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Division of Comparative Physiology & Biochemistry (DCPB): 2001 Spring Newsletter

In this newsletter:




Message from the Chair

Steven C. Hand

Our Chicago meeting continued the trend in recent years of increased attendance and was a very successful gathering for the Division. Many strong symposia of interest to our discipline were presented. Thanks to those divisional members who organized symposia sponsored or co-sponsored by our division: Tim Bradley, Mary Chamberlain, Martin Feder, Frank Fish, Robert Full, David Goldstein, Berry Pinshow.

The latest recipient of the Bartholomew Award, Dr. Martin Wikelski (Princeton University), was honored in Chicago at the DCPB business meeting (see The George A. Bartholomew Award, below) and then immediately afterward treated a large audience to an enjoyable presentation of his ongoing investigations into the physiological ecology of marine iguanas. Congratulations again to Martin. This year's winner of the Best Student Poster Award from DCPB was Thomas V. Hancock (Department of EPO Biology, University of Colorado, Boulder) for his work entitled, "The tradeoff between endurance and metabolic costs using intermittent locomotion in the desert iguana (Dipsosaurus dorsalis)." Two winners were recognized for the Best Student Paper Award from the Chicago meeting: Peter M. Piermarini (Department of Zoology, University of Florida) for a presentation entitled, "Effect of salinity on expression of the vacuolar proton-ATPase B-subunit in the gills of a euryhaline stingray (Dasyatis sabina)," and Todd M. Hoagland (Department of Biology, University of Notre Dame) for his talk entitled, "Systemic vascular compliance in two amphibians." These three students are congratulated for their fine contributions.

For those not in attendance at the Chicago DCPB business meeting, it is appropriate to announce again that the new Chair Elect of our Division is Nora Terwilliger (University of Oregon), and the new Program Officer is Jon Harrison (Arizona State University). Thanks to both of these individuals for their willingness to serve the society in this important way. Also, a hearty thanks is offered to Michele Wheatley for completing an excellent term as the DCPB Program Officer.

We are holding elections for DCPB Secretary - please vote (see Message from the Secretary for candidate CVs). Our current Secretary Jeannette Doeller will complete her term at the upcoming SICB meeting in Anaheim, January 2-6, when the new Secretary will start. I hope to see you there.





Message from the Program Officer

Jon Harrison

First I'd like to thank Michele Wheatly for a wonderful job organizing the symposia and best student paper competitions for Atlanta, Chicago, and Anaheim (Jan. 2-6, 2002). There were more good symposia than any one individual could attend in Atlanta and Chicago, and that is the way the meetings should be!

ANAHEIM, 2002: The Anaheim meeting has three symposia co-sponsored by DCPB: "Biomechanics of Adhesion", organized by Kellar Autumn and Robert Full; "Dynamics and Energetics of Animal Swimming and Flying", organized by Malcolm Gordon, Ian Bartol, and Jay Hove; and "The Physiological Ecology of Rocky Intertidal Organisms: From Molecules to Ecosystems", organized by Lars Tomanek and Brian Helmuth. Other symposia planned for the meeting include "Integrative Approaches to Biogeography: Patterns and Processes on Land and in the Sea", "The Cambrian Explosion, Putting the Pieces Together, New Perspectives on the Origin of Metazoan Complexity", "Ecological Developmental Biology", "Integrative and Evolutionary Roles of Extracellular Hormone-binding Proteins", "Neural Mechanisms of Orientation and Navigation", "Responding to the World With a Little Nervous System: Unique Models for Studying Perception and Behavior", and "Tendons: Bridging the Gap". With these symposia, it should be a great scientific meeting. Also with Disneyland and the Rose Bowl Parade to visit before or after, you might want to think about bringing along the family this year!

TORONTO, 2003: Now we are trying to plan the January 4-8, 2003 SICB meeting in Toronto, and need symposium proposals to enrich the program. We do not have a firm deadlines for when the symposia proposals are due at this time. Probably they will be due in late spring/early summer. My recommendation is that you get the proposals in right away-or if you're like me-you'll forget about it! Please send to me (j.harrison@asu.edu) the following:
  1. Title of the symposium
  2. Potential sponsoring divisions of SICB
  3. Contact information for symposium organizers
  4. Rationale for symposium (purpose, background)
  5. Timeliness of symposium (have there been other recent symposia on similar topics?)
  6. Program: List of speakers, their area of expertise, tentative talk titles, organizational structure of symposium

For the Toronto SICB meeting, think in particular about symposia which integrate across levels of organization, taxonomic diversity, or the divisional disciplines of SICB. Also think about organizing symposia which will bring new members to SICB, or at least scientists who do not normally attend but would enjoy and enrich the society's focus on integrative and comparative biology.

If you have never organized a symposium, this is a great opportunity to highlight and advance your area of research interest. It is also a great professional activity. Good symposia are the core of any scientific meeting and help provide focus to a discipline. Consider co-organizing a symposium with a colleague to broaden the scope of the symposium, and to share the work. Thanks in advance for being a key part our meetings!

OTHER MEETINGS OF INTEREST (see also Message from the IUBS/IUPS Representative for more meeting information)

The Roles of Experimental Biology in the Protection of Endangered Species and the Control of Species - University of California, Los Angeles 12-14 September 2001. Subject areas to be covered will include (but will not be limited to) i) Comparative physiology of endangered and exotic species in the wild; ii) Comparative physiology of captive breeding of endangered species; iii) Genetic engineering for species survival and exotic species control; iv) Microbiological and endocrinological approaches to control of exotic species; and v) Integrating experimental scientific results into policy making for protection of endangered species and control of exotic species. Additional information about the conference is given at the website: www.ioe.ucla.edu/biodiversity/index.html. Inquiries may be addressed to conference co-Chair, Dr. Soraya M. Bartol, at smbartol@ucla.edu.

34th International Congress of Physiological Sciences, Christchurch, New Zealand, 26-31 August 2001. The comparative physiological components of the scientific program are relatively limited in number, but should be of interest to some DCPB members. There will be four synthesia, with associated poster sessions, that will be primarily comparative. Their titles are "Thermal adaptations", "Cardiovascular adaptations to the environment", "Starvation as a normal feature of animal life histories", and "From philosopher to fish." A number of other sessions are likely to include comparative topics as well. Look at the Congress website for details: www.iups2001.org.nz. Online registration is available at www.the-aps.org/meetings/internat/mtg_iups2001.htm

APS sponsored conference on Comparative Physiology, San Diego, CA, August 25-28th, 2002. The conference is tentatively entitled "The Power of Comparative Physiology: Evolution, Integration and Applied". Information on the symposia for this conference is available at www.the-aps.org/sect_groups/compar/spring2001nwsltr.htm.

Planning is in progress for the Sixth International Congress of Comparative Physiology and Biochemistry, sponsored by IUBS, which will take place in southern Australia in February 2003. Major decisions about the symposia for that Congress will be made by the International Organizing Committee (IOC) for the Congress at a meeting to take place at the Christchurch Congress next August. Nora Terwilliger, SICB's representative to IUBS (see Message from the IUBS/IUPS Representative, below), has gathered symposia suggestions from our members.





Message from the IUBS/IUPS Representative

Nora Terwilliger

IUPS 2001, August, Christchurch, New Zealand

Early registration for this meeting was extended to March 14, 2001 to enable registration at discounted fees. I hope those of you heading south this summer got in on it. Registration will remain open for some time, of course - it will just cost more. The US National Committee/IUPS will be meeting during Experimental Biology 2001 in Orlando in early April to assess USNC/IUPS travel grant applications for the New Zealand meeting. Most of these funds are provided by the American Physiological Society. I will be participating in the selection process as your DCPB representative to the USNC/IUPS. The focus this year will be enabling young investigators, women and underrepresented minorities to attend the New Zealand meeting. I hope there are many DCPB members in the pile of applicants, and I look forward to seeing DCBP colleagues in Christchurch.


Chobe 2001, August, Botswana

Before the New Zealand meeting, of course, is the Comparative Physiology conference in Chobe, Botswana. Time to get your shots and purchase your non-mosquito-attracting wardrobes and stock up on photography equipment and supplies.


Sixth International Congress of Comparative Physiology and Biochemistry IUBS 2003, February, Australia

Plans for this conference are enthusiastically underway. It will take place at the Mount Buller campus, La Trobe University, about three hours from Melbourne. "The campus is located in the Victorian high country in an area of mountain ranges, snowgums and rivers." Sounds great! The meeting will be organized similarly to the Fifth Congress in Calgary, with symposia (five invited speakers and several contributed papers selected from poster abstracts), plenary speakers and poster sessions. Please send your suggestions of DCPB members who might be potential plenary speakers to me (nterwill@oimb.uoregon.edu) ASAP.

There are now 11 Societies (including DCPB/SICB!) that are members of this Comparative Physiology Congress. Each society will submit five symposium titles, plus five more from the Organizing Committee. These 60 suggestions will be compiled in a final list to be reviewed by the IUBS representatives of each society at the IUPS meeting in Christchurch this August. The list will be whittled down to 40 approved symposia and plenary speakers will be selected as well. Let's hope we have some really good topics and speakers organized by DCBP colleagues.




Message from the Secretary

Jeannette E. Doeller

We are holding elections for DCPB Secretary this Spring. Following are the candidates' CVs. Please fill out the ballot when it arrives and vote!

Secretary Candidates

Mary E. Chamberlin

Current Position: Associate Professor, Department of Biological Sciences, Ohio University

Education: B.S. , 1976, Zoology, University of California at Davis; Ph.D., 1982, Zoology, University of British Columbia

Professional Experience: Rush Elliott Endowed Professor, Ohio University, 1999-2004; Associate Professor, Department of Biological Sciences, Ohio University, 1991-present; Assistant Professor, Department of Biological Sciences, Ohio University, 1984-1991; Visiting Scientist, Department of Zoology, University of Guelph, 1989-1990; Research Associate, Department of Physiology, Duke Medical Center, 1982-1984.

SICB Activities: Co-organizer (with Tim Bradley) of SICB symposium, "Integrative Aspects of Epithelial Structure and Function" (Chicago, 2001); Symposium speaker for the SICB symposium, "Integrative Aspects of Epithelial Structure and Function" (Chicago, 2001); Symposium speaker for the ASZ symposium, "Respiratory and Ionic Aspects of Acid-base Regulation in Insects" (Vancouver, 1992); Seven other presentations at SICB (ASZ) since 1980; Member since 1985.

Other memberships: American Physiological Society; President-elect of the Ohio Physiological Society.

Research Interests: My research is centered on cellular energetics, with a special emphasis on the metabolism of ion-transporting epithelia. Therefore, my research bridges the fields of ion transport physiology and metabolic biochemistry. See www.biosci.ohiou.edu/faculty/chamberlin/index.html for details regarding my research program.

Goals Statement: The role of the secretary is to gather and disseminate the information provided by the officers and other members of DCPB. Two of the most effective ways to keep members informed of society and divisional activities is through e-mail and the world wide web. I will continue to employ these tools to facilitate communication between the division and its members.



Bernard B. Rees

Current Position: Assistant Professor, Department of Biological Sciences, University of New Orleans, New Orleans, LA 70148; email: brees@uno.edu

Education: B.S., 1984, University of Southwestern Louisiana (UL Lafayette); Ph.D. 1992, University of Colorado, Boulder

Professional Experience: Post-doctoral Fellow, Hopkins Marine Station, Stanford University, 1992-1995; Assistant Professor, University of New Orleans, 1996-present

SICB Activities: Member since 1986; active participant in annual meetings (10 presentations since 1986); Best Student Paper Judge (DCPB, 1999); Contributed Paper Session Co-chair (DCPB, 2001)

Other memberships and service: American Association for the Advancement of Science; American Society for Cell Biology; Panelist and ad hoc reviewer for the National Science Foundation (Evolutionary and Ecological Physiology)

Research Interests: My research interests are in the area of environmental physiology and biochemistry, in particular the responses of aquatic organisms to low oxygen (hypoxia). My students and I have used an integrative approach, combining physiological ecology, metabolic biochemistry and molecular biology, in order to better understand the responses of estuarine and freshwater fishes to hypoxia. Currently, I am very interested in oxygen-regulated gene expression and I am developing approaches to study this process on a couple of "model" groups, killifish (Fundulus spp.) and zebrafish (Danio rerio). A related area of interest is mechanisms of metabolic regulation in animals during changing, or stressful, environmental conditions.

Goals Statement: As secretary of the Division of Comparative Physiology and Biochemistry, I would work as an active intermediate in the dialog between the membership of the Division and the officers of the Division and Society. In particular, I would work closely with the Program Officer to ensure that our members remain informed of, and active in, events occurring at the annual meetings of the SICB and other related societies. I would also work to increase the exposure of DCPB, and SICB in general, at the national and international levels and encourage participation in SICB events by members of other scientific societies.



SICB DCPB BUSINESS MEETING MINUTES, January 5, 2001:

Chair Steve Hand called the meeting to order. He announced the results of the fall election: our new Chair-Elect is Nora Terwilliger, and our new Program Officer is Jon Harrison. Nora will start her term as Chair after the Anaheim meeting, Jon will start his term immediately.

Steve introduced Bill Zamer, the Program Officer of Integrative Animal Biology at NSF who discussed a number of NSF-related issues:

  • Proposals are now submitted by Fastlane, as well as supplemental requests and progress reports, and pending proposal status can be checked by Fastlane.
  • NSF is looking for people interested in serving as Program Officers, also as ad hoc or panel reviewers.
  • NSF is also looking for new ideas and interesting formats for workshops and their follow-ups. Workshops often promote discussions or develop new areas by bringing together people from different fields.
  • Any PI about to publish in high profile journals such as Science, Nature or PNAS should contact their Program Officer so he/she can alert the press. NSF would also like to use great photographs, research results and figures, etc. for promotional purposes.
  • The Division of Integrative Biology and Neuroscience (IBN) would like feedback about their cluster programs - does this structure work for the scientific community?
  • There appears to be broad bipartisan support now for doubling the NSF budget in the next 5 years. If approved, the new fiscal year 2001 budget gives a 13.6% increase to NSF - the largest dollar amount increase. Bill indicated in response to a question that it is appropriate for the leadership of individual societies to show support for NSF when it goes to Congress.
  • In response to questions about annual and final reports, Bill suggested calling program officers for information about timing. He said that the final report should include three main areas: 1) evidence of productivity, 2) contributions of students and post-docs, and 3) the central findings and implications for the field.
  • Symposia support requests go to the appropriate panels, with some money available for travel. International Programs might support travel to international meetings when the intent is to develop new collaborations. Any person with comments, contributions or an interest in serving should contact Bill at wzamer@nsf.gov or check out the NSF website (www.nsf.gov).


Steve introduced Nora Terwilliger, our Chair-Elect and representative to the IUPS and IUBS, who described our involvement in these societies (see Message from the IUBS/IUPS Representative). The DCPB is a member of the IUPS (www.iups.org) and is represented on the US National Committee (USNC) which will meet next in August 2001 at the IUPS meeting in New Zealand. The DCPB is also a member of the IUBS (www.iubs.org), which last met in Calgary in August 1999, and will next meet in Australia in February 2003. These ICCPB meetings are organized by all member societies. The IUPS 2005 meeting will be in Washington DC, and DCPB and APS will play a major organizing role for this meeting.

Steve introduced Michele Wheatly, the outgoing Program Officer. She asked for feedback concerning some changes made for this meeting. 1) All programming was done electronically by author-selected topic. This was easier for the Program Officers but made it harder to have divisional activities such as poster sessions. 2) Are evening poster sessions OK? Should there be a day time for posters? 3) Some members would prefer a meeting with only symposia and posters, but some divisions oppose this idea. 4) Since a member can now submit both posters and talks, this increases the presentations, but also the conflicts. Any comments concerning these issues can be directed to me (doeller@uab.edu) or Jon Harrison (j.harrison@asu.edu).

There were 12 volunteers to judge student poster and oral presentations - many thanks.

She discussed upcoming meetings and then introduced Jon Harrison (see Message from the Program Officer for more information).

Michele was applauded for her service as Program Officer - thanks for a great job Michele!

Martin Feder, SICB President, was introduced. He acknowledged that the DCPB is the largest and a very important division in SICB. He introduced Marvalee Wake, SICB President-Elect, and Brett Burk of Burk and Associates, SICB's managing organization, for questions and answers.

For this meeting, there were 1100 preregistrations and 900 abstracts submitted - the most ever.

Brett discussed election policy. There was low voter response this year with all elections due to the difficulty in all the steps involved. Because SICB is incorporated in Illinois, electronic voting is currently illegal, although this may change in 1-2 years. The next ballot will be sent by regular mail with email reminders to respond. There has been some discussions of having all divisional and society-wide elections in the spring. About electronic glitches in registration, etc., Brett requested specific feedback so they can fix the problems.

Steve introduced Chrisy Carello, who reported on the Physiological and Biochemical Zoology (PBZ) journal (see Annual Report of Physiological and Biochemical Zoology, below). The 5-year term for PBZ Editor-in-Chief Greg Snyder is coming to an end. There will be a call for proposals for PBZ editorship on the SICB web site and through the email, with a mid-March deadline. Proposals will be evaluated by the 3 DCPB officers to make recommendations to the U. Chicago Press.

Steve introduced John Phillips, the DCPB representative to the American Zoologist journal. Representative duties include selection of symposia for publication. There will be a format change in the journal to go along with the name change (if vote is positive), as well as use of color and opinion pieces. There will be an email request for representative nominations by next August.

Steve indicated that because of Burk and Associates, SICB is in good financial condition, which has led to an approved $85 further decrease in society dues.

There are 3 society-wide executive committee issues for vote:
  1. Should we continue with posters and oral presentations? Vote is in favor of maintaining status quo. Michele reminded members that Program Officers like it when they check the "either/or" box for presentation preference.
  2. Should newsletters be kept on line? Vote is in favor; many people have actually looked at the newsletter, as seen by a show of hands.
  3. For the Anaheim meeting, should SICB bring in presidents of other societies as an outreach program? Vote is in favor, viewed as a reasonable way to use SICB funds.


Meeting was closed in order to prepare for the Bartholomew Award presentation to and seminar by Martin Wikelski (see The George A. Bartholomew Award, below). Martin was introduced and given the award by Steve Hand, accompanied by a cash award from Sable Systems, presented by John Lighton. Martin's seminar was entitled "Darwin, Bartholomew, and the Marine Iguanas: the Fascination of Physiological Ecology".





Annual Report of Physiological and Biochemical Zoology to the Division of Comparative Physiology and Biochemistry, 2000

HIGHLIGHTS

The year 2000 saw a record high for manuscript submissions and a record low for the period between manuscript submission and appearance in print. Our goal for the forthcoming year will continue to be publishing manuscripts of the highest quality in the shortest possible time.

NUMERICAL ACCOUNTING OF MANUSCRIPTS

These figures cover the period July 1, 1999 through June 30, 2000.

Sixty-nine manuscripts were published. This represents a decrease of about 12% from last year's figure, and reflects the relatively low submission rate in 1998-1999. Of the 69 manuscripts published, 64 were research papers, 2 were Technical Comments, 2 were Invited Perspectives, and one was a correction. The numbers of Invited Perspectives and Technical Comments were the same as published last year.

One hundred sixty three manuscripts were submitted during the report period, an increase of 10% over last year's submissions (148). As of this writing, 75 (46%) of those manuscripts have been accepted for publication; 31 of the accepted manuscripts have already appeared in print, and 44 are in press. Of the submitted manuscripts, 5 (3%) are still in review, 24 (15%) are in revision, and 59 (36%) have been rejected.

Of the manuscripts submitted during this period, 55 (34%) originated from first authors affiliated with U.S. institutions, 37 (23%) came from Europe, 22 (13%) from Australia or New Zealand, 18 (11%) from Canada, 13 (8%) from Central or South America, 7 (4%) from Asia, and 11 from elsewhere.

The average time from initial submission of a manuscript to acceptance was 6 months. Thus, overall we have been able to reduce the review process by one month from the 7 months average reported last year and by three months from the time we assumed responsibility for the journal. This improvement has been made possible through the invaluable cooperation and assistance of our Editorial Board members, and with our continuing emphasis on electronic communication.

The decrease in average time from submission to publication noted in last year's report continues. The lag time from acceptance to publication is now 3.7 months on average, down from 5 months last year. This continues a reduction from an 11-month average lag only a few years ago. Because of a greater submission rate since January 2000, and the high quality of the submitted manuscripts, we now have a backlog of 44 manuscripts that are accepted for publication. Beginning with the November/December 2000 issue, Chicago Press has graciously allowed us to increase the number of papers per issue to retain our short acceptance-to-submission time. Please note that the average time from submisson of a manuscript to its appearance in print is only 9.7 months. We are quite proud of having increased the quality of manuscripts while reducing the publication time to less than one year! We hope that authors will consider this fact when selecting a journal for their work.

The number of Invited Perspectives published this year, as last year, was rather small. We would like to remind you that we welcome suggestions for timely, appropriate topics for these Perspectives, and that we rely in part on suggestions from the DCPB membership to identify and recruit authors for IP manuscripts. We note however that, for the coming year, we have offset this trend somewhat by including a symposium contribution; the first in several years.

We urge the membership to continue to direct their manuscripts to us!

THE PBZ WEB PAGE

We invite members to visit our web page (www.journals.uchicago.edu/PBZ/home.html) at the University of Chicago Press, where they will find the tables of contents for forthcoming issues as well as instructions to authors regarding the preparation of manuscripts for submission.

THE EDITORIAL BOARD

Our Editorial Board members remain our primary source of suggestions for reviewers, as well as providing occasional reviews and arbitrating disputes when other reviewers have fundamental disagreements about the merits of a manuscript. We believe that this system provides us with the most highly expert reviews we can obtain, and we extend our sincere thanks to all who participated in 199-2000.

Respectfully submitted:

Gregory K. Snyder
Editor-in-Chief

Kristin Lopez
Managing Editor

Department of EPO Biology
University of Colorado
334 UBC
Boulder, CO USA 80309-0334
Phone: (303) 735-0297 FAX: (303) 735-1811
E-mail: physzoo@spot.colorado.edu
www.journals.uchicago.edu/PBZ

December 1, 2000





Message from the Graduate Student/Postdoc Representative

Brian Eads

I would like to begin this column on a personal note with some thoughts about how the SICB has influenced my graduate career before I turn to more philosophical musings about the changing face of biological research. Having been to the past three meetings, I've had a chance to meet a number of graduate students, postdocs, and investigators at various stages in their careers. What I have learned is that the society supports an incredibly diverse group of people with interests from one end of the spectrum to the other, most of whom seem to enjoy and appreciate those other perspectives. It has been a great place to network, to encounter potential collaborators and old friends, and to share ideas, but perhaps the key feature to me has been the student-friendly orientation of the meetings, allowing me opportunities to interact with people that at a larger meeting I probably would not have. Sometimes I wonder how long the "big tent" of the organization can continue to sponsor such a wide range of interests while maintaining cohesion. Perhaps research trends will reinforce, rather than undermine, the principles on which the SICB stands. The twin tendencies I perceive on the part of investigators both to extend the work they have been taught in texts and labs, as well as to change the direction of research to incorporate new paradigms and technologies, bode well for the continuity of research.

This years' meeting in Chicago was an exciting beginning for the growing number of members seeking to broaden the scope of the society to include areas outside of zoology. Symposia on plant / animal interactions and symbioses helped to highlight the importance of a variety of these diverse interactions to integrative biologists. Together with presentations in more traditional areas, these point the way toward future research goals and sparked lively debate about how changes in our understanding and in the types of tools available will influence which questions have priority. For example, the excitement surrounding the recent release of the human genome, while surely only the opening act in an unfolding drama, is also a cogent reminder that biology has begun to assume economic, social, and cultural importance at a breakneck pace. Deciphering the function of genomes now assumes its status as favored research child. And just as research in the "post-genomic" world of model organisms will continue to receive the lion's share of money and attention, those whose work includes the overlooked, the exotic, and the bizarre will face continuing pressure to justify their work.

This should not, however, lead us into the trap of "me too", in which medical, pharmaceutical, or other applied biosciences set research agendas because, for example, that's where the money is, or that's where the impact ratings are. However, neither should we ignore the importance of politics, by failing to inform our constituents (students, for most of us) why an obscure topic, such as evolution in wooly caterpillars, actually matters. Instead, by using the tools of an increasingly large and wealthy biotechnology infrastructure, biologists now have an unprecedented opportunity to marry two very different traditions in biological investigation. This is an exciting time to be involved in integrative and comparative issues, but it comes with demands that we begin to stretch our ideas of the possible. That is one reason why I am heartened by the decision of the society to widen its scope beyond zoology.

On a closing note, I'd like to share a bit of my recent experience moving from CU Boulder to LSU in Baton Rouge. Having just seen this place at Mardi Gras, what a difference! The weather has been so mild I had forgotten cold, until I went to Chicago. During this transition, I have relied heavily upon the competence of departmental Graduate Coordinators to insure that things went smoothly, and I have not been disappointed. Kudos are deserved by these overworked, underpaid, and frequently under-appreciated members of the staff (Thanks Jill and Prissy!). I now know first hand just how frustrating and difficult a "simple" move can be.

And finally, this will be my last column as student representative for the DCPB; if you are a student or postdoc who would like the opportunity to meet a lot of great folks, use the newsletter to let us know how you feel, or help shape the division, please contact me by email at beads@lsu.edu. I'd love to hear from you.





The George A. Bartholomew Award


Martin Wikelski became a bird bander with the German Max-Planck Institute when he was 16 years old. He then participated in several bird migration expeditions to the Mediterranean and Algeria. Through this work, he got to know Walter Arnold (Wildlife Institute, Vienna, Austria) and worked on marmot hibernation, as well as sea lion foraging behavior. Subsequently, Fritz Trillmich (University of Bielefeld, Germany), who had been inspired by George Bartholomew's work on California and Galapagos seals, became Martin's advisor in his diploma work on foraging behavior in Galapagos marine iguanas. This study was completed in 1991 with a degree from the Ludwig-Maximilian University in Munich, Bavaria, Germany. Martin then continued to work with Fritz Trillmich (then at the Max Planck Institute for Behavioral Physiology in Seewiesen, Germany) on the evolution of body size in Galapagos marine iguanas (Ph.D., 1994), and developed a strong interest in environmental physiology. Martin's work on marine iguanas was awarded with the Niko Tinbergen Prize of the German Ethological Society in 1998. Ebo Gwinner's (Max Planck Institute) and Serge Daan's (University Groningen) contacts with Jim Kenagy (University of Washington) encouraged Martin to pursue a post-doctoral fellowship of the German Humboldt Society with John Wingfield in 1995. During this time, Martin collaborated with Dr. Michaela Hau on reproductive seasonality of tropical rainforest birds in work that was supported by a fellowship from the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute in Panama (Stan Rand). Martin also continued work on marine iguanas, inspired by Ray Huey's work in environmental physiology. Martin then moved to the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign in 1998, joining an exciting group of neotropical avian ecologists and environmental physiologists. In 2000, Martin joined the department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology at Princeton University.

Martin's main interest is the physiology of life history. He now works in two main systems, trying to understand how tropical birds can have different life histories than temperate zone birds, and how marine iguanas shrink in body length during El Ninos. Martin wants to express his deep thanks to George A. Bartholomew for an awe-inspiring lifetime of pioneering research on physiological adaptations of wild animals.




Link to officer list on DCPB page