Business Meeting and Mixer: The mixer and business meeting of the Physiological Ecology section in Madison will be on Wednesday, August 8 from 5:30 PM - 7:30 PM in the Tenney Room, Hilton Hotel. Please plan on attending! There will be hors d'oeuvres and a cash bar.
Billings and Poster Awards 2001: The ESA Physiological Ecology section seeks entrants for its student presentation awards for the Madison WI meetings Aug. 5-10, 2001. The Billings award, honoring W.D. and S.M. Billings, will be presented for the best physiological ecology oral presentation at the meetings. The Best poster Award is given to the student with the best physiological ecology poster. Both awards recognize significant advancements in physiological ecology, and entrants will be judged on the rigor, creativity, importance, and presentation of the research. Winners will receive $500 from the Physiological Ecology section.
Eligibility requirements for both awards: 1) The student entrant must be first author and presenter for the paper or poster. 2) "Student" is defined as undergraduate or graduate student who is currently enrolled in a degree program or who finished his/her degree within the last 12 months. 3) The student has to a Physiological Ecology section member at the time of the presentation. You can join ESA and the Physiological Ecology section using the form at http://esa.sdsc.edu/joinesa.htm. If you are currently an ESA member and want to add Physiological Ecology section membership, use the same membership form and just fill out the name and section affiliations sections. Call ESA at 202-833-8773 if you have membership questions.
Application for Awards: Please send Lisa Donovan (donovan@dogwood.botany.uga.edu, 706-542-2969) the following information By May 15, 2001: 1) Name, mailing address, email address, phone number, FAX number, College/University association, and student status, 2) Presentation title, complete list of authors and abstract, and 3) Presentation time, location, and session title. For information on previous recipients and hints on how to prepare a high quality presentation, check out the Physiological Ecology section webpage at http://www.biology.duke.edu/jackson/ecophys/.
Judges needed for student Physiological Ecology Awards: We need judges for the student presentations at the ESA Madison WI meetings! If participation parallels last year, each person will judge 3-4 student presentations in their area. The schedule for judging will be arranged in advance and sent out by early July. If you are willing to judge presentations, please contact Lisa Donovan (donovan@dogwood.botany.uga.edu, 706-542-2969) in the near future.
Symposia: Last year in Snowbird the section sponsored the symposium Plant Physiological Ecology: Linking the Organism to Scales Above and Below (Coleman, Dawson, and Jackson). A report of the symposium was published in January (DeLucia, EH, JS Coleman, TE Dawson, RB Jackson 2001, New Phytologist 149: 12-16). Other symposia relevant for section members included Lisa Donovan and John Sperry's "The Water Limitation: Issues in Plant, Community, and Ecosystem Water Use." This year's symposium sponsored by the section is "Crossroads of plant, animal, and microbial physiology" (Vince Gutschick and Arnold Bloom). Be sure to participate in Madison.
Section Webpage: There are many new and updated resources available on the section webpage. The positions page has hundreds of job opportunities for faculty, professional, grad, and undergrad positions and lots of other job-hunting information. We have new teaching pages for animal physiological ecology and ecosystem studies. We also have expanded resources for writing and obtaining grants and a list of books (with descriptions and links for purchasing them) for both animal and plant physiological ecology. Thanks to James Cleverly for helping with this last listing. Take a look at all of the resources available to the section at http://www.biology.duke.edu/jackson/ecophys/.
Animal and Plant Physiological Ecology: During the past year the section has made a concerted effort to increase its participation for animal physiological ecologists. This emphasis is evident in the symposium the section will sponsor this summer in Madison (see above) and in the new web resources, including courses and books in animal physiological ecology. Let's do our best to increase our membership on the "animal side".
Elections: Lisa Donovan's term as Secretary for the section will be over at the end of this calendar year. Please let me or Lisa know if you're interested in running for the position or if you'd like to nominate someone (jackson@duke.edu; donovan@dogwood.botany.uga.edu).
Recent physiological ecology section president Evan DeLucia has been nominated for an "At Large" position on the ESA board of governors. Evan is committed to improving the visibility of ecophysiology in the society and to improving the accessibility and impact of the society's journals. Give Evan your support in this important election.
Let us know your ideas and your willingness to contribute in any area for the section. Thanks, and see you in Madison!
Rob Jackson, Section President and Webmaster, Duke University, Department of Biology and Nicholas School of the Environment, Durham, NC 27708, jackson@duke.edu
Lisa Donovan, Section Secretary, University of Georgia, Department of Botany, Athens, GA, 30602, donovan@dogwood.botany.uga.edu