SEC/ESA Newsletter, April 2001, Issue 2001-2

THE ECOLOGICAL SOCIETY
OF AMERICA NEWSLETTER

SOUTHEASTERN CHAPTER

April 2001, Issue 2001-2

Paul A. Schmalzer, Editor

Chapter Officers:

Chair: Niki Stephanie Nicholas (2000-2002) nsnicholas@tva.gov
Vice-Chair: Scott Franklin (1999-2001) sfranki@memphis.edu
Vice-Chair (elect): Pat Parr (2001-2003) parrpd@ornl.gov
Secretary/Treasurer: Paul Schmalzer (2000-2002) SchmaPA@kscems.ksc.nasa.gov
Web-Master: Mark MacKenzie mackenzi@forestry.auburn.edu
Chapter Homepage: http://www.auburn.edu/seesa/

Message from the Chair:

The recent Chapter meeting with the Association of Southeastern Biologists in New Orleans was a wonderful success! I want to thank everyone who attended and recognize some of the many people who made the celebration possible. Bill Martin and the rest of the Silver Anniversary Committee (Don Shure, Eloise Carter, and Ken McLeod) did a great job. The presentations by Frank McCormick and Eugene Odum were a special treat, and I am especially glad that many graduate students who normally do not come to our business meetings were able to attend those talks.

Scott Franklin and the rest of the Bylaws Revision Committee (Jim Fralish, Jay Gulledge, and Phil Robertson) provided the chapter with proposed changes (see the chapter website) that we will vote on at next year's annual business meeting.

In my opinion one of the most important things that the chapter does is sponsor the Odum Award that encourages excellence in research by young ecologists. Ken Marion chaired the Awards Committee this year and will rotate off the committee after a three-year stint. Jim Fralish volunteered to join Deb Moore and Mike Held on the committee.

The ESA National Office sent Jessica Stapp as their representative to our meeting, and she read a letter from ESA President Stephen Carpenter and Executive Director Katherine McCarter, congratulating the chapter on its achievements.

The chapter now has a visual documentation of its history, thanks to Ken McLeod and his colleagues. They put together an informative poster documenting the circumstances of the beginnings of the ESA Southeastern Chapter and some of the highlights of the chapter's activities over the years. Over the next few months, I will be working with Ken and Mark MacKenzie (our chapter's excellent webmaster) to see if we can get some of the poster incorporated into our chapter's website.

Finally I want to thank Scott Franklin, who is completing his two-year term as Chapter Vice-Chair in August, for all his help and advice during my first year in office.

I hope that I see many of the chapter members at the ESA meeting in Madison in August!

Spring 2001 Chapter Meeting in New Orleans:

The Southeastern Chapter held its annual meeting with the Association of Southeastern Biologists in New Orleans, 4-7 April 2001. Special events for our Silver Anniversary include a Wednesday evening social and a special Friday luncheon/Business Meeting featuring talks by Frank McCormick on "Ecological Adventures" and by Eugene Odum on "Ecological Vignettes: ecological approaches to human predicaments". Charter members, past officers, and past recipients of the Odum Award were recognized. During the business meeting, the Chapter voted to add the royalties from publication of Biodiversity of the Southeastern United States to the Odum Award Fund. Dr. Eugene Odum pledged a $1000 donation to the Odum Award Fund.

2001 Odum Award:

The Odum Award for 2001 was presented to Lynsey Rowland Peterson, Department of Biology, Furman University, Greenville, South Carolina for a paper title "Spread of metals through an invertebrate food chain as influenced by a nickel-hyperaccumulating plant, Alyssum pintodasilvae." (Southeastern Biology 48(2):136 Abstract Number 135, 2001). The paper was co-authored by Joseph Pollard.

Odum Award and Fund:

The Chapter sponsors the Eugene P. Odum Award for the best ecological paper presented by a student at the ASB meeting. Please donate to the Chapter's Odum Fund when you renew your membership.

Elections for Vice-Chair:

Pat Parr was elected Vice-Chair for a two-year term beginning in August 2001. Pat is an ecologist at Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Tennessee whose responsibilities include land use planning, natural resource management, and management of the National Environmental Research Park which is also a Biosphere Reserve.

ESA 2001 Meeting:

The Chapter will have an informal lunch meeting at the ESA Annual Meeting in Madison, Wisconsin. Date and time will be announced later.

Future Meetings and Symposia:

The chapter will meet with ASB April 10-13, 2002 at Appalachian State University, Boone, North Carolina. If you want to develop a symposium for this meeting to be sponsored by the Chapter, send your proposal to Scott Franklin or Pat Parr so that program planning can begin; ASB symposia proposals must be finalized by September 4, 2001 . The 2002 ESA Meeting will be held August 4-8 in Tucson, Arizona with the Mexican Ecological Society and the Society for Ecological Restoration. The Chapter can sponsor one symposium at that meeting. Symposia proposals will be due in the fall of 2001.

Join the Southeast Chapter of ESA LISTSERVER:

In conjunction with the Chapter Homepage, Mark MacKenzie has set up a ListServer to notify you each time the Homepage is updated. To join the ListServer, send a message to majordomo@mail.auburn.edu with the following command in the body of your email message:

subscribe scesa

Chapter News:

Use the Southeastern Chapter's Homepage (http://www.auburn.edu/seesa/) to keep abreast of Chapter News and Events. If you have news or announcements, send them to Mark MacKenzie (mackemd@auburn.edu) who updates the Homepage. Send the officers any comments or suggestions you have about Chapter activities.

Paul A. Schmalzer, Editor
Ecological Program
Mail Code Dyn-2
Dynamac Corporation
Kennedy Space Center, FL 32899
Phone (321) 467-4112
Fax (321) 853-2939
SchmaPA@kscems.ksc.nasa.gov