SICB newsletter 04-2006


Home	Volume Spring 2006
Contents Message from the President Sarah A. Woodin Message from the Treasurer Ron Dimock Message from the Past Program Officer Catherine Loudon Message from the Secretary Lou Burnett Elections News and Announcements A Personal Account of Hurricane Katrina Committee Reports Divisional Newsletters Animal Behavior (DAB) Comparative Biomechanics (DCB) Comparative Endocrinology (DCE) Comparative Physiology and Biochemistry (DCPB) Evolutionary Developmental Biology (DEDB) Ecology and Evolution (DEE) Invertebrate Zoology (DIZ) Neurobiology (DNB) Systematic and Evolutionary Biology (DSEB) Vertebrate Morphology (DVM)	View/Download this newsletter in PDF format Division of Invertebrate Zoology (DIZ): 2006 Spring Newsletter Two banded tulip snails (Fasciolaria hunteria) from Beaufort, North Carolina. The female is depositing her egg capsules. Photo copyright Janice Voltzow. In this newsletter: Message from the Chair Message from the Program Officer Message from the Secretary Message from the Graduate Student-Postdoctoral Affairs Committee Representative Message from the Student Awards Committee Chair Minutes of the 2006 Annual Business Meeting Elections: Candidates for DIZ Secretary and Proposed Changes to DIZ By-Laws Message from the Chair Janice Voltzow Dear inveterate invertebrate zoologists, I greatly appreciate the support you have shown in electing me as your new Chair. I am very excited to have this opportunity to guide our division through the next few years. I would like to thank our out-going chair, Tom Wolcott, for his leadership over the past three years and, more personally, for all the help he has given me as we make this transition. The paper and electronic chain of DIZ business is long and robust; I've been impressed with how diligently officers have recorded their efforts. It's a tremendous help! The annual meeting in sunny Orlando was exceptionally rich with invertebrate fauna. Of the more that 1000 oral presentations and posters, over one-third dealt with invertebrates. We had a wonderful crowd for our joint social with AMS, TCS, and DEE; it was a great chance to catch up with friends and colleagues and wind down from several days of stimulating presentations. You may recall that our new chair of the committee for Best Student Presentation Awards, Ben Miner, was scheduled to become the father of twins about the time of the Orlando meetings. I'm happy to say he was successful in that endeavor. Cecelia Miles and Dick Turner kindly offered to co-chair this year's judging while Ben increased his fitness. I thank them, Sara Lindsay, and all of the judges who helped them in their efforts. This year marks the end of the term for our secretary, Bob Thacker. An eager and energetic nominating committee of Erika Iyengar, Beth Davis, and Amy Moran worked expeditiously to find two outstanding candidates for the position, Larry Basch and Renae Brodie. I thank the nominating committee and the candidates for their help. Please be certain to read the candidates' statements and cast your vote this spring. Also appearing on a ballot this spring is a motion to revise the DIZ bylaws regarding student participation in the Best Student Presentation competition. Because of the difficulty in bookkeeping and the ease with which members can change affiliations, there is a motion to remove the requirement of membership in DIZ for students who wish to compete for our awards. A second section of the revision is to restrict students from winning the Best Oral Presentation or Best Poster award more than once. A persistent topic at committee meetings in Orlando was the search for sources for additional external funding to support symposia and students. If you have any insights or suggestions, please pass them on to me and I will be certain that they get communicated along the right channels. It's important that SICB's efforts be coordinated. We have several exciting events coming up, including contributed sessions in honor of Steven Vogel at next year's meeting in San Antonio and the International Congress on Invertebrate Morphology schedule for Copenhagen in the summer of 2008. I am especially dedicated to nurturing and stimulating the next generation of invertebrate zoologists. I look forward to working with you to bring them more actively into DIZ. Best wishes for the spring! Chair Voltzow points the way for DIZ. Message from the Program Officer Amy Moran Congratulations and thanks to all who helped to make the 2006 meeting in Orlando a success! The Division of Invertebrate Zoology was well represented in talks and posters, and DIZ sponsored two symposia: Genomic and Proteomic Approaches in Crustacean Biology (co-sponsored with DCPB, The Crustacean Society, and DNB), and Integrating Function over Marine Life Cycles, co-sponsored with The American Microscopical Society and DEE. By all accounts, both symposia were well-attended and well-received. For the second year in a row we joined DEE, AMS, and the Crustacean Society for a joint social which was extremely well attended and a good time was had by all. To make things run even more smoothly in the future, I would greatly welcome your suggestions or comments on any aspect of the meeting. We have a great selection of symposia scheduled for the 2007 meeting in Phoenix, and DIZ is sponsoring Alison Sweeney and Sonke Johnsen's "Integrative Biology of Pelagic Invertebrates" with DEE. There are a number of other symposia which should be of great interest to DIZ members as well, including a mini-symposium honoring Steve Vogel's retirement and Trish Morse's "Frontiers in Learning and Teaching Integrative and Comparative Biology: The SICB Digital Library." I hope to see many DIZ members in Phoenix next year! It may be hard to believe, but it is already time to start thinking ahead to the 2008 meeting in San Antonio. The web submission page for proposals is already open, thanks to our super-efficient webmaster. Instructions can be found on the SICB web page (http://www.sicb.org/meetings/2008/index.php3). The due date is August 19, and I encourage you to contact me early in the process of developing your symposium ideas. Let's continue DIZ's tradition of sponsoring excellent symposia! Message from the Secretary Bob Thacker It was great to see everyone in Orlando! At the meeting, several DIZ members expressed interest in joining the database of invertebrate zoology researchers on the DIZ website. Ruedi Birenheide has done a great programming job and now has the database up and running: http://sicb.org/divisions/DIZ/researchers.php3. If you would like to participate, please send me a photo (or data on a graph or even a theoretical model) from your research, along with a short title, and a paragraph describing the image. The image should be in jpeg or tiff format, while the text can be MS Word or RTF format. Please e-mail your submission to me: thacker@uab.edu. Please note: if you have already submitted information to another division's database, you can just let me know which division that is, and we can link to your existing submission. We are in the process of updating the divisional bylaws, and have an election this spring to approve or disapprove of incorporations of electronic balloting and a clearer definition of officers' terms. We also discussed another change at the 2005 and 2006 Business Meetings: removing DIZ membership as a requirement for participation in the best student presentation awards. Finally, we discussed adding a statement that says "a student can not win the same award twice." We are also holding an election for the position of DIZ Secretary. Biographical sketches for our two candidates, Larry Basch and Renae Brodie, are provided at the end of this newsletter. Please participate in the election, because your vote counts! Message from the Graduate Student - Postdoctoral Affairs Committee Representative Scott Nichols Greetings graduate students and post-docs. I hope that everyone enjoyed the Orlando meeting. The contribution of junior society members was, as always, tremendous. Remember that in addition to attending talks, poster sessions and socials, business meetings are a great way to become involved in the society and I hope that some of you participated. I welcome feedback and suggestions based upon your experiences in Orlando, particularly if this was your first time attending the meeting. This kind of feedback will help us improve 'first-timer' experiences in the future. In the meantime, I hope you all have a year of productive research. See you in Phoenix next year! Scott Message from the Student Awards Committee Chair Ben Miner This year Sara Lindesay moved on to bigger and better things, and I have taken over her duties. I would like to thank Sara for all of her hard work over the several years. This year I was not able to attend the meeting in Orlando because of two new additions to my family (twin boys). However, because of the efforts of Richard Turner and Cecelia Miles, who very kindly volunteered to coordinate student judging, DIZ was able to continue to acknowledge the excellent student contributions to SICB. I would like to thank Richard, Cecelia, the judges, and students for participating in the DIZ awards process. This year there was a tie for best oral presentation between Paola Lopez-Duarte for her talk entitled "Endogenous swimming rhythms of fiddler crab zoeae from different tidal regimes" and Greg Babbitt for his talk entitled "Are fluctuating asymmetry studies adequately sampled? Implications of a new model for size distribution." Honorable Mention went to Justin McAlister for his talk entitled "Environmental heterogeneity and the evolution of plasticity in Panamanian echinoid larvae." Best poster presentation was awarded to Andrew Rhyne for his poster entitled "A western Atlantic peppermint shrimp complex: redescription of Lysmata wurdemanni (Gibbes), description of four new species and remarks on L. rathbunae Chace (Crustacea: Decapoda: Hippolytidae)" and honorable mention went to Phillip Gravinese for his poster entitled "behavioral basis of depth regulation in larvae of the florida stone crab Menippe mercenaria: Responses to Hydrostatic Pressure." Congratulations! Minutes of the 2006 Annual Business Meeting Orlando, Florida, January 5, 2006 Tom Wolcott (DIZ Chair) opened the meeting by requesting motions to approve the minutes of the previous year's meeting. The minutes were unanimously approved. Chair Wolcott announced the results of the Chair election: Janice Voltzow will be the next DIZ Chair. Congratulations were given to Janice; Jon Norenburg was also thanked for his willingness to run for office. Bob Thacker (DIZ Secretary) encouraged all DIZ members to participate in updating the DIZ Researchers Database on the SICB website; attendees requested a future e-mail reminder about the database. Chair Wolcott thanked Richard Turner and Cecelia Miles for agreeing to help Ben Miner run this year's Best Student Paper (BSP) competition. Attendees were reminded that the BSP competition will be an issue on the Spring Ballot. Specifically, should the divisional affiliation be removed from the BSP requirements? Sara Lindsay also pointed out that we should add a statement saying "A student can not win the same award twice" to the requirements; this suggestion was met with general audience approval. Chair Wolcott and Past-chair Rachel Mertz presented more information on the SICB Digital Library, including the idea of a DIZ sub-library. The goal of the library is to make many resources available for teaching, including slide sets, syllabi, and digital videos. Editor(s) are needed to help set up a peer-review process for the library. Future meetings were announced, and suggestions were requested for Eastern US venues. Several attendees suggested holding a future meeting in New Orleans, and general discussion followed, with suggestions of Las Vegas, Philadelphia, Boston, Atlanta, and Washington, DC. Several suggestions included moving away from resort-style environments and were in favor of lower food, housing, and transportation costs, especially with regard to student budgets. The SICB Executive Committee visited the meeting, and invited all to attend the General SICB Business Meeting. A major point of discussion was the proposed Division of Comparative Biomechanics. Amy Moran (DIZ Program Officer) detailed DIZ sponsorship of SICB Symposia in 2007 and 2008. Amy encouraged all attendees to submit proposals for future symposia. Trish Morse announced a society-wide symposium scheduled for 2007 that will feature the SICB Digital Library and sought DIZ co-sponsorship of this symposium. Chair Wolcott discussed changes in the society's journal, Integrative and Comparative Biology. Editorial changes include a new editor, Hal Heatwole, and a new editorial board. Nominations are currently sought to represent DIZ on the editorial board, as well as at-large and international members. Other new developments include publication by Oxford University Press, with all archived articles on-line by March 2006. The on-line version allows color pictures and potentially video. Attendees were reminded that Integrative and Comparative Biology has first refusal of publications resulting from SICB symposia. Patrick Reynolds provided information on the status of Invertebrate Biology, which is sponsored by AMS and DIZ. A new co-publishing partnership with Blackwell allows on-line access through Synergy, with already over 4000 downloads; Invertebrate Biology has also been invited to join JSTOR's on-line archive, and has received over 3000 downloads since August 2005. Submissions to the journal have doubled in the past year. Patrick thanked his co-editor, Susie Balser, and welcomed a new member of the editorial board, Bruno Pernet. Vicki Pearse encouraged all attendees to renew their current membership or to join AMS for print and on-line access to Invertebrate Biology. Rick Harrison announced the first International Congress on Invertebrate Morphology, to be held in Copenhagen in 2008. Chair Wolcott also discussed increased dues, as suggested during the SICB Executive Committee meeting. Due to a loss of revenues from library subscriptions, full member dues may become $100, with family dues $140. The proposed Division of Comparative Biomechanics was further discussed; no problems were brought up by the attendees. Chair Wolcott encouraged all to attend the DIZ Social. Chair Wolcott requested volunteers to form a nominating committee to identify candidates for DIZ Secretary-Elect. Bob Thacker outlined the duties expected of the Secretary. Chair Wolcott appointed a nominating committee consisting of Amy Moran, Erica Iyengar, and Beth Davis. Sara Lindsay called for a general round of applause to thank Richard Turner and Cecelia Miles for agreeing to help Ben Miner coordinate this year's Best Student Paper (BSP) competition. Rachel Collin announced that the 11th International Congress on Invertebrate Reproduction and Development will be held in Panama City, Panama, from 6-9 August, 2007. Anyone interested in organizing a special session and /or thematic symposia as part of the congress, please contact Rachel Collin (email: collinr@si.edu). Sara Lindsay announced that Kevin Eckelbarger and Jim Blake are organizing the 9th International Polychaete Conference, which will be held in Portland, Maine, USA, August 12-18, 2007. Interested participants please see: http://server.dmc.maine.edu/worms.html. A round of applause thanked Tom Wolcott for his service and DIZ Chair, and welcomed Janice Voltzow as the new DIZ Chair. Submitted by RW Thacker. Elections: Candidates for DIZ Secretary Please review the biographies of our two candidates for the position of DIZ Secretary, Larry Basch and Renae Brodie. We will hold an election for this office later this spring. Larry V. Basch Current Position: Associate Graduate Faculty, University of Hawai'i, Manoa (UHM), Zoology, Botany, & Ecology, Evolution & Conservation Biology Programs. Science Advisor, National Park Service, UHM, Hawai'i-Pacific Islands Cooperative Ecosystem Studies Unit. Education: 1979, B.S. (Biology), Pennsylvania State University. 1985, M.A. (Biology), UCLA. 1993, Ph.D. (Biology), University of California, Santa Cruz. Professional Experience: Postdoctoral Fellow, Scripps Institution of Oceanography (SIO), University of California San Diego (UCSD). Visiting Instructor/Faculty: Invertebrate Zoology, Kelp Forest Ecology, Marine Ecology, University of California Santa Cruz. Marine Ecology, Oregon Institute of Marine Biology, University of Oregon. Marine Zoology, Oceanography, Benthic Ecology, SIO, UCSD. Research Associate, B.P. Bishop Museum, Honolulu, Hawai'i. SICB Activities: DIZ and DEE Best Student Paper Judge. Other Memberships: Ecological Society of America, The George Wright Society, International Society for Reef Studies, Western Society of Naturalists. Research Interests: Larval & early post-larval ecology of marine invertebrates. Ecology & evolution of reproduction & larval feeding. Larval metamorphosis, settlement & recruitment. Marine population & community ecology. Marine conservation biology. Statement of Goals: As a member of ASZ/SICB with primary affiliation in DIZ since my precompetent larval stages (early 1980's), I've seen that DIZ has by nature become a wonderfully diverse and integrative division reflecting broad interests, and DIZ remains a consistent strength (dare I say backbone?) of SICB. My simple goals as DIZ secretary would be to sustain DIZ's historical continuity established by previous secretaries by serving to: channel the flow of information from and to DIZ members while recording the evolution of DIZ as you make it happen; to bring your interests, questions and concerns to the division, and; to get the big picture of DIZ activities to you as fresh, interesting news. I would support innovations in the division where members and officers see benefit. I would enjoy carrying out secretarial tasks (mainly organizing website and newsletter contributions) to help keep you up on DIZ and our interests in invertebrate zoology. If asked to serve I'll give back to DIZ and SICB with enthusiasm! Renae J. Brodie Current position: Assistant Professor, Department of Biological Sciences, University of South Carolina. Beginning Fall 2006: Assistant Professor, Biology Department, Mount Holyoke College, MA. Education: 1991, B.A. (Aquatic Biology), U C Santa Barbara; 1999, Ph.D. (Zoology), University of Washington, Seattle. Professional experience: 1999-2000, Lecturer, University of Washington, Bothell, WA; 2000-2001, Postdoctoral Research Associate, Smithsonian Marine Station at Fort Pierce, Florida; 2001-2002, Postdoctoral Research Associate, Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute, Panama City, Panama; 2002-present, Assistant Professor, University of South Carolina. SICB activities: Member and presenter at SICB/ASZ Annual Meetings since 1995. Best Student Paper 1998 (DAB); Judge, Best Student Presentation (DIZ), 2001, 2004. Other memberships: The Crustacean Society, The Animal Behavior Society Research interests: Eco-physiology of crustaceans, evolutionary transitions and larval behavior. Statement of goals: As a member of SICB, I have appreciated the camaraderie and networking opportunities provided by the yearly conferences, especially during my years as a graduate student and postdoctoral fellow. As secretary, I would strongly support all activities that enhance student participation in SICB. These efforts would include increasing funding for the Libbie H. Hyman Memorial Scholarship and making graduate students from universities near conference locations aware of SICB to draw in potential first-timers. I would also make a strong effort to increase the participation of minorities in SICB by advertising the conferences more broadly and creating a mentorship program for first-time attendees. Elections: Changes to DIZ By-Laws Item 1. Officers' Terms. There has been some confusion as to when officers' terms start and end. In Article V, the bylaws currently state: "The officers shall assume their duties at the next annual meeting following their election." It is proposed that this sentence be changed to: "The officers shall assume their duties at the conclusion of the annual meeting following their election." Item 2. Electronic Voting. The Bylaws do not reflect our current practice of electronic voting. The current wording of Article XI is: Article XI. Elections Elections of officers shall be held by mail. The Secretary shall mail ballots to the membership of the Division in May. A brief biographical sketch for each candidate shall accompany the ballots. The Secretary or SICB Executive Director shall count, tabulate, record the votes received by August 1, and notify the candidates for office of the results of the election. In the event that a vote results in a tie, the members of the Executive Committee shall vote by mail to resolve the tie. It is proposed that this article be changed to: Article XI. Elections Elections of officers shall be held by mail or by electronic ballots. The Secretary or SICB Executive Director shall distribute ballots to the membership of the Division in May. A brief biographical sketch for each candidate shall accompany the ballots. The Secretary or SICB Executive Director shall count, tabulate, and record the votes received by August 1, and notify the candidates for office of the results of the election. In the event that a vote results in a tie, the members of the Executive Committee shall vote to resolve the tie. Item 3. Graduate Student Presentation Awards. In Article XVI of our current bylaws, students participating in the DIZ graduate student presentation awards competition must be members of DIZ. At the 2005 and 2006 DIZ Business Meetings, we discussed removing this requirement. To make this change, it is proposed that the following sentence in Article XVI be deleted: "Additionally, the student must be a member of the Division of Invertebrate Zoology." Item 4. Graduate Student Presentation Awards. According to Article XVI of our current bylaws, students participating in the DIZ graduate student presentation awards can win each award multiple times. At the 2006 Business Meeting, we discussed adding a sentence to Article XVI, Section 3, stating: "A student can not win the same award twice." Link to officer list on DIZ page

Greetings graduate students and post-docs. I hope that everyone enjoyed the Orlando meeting. The contribution of junior society members was, as always, tremendous. Remember that in addition to attending talks, poster sessions and socials, business meetings are a great way to become involved in the society and I hope that some of you participated. I welcome feedback and suggestions based upon your experiences in Orlando, particularly if this was your first time attending the meeting. This kind of feedback will help us improve 'first-timer' experiences in the future. In the meantime, I hope you all have a year of productive research.

See you in Phoenix next year!

Scott

Message from the Student Awards Committee Chair

Ben Miner

This year Sara Lindesay moved on to bigger and better things, and I have taken over her duties. I would like to thank Sara for all of her hard work over the several years. This year I was not able to attend the meeting in Orlando because of two new additions to my family (twin boys). However, because of the efforts of Richard Turner and Cecelia Miles, who very kindly volunteered to coordinate student judging, DIZ was able to continue to acknowledge the excellent student contributions to SICB. I would like to thank Richard, Cecelia, the judges, and students for participating in the DIZ awards process.

This year there was a tie for best oral presentation between Paola Lopez-Duarte for her talk entitled "Endogenous swimming rhythms of fiddler crab zoeae from different tidal regimes" and Greg Babbitt for his talk entitled "Are fluctuating asymmetry studies adequately sampled? Implications of a new model for size distribution." Honorable Mention went to Justin McAlister for his talk entitled "Environmental heterogeneity and the evolution of plasticity in Panamanian echinoid larvae." Best poster presentation was awarded to Andrew Rhyne for his poster entitled "A western Atlantic peppermint shrimp complex: redescription of Lysmata wurdemanni (Gibbes), description of four new species and remarks on L. rathbunae Chace (Crustacea: Decapoda: Hippolytidae)" and honorable mention went to Phillip Gravinese for his poster entitled "behavioral basis of depth regulation in larvae of the florida stone crab Menippe mercenaria: Responses to Hydrostatic Pressure." Congratulations!

Minutes of the 2006 Annual Business Meeting

Orlando, Florida, January 5, 2006

Tom Wolcott (DIZ Chair) opened the meeting by requesting motions to approve the minutes of the previous year's meeting. The minutes were unanimously approved.

Chair Wolcott announced the results of the Chair election: Janice Voltzow will be the next DIZ Chair. Congratulations were given to Janice; Jon Norenburg was also thanked for his willingness to run for office.

Bob Thacker (DIZ Secretary) encouraged all DIZ members to participate in updating the DIZ Researchers Database on the SICB website; attendees requested a future e-mail reminder about the database.

Chair Wolcott thanked Richard Turner and Cecelia Miles for agreeing to help Ben Miner run this year's Best Student Paper (BSP) competition. Attendees were reminded that the BSP competition will be an issue on the Spring Ballot. Specifically, should the divisional affiliation be removed from the BSP requirements? Sara Lindsay also pointed out that we should add a statement saying "A student can not win the same award twice" to the requirements; this suggestion was met with general audience approval.

Chair Wolcott and Past-chair Rachel Mertz presented more information on the SICB Digital Library, including the idea of a DIZ sub-library. The goal of the library is to make many resources available for teaching, including slide sets, syllabi, and digital videos. Editor(s) are needed to help set up a peer-review process for the library.

Future meetings were announced, and suggestions were requested for Eastern US venues. Several attendees suggested holding a future meeting in New Orleans, and general discussion followed, with suggestions of Las Vegas, Philadelphia, Boston, Atlanta, and Washington, DC. Several suggestions included moving away from resort-style environments and were in favor of lower food, housing, and transportation costs, especially with regard to student budgets.

The SICB Executive Committee visited the meeting, and invited all to attend the General SICB Business Meeting. A major point of discussion was the proposed Division of Comparative Biomechanics.

Amy Moran (DIZ Program Officer) detailed DIZ sponsorship of SICB Symposia in 2007 and 2008. Amy encouraged all attendees to submit proposals for future symposia.

Trish Morse announced a society-wide symposium scheduled for 2007 that will feature the SICB Digital Library and sought DIZ co-sponsorship of this symposium.

Chair Wolcott discussed changes in the society's journal, Integrative and Comparative Biology. Editorial changes include a new editor, Hal Heatwole, and a new editorial board. Nominations are currently sought to represent DIZ on the editorial board, as well as at-large and international members. Other new developments include publication by Oxford University Press, with all archived articles on-line by March 2006. The on-line version allows color pictures and potentially video. Attendees were reminded that Integrative and Comparative Biology has first refusal of publications resulting from SICB symposia.

Patrick Reynolds provided information on the status of Invertebrate Biology, which is sponsored by AMS and DIZ. A new co-publishing partnership with Blackwell allows on-line access through Synergy, with already over 4000 downloads; Invertebrate Biology has also been invited to join JSTOR's on-line archive, and has received over 3000 downloads since August 2005. Submissions to the journal have doubled in the past year. Patrick thanked his co-editor, Susie Balser, and welcomed a new member of the editorial board, Bruno Pernet.

Vicki Pearse encouraged all attendees to renew their current membership or to join AMS for print and on-line access to Invertebrate Biology.

Rick Harrison announced the first International Congress on Invertebrate Morphology, to be held in Copenhagen in 2008.

Chair Wolcott also discussed increased dues, as suggested during the SICB Executive Committee meeting. Due to a loss of revenues from library subscriptions, full member dues may become $100, with family dues $140.

The proposed Division of Comparative Biomechanics was further discussed; no problems were brought up by the attendees. Chair Wolcott encouraged all to attend the DIZ Social.

Chair Wolcott requested volunteers to form a nominating committee to identify candidates for DIZ Secretary-Elect. Bob Thacker outlined the duties expected of the Secretary. Chair Wolcott appointed a nominating committee consisting of Amy Moran, Erica Iyengar, and Beth Davis.

Sara Lindsay called for a general round of applause to thank Richard Turner and Cecelia Miles for agreeing to help Ben Miner coordinate this year's Best Student Paper (BSP) competition.

Rachel Collin announced that the 11th International Congress on Invertebrate Reproduction and Development will be held in Panama City, Panama, from 6-9 August, 2007. Anyone interested in organizing a special session and /or thematic symposia as part of the congress, please contact Rachel Collin (email: collinr@si.edu).

Sara Lindsay announced that Kevin Eckelbarger and Jim Blake are organizing the 9th International Polychaete Conference, which will be held in Portland, Maine, USA, August 12-18, 2007. Interested participants please see: http://server.dmc.maine.edu/worms.html.

A round of applause thanked Tom Wolcott for his service and DIZ Chair, and welcomed Janice Voltzow as the new DIZ Chair.

Submitted by RW Thacker.

Elections: Candidates for DIZ Secretary

Please review the biographies of our two candidates for the position of DIZ Secretary, Larry Basch and Renae Brodie. We will hold an election for this office later this spring.

Larry V. Basch

Current Position: Associate Graduate Faculty, University of Hawai'i, Manoa (UHM), Zoology, Botany, & Ecology, Evolution & Conservation Biology Programs. Science Advisor, National Park Service, UHM, Hawai'i-Pacific Islands Cooperative Ecosystem Studies Unit.

Education: 1979, B.S. (Biology), Pennsylvania State University. 1985, M.A. (Biology), UCLA. 1993, Ph.D. (Biology), University of California, Santa Cruz.

Professional Experience: Postdoctoral Fellow, Scripps Institution of Oceanography (SIO), University of California San Diego (UCSD). Visiting Instructor/Faculty: Invertebrate Zoology, Kelp Forest Ecology, Marine Ecology, University of California Santa Cruz. Marine Ecology, Oregon Institute of Marine Biology, University of Oregon. Marine Zoology, Oceanography, Benthic Ecology, SIO, UCSD. Research Associate, B.P. Bishop Museum, Honolulu, Hawai'i.

SICB Activities: DIZ and DEE Best Student Paper Judge.

Other Memberships: Ecological Society of America, The George Wright Society, International Society for Reef Studies, Western Society of Naturalists.

Research Interests: Larval & early post-larval ecology of marine invertebrates. Ecology & evolution of reproduction & larval feeding. Larval metamorphosis, settlement & recruitment. Marine population & community ecology. Marine conservation biology.

Statement of Goals: As a member of ASZ/SICB with primary affiliation in DIZ since my precompetent larval stages (early 1980's), I've seen that DIZ has by nature become a wonderfully diverse and integrative division reflecting broad interests, and DIZ remains a consistent strength (dare I say backbone?) of SICB. My simple goals as DIZ secretary would be to sustain DIZ's historical continuity established by previous secretaries by serving to: channel the flow of information from and to DIZ members while recording the evolution of DIZ as you make it happen; to bring your interests, questions and concerns to the division, and; to get the big picture of DIZ activities to you as fresh, interesting news. I would support innovations in the division where members and officers see benefit. I would enjoy carrying out secretarial tasks (mainly organizing website and newsletter contributions) to help keep you up on DIZ and our interests in invertebrate zoology. If asked to serve I'll give back to DIZ and SICB with enthusiasm!

Renae J. Brodie

Current position: Assistant Professor, Department of Biological Sciences, University of South Carolina. Beginning Fall 2006: Assistant Professor, Biology Department, Mount Holyoke College, MA.

Education: 1991, B.A. (Aquatic Biology), U C Santa Barbara; 1999, Ph.D. (Zoology), University of Washington, Seattle.

Professional experience: 1999-2000, Lecturer, University of Washington, Bothell, WA; 2000-2001, Postdoctoral Research Associate, Smithsonian Marine Station at Fort Pierce, Florida; 2001-2002, Postdoctoral Research Associate, Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute, Panama City, Panama; 2002-present, Assistant Professor, University of South Carolina.

SICB activities: Member and presenter at SICB/ASZ Annual Meetings since 1995. Best Student Paper 1998 (DAB); Judge, Best Student Presentation (DIZ), 2001, 2004.

Other memberships: The Crustacean Society, The Animal Behavior Society

Research interests: Eco-physiology of crustaceans, evolutionary transitions and larval behavior.

Statement of goals:

As a member of SICB, I have appreciated the camaraderie and networking opportunities provided by the yearly conferences, especially during my years as a graduate student and postdoctoral fellow. As secretary, I would strongly support all activities that enhance student participation in SICB. These efforts would include increasing funding for the Libbie H. Hyman Memorial Scholarship and making graduate students from universities near conference locations aware of SICB to draw in potential first-timers. I would also make a strong effort to increase the participation of minorities in SICB by advertising the conferences more broadly and creating a mentorship program for first-time attendees.

Elections: Changes to DIZ By-Laws

Item 1. Officers' Terms.

There has been some confusion as to when officers' terms start and end. In Article V, the bylaws currently state:

"The officers shall assume their duties at the next annual meeting following their election."

It is proposed that this sentence be changed to:

"The officers shall assume their duties at the conclusion of the annual meeting following their election."

Item 2. Electronic Voting.

The Bylaws do not reflect our current practice of electronic voting. The current wording of Article XI is:

Article XI. Elections

Elections of officers shall be held by mail. The Secretary shall mail ballots to the membership of the Division in May. A brief biographical sketch for each candidate shall accompany the ballots. The Secretary or SICB Executive Director shall count, tabulate, record the votes received by August 1, and notify the candidates for office of the results of the election. In the event that a vote results in a tie, the members of the Executive Committee shall vote by mail to resolve the tie.

It is proposed that this article be changed to:

Article XI. Elections

Elections of officers shall be held by mail or by electronic ballots. The Secretary or SICB Executive Director shall distribute ballots to the membership of the Division in May. A brief biographical sketch for each candidate shall accompany the ballots. The Secretary or SICB Executive Director shall count, tabulate, and record the votes received by August 1, and notify the candidates for office of the results of the election. In the event that a vote results in a tie, the members of the Executive Committee shall vote to resolve the tie.

Item 3. Graduate Student Presentation Awards.

In Article XVI of our current bylaws, students participating in the DIZ graduate student presentation awards competition must be members of DIZ. At the 2005 and 2006 DIZ Business Meetings, we discussed removing this requirement.

To make this change, it is proposed that the following sentence in Article XVI be deleted:

"Additionally, the student must be a member of the Division of Invertebrate Zoology."

Item 4. Graduate Student Presentation Awards.

According to Article XVI of our current bylaws, students participating in the DIZ graduate student presentation awards can win each award multiple times. At the 2006 Business Meeting, we discussed adding a sentence to Article XVI, Section 3, stating:

"A student can not win the same award twice."

Link to officer list on DIZ page

Division of Invertebrate Zoology (DIZ): 2006 Spring Newsletter