THE ECOLOGICAL SOCIETY
OF AMERICA NEWSLETTER

SOUTHEASTERN CHAPTER

January 2000, Issue 2000-1

Jerry C. Ritchie, Editor

Contents:

Chapter Officers
Comments from the Chair
Biodiversity of the Southeast Field Trip
Election of Officers
Join the Chapter Listserver
Comments from Secretary

Chapter Officers:

Comments from Chair

The SE chapter will meet again with the Association of Southeastern Biologists. This year the meeting will in Chattanooga, TN during April 5-8. We will have our annual business meeting during a noon luncheon in Chattanooga and be electing new Chair and Secretary officers. We will also have a Chapter field trip. More information about the trip can be found in this Newsletter.

Please remember our Odum Award for Outstanding Student Research and make your contribution to this fund.

Finally, it has been my honor to serve the Chapter over the past two years. I know that an excellent slate of candidates is being presented to you for selection in April. The Society is very active and offers our Chapter many opportunities to become involved in national activities. I am sure that we continue to be an active, vibrant chapter. Thank you. Ken

Biodiversity of the Southeast Field Trip at the ASB Meeting in Chattanooga, Tennessee, Wednesday April 5, 2000 sponsored by the Southeastern Chapter of the Ecological Society of America.

Itinerary: The daylong field trip will begin at 8:00 a.m. from the Conference Center and return by 5:30 p.m. The group (no more than twenty) will be split in two, examining aquatic diversity for one half of the day and terrestrial diversity for the second half. The groups will meet for lunch around 12:30 p.m. The field trips will include simple sampling of the various communities and the discussion of the rare and unique flora and fauna.

For further details, contact Scott Franklin (Terrestrial Diversity Leader; sfrankli@memphis.edu) or Jack Grubaugh (Aquatic Diversity Leader; grubaugh@latte.memphis.edu).

Sign up early to insure your participation.

Election of Officers:

Chair:
Niki Stephanie Nicholas, Tennessee Valley Authority
Donald R. Young, Virginia Commonwealth University

Short Vitae
Niki Stephanie Nicholas is Senior Scientist for Environmental Assessment Research with the Tennessee Valley Authority's Public Power Institute and is based in Norris, Tennessee. She has a B.A. in biology from Northwestern University, a M.S. in ecology from the University of Tennessee, and a Ph.D. in forestry from Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University. Over the past fifteen years Dr. Nicholas has worked on a number of forest health research projects looking at methods of evaluating multiple stressors of forest communities and evaluating predictive response models. Currently she is focusing her research on nitrogen saturation issues and is studying spatial variation in the release/retention of nitrogen in southern Appalachian high elevation watersheds. Dr. Nicholas is on the adjunct faculty with the University of Tennessee's Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Auburn University's Department of Forestry, and Utah State University's Department of Forest Resources. She is a member of the Ecological Society of America, Forest History Society, International Association for Vegetation Science, Society of American Foresters, Torrey Botanical Society, and Air & Waste Management Association and has previously served as Vice-Chair for ESA's Southeastern chapter.

Donald R. Young was graduated from Clarion University of Pennsylvania with a BS in Biology (1975). Working with Dr. William K Smith, he received a MS (1979) and PhD (1982) in Botany from the University of Wyoming where he studied the physiological ecology of subalpine forest understory herbs. After a one-year postdoctoral appointment at UCLA with Dr. Park Nobel he joined the faculty at Virginia Commonwealth University as an Assistant Professor of Biology (1984). Currently Dr. Young is Professor and Director of the Graduate Program in Biology. He has trained sixteen MS students; eleven presented papers at the ASB-SEESA meetings. His students received the Odum Award (1987) and the ASB Student Research Award (1995). He was on the ASB Student Research Awards Committee for three years and chaired the committee in 1993. Dr. Young served as an Associate Editor for the American Midland Naturalist and is a member of the editorial board for the Journal of Coastal Research. His research interests focus on environmental and biotic factors that affect the distribution and succession of coastal plant communities.

Secretary:
Paul A. Schmalzer, Dynamac Corporation, Kennedy Space Center

Short Vitae
Paul A. Schmalzer received a B.A. in biology from Western Maryland College (1976) and M.S. (1978) and Ph.D. (1982) in ecology from the University of Tennessee. He is a plant ecologist with the Dynamac Corporation at Kennedy Space Center, Florida. His current research interests include: effects of fire on vegetation and soils, restoration of scrub ecosystems, and distribution, structure, composition, and dynamics of barrier island plant communities. Previous research included studies of vegetation and flora of the Cumberland Plateau in Tennessee, vegetation of coastal California, and habitat use by gopher tortoises. He has received certification as a Senior Ecologist by the Ecological Society of America. He is a member of the Ecological Society of America, Society of Wetland Scientists, Association of Southeastern Biologists, Southern Appalachian Botanical Society, and other professional societies. He serves on the Environmentally Endangered Lands Selection Committee for Brevard County, Florida. He is author or coauthor of 30 published papers and numerous technical reports.

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Comments from Secretary