As incoming president, I thought to address a personal interest of mine: the teaching of biogeography. Doing teaching well is critical for attracting bright students to the courses and research topics of interest to our specialty group. No doubt if you have done this, you will realize that it is always a challenge to teach a course with a broad and potentially diffuse subject matter. Probably the design of the course content and the choice of prerequisites will vary from campus to campus and instructor to instructor. For example, on campuses with large biology programs there might well be biologists who consider themselves biogeographers and offer courses in zoogeography, plant geography, or something similar; to avoid duplication, the equivalent course in geography might put more emphasis on ecological geography and historical biogeography as applied to the last 15000 years: strengths of the BSG membership.

On the other hand, I have been pleasantly surprised on moving recently to the large campus of the University of Texas at Austin that essentially we are so diverse in course offerings that the biogeographers in geography can offer the courses they please without undue duplication or competition with our colleagues in biology (and in geology, as that is where the paleontologists reside). My previous experiences on the much smaller Baltimore County campus of the University of Maryland were quite different---there were no biologists there teaching on topics more inclusive than molecular biology or physiology, so the students came to geography looking for courses on entire organisms and whole ecosystems. They were quite receptive to a general biogeography course that gave equal weight to both ecological and historical/evolutionary topics. Bottom line: how you and your biogeography course(s) fit into your campus will depend on who else is teaching, on the target audience you identify, and on your own teaching goals.

Despite the potential difficulties in focusing in on a doable portion of biogeography to be presented in one semester (or quarter), there are many rewards for making this effort. Of course, there is the satisfaction of sharing biogeographical insights and techniques with students. And it is from among such students that future biogeographers will develop. But there is also an advantage to the research agenda of the practicing biogeographer. You can use the flexible boundaries of biogeography to explore new areas that are on the outer bounds either of the discipline itself or in reference to your particular area of expertise. If you can explain these novel topics in an undergraduate biogeography class, you are your way to being able to incorporate some elements into your personal research agenda. You can use teaching at both undergraduate and graduate levels to question the boundaries of traditional subdivisions among geography, biology, and the Earth sciences.

For examples of relatively novel areas that either are research frontiers or that might be in the future, I would list 1) predicting future biogeographies, 2) understanding biogeophysical processes, 3) investigating genetic structure, dynamics, and flows, 4) oceanography, and 5) extreme environments, such as those found in deep-sea hydrothermal vents or even, possibly, other planets (for an example of an extreme environment on the Earth’s surface check out the D. W. Larson et al. book on Cliff Ecology by Cambridge University Press). Each of these could be developed into a lecture or two, thus giving the students a glimpse of where biogeography may be moving in the future, while allowing you to develop your own ideas on these and other areas.

Using teaching as a research tool will help to keep the students intrigued and yourself challenged. It may help justify the hours spent developing new class materials. I hope that BSG can continue to provide events and outlets for improving the teaching of biogeography. Please bring any ideas and suggestions and experiences you might have to our attention by placing them on the BSG listserver, in this newsletter, or in our sessions at the AAG meetings.

Kenneth R. Young

BSG Annual Business Meeting
New York, 2001

President’s Remarks
Glen MacDonald, outgoing President opened with brief and eloquent remarks and a rousing call for everyone to meet at Connelly’s Pub after the meeting.  He expressed appreciation for Duane Griffin’s excellent editorship of the newsletter, Scott Mensing’s handling of finances and the fine work of the board.

Newsletter Editor’s Report
Duane Griffin noted that the 1st online edition of the newsletter had been published and initial feedback was positive.  He asked if there was interest in continuing with mailing of a paper version.  After brief discussion it appeared that there was not strong interest in maintaining a paper copy of the newsletter so we should all now look for the newsletter online.

Duane noted that there is not complete overlap between the BSG List serve and the BSG membership list.  The question was raised whether all BSG members should also be on the BSG List serve but discussion showed that this was not desirable.  It was decided that Duane would do a mass emailing to all BSG members informing them of each new online Newsletter publication.

Three new sections have been added to the Newsletter: Class Notes, Field Notes and Research Notes.  Duane asked for each member to think of contributions that they could contribute to share with colleagues.

Please send Duane recent publications for mention in the August/September Newsletter.

Duane’s report ended with a round of thanks and applause.

Secretary/Treasurer’s Report
Scott Mensing reviewed the financial status of the Specialty Group.  Beginning in 2000, the BSG turned over the handling of our funds to the AAG.  The Director of Finance at the AAG, Paul Abel, now takes care of all of our deposits and disbursements.  BSG fees are direct deposited by the AAG, and when we have an expense to pay, we simply contact the AAG offices and they cut our checks.  This has greatly simplified the handling of funds and should make the Secretary/Treasurer job easier to hand over in the future.
 
 

Date	Description	Receipt	Disbursement	Balance
7/28/00	Fund opened with	$70.00
8/14/00	Dues 1999-2000	1,785.00		$70.00
8/17/00	Awards for 2000		600.00	1855.00
2/24/01	2 plaques		156.80	1255.00
3/28/01	Dues 2000-2001	1285.00		1098.20
4/09/01	Research Awards 2001		1000.00	2383.20
6/20/01	Paper Awards 2001		200.00	1383.20
ACCOUNT BALANCE 6/20/01				1183.20

Treasurer’s note: Dues contributions appear to have dropped $500 between 2000 and 2001 so please remember to contribute to the BSG when you renew your AAG membership.

This year the Board decided to give plaques to recipients of the Cowles and Parson’s Awards.  The board plans to acknowledge past recipients by sending them plaques.

The records for the BSG appear to be distributed among several past members.  It was decided that these should all be collected in one place and held by either the Secretary/Treasurer or President.  Glen will pull together all records and papers that he has to pass on to the new officers.  If any other members or past officers have BSG records, please inform the Secretary Treasurer so we can collect them.

Election Results
Our new officers are:

President – Ken Young, Department of Geography, University of Texas at Austin
New Board Members: Susy Ziegler, Dept. of Geography, Univ. of Minnesota (2001-2003)
Mark Cowell, Dept. of Geog. Univ. of Missouri – Columbia (2001-2003)
Cont. Board Members: James Dyer 2000-2002
Joan Welch 2000-2002

Thanks to the following outgoing officers!
President – Glen MacDonald, Department of Geography, University of California, Los Angeles
Board Members – Katrina Moser, Department of Geography, University of Utah
Keith Hadley, Dept. of Geography & Geoscience, Portland State University

Glen added a note to all those potential nominees.  If you are nominated, please consider serving since the BSG needs everyone’s support.

Session Ideas for Los Angeles 2002
Leslie Rigg Genetics and Biogeography
Michelle Goman & Robert Dull Mesoamerica – Prehispanic and Environmental Change
David Porinchu  Paleoclimate of Western United States – Biological Proxies
Kam-Biu Liu Hurricanes: Impact of Storms and Disturbance Ecology
John Price International Year of the Mountains: Mountain Biogeography
Barbara Holzmann Fire and Vegetation Change
Henri Grissino-Mayer Dendrochronology
David Goldblaum Vegetation and Global Climate Change: Ecotone Shifts
Katherine Yansa Grasslands
Bob Walter Biogeography of California
Franco Biondi Paleo Records of Changing Climate Variability

Field Trip Ideas for Los Angeles 2002
Glen MacDonald California Transect

Please suggest other session and field trip ideas on the list serve.  Just because a session is listed here does not obligate a person to that particular session.  Treat this as a list of ideas to work from.  All people interested in organizing sessions should advertise them over the list serve to identify interested specialty group members.  Also, please do not be offended if I misspelled your name here – I still don’t know everyone.

Ken Young noted that we should again endeavor to share with other specialty groups in co-sponsoring sessions.

Awards
Katrina Moser announced the winners of student awards.

Best Paper Award 2000
Mike Pisaric, Queens University, “Holocene Treeline Changes in Northern British Columbia from Pollen and Stomates.” ($100)

Best Paper Awards 2001 (Not announced at the meeting pending input from judges)
Jonathan Price (PhD candidate) Univ. of Calif., Davis ($100)
Amy Bloom (MS candidate) Univ. of Utah ($100)

Andrea Brunelle-Daines (Ph.D. candidate) Univ. of Oregon (Honorable Mention)
James Speer (Ph.D. candidate) Univ. of Tennessee (Honorable Mention)

There were over 15 participants in the paper competition from this year from four different countries.

Glen MacDonald announced the research awards

Research Grant Awards 2001
Matt Beaty, Pennsylvania State University ($700)
Karen Eisenhart, University of Colorado, Boulder ($300)

Congratulations to the winners and our appreciation to all student participants and faculty judges.  Glen strongly encourages all students to join the BSG and enter the awards competitions.  These competitions are important to participate in and provide honor to you and your department.

There were no nominations for the Cowles Award for the best publication in biogeography this year.  A plaque however was awarded to Glen MacDonald for the award he received in 1999 that he gratefully accepted.

The Parsons Distinguished Career Award was given post-humously to Julian Sceiz for his significant contributions tragically cut short when he died in an avalanche while doing fieldwork with his students.  Glen MacDonald accepted the gift in the absence of Barbara, his wife.  Glen added that an award had been created in Julian’s name at Queens University.

Please submit nominations for the Cowles and Parsons Awards to Ken Young, BSG President.  Any AAG member can make a nomination but it is nice to get nominations from BSG members.

At this point the meeting adjourned to Connelly’s Bar where rumor has it that a sturdy core of BSG members eventually closed the place down.

Cowles and Parsons Awards

Please consider submitting nominations for the Henry Cowles Award for Excellence in Publication and the James J. Parsons Distinguished Career Award.  To submit a nomination for the Cowles Award, please simply send the name of the person and the name of their paper/book.  To nominate a person for the Parsons Award, send a short letter of nomination stating some of the candidate's most significant achievements.

Information can be submitted via snail mail, e-mail or fax to:

Joan M. Welch               e-mail:  jwelch@wcupa.edu    610-436-2940 (vioce) 610-436-2889 (fax)
Department of Geography and Planning
West Chester University
West Chester, PA  19383

BSG Board

The Winter issue of The Biogeographer will include ballots for two new BSG board members to serve from June 2002 - June 2004. Please send nominations to Jim Dyer as soon as possible.

James Dyer               e-mail: dyer@ohio.edu    740-593-1142 (voice) 740-593-1139 (fax)
Department of Geography
Ohio University
Athens, OH 45701-2979

2001 AAG Meeting (New York) Winners:

Best Masters Student Paper
Amy Bloom, University of Utah: “Diatoms in Eastern Sierra Nevada Lake Sediments: Indicators of Past Climate and Environmental Change"

Best Ph.D. Paper
Jonathan Price, University of California--Davis: "The Hawaiian flora as a model for relating evolutionary
processes to spatial patterns of biodiversity" (illustrated paper).

For the Ph.D. competition two honorable mentions are also being announced:

Andrea Brunelle-Daines, University of Oregon: "Holocene relationships between fire, climate and vegetation as recorded from four northern Rocky Mountain sites"

James Speer University of Tennessee - "Reconstructing southern Appalachian oak-mast history using dendrochronology".

2002 AAG Meeting--Los Angeles: Call for Participants

The Biogeography Specialty Group sponsors this annual award to foster recognition of outstanding student research and encourage student participation in the meetings. Competition for the award is open to undergraduates, graduate students and Ph.D.’s within a year after the dissertation defense. Two awards will be given – one to the best Undergraduate / Masters student paper and one to the best Ph.D. student paper. The student must be either the sole author or the primary author of the paper, and must be the presenter at the meeting. Illustrated posters are eligible for the award.

Judging criteria include the significance and originality of research question, the creativity and quality of the methodology, the validity of the conclusions drawn from the results, and the clarity of the presentation.

If you wish to be considered for the award, please send the application form (click here for MS Word document or here for Adobe pdf) and a copy of the abstract that you sent to the AAG in August/September 2001 to:

Dr. Mark Cowell
Department of Geography
8 Stewart Hall
University of Missouri
Columbia, MO  65211

Confirmation of receipt of your application will be sent by email.

THE APPLICATION FORM AND ABSTRACT MUST BE RECEIVED BY JANUARY 31, 2002.

Further inquiries can be made to Mark Cowell:  MCowell@missouri.edu

BSG 2002 Student Research Grants

Congratulations to the 2001 BSG Research Grant awardees: Matt Beatty, Pennsylvania State University, and Karen Eisenhart, University of Colorado, Boulder!

 Biogeography Specialty Group—Graduate Student Research Grant Competition

The aim of the BSG graduate student research grant competition is to provide partial support for graduate students to conduct quality biogeographic research projects for their Master's thesis or doctoral dissertation.  The awards are competitive, and proposals are judged individually on the basis of: 1) scientific merit of the project, including biogeographic significance of the research question and quality of the methodology; 2) organization and clarity of the proposal; and 3) qualifications of the student to conduct the proposed work.  Each applicant must be a student member of the AAG, and the proposed project should be part of her/his thesis or dissertation research.  Normally, awards are made to one master's and one doctoral student each year.  Applicants may join the AAG now and become eligible for the grants competition if not already a student member.

To download the grant competition application form: click here for MS Word file or here for Adobe PDF.

THE APPLICATION FORM AND ABSTRACT MUST BE RECEIVED BY JANUARY 25, 2002.

For more information, contact

Susy S. Ziegler                    email ziegler@atlas.socsci.umn.edu
Department of Geography
University of Minnesota
414 Social Sciences Building
267 19th Avenue South
Minneapolis, MN 55455

Chaparral, Pines, and Palms: A Biogeographic Transect of the S. Jacinto Mtns. Near Palm Springs.

Organizers: Hartmut S. Walter ( UCLA) and Thomas W. Gillespie (UCLA)

Date and Time: Saturday, March 23, 2002, 9 am - 6:30 pm

This excursion highlights the characteristic ecosystems of Southern California including the Colorado desert, interior sage scrub, chaparral, mixed conifer-oak forest, and pinion-juniper pine forest. The bus will travel from the conference site to Banning, wind its way through the S. Jacinto Mtns. to Idyllwild and descend from there across steep elevational gradients to Palm desert and Palm Springs. A visit of the James San Jacinto Mountains Reserve (www.jamesreserve.edu), an important unit of the University of California's Natural Reserve System, will provide an overview of past and current research and educational programs. In Palm Desert, participants will tour the Living Desert Wildlife and Botanical Park situated on the alluvial fan of Deep Canyon. The bus will return to L. A. via Palm Springs and Riverside.

For more information, contact :

Prof. Hartmut Walter                email: walter@geog.ucla.edu       310-825-3116 or 825-1071 (voice)   310-206-5976 (fax)
UCLA Department of Geography
1255 Bunche Hall
Los Angeles, CA  90095-1524

In this issue of The Biogeographer introduces what I hope will be a regular feature, a series of short notes, which I envision as news and views relating to research, teaching, and fieldwork in biogeography.The first Research Notes is a guest column by John Grehan, a "classical" biogeographer at Penn State's Frost Entomological Museum, who works on a most decidedly un-classical theme: panbiogeography. John and a cadre of collabortors have been revisiting Croizat's panbiogeography concept, which he believes should be of interest to geographers. The first Class Notes features Henri Grissino-Mayer's online biogeography course, which he developed at Valdosta State University. Nobody sent anything for the Field Notes section, so I've included some brief notes about a recent visit to the upland pine forests of Nicaragua, in the hopes that it will motivate one of you to write up a brief account of your own recent fieldwork.
    Keep in mind that these notes need not be extensive or elaborate. Entire columns are great, but even a couple of sentences is better than nothing at all!

Biogeography and Earth History

Establishing the historical relationship between biogeographic pattern and earth history possibly ranks among the greatest challenges for the science biogeography. In the history of biogeography the question has always revolved around the origin of geographic distribution, yet distribution itself has been largely overlooked in favor of ecology, historical geology, or biological systematics. A unique exception to this trend occurred in the 1950’s when the French-Italian botanist Leon Croizat developed a geographic method of analysis known as panbiogeography.

Croizat posited the view that the actual geographic patterns of distribution could inform us about evolutionary history and origin independently of the reconstructions proposed by other historical sciences such as historical geology. Croizat employed a methodology that has since been identified with the graph theory concept of the minimal spanning tree. By drawing these trees, or ‘tracks,’ Croizat was able to discern common and contrasting patterns of geographic distribution. Evolutionary links with earth history were predicted through correlation of biological distribution patterns with overlapping patterns of geological structure involved with earth history such as tectonic (ocean) basins, transform faults, suture zones, former coastlines, and spreading ridges.

This spatial correlation technique led to predictions about earth history that challenged many prevailing (and continuing) beliefs about the age of many lineages and geological history itself. Even new geological facts were predicted from the biogeographic patterns, including the composite geological structure of North and South America with western and eastern tectonic formations originating in the Pacific and Atlantic oceans, respectively. These predictions conflicted with accepted geological knowledge in the 1950’s and 1960’s and were dismissed by traditional biogeographers because they had ‘no geological support’ or ‘lacked geological evidence.’ The predictions were later corroborated by modern plate tectonic research, thus demonstrating the ability of panbiogeography to go beyond current knowledge and generate testable predictions about biogeographic origins.

The panbiogeographic method works, and since it is the only current geographically based method for historical biogeography I suggest that many geographers may find the research program of interest – particularly for its potential of including GIS information and analytical techniques. Ecological biogeographers may also find much of interest, as panbiogeography includes principles and concepts of earth history relevant to understanding the role of dispersal and ecology in a historical context.

For those interested in such matters I draw attention to the following book outlining current views on the development and application of the panbiogeographic approach:

Craw, R. C., Grehan, J. R., and Heads, M. J. (1999). Panbiogeography: tracking the history of life. Oxford University Press, New York.

The book comprises chapters outlining the general principles of panbiogeography, ecology, history, phylogeny, systematics, biological evolution, spatial analysis, biogeographic classification, biodiversity and conservation.

John Grehan
Assistant Curator
Frost Entomological Museum
Department of Entomology
501 ASI Building
Pennsylvania State University
University Park, PA 16802
Email: jrg13@psu.edu

Henri Grissino-Mayer produced an online biogeography course at Valdosta State University that is both a rich content resource and an admirable model of how the Web can be used to good pedagogical end.

In addition to the standard course web page fare (syllabus, course notes), Henri has included a number of resources for students, including a grade tracking sheet, examples of term paper outlines and reports, and a set of “How-to” pages designed to help students succeed in his course.

Henri  has moved to the University of Tennessee, and promises that his course web pages will eventually follow him. In the mean time, Valdosta will continue to host the course pages at http://www.valdosta.edu/~grissino/geog4900/.

Last July I had the opportunity to work on a mapping project in Nicaragua. One of the highlights of the trip was visiting the upland pine forests near the town of El Sauce. These are among the southernmost pine forests in the world. I knew them as the forests that Bill Denevan studied for his master's thesis, published in 1961 as The Upland Pine Forests of Nicaragua: A Study in Cultural Plant Geography (Univ. of Cal. Publications in Geography 12:251-320).

Denevan interpreted these as "a deflected climax, a man-made formation resulting from clearing of broadleaf forest and repeated burning, and it is unlikely that extensive and pure stands of pines existed before the appearance of man" (p. 300). My visit was short, and did not take me to the actual forests where Denevan worked. But I was intrigued by the association between pine forests and volcanic ridgetops, and less than convinced by his argument for human agency.

I think it would be worthwhile revisiting Nicaragua's upland pine forests to reassess Denevan's hypothesis, and to see how these forests have fared in the past 40 years. Unfortunately, continued fighting (both politically motivated and banditry) make extensive travel and research in the region somewhat risky, but the questions are fascinating.
 

Agriculture (maize, vegetables, and fruit trees) just below the pine forests, visible along the ridge top.	One of the flatter sections of road, with podzolization under Pinus oocarpa trees visible in the road cut.

Another intriguing vegetation pattern is begging to be investigated as well. Along the crest of the Sierras de Managua, a range of relatively low (< 1000 m) mountains between Managua and the coast, the vegetation changes strikingly from broadleaf woodland to an extensive, open herbaceous and shrub-dominated community, seen here:

This area is the higher, cooler, and windier than the surrounding landscape, and is also downwind of the active Masaya volcano and subject to acid deposition. Local speculation focuses on acid deposition and/or historical (colonial era) land clearing. Acid deposition is plausible, since the fumes from Masaya are exceptionally acidic. But I noticed that woodlands do occur in gullies and valleys. Wind seems to be a factor, though ornamental plantings seem to be doing well in places, suggesting that it is not strong enough to preclude tree growth altogether. As with the upland pine forests, this site is begging for investigation. Any takers?

Duane Griffin

Done any interesting fieldwork lately? Tell us about it!

Robert G. Bailey

Regional Landscape Ecology and Sustainable Design. Forthcoming from Springer Verlag.

Jerry McDonald

J. McDonald and Gary S. Morgan. 1999. “The Appearance of Bison in North America.” Current Research in the Pleistocene 16:127-129.

J. McDonald, Clayton E. Ray, and Michael W. Ruddell. 2000. “New Records and Range Extensions of Cervalces, Rangifer, and Bootherium in the Southeastern United States.” Current Research in the Pleistocene 17:130-133.

J. McDonald. An Outline of the Pre-Clovis Archeology of SV-2, Saltville, Virginia, with Special Attention to a Bone Tool Dated 14,510 yr BP. Jeffersoniana 9.

J. McDonald and George E. Lammers. In Press. “Bison antiquus from Kenora, Ontario, and notes on the evolution of North American Holocene Bison.” To appear in Cenozoic Mammals of Land and Sea: Tributes to the Career of Clayton E. Ray, Robert J. Emry (ed.), Smithsonian Contributions to Paleobiology 93.

Thomas Veblen

Heinemann, K., T. Kitzberger, and T.T. Veblen. 2000. Influences of gap microheterogeneity on the regeneration of Nothofagus pumilio in a xeric old-growth forest of northwestern Patagonia, Argentina.  Canadian Journal of Forest Research 30:25-31.

Kitzberger, T., T.T. Veblen y R. Villalba.  2000. Métodos dendroecológicos y sus aplicaciones en estudios de dinámica de bosques templados de Sudamérica. Pages 17-78 in: F. Roig (ed.). Dendrocronología en América Latina. Editorial de la Universidad del Cuyo, Mendoza, Argentina.

Kitzberger, T., D.F. Steinaker, and T.T. Veblen. 2000.  Effects of climatic variability on facilitation of tree establishment in northern Patagonia.  Ecology 81:1914-1924.

Veblen, T.T.  2000. Disturbance patterns in southern Rocky Mountain forests. Pages 31-54 in: R.L. Knight, F.. Smith, S.W. Buskirk, W.H. Romme and W.L. Baker (eds.). Forest Fragmentation in the Southern Rocky Mountains. Colorado University Press.

Veblen, T.T., T. Kitzberger and J. Donnegan. 2000. Climatic and human influences on fire regimes in ponderosa pine forests in the Colorado Front Range.  Ecological Applications 10:1178-1195.

Susy Ziegler

Ziegler, Susy Svatek.  2000.  A Comparison of Structural Characteristics between Old-Growth and Second-Growth Hemlock-Hardwood Forests in Adirondack Park, New York, Global Ecology and Biogeography 9(5): 373-389.

Please send your recent publication information to the editor!

Sadly, the Internet Scout Report project had to cut its Scout Report for Science and Engineering due to lack of funding. The SRSE was your editor's primary source for biogeography-related Internet Resources, so this section has really taken a beating. If you run across web resources of interest to biogeographers, please send them along for inclusion in the next issue.

New Empirically Based, High-Resolution, National Vegetation  Ecoregions Map from ORNL
http://research.esd.ornl.gov/~hnw/esri98/

Interior Columbia Basin Ecosystem Management Project
http://www.icbemp.gov/html/icbhome.html

VIREO: Visual Resource for Ornithology
http://www.acnatsci.org/vireo/index.html

Genomics Glossary
http://www.genomicglossaries.com/

Conservation and Environmental Maps
http://lcweb2.loc.gov/ammem/gmdhtml/cnsvhome.html

Desert Fishes Council
http://www.utexas.edu/depts/tnhc/.www/fish/dfc/dfc_top.html

International Wolf Center: Wolf Bibliography
http://www.wolf.org/bibliography/bibliography.phtml

New Maps from the US Department of Agriculture
http://www.nhq.nrcs.usda.gov/land/index/newmaps.html

EarthTrends
http://earthtrends.wri.org/

Nonindigenous Species: An Emerging Issue for the EPA
http://www.epa.gov/ow/new.html

World Biodiversity Database
http://www.eti.uva.nl/Database/WBD.html

You'll notice that this issue of The Biogeographer is coming out a couple of months later than last fall's issue. I'm still experimenting with finding the optimal timing for the newsletters. The ability to use the newsletter mailing list (still woefully out of synch with the BSG listserver addresses) for time-critical tasks such as organizing paper sessions for the AAG meetings frees us up a bit. I'm still planning to have the spring edition out in time to help us get ready for the Los Angeles meetings. Once again, I'll have a student peruse the preliminary program and compile a list of all the biogeography sessions scheduled.

As always, I beg you to send information for the newsletter. If you'd like to highlight a course you teach (or have taken--students, you're welcome to contribute!), fieldwork you've done, or ideas you have regarding biogeographical research, please contact me.

dgriffin @bucknell.edu

Duane A. Griffin
Editor, The Biogeographer
Bucknell University
Dept. of Geography
Lewisburg, PA 17837 USA

Voice 570/577-3374