THE BIOGEOGRAPHER

Newsletter of the Biogeography Specialty Group of the Association of American Geographers
Electronic Version Volume 4 No. 2 Spring 2004

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In this issue:


Election
BSG Board Members: Vote Now!

Current BSG members may vote for 2 board members by by sending an e-mail with your choices to bsg-election@willamette.edu (click here to vote) before March 10 .  Identifying information will be removed from the e-mail before I tally votes, so the process is anonymous.  Only current BSG members are eligible to vote (our tech people will check the e-mail addresses for each electronic vote against the AAG list of BSG members to insure fairness).  If you are unable to vote via e-mail, please send your votes to me by regular mail.

Dr. Karen Arabas (karabas@willamette.edu)
Associate Professor of Geography
Dept. of Environmental and Earth Sciences
Willamette University
900 State Street
Salem, OR  97301

5 Board Candidates (Vote for 2)

David Cairns (Ph.D. University of Iowa, M.S. University of Florida, B.A. University of California, Berkeley) is an Associate Professor in the Department of Geography at Texas A&M University. He is interested in ecotone dynamics and has spent the last decade concentrating on treeline pattern and process in the Rocky Mountains. He has recently begun investigating similar issues in northern Sweden. This spring he is branching out and will be studying coastal biogeography in Denmark while on sabbatical at Copenhagen University. Dave teaches courses in Earth Systems Science, Biogeographic Theory and Methods, and Field Geography. He has published in Geografiska Annaler, Plant Ecology, Journal of Vegetation Science, Physical Geography, Ecoscience, and Catena among others.

Mary Ann Cunningham, (PhD University of Minnesota, MA University of Oregon, BA Carleton College) is in her third year as Assistant Professor of Geography at Vassar College. Her principal research interests are landscape change and its effects on biodiversity, especially grassland (and increasingly wetland) avifauna. Her main research areas have been Midwestern grasslands and farmlands, where she has been working on identifying scales of response in birds to habitat fragmentation. Teaching in a liberal arts college, she is extremely interested in both issues of cross-disciplinary collaboration and in bringing undergraduates to the discipline (who we hope will go on to do graduate work in biogeography), as well as in ensuring that students have a reasonable set of skills, e.g., GIS, statistics, field data collection, and writing. She is also concerned with environmental science more broadly, as she is co-author of two environmental science texts, Environmental Science: a Global Concern, and Principles of Environmental Science (both McGraw-Hill).

Michael DeMers (Ph.D., MPhil, University of Kansas, MS, BSEd, University of North Dakota) is Associate Professor and Head of geography at New Mexico State University where he specializes in Landscape Ecology, GIS, and Zoocartography. His current research interests include rapid assessment methodologies for managing arid landscapes, zoological mapping and modeling, the history of zoological mapping and its relationship to zoological regionalization and natural history, and digital areography. He currently has over $800,000 in active grants and has published over 30 articles in Geographical Review, Geographical Analysis, AAG Annals (forthcoming), Landscape Ecology, Conservation Biology and others. He was a BSG board member and Editor of the Biogeographer from 1991 to 1997.

Valery J. Terwilliger (Postdocs: University of California, Santa Barbara; Hebrew University, Givat Ram, Ph. D. University of California, Los Angeles, M.S. University of Florida, B.A. McDaniel College) is an Associate Professor at the University of Kansas. Her interests in the relationships between the responses of plants to their environments and plant distributions are both quaternary and present-day. She and her students' recent field research sites include Utah, Arizona, Kansas, Maryland, Panamá, and Ethiopia. There is also a lab rat component to her work as stable isotope methods yield many of the insights for her studies. She teaches honors courses in Physical Geography, and Human Biogeography, Plant Geography, Field Ecology, and Stable Isotopes in the Natural Sciences. Journals that have published her and her student's papers include Biotropica, Bulletin of the Geological Society of America, Geochimica et Cosmochimica Acta, Catena, Earth Surface Processes and Landforms, Vegetatio, New Phytologist, Earth Science and Planetary Letters, Journal of Plant Physiology, International Journal of Plant Sciences, International Journal of Vegetation Science, Progress in Physical Geography, Phytochemistry, and American Journal of Botany.

Catherine H. Yansa (Ph.D.,University of Wisconsin-Madison (2002); M.Sc. and B.A. Honors,University of Saskatchewan, Canada) is in her second year as Assistant Professor of Geography at Michigan State University.She is a Quaternary paleoecologist and plant geographer. She uses fossil pollen and plant macrofossils to reconstruct vegetation histories for selected areas within north-central North America and has recently begun charcoal analysis with the intention of interpreting the associated fire histories. Specifically, she has studied and is currently investigating Late Quaternary vegetation change on the northern Great Plains and PaleoIndian-environment interactions in Wisconsin (in collaboration with a couple archaeologists). She has just submitted a proposal to NSF to support a project designed to assess the relative impacts of climate change versus land use (Native American, Mississippian corn agriculture tradition, and Euro-American) on vegetation over the last 2000 years in southern Lower Michigan. Catherine has published papers in the Journal of Paleolimnology and the Geological Survey of Canada Bulletin and has recent submissions to the Journal of Biogeography and The Holocene. She advises a Ph.D. student and regularly teaches classes in Pollen Analysis, Plant Geography, Introduction to Physical Geography, Graduate Seminar in Physical Geography of the United States and Canada

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News

IBS News

The 2005 International Biogeography Society conference will be held Jan. 5-9, 2005 at the National Conservation Training Center, Shepherdstown WV. The theme of the second meeting is "Conservation Biogeography." This is an area where BSG members' contributions to the larger field of biogeography are particularly numerous and strong. We should be well-represented at the meeting, so start making plans now!

For more information on the 2nd meeting, as well as Mark Lomolino's president's report, current publication activities, and reports from the Inaugural Conference held last year, see the International Biogeography Society Newsletter at www.biogeography.org/faq.htm

Membership in the IBS is $40 (Students $30) and will help the IBS grow. It also entitles you to discounts on IBS meetings and publications, as well as a $30 subscription to the online versions of the Journal of Biogeography, Global Ecology & Biogeography, and Diversity & Distributions from Blackwell (a regular personal subscription costs $330, so this is quite a bargain!). For more information, see the IBS Web Site.

Department News

The Department of Geology and Geography at West Virginia University now boasts three geographers with research interests in biogeography. Tim Warner joined the department in 1992. Dr. Warner’s research is in the area of the spatial properties of remotely sensed images, especially the use of high spatial resolution imaging for the identification of individual trees and plants. Amy Hessl, new to the department in 2001, uses tree-ring methods to investigate the effects of climatic variability and human activities on montane forest systems. Jennifer Miller joined the department in 2003 and has interests in vegetation mapping and GIS. Graduate coursework in biogeography includes: biogeography, advanced biogeography, vegetation and climate, and environmental modeling. Related course work includes two courses in remote sensing and eight courses in all aspects of GIS. A tree-ring laboratory, remote sensing laboratory and GIS laboratory are also available to support graduate student research. The Geography Program has seven TA positions open to graduate students, including those studying biogeography. Faculty research projects in geography typically support an additional nine graduate students as research assistants, in a variety of research areas. Please contact Tim Warner, Graduate Committee Chair, (tim.warner@mail.wvu.edu) for more information about the WVU geography program.

Member News

Henri Grissino-Mayers' work on the "the Messiah'' (a violin attributed to Stradivari housed at Oxford's Ashmolean Museum) has legs. It's been featured by ABC, NBC, CBS, BBC, and most recently CNN (among many others) and Science. It's also been translated and published in Polish, Italian, French, German, Indonesian, and even Vietnamese! Citations and links to peer-reviewed publications on the project are available from Henri's online CV.

Jim Speer has received two grants: Professional Development Experience Through the 13th Annual North American Dendroecological Fieldweek (USDA Forest Service. Rocky Mountain Research Station: $10,000) and (with K. Clay) "Collaborative Research: Periodical Cicadas and Forest Community Dynamics" (NSF Ecology Program: $403,341) Congratulations Jim!

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AAG
Biogeographers in Philadelphia

BSG Business Meeting
The Biogeography Specialty Group business meeting is scheduled for Monday, 3/15/2004 from 7:30 p.m. - 8:30 p.m.in Mariott 307. We will present this year's awards, announce election results, hear reports from members of the Board of Directors, propose paper and poster session topics for next year's AAG meeting, discuss other BSG-related business, and otherwise misbehave and carouse. Please plan to attend!

Late addition to the Newsletter: CCPG Reception

This just in (3/2/05): Fritz Nelson has organized a "Celebrating a Century of Physical Geography" reception (sponsored by Bellwether Press and the Geomorphology, Cryosphere, Climate, Biogeography, and Water Resources Specialty Groups). Wednesday March 17, Philadelphia Marriott Room 407, 7:30 - 10:00 p.m. Hope to see you there!

BSG Sponsored Paper Sessions
This year, we have thirty BSG-sponsored paper sessions. For details on specific sessions and papers, go to the AAG's 2004 Annual Meeting Program web page, select "Specialty Group" in the search criteria, and search on "biogeography." You can also view over 200 individual biogeography-themed papers by clicking here.

Field Trips!

Six of this year's field trips should appeal specifically to bio- and other physical geographers.

Landform Regions of Eastern Pennsylvania and Their Impact on the Cultural Landscape. Saturday March 13: 7am - 7pm. Organizer/Leader: Percy Dougherty, Kutztown University of PA. Trip Capacity: 50. Cost: $50 (includes transportation, lunch and admission fees).

The Coalmining Region of Pennsylvania: Bounty of the Past, Burden of the Present. Monday, March 15: 7:30am – 8pm. Organizer/Leader: Denyse Lemaire, Rowan University; Chester Zimolzak, Rowan University. Trip capacity: 50. Cost: $85 (includes handouts, and lunch).

Scientific and Medical Philadelphia in the Period of Meriwether Lewis and Alexander von Humboldt’s Visits (1803-1804). Tuesday, March 16: 10am – 4pm. Organizer/Leader: Michael Dorn, Temple University.Trip capacity: 40.Cost: $65 (includes transportation, field guides and admission fees, no meals included)

Physical Geography of the New Jersey Pinelands: Bog Iron, Pygmy Pines and the Jersey Devil. Wednesday, March 17: 9am – 4pm. Organizer/Leader: Patricia Beyer, Bloomsburg University of PA; Gregory Pope, Montclair State University; Michael Applegarth, Shippensburg University. Trip capacity: 40. Cost: $95 (includes transportation, box lunch and handouts).

Farming on the Edge: Mushrooms and Moo. Wednesday March 17: 9am -3pm. Organizer/Leader: Joan Welch, West Chester University. Trip Capacity: 40. Cost: $75.00 (includes transportation, lunch).

Beaches & Marshes of New Jersey.
Friday March 19: 7:30am - 6:30pm.Organizer/Leader: Norb Psuty, Rutgers University; Jeff Pace, Rutgers University. Trip Capacity: 40. Cost: $100.00 (includes transportation, lunch and handouts).

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Recent BSG Member Publications.

Name in bold is the individual submitting publications.

Karen Arabas

Arabas, K.B. and J. Bowersox (eds). 2004. Forest Futures: Science, Politics and Policy for the NextCentury. Lanham, MD: Rowman and Littlefield, Lanham.

Tally Drezner
Drezner, Taly D. 2004. Saguaro Recruitment Over Their American Range: A Separation and Comparison of Summer Temperature and Rainfall. Journal of Arid Environments. 56: 509-524.

Drezner, Taly D. 2003. A Test of the Relationship Between Seasonal Rainfall and Saguaro Cacti Branching Patterns. Ecography. 26(4): 393-404.

Drezner, Taly D. 2003. Saguaro (Carnegiea gigantea, Cactaceae) Age-Height Relationships and Growth: The Development of a General Growth Curve. American Journal of Botany. 90(6): 911-914.

Drezner, Taly D., and Garrity, Colleen M. 2003. Saguaro Distribution Under Nurse Plants in Arizona's Sonoran Desert: Directional and Microclimate Influences. Professional Geographer. 55(4): 505-512.

Drezner, Taly D. 2003. Revisiting Bergmann's Rule for Saguaros (Carnegiea gigantea (Engelm.) Britt. and Rose): Stem Diameter Patterns over Space. Journal of Biogeography. 30: 353-359.

Drezner, Taly D. 2003. Branch Direction in Carnegiea gigantea (Cactaceae): Regional Patterns and the Effect of Nurse Plants. Journal of Vegetation Science. 14: 907-910.

Drezner, Taly D. 2003. Regional- and Local-Scale Variations in Plant Distribution in the Sonoran Desert. Madrono. 50(2): 122-125.

Keith Hadley
Pohl,K.A., Hadley, K.S., and Arabas, K.B. 2002. A 545-year drought reconstruction for central Oregon. Physical Geography 23:302-320.

David Butler
Butler, David R., Stephen J. Walsh, and George P. Malanson (editors), 2003. Mountain Geomorphology ­ Integrating Earth Systems. Elsevier, The Netherlands, 398 pp.

Butler, David R., George P. Malanson, Matthew P. Bekker, and Lynn M. Resler, 2003. Lithologic, structural, and geomorphic controls on ribbon forest patterns. Geomorphology 55(1-4), 203-217.

Butler, David R., Lynn M. Resler, Dianna A. Gielstra, and Dawna L. Cerney, 2003. Ecotones in mountain environments: illustrating sensitive biogeographical boundaries with remotely sensed imagery in the geography classroom. Geocarto International 18(3), 63-72.

Butler, David R., Stephen J. Walsh, and George P. Malanson, 2003. Introduction to the special issue: Mountain Geomorphology - Integrating Earth Systems. Geomorphology 55(1-4), 1-4.

Resler, Lynn M., Mark A. Fonstad, and David R. Butler, 2003. Mapping the alpine treeline ecotone with digital aerial photography and textural analysis. Geocarto International, in press.

Walsh, Stephen J., David R. Butler, George P. Malanson, Kelley A. Crews-Meyer, Joseph P Messina, and Ningchuan Xiao, 2003. Mapping, modeling, and visualization of the influences of geomorphic processes on the alpine treeline ecotone, Glacier National Park, Montana, USA. Geomorphology 53(1-2), 129-145.

Butler, David R., 2002. The environmental impact of crayfish biopedoturbation on a floodplain: Roanoke River, North Carolina Coastal Plain, U.S.A. Landform Analysis 3, 35-40.

Butler, David R., 2002. Visualizing animal impacts on the landscape: remote sensing in the physical geography classroom. Geocarto International 17(4), 67-74.

Butler, David R., and Hilary J.M. Sandford, 2002. Imagery scale and type for natural hazards analysis: classroom examples using forest fires and snow avalanches. Geocarto International 17(1), 71-76.

Cairns, David R., David R. Butler, and George P. Malanson, 2002. Geomorphic and biogeographic setting of the Rocky Mountains. In: Rocky Mountain Futures (J.S. Baron, ed.), Island Press, Washington, DC, 27-39.

DeChano, Lisa M., and David R. Butler, 2002. An analysis of attacks by grizzly bears (Ursus arctos horribilis) in Glacier National Park, Montana. The Geographical Bulletin 44(1), 30-41.

Malanson, George P., David R. Butler, David M. Cairns, Theresa E. Welsh, and Lynn M. Resler, 2002. Variability in an edaphic indicator in alpine tundra. Catena 49(3), 203-215.

Malanson, George P., and David R. Butler, 2002. The Western Cordillera. In: The Physical Geography of North America (A. Orme, ed.), Oxford University Press, Oxford, England, pp. 363-379.

Douglass Hallett
Hallett, D.J., Mathewes, R.W. and Walker, R.C. (2003) A 1000-year record of forest fire, drought and lake level change in southeastern British Columbia. The Holocene 13(5): 751-761.

Hallett, D. J., Lepofsky, D.S., Mathewes, R.W., and Lertzman, K.P. (2003) 11,000 years of fire history and climate in the mountain hemlock rainforests of southwestern British Columbia based on sedimentary charcoal. Canadian Journal of Forest Research 33: 292-312.

John Kupfer
Kupfer, J.A. and Runkle, J.R. 2003. Edge-mediated effects on stand dynamic processes in forest interiors: a coupled field and simulation approach. Oikos 101: 135-146.

Franklin, S.B. and Kupfer, J.A. 2004. Forest communities of Natchez Trace State Forest, western Tennessee Coastal Plain. Castanea 69: 1-15.

Kupfer, J.A., Malanson, G.P. and Franklin, S.B. 2004. Identifying the biodiversity research needs related to forest fragmentation. National Commission for Science on Sustainable Forestry, Washington, DC. 210 pp. (white paper available upon request; eventually posted at NCSSF website).

Joy Mast
Joy Nystrom Mast and Joy Wolf, 2004, "Ecotonal changes and altered tree spatial patterns in lower mixed-conifer
forests, Grand Canyon National Park, Arizona." Landscape Ecology (in press).

Joy Nystrom Mast, 2003, "Tree health and Forest Structure", Chapter 13 in Ecological Restoration of Southwestern
Ponderosa Pine Forest
(Peter Friederici, ed.) Island Press.

James Speer
Speer, J.H., Jensen R.R. 2003. A hazards approach towards modeling pandora moth risk. Journal of Biogeography 30: 1899-1906.

Darel Tiegs
"Flood Disturbance and Riparian Species Diversity on the Colorado River Delta" Scott Darel Tiegs, John F. O' Leary, Molly M. Pohl and Carrie L. Munill Biodiversity and Conservation (forthcoming)

"Planform Channel Dynamics of the Lower Colorado River: 1976-2000" Scott Darel Tiegs and Molly M. Pohl. Geomorphology (forthcoming).

Tom Veblen
Keane, R.E., K.C. Ryan, T.T. Veblen, C.D. Allen, J. Logan, B. Hawkes. 2002. Cascading effects of fire exclusion in Rocky Mountain ecosystems: A literature review. USDA Forest Service Gen. Tech. Report RMRS-GTR-91, 24
pp.

Keane, R.E., K.C. Ryan, T.T. Veblen, C. Allen, J. Logan, and B. Hawkes. 2002. The cascading effects of fire exclusion in Rocky Mountain ecosystems. Pages 133-152 n: J. Baron, D. Fagre, and R. Hauer (eds.). Rocky Mountain Futures: An Ecological Perspective. Island Press.

Veblen, T.T. 2002. Carl O. Sauer and geographical biogeography. Pp. 163-182 in: K. Mathewson (ed.), Culture, Land, and Legacy: Carl O. Sauer and the Berkeley School of Geography. Geoscience and Man 37. Louisiana State University, Baton Rouge.

Kulakowski, D. and T.T. Veblen. 2002. Influences of fire history and topography on the pattern of a severe wind blowdown in a Colorado subalpine forest. Journal of Ecology 90:806-819.

Stohlgren, T.J., T.T. Veblen, K. Kendall, W.L. Baker, A. Logan and M. Ryan. 2002. Montane and subalpine ecosystems. Pages 203-218 in: J. Baron, D. Fagre, and R. Hauer (eds.). Rocky Mountain Futures: An Ecological Perspective. Island Press.

González, M.E., T.T. Veblen, C. Donoso, and L. Valeria. 2002. Tree regeneration responses in a lowland Nothofagus-dominated forest after bamboo dieback in South-Central Chile. Plant Ecology 161:59-73.

Veblen, T.T. and T. Kitzberger. 2002. Inter-hemispheric comparison of fire history: The Colorado Front Range, U.S.A. and the Northern Patagonian Andes, Argentina. Plant Ecology 163: 187-207.

Bebi, P., D. Kulakowski, and T.T. Veblen. 2003. Interactions between fire and spruce beetle in a subalpine Rocky Mountain forest landscape. Ecology 84:362-371.

Veblen, T.T. 2003. Historic range of variability of mountain forest ecosystems: concepts and applications. Forest Chronicle 79:223-226.

Daniels, L.D. and T.T. Veblen. 2003. Altitudinal treelines of the southern Andes near 40° S. Forest Chronicle 79:237-241.

Kitzberger, T., E. Raffaele, and T. Veblen. 2003. Variable community responses to herbivory in fire-altered landscapes of northern Patagonia, Argentina. Pages 300-307 in N. Allsopp, A.R. Palmer, S.J. Milton, K.P. Kirkman, GiH. Kerley, C.R. Hurt, and C.J. Brown (editors), Proceedings of the VIIth International Rangelands Congress. 26 July - 1 August 2003, Durban, South Africa.

Veblen, T.T. 2003. Key issues in fire regime research for fuels management and ecological restoration. Pages 259-276 in: P. Omi and L. Joyce (technical eds). Fire, Fuel Treatments and Ecological Restoration: Conference proceeedings; 2002 16-18 April; Fort Collins, CO: U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, Rocky Mountain Research Station. 475 p.

Alaback, P., T.T. Veblen, C. Whitlock, A. Lara, T. Kitzberger, R. Villalba. 2003. Climatic and human influences on fire regimes in temperate forest ecosystems in North and South America. Pages 49-87 in G.A. Bradshaw and P.A. Marquet (eds), How Landscapes Change. Springer-Verlag.

Veblen, T.T., T. Kitzberger, E. Raffaele, and D.C. Lorenz. 2003. Fire history and vegetation change in northern Patagonia, Argentina. Pages 259-289 in: T.T. Veblen, W.L. Baker, G. Montenegro and T.W. Swetnam (eds). Fire Regimes and Climatic Change in Temperate Ecosystems of the Western Americas. Springer-Verlag.

Kitzberger, T., and T.T. Veblen. 2003. Influences of climate on fire in northern Patagonia, Argentina. Pages 290-315 in: T.T. Veblen, W.L. Baker, G. Montenegro and T.W. Swetnam (eds). Fire Regimes and Climatic Change in Temperate Ecosystems of the Western Americas. Springer-Verlag.

Kulakowski, D., T.T. Veblen, and P. Bebi. 2003. Effects of fire and spruce beetle outbreak legacies on the disturbance regime of a subalpine forest in Colorado. Journal of Biogeography 30: 1445-1456.

Kulakowski, D., and T.T. Veblen. 2003. Subalpine forest development following a blowdown in the Mount Zirkel Wilderness, Colorado, USA. Journal of Vegetation Science 14: 653-660.

Joy Wolf
Joy Nystrom Mast and Joy Wolf, 2004, "Ecotonal changes and altered tree spatial patterns in lower mixed-conifer
forests, Grand Canyon National Park, Arizona." Landscape Ecology (in press).

Wolf, J.J., S. W. Beatty, and T. R. Seastedt. 2004. Soil characteristics of Rocky Mountain National Park grasslands invaded by Melilotus officinalis and M. alba. Journal of Biogeography 31:1-10.

Wolf, J. J., S W. Beatty, and G. Carey. 2003. Invasion by sweet clover (Melilotus) in montane grasslands, Rocky Mountain National Park. Annals of the Association of American Geographers 93(3): 531-543.

Susy Zeigler
Brown, Dwight A., Philip J. Gersmehl, and Susy S. Ziegler. 2003. Alternative Biogeographies of the Global Garden. Dubuque, Iowa: Kendall/Hunt Publishing Company.

Ziegler, Susy S., Gary Pereira, and Dwight A. Brown. 2004. Embedded Scales in Biogeography. In Scale and Geographic Inquiry: Nature, Society and Method, E. Sheppard and R.B. McMaster, eds. Malden, MA: Blackwell Publishing.

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Research Notes

Joy Wolf

Joy Wolf continues to conduct research in the Midwest oak savannas, assessing vegetation dynamics and restoration strategies in southeastern Wisconsin. She began this research in 2000 in Pleasant Prairie, Wisconsin and 2001 in Richard Bong State Recreation Area (BSRA) in Kenosha County.

In Pleasant Prairie, the oaks were cut down to make way for industrial progress. After she was contacted by the DNR, Joy had the opportunity to use the cross-sections to determine a 200 year fire history and climate record. This work generated experience for several undergraduate students. Currently, she is working with archeologists to determine the boundaries of a Native American trail that runs through this site and its role in this plant community. The climate and fire data are in the process of being re-submitted to American Midland Naturalist and are useful in her restoration assessment research at Bong. BSRA consists of a diverse landscape that includes oak savanna, upland woodlands and wetlands. Because this savanna is threatened by biological invasion and lack of natural disturbance, BSRA now applies different levels of treatments that range from intensely managed to unmanaged to restore the oak openings. During the past three summers, Joy Wolf and her students collected data that includes woody age and spatial structure, canopy and understory composition, soil physical and nutrient patterns. and land use history to assess the levels of restoration. This year, she is submitting data for the canopy dynamics for publication. This summer, she will collect more understory and soil data, and correlate her data with prescribed burns in her sites. The data are much needed by the land managers who work in these diminishing plant communities. Over the winter, Joy taught an Intro to Dendrochronology course, and the oak cross sections proved a useful tool in the classroom (and provided a great comparison to her ponderosa pine fire scars!). In northern Wisconsin, Joy is working with a student to investigate changes in the soil profile as a result of clearcutting the mixed hardwood and conifer forests for harvest and development. 

For more information, see:

Wolf, Joy J. A 200 year oak savanna fire history in southeastern Wisconsin. American Midland Naturalist (forthcoming).

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Field Notes

Dr. Meral Avci: Istanbul University, Geography Department

Dr. Meral Avci and a group of 4th-6th term students completed a field study in the Western Black Sea Region last May. The Ilgaz Mountains occupy a climatic transition area and rise to 2,587 meters, both of which contribute to the area's exceptional biological diversity. They harbor 77 endemic plants (including Salix myrsinifolia, which is found nowhere else), 32 of which are endangered.

Dr. Avci and her students explored this remarkable plant diversity and problems arising from tourism and planning errors. They also had the opportunity to practice their dendrochronology skills and to examine vegetation communities on Black Sea coastal dunes. The excursion was a great experience for the students, and Dr. Avci and a new group of students will repeat the trip in the spring of 2004.

For more information, contact

Dr. Meral Avci
Istanbul University,
Letters Faculty, Geography Department
Laleli/Istanbul
e-mail: mavci@istanbul.edu.tr

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Course Notes

Susan L. Woodward: Teaching with MacDonald and Quammen.
Before Glen MacDonald’s (2003) excellent textbook became available, I had dispensed with a textbook altogether in my undergraduate course and used instead David Quammen’s Song of the Dodo and a lot of exercises, lecture notes, and other material. I found that students not only really liked this book but learned some basic concepts as well. For some it was the first book they had ever read cover to cover (!) and I only assigned the first four chapters. I developed a series of 5 reading assignments to accompany it. Glen MacDonald 's text became available in the middle of a semester, so I had my students review it in terms of its appropriateness for my course. They gave the book rave reviews, but also said to keep Song of the Dodo as well. I use it now as a supplement to a good textbook, as was mentioned in a sidebar in a retrospective article on the Theory of Island Biogeography (Powledge 2003) appearing in BioScience last November.

Here are a couple of comments from this year’s crop, both non-majors:

“When I saw the title of the book I immediately thought BORING! I am surprisingly enjoying the reading though. It strongly relates to class, and I actually find the material interesting. It has given me things to talk about with my Dad over dinner and I really appreciate that.”

“I have found my reading in this book to be both productive and enjoyable. It takes a very complex subject and makes it much easier for the layperson to understand. The writing style keeps me interested and as though I am on a great adventure. It has made being a student of biogeography fun!”

Anyone interested in seeing my assignments can email me at swoodwar@radford.edu.

MacDonald, G.M. 2003. Biogeography: Space, Time and Life. New York: John Wiley and Sons.

Powledge, Fred. 2003. “Island Biogeography’s Lasting Impact.” BioScience 53: 1032-1038.

Quammen, David. 1996. The Song of the Dodo. Island Biogeography in an Age of Extinctions. (New York: Scribner).

Greenwood Press has just released Susan's new textbook, Biomes of Earth: Terrestrial, Aquatic, and Human-Dominated. (456 pages , maps, photos, tables. List Price: $79.95. ISBN: 0-313-31977-4.)

Congratulations Susan!

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Editor's Note

In the last newsletter, I mentioned that our publication schedule had gotten a little screwy. Various delays have pushed this edition about as close to the AAG Conference as we can get and still have time to elect new board members. PLEASE vote as soon as possible. We'll try to avoid this problem in the future.

As always, thanks to everybody who sent material, and please send more for the fall newsletter. I prefer plain ASCII text to formatted documents (you wouldn't believe how much garbage gets copied into html from even the simplest MS Word document), but I'll take anything you send. Please use the Annals reference style for publications.

Finally, allow me to indulge in a bit of editorializing. If you live or work in the United States and have the slightest interest in the status of science education and science literacy, you should have a look at Joel Cracraft's Bioscience Editorial, "The New Creationism and Its Threat to Science Literacy and Education." It's (yet another) useful reminder of the tenuous state of acceptance that evolution holds in the U.S. 145 years after Darwin. It also includes a number of useful web links. But it is a bit more encouraging than most such reminders. Cracraft interprets the results of several recent polls showing a growing acceptance of evolution and its teaching among the public. But his main purpose is to draw attention to recent efforts by the American Institute of Biological Sciences and the National Center for Science Education to "expand and improve the teaching of evolution." He ends by suggesting that it is "critical that all scientists, including nonbiologists, see themselves as part of this effort."

Debates over issues of evolution and education affect geography and geographers, particularly those of us working in biogeography and conservation. The BSG should be part of the effort to strengthen evolution education, and we should begin a discussion on what, exactly, we might do.

See you in Philadelphia!

Duane A. Griffin
Editor, The Biogeographer
Bucknell University
Dept. of Geography
Lewisburg, PA 17837 USA
570/577-3374

dgriffin @bucknell.edu

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