AIBS News November 1999

From the pages of BioScience magazine, the online version of our current events column, with discussions of the latest happenings at AIBS in support of our mission.

• AIBS Releases Statement on Kansas Evolution Decision

  On 30 August 1999, AIBS issued the following statement to members of the science community, the media, and the public at large:

  The State of Kansas Board of Education has decided not to require the teaching of evolution in the state-approved science curriculum. This unfortunate decision means that many students will no longer be exposed to some of the most exciting and important advances in modern biology. The Board’s decision will send many into adulthood burdened with a profound lack of knowledge about a subject that underlies all of biology and that links the life sciences with equally fundamental components of chemistry, physics, and geology.

  All scientific explanations are provisional and subject to revision in the face of new data and theories. Biologists today are engaged in vigorous debates about the mechanisms by which evolution occurs and the historical pattern and sequence of events through which life’s diversity has arisen over billions of years of history, but they spend no more time debating whether evolution occurs than physicists do debating whether quantum mechanics correctly predicts the be havior of individual electrons. Because biologists accept and use evolutionary explanations in their work, the Kansas Board of Education’s decision serves only to prevent its students from acquiring a comprehensive under standing of modern biology.

  The American Institute of Biological Sciences urges boards of education and local school boards in every state to ensure that their students receive an education in all major tenets of modern science, including evolutionary biology.

• AIBS Welcomes Four New MSOs to the Federation

  AIBS is pleased to welcome the New York Botanical Garden, the Soil Science Society of America, the Estuarine Research Federation, and the Society for Economic Botany under the AIBS umbrella. The number of member societies and organizations (MSOs) in the AIBS federation grew to 64 when these four organizations were recently approved for membership by the AIBS Board of Directors.

  
  New York Botanical Garden. A national historic landmark, the 250-acre grounds of the New York Botanical Garden include wetlands, ponds, a cascading waterfall, and a 40-acre tract of the original forest that once covered New York City. Among the horticultural attractions are 16 specialty gardens, including the Everett Children’s Adventure Garden, the Peggy Rockefeller Rose Garden, the Rock Garden, and the Jane Watson Irwin Perennial Garden, as well as collections of day lilies, orchids, hardy ferns, flowering trees, conifers, and cherry trees.

  NYBG is home to the nation’s largest Victorian glasshouse, the Enid A. Haupt Conservatory, a New York City landmark that has showcased NYBG’s distinguished tropical, Medi ter ranean, and desert plant collections since 1902. Other notable historic buildings at NYBG include the Snuff Mill (1840), the Museum Building (1901), and the Stone Cottage (1840).

  Data collected by NYBG research scientists are used by conservationists, policymakers, biologists, and private industries to locate endangered plants, manage land, promote sustainability of plant resources, and determine new sources of foods, fuels, and medicines. The New York Botanical Garden Press disseminates research results to the scientific community and to the general public through publication of journals, monographs, and books. Visit www.nybg.org for more information about education programs, membership, and special events at the Garden.

  
  Soil Science Society of America. The Soil Science Society of America is the home for over 6000 professionals throughout the world who are dedicated to the advancement of soil science. The primary purpose of SSSA is to advance the discipline and practice of soil science by acquiring and disseminating information about soils in relation to crop production, environmental quality, ecosystem sustainability, bioremediation, waste management and recycling, and wise land use.

  Established in 1936, the Soil Science Society of America Journal is the society’s official publication. Through the American Society of Agronomy, SSSA offers professional certification in the areas of agronomy, crop science, soil science, soil classification, horticulture, weed science, and plant pathology. A member of the Tri-Society group, which also includes ASA (another member of the AIBS federation) and the Crop Science Society of America, SSSA has divisions in integrated agricultural systems, resident education, student activities, military land use and management, agroclimatology and agronomic modeling, extension education, environmental quality, international agronomy, and agricultural research station management. For more information about SSSA, see www.soils.org.

  
  Estuarine Research Federation. The Estuarine Research Federation is an international organization whose purpose is to promote research in estuarine and coastal waters, conduct meetings, and serve as a source of advice in matters concerning estuaries and the coastal zone. ERF is a multidisciplinary organization of approximately 2200 academic researchers, public sector managers, teachers, consultants, and students who study and manage the structure and functions of estuaries and the effects of human activities on these fragile environments.

  Estuaries, ERF’s journal, publishes research on physical, chemical, geological, and biological systems, as well as management of those systems, at the interface between the land and the sea. The interface is broadly defined to include areas within estuaries, lagoons, wetlands, tidal rivers, watersheds that include estuaries, and nearshore coastal waters. More information about the federation is available online at erf.org.

  
  Society for Economic Botany. The Society for Economic Botany was established in 1959 to foster and encourage scientific research, education, and related activities on the past, present, and future uses of plants and the relationship between plants and people, and to make the results of such research available to the scientific community and the general public through meetings and publications.

  With more than 1000 members from all 50 US states and more than 64 countries, SEB serves as the world’s largest professional society for individuals who are concerned with basic botanical, phytochemical, and ethnological studies of plants that are known to be useful or that may have potential uses so far undeveloped. The field of economic botany includes all or parts of many established disciplines, including agronomy, anthropology, archaeology, chemistry, economics, ethnobotany, ethnology, forestry, genetic resources, geography, geology, horticulture, medicine, microbiology, nutrition, pharmacognosy, and pharmacology, in addition to the established botanical disciplines.

  The official publication of SEB is Economic Botany, an interdisciplinary journal designed to bridge the gap between pure and applied botany by focusing on the uses of plants by people. The journal documents the rich relationship that has always existed between plants and people around the world, encompassing the past, present, and potential uses of plants. For more information about SEB programs and membership benefits, visit www.econbot.org.

• Oxford University Press Joins AIBS Publishers Discount Program

  Oxford University Press has joined the AIBS Publishers Discount Pro gram, bringing to 10 the number of publishers participating in this member-benefits program.1 Individual US members of AIBS receive a 25 percent discount on the print versions of all OUP science books, including Flora of North America, Endless Forms and Biology of Spiders, 2nd edition. Forth coming titles from OUP include Ecology and Conservation of a Tropical Cloud Forest and Precious Heritage: The Status of Biodiversity in the United States. To view a complete list of OUP science books, see the OUP Web site at www.oup-usa.org.

  As with all participating publishers, orders for OUP products must be placed through AIBS, with payment made to the publisher; orders will be filled directly by the publisher. To take advantage of this membership benefit, complete the form available in every issue of BioScience or on the AIBS Web site at www.aibs.org.

  Savings from the Publishers Discount Program can pay for membership in AIBS. Regular members who spend just $280 per year, postdoctoral and graduate student members who spend $160 per year, and undergraduate student members who spend $80 per year on books published by participants in the AIBS Publishers Discount Program essentially pay nothing for membership due to the savings produced through the program. Direct questions about the program to the AIBS Communications Office at 202/ 628-1500, ext. 253, or jkolber@aibs.org.

• AIBS 51st Annual Meeting Planned with the Smithsonian for March 2000

  From 22 to 24 March 2000, AIBS and some of the country’s most preeminent scientists will review the major advances in organismal and integrative biology made during the last century. The meeting, cosponsored by the Smithsonian Institution, will also focus on the changing face of the biological sciences. “Biology: Chal lenges for the New Millennium,” which is also the 51st Annual Meeting of AIBS, will take place at the Smithsonian Institution in Washing ton, DC.

  As well as highlighting major advances in biology made during the past century, the meeting will offer perspectives on the challenges and opportunities of the coming millennium, addressing breakthroughs that are needed to continue the advancement of biology. Plenary speakers headlining the event include Stephen Jay Gould, Gene E. Likens, Marvalee Wake, Gordon Orians, Lynn Margulis, Daniel H. Janzen, and Edward O. Wilson. Topics include Evolution and the 21st Century (Gould); Energetics, Bio geochemical Cycles, and Ecosystems (Likens); Bodies and Body Plans: How They Came to Be (Wake); Be havior, Ecology, and Evolution (Orians); From Microcosm to Gaia (Mar gulis); Lumpy Integration of Tropical Wild Biodiversity with Society (Janzen); and Biology and the Human Sciences (Wilson). The audience will also enjoy a special video presentation of Ernst Mayr reflecting on his career and his vision of the future.

  Each plenary address will be followed by an interactive breakout session led by invited speakers from AIBS member societies and organizations. Poster sessions on evolution, morphology, development, behavior, diversity, regulation, and integration will also be featured. Complete abstract submission and meeting registration information is available online at www. aibs.org, or by contacting AIBS Meetings Manager Marilynn Maury at 703/834-0812, ext. 203, or mmaury@aibs.org.

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