (4/28 – 5/14) to participate in the Flora News Contacts W. John Kress traveled to Dominica of Pan-Himalayas meeting; to Myanmar MaryAnn Apicelli, Rusty Russell, Alice (5/3 – 5/9) to conduct field work onHeli - (5/14 – 5/15) to conduct field work; to Tangerini, and Elizabeth Zimmer conia and hummingbird pollination, with Philadelphia, Pennsylvania (6/1) to collect The Plant Press is a quarterly publication pro- Ida Lopez and Yongli Fan; to Chicago, specimens; to Concord, Massachusetts vided free of charge. To receive notification of Illinois (6/5 – 6/7) to meet with the Chair (6/12 – 6/14) to collect Vitis (Concord when new pdf issues are posted to the web, please subscribe to the listserve by sending a message of the Smithsonian Board of Regents, grapes); to Blacksburg and Ashland, Vir- to [email protected] containing only the to attend a university forum, “How Do ginia (6/19 – 6/21) to collect specimens; following in the body of the text: SUBSCRIBE PLANTPRESS-NEWS Firstname Lastname. 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