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Resolution of Respect

Frank A. Pitelka

1916–2003

Frank Alois Pitelka, Professor Emeritus of Zoology at the University of California at Berkeley, died on 10 October 2003 at his daughter’s home in Altadena, California. His death, at age 87, was caused by complications from prostate cancer. Frank was a prominent player in the early discussions of concepts that underpin much of modern ecology. The scope of empirical studies conducted by Frank and his students was enormous and addressed such diverse topics as speciation, population regulation, bioenergetic constraints, territoriality, the niche concept, Arctic ecology, and the evolution of breeding systems. Frank was also a demanding, but supportive, mentor to the 37 Ph.Ds and 8 postdocs whom he trained at Berkeley.

Frank was born on 27 March 1916 and raised in Berwyn near Chicago. Both of his parents were born in Czechoslovakia, although they first met in Chicago. As a result, Frank learned to speak Czech at home and continued to do so at every opportunity throughout his life. Frank’s father was a building contractor, and at his insistence, Frank studied the business curriculum at Morton High School and Junior College in Cicero, a neighboring suburb of Chicago. (Frank’s business training was reflected in the amazing speed of his typing and shorthand. His letters were swiftly drafted and, as a consequence, they retained the vividness of the original observations that prompted him to write.) In 1936, following his graduation from Junior College, Frank took a position as the secretary to one of the managers of the Electromotive Corporation, a subsidiary of General Electric. During this time, Frank studied on his own and passed the courses required for admission to the University of Illinois, where he majored in Chemistry and Zoology and graduated summa cum laude in 1939.

Frank started on the naturalist’s path at an early age. In sixth grade one of his teachers, Miss Luckness, took the class on bird walks. He was so taken by this experience that he started watching birds on his own. In 1933, as his interests in the natural history of birds broadened, Frank learned of the Prairie Club (a Midwestern version of the Sierra Club). He asked his teachers how he might attend club meetings. They arranged a meeting with Mrs. Nellie J. Baroody, a cultured woman who was active in circles devoted to natural history and conservation. She took a strong interest in Frank and invited him to participate in family activities. He accompanied her to public lectures and concerts as well as on field trips to prairies and the Lake Michigan dunes. It was through Mrs. Baroody that Frank was introduced to biologists at the Field Museum and the University of Chicago. Frank was always deeply grateful for Mrs. Baroody’s sponsorship; she opened up a whole new world beyond his ethnic neighborhood, and introduced him to the music and cultivated lifestyle that he enjoyed throughout his life. Frank honored Mrs. Baroody by donating a student award in her name to the American Ornithologists’ Union.

Frank started to develop his editorial skills at an early age by assisting Rudyard Boulton at the Field Museum with Bird Lore. He began publishing his observations on birds in 1935. He entered the University of Illinois in 1937, even though General Electric made him attractive offers to remain with the company. He was somewhat older, with more developed interests than the average undergraduate, and the ecologists on the faculty, S. Charles Kendeigh and Victor E. Shelford, treated him like a graduate student. He shared an office with two other noteworthy students of Kendeigh, Eugene Odum and Frank Bellrose. Frank had access to Kendeigh’s library and read extensively on his own. He had a vivid memory of running across Charles Elton’s 1927 book on animal ecology. He put everything aside and read into the night until he had finished. Elton had a profound influence on Frank’s thinking—an influence that Frank put into context in 1957 and 1958 when he had an NSF senior fellowship to work with Elton’s group at Oxford University.

Kendeigh and Shelford, who both received the Eminent Ecologist award, stimulated new interests in Frank and broadened his perspective. Shelford spent much of the 1920s and 1930s documenting the composition of North American biotic communities, including soft-bottom marine invertebrates, and with Frederic E. Clements, developed the biome concept. Kendeigh, who hired Frank as his research assistant, emphasized studies of the distribution and abundance of birds, and had students in his ecology class draw maps of the distributions of biomes. No doubt as a result of these influences, some of Frank’s early work included a review of the distribution of birds in relation to major biotic communities, including a map of North American biomes cited in textbooks, and the mapping of soft-bottom invertebrate communities in Tamales Bay, California. The biome map was Frank’s senior thesis and brought an earlier map, by Shantz and Zon, up to date. Frank’s map differed from the others in acknowledging that there are extensive regions that are best treated as “ecotones.”

Frank moved to Berkeley, California, in 1940 with the intention of working on a Ph.D under Joseph Grinnell’s direction. Grinnell died suddenly, however, of a heart attack just before Frank arrived. There followed an interlude during which Frank worked on a variety of topics, including studies on the rocky intertidal communities at Friday Harbor, Washington. Unfortunately, this work was never published.

It was at Berkeley that his romance with a fellow graduate student, Dorothy Riggs, blossomed and eventually led to a happy marriage with three children. Dorothy became a noted electron microscopist and held a research position in the Cancer Research Genetics Laboratory and an appointment as Adjunct Professor of Zoology until her retirement in 1984. She died 10 years later, but two sons, Louis and Vince, and a daughter, Kazi, have survived their parents, as have five grandchildren and two great-grandchildren.

As a student of Alden Miller, Frank was based in the Museum of Vertebrate Zoology where the Grinnellian tradition remained strong. During the 1940s and 1950s much emphasis at the Museum was focused on building collections for the study of geographic variation. Frank’s doctoral research, for which he was awarded a Ph.D in 1946, took the form of a careful analysis of what can, and cannot, be learned from such data. In two monographs, one on shorebirds (dowitchers in the genus Limnodromus) and the other on the American jays (Aphelocoma), Frank developed hypotheses about how speciation may have proceeded within each of these two groups of closely related species. These monographs set new standards, broadened the conceptual scope of museum-based studies, and continue to figure importantly in the analyses of biogeographic patterns, largely because of the extensive and carefully gathered data that they contain.

Frank also was an important pioneer in behavioral ecology. By producing superb papers that served as exemplars, he played an important role in defining the major questions and lines of approach in this discipline. Starting with his early work on territoriality and courtship in hummingbirds, he consistently placed behavior in an ecological context long before this was fashionable. Frank’s extensive research on shorebirds (on both their breeding and wintering grounds) laid the groundwork for comparative analysis of behavior. This work was rich in details about foraging behavior, predator avoidance, interspecific interactions, and the timing of activities in a highly variable environment. In the late 1970s Frank started to collaborate with some of his graduate students on a long-term study of the Acorn Woodpecker at the Hastings Reservation in the Carmel Valley of California. This investigation, which continues, has yielded some of our earliest and most convincing demonstrations of cooperative breeding and kin selection.

In addition to his impact on avian ecology and ornithology in general, Frank made major contributions in other areas. Indeed, in some circles he is best known for his work on the interactions of small mammals with their food supply and predators. In the 1950s, in collaboration with Arnold Schultz, a plant ecologist and colleague at Berkeley, he developed the nutrient recovery hypothesis to explain population cycles of brown lemmings in the arctic tundra near Barrow, Alaska. Although subsequent work has not supported the details of this well-known hypothesis, particularly its emphasis on changes in quality of forage, it did inspire later research that documented the impact of small mammals on tundra and grassland vegetation. Furthermore, the interaction of lemmings with the quantity of available forage remains a favored explanation for lemming cycles. The studies by Frank and his students on the territorial and breeding responses of avian predators to fluctuations in lemming densities are still regularly cited. Concurrent studies in the Arctic included those of breeding populations of shorebirds, which began in the 1950s and blossomed in the 1970s, and studies of the demography of longspurs. Frank was clearly in his element during these 25 years of active field work in the Arctic, as anyone who had the good fortune to hear his enthusiastic daily reports of the latest discoveries can testify.

Because of his interest in population dynamics, Frank was an ardent participant in the debates that sprang up after 1954 about the regulation of populations. Frank was a champion of Lack’s view that populations are most often held in check by density-dependent biotic factors. He was a speaker at the famous symposium at Cold Spring Harbor in 1957, which attracted leading ecologists from all over the world (e.g., H.G. Andrewartha, L. C. Birch, G. E. Hutchinson, and A. J. Nicholson) to weigh the relative importance of density-dependent and density-independent factors in limiting populations.

Frank’s breadth of interests in systematics and evolution, in behavioral ecology, and in population and community ecology stemmed from his love of natural history and making first-hand observations in the field. He listened attentively to reports of new discoveries and immediately began musing about their significance for the grand scheme of evolutionary and ecological theory. His conversation and writing reflected his broad views, sometimes with considerable elaboration as he made eclectic references to relevant information, and always helped provide a more synthetic approach to the problem. It came as no surprise that after his retirement in 1985 he continued to contribute to the intellectual life of the Museum of Vertebrate Zoology and the Department of Integrative Biology. He was a regular attendee at the weekly meetings of the Behavioral Ecology Seminar, and the Museum Lunch. Ecolunch, which he founded in the 1960s, became a model for informal lunchtime meetings, a tradition that his former students spread throughout North America. In addition, he was often consulted for his historical perspective on the rise of ecology and evolutionary studies in the 20th century.
Frank’s legacy to ecology lives on in his many graduate students and postdocs (listed below). His style of training research students was simple and highly effective; he continually asked questions that drew out significant insights. These cross-examinations took place in a variety of settings: hallway encounters where he stopped students to discuss a recent journal article or a new bit of data, seminars and brown-bag lunches, where reasoning was expected to be more polished, and private lunches in one of Frank’s favorite restaurants, where he reported his candid observations on personal issues that were holding back the work. Most of Frank’s students developed a deep fondness for him because he cared about them as individuals, and his concern for them went far beyond that expected of graduate advisors. The closeness between Frank and his students was evident at his 70th and 80th birthdays, when many returned to Berkeley and helped him celebrate with all-day symposia (dubbed Pitelkafests). Frank’s students also honored him by establishing the Frank A. Pitelka Award for Excellence in Research, which is awarded by the International Society for Behavioral Ecology.

Frank’s extraordinary breadth of professional interests was also reflected in the variety of his personal interests. A social conversation with Frank likely would range from music (chamber music and opera were his passions), to art (he had an extraordinary collection of objets d’art), cuisine (he was known by sight at the best restaurants in the Bay Area), and gardening (he was an avid gardener, both in his yard and as a supporter of the University of California Botanical Garden in Strawberry Canyon).

Frank taught introductory and advanced ecology courses throughout his career. He also served in a variety of other capacities. For the University of California at Berkeley, he was Curator of Birds in the Museum of Vertebrate Zoology (1958–1963), Chairman of Zoology (1963–1966, 1969–1971), and Associate Director of the MVZ in charge of the Hastings Natural History Reservation (1985–1997). In addition, he edited three journals, Ecology/Ecological Monographs, Condor, and Systematic Zoology, and served on advisory panels for the National Science Foundation, the Atomic Energy Commission, the National Academy of Sciences, and the National Commission for UNESCO. Finally, he was the first Director of the Tundra Biome, a large-scale ecosystem research program in the early 1970s, supported by the National Science Foundation as a United States contribution to the International Biological Program.

Frank received many honors during his lifetime, including the Mercer Award and the Eminent Ecologist Award of the Ecological Society of America, and the Brewster Medal of the American Ornithologists’ Union. He was an elected fellow of the Arctic Institute of North America, the American Ornithologists’ Union, the American Association for the Advancement of Science, the Animal Behavior Society, and the California Academy of Sciences, as well as an honorary member of the Cooper Ornithological Society. Because of his background, one of his proudest moments occurred in 1997 when he received an honorary doctorate in biological sciences from Masaryk University in Brno in the Czech Republic. In spite of all these honors for his scientific achievements, the one that he may have valued most was the Distinguished Teaching Award that he received from UC Berkeley in 1984. That award reflected the special relationships that he established with his students.

Finally, we would be remiss if we did not try to convey the ebullient personality that has led to Frank being described as “larger than life.” Frank was prone to impatience, a trait that made driving with him an adventure. His imposing physiognomy and conversational style commanded attention at any gathering. This led some people to conclude that Frank was egotistical (or even imperious), when actually he was expressing his natural enthusiasm and playfulness. Frank’s rich voice, hearty laugh, adept choice of words, and Darwinian enthusiasm for any new bit of information all contributed to his charm. He was generous with praise and took as much delight in the accomplishments of others as in his own. We shall miss him. Fortunately, he has left a legacy that will not soon be forgotten.

Acknowledgments

We thank Peter Connors, Harry Greene, Richard T. Holmes, Walter D. Koenig, Ronald L. Mumme, Louis F. Pitelka, and David W. Winkler, who answered our questions about what was going on during the periods when they were working closely with Frank.

Doctoral students and postdoctoral research associates of Frank A . Pitelka*

Ph.D students

Paul H. Baldwin, George O. Batzli, Donald L. Beaver, Jerram L. Brown, Henry E. Childs, Howard L. Cogswell, Thomas W. Custer, R. Glenn Ford, Arnthor Gardarsson, Russell S. Greenberg, Scott A. Hatch, S. B. Haven, Richard T. Holmes, Walter D. Koenig, Larry R. Lawlor, Stephen F. MacLean, William J. Maher, Michael P. Marsh, David A. Mullen, Ronald L. Mumme, J. Peterson Myers, Gordon H. Orians, Fernando I. Ortiz-Crespo, Oscar H. Paris, Stephen Pruett-Jones, Donald R. Roberts, Richard B. Root, Gregory M. Ruiz, Thomas B. Smith, Susan H. Thomas, William L. Thompson, J. Van Remsen, Nicolaas A. M. Verbeek, Stephen D. West, Pamela L. Williams, David W. Winkler, Jerry Wolff

Postdoctoral research associates

Tom J. Cade, Guy N. Cameron, Peter G. Connors, Janis L. Dickinson, Susan J. Hannon, Charles J. Krebs, Paul W. Sherman, Jeffrey R. Walters

In addition Frank was an important mentor to many ecologists who were never officially his students. We regret that we cannot include these people because the variety of connections makes it impossible to fairly say who was among them.

*This list was compiled from the names found in Pitelka 1993a (in the bibliography below) and in a newsletter of the International Society for Behavioral Ecology. The newsletter, dated May 1996, may be traced by contacting:

Wendy King
ISBE Archivist
Department de Biologie
Universite de Sherbrooke
Sherbrooke, Quebec
Canada J1K 2R1

Selected bibliography of the ecological publications of Frank A. Pitelka

This selection was drawn from a total of 129 papers in Frank’s curriculum vitae. The list, which is in chronological order, was selected to illustrate how Frank’s interests evolved and to record the breadth of his contributions.

     Pitelka, F. A. 1950. Geographic variation and the species problem in the shore-bird genus Limnodromus. University of California Publications in Zoology 50:1–108.
     Pitelka, F. A. 1951. Speciation and ecologic distribution in American jays of the genus Aphelocoma. University of California Publications in Zoology 50:195–464.
     Pitelka, F. A. 1951. Ecologic overlap and interspecific strife in breeding populations of Anna and Allen hummingbirds. Ecology 32:641–661.
     Pitelka, F. A., P. Tomick, and G. W. Treichel. 1955. Ecological relations of jaegers and owls near Barrow, Alaska. Ecological Monographs 25:85–117.
     Pitelka, F. A. 1958. Some aspects of the population structure in the short-term cycle of the brown lemming in northern Alaska. Cold Spring Harbor Symposia XXII:237–251.
     Pitelka, F. A. 1959. Numbers, breeding schedule, and territoriality in pectoral sandpipers of northern Alaska. Condor 61:233–264.
Paris, O. H., and F. A. Pitelka. 1962. Population characteristics of the terrestrial isopod Armadillidium vulgare in California grasslands. Ecology 43:229–248.
     Pitelka, F. A., and A. Schultz. 1964. The nutrient-recovery hypothesis for arctic microtine cycles. Pages 55–68 in D. J. Crisp, editor. Grazing in terrestrial and marine environments. Blackwell Scientific Publications, Oxford, UK.
     Batzli, G. O., and F. A. Pitelka. 1970. Influence of meadow mouse populations on California grassland. Ecology 51:1027–1039.
MacLean, S. F., and F. A. Pitelka. 1971. Seasonal patterns of abundance of tundra arthropods near Barrow. Arctic 24:19–40.
     Pitelka, F. A., R. T. Holmes, and S. F. MacLean, Jr. 1974. Ecology and evolution of social organization in arctic sandpipers. American Zoologist 14:185–204.
     Custer, T. W., and F. A. Pitelka. 1977. Demographic features of a Lapland Longspur population near Barrow, Alaska. Auk 94:505–525.
     Pitelka, F. A., editor. 1979. Shorebirds in marine environments. Studies in Avian Biology, Number 2. Cooper Ornithological Society, Lawrence Kansas, USA.
     Koenig, W. D., and F. A. Pitelka. 1979. Relatedness and inbreeding avoidance: counterploys in the communally nesting acorn woodpecker. Science 206:1103–1105.
     Koenig, W. D., and F. A Pitelka. 1981. Ecological factors and kin selection in the evolution of cooperative breeding in birds. Pages 261–280 in R. D. Alexander and D. W. Tinkle, editors. Natural selection and social behavior: recent research and new theory. Chiron Press, New York, New York, USA.
     Ford, R. G., and F. A. Pitelka. 1984. Resource limitation in populations of the California vole. Ecology 65:122–136.
Mumme, R. L., W. D. Koenig, and F. A. Pitelka. 1988. Costs and benefits of joint nesting in the acorn woodpecker. American Naturalist 131:654–677.
     Koenig, W. D. , F. A. Pitelka, W. J. Carmen, R. L. Mumme, and M. T. Stanback. 1992. The evolution of delayed dispersal in cooperative breeders. Quarterly Review of Biology 67:111–150.
     Pitelka, F. A. 1993a. Academic family tree for Loye and Alden Miller. Condor 95:1065–1067.
     Pitelka, F. A., and G. O. Batzli. 1993b. Distribution, abundance and habitat use by lemmings on the north slope of Alaska. Pages 213–236 in N. C. Stenseth and R. Ims, editors. The biology of lemmings. The Linnean Society of London, England.

Richard B. Root
Ecology and Evolutionary Biology
Corson Laboratory
Cornell University
Ithaca, NY 14853

George O. Batzli
Shelford Vivarium
606 E. Healey St.
University of Illinois
Champaign, IL 61820

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Society Actions

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Highlights of the 21–22 November 2003 Governing Board Meeting

· Accepted the audit for the year ending 30 June 2003.
· Met with ESA-sponsored AAAS Congressional Fellow Evan Notman.
· Received a status report on the Ecological Visions Project and provided reactions and recommendations to the Visions Committee for consideration as they finalize their report.
· Discussed plans for a planning retreat in February 2004.
· Agreed to award the Sustainability Science Award at the Awards Ceremony held during the ESA Annual Meeting.
· Supported prescreening of applicants for the Buell and Braun awards prior to the Annual Meeting.
· Adopted a Corporate Grants and Sponsorship Policy.
· Reviewed a petition and proposed bylaws for a Canada Chapter and voted to recommend approval of the Chapter to the ESA Council in August.
· Adopted public policy priorities for the coming year
· Approved criteria recommended by the Publications Committee for the review of ESA Editor-in-Chiefs and of the Publications Program.
· Appointed Kiyoko Miyanishi as Program Chair for the Memphis, 2006 Annual Meeting.
· Appointed Catherine Potvin, McGill University, and Christian Messier, University of Quebec–Montreal, as the local co-hosts for the Montreal, 2005 Annual Meeting.
· Reviewed a planning time line for a themed meeting in Mexico in late 2005 or early 2006, and suggested the theme “Ecological Consequences of Trade” for the event.

Minutes of the ESA Governing Board Meeting
21–22 November 2003

The 21–22 November meeting of the ESA Governing Board was attended by Bill Schlesinger (President), Ann Bartuska (Past President), Jerry Melillo (President-Elect), Jill Baron (Secretary), Jim Clark (Vice President for Science), Norm Christensen (Vice President for Finance), Carol Brewer (Vice President for Education and Human Resources), Sunny Power (Vice President for Public Affairs), Margaret Palmer, Ed Johnson, and Oswaldo Sala (Members-at-Large). Also attending were Katherine McCarter (Executive Director), Elizabeth Biggs (Finance Director), Jason Taylor (Education Director), Clifford Duke (Science Director), Sue Silver (Editor-in-Chief for Frontiers), David Baldwin (Managing Editor), and PAO representative Maggie Smith. The meeting was called to order by President Schlesinger at 7:00 pm on Friday, 21 November 2003, and adjourned at 5:00 pm on Saturday, 22 November 2003.

I. ROLL CALL

A. The GB unanimously adopted the agenda.
B. The minutes from the August 2003 meeting were approved with two amendments related to wording of the 2–3 August IID, Ecological Visions Committee.

II. REPORTS

A. Meeting with ESA Auditor

Terri Marrs, an auditor with Gelman, Rosenberg, and Friedman, presented the results of their independent audit of the ESA finances for the fiscal year July 2002–June 2003. She reported a clean opinion and stated that it was a very positive year for ESA. Both she and the Governing Board noted that much of the credit belongs to Finance Director Elizabeth Biggs, who is thorough, careful, and well prepared. The financial report was approved unanimously.

B. Meeting with Congressional Fellow

Dr. Evan Notman, the Congressional Fellow sponsored by ESA for 2003–2004, introduced himself to the GB. He is one of 45 Congressional Fellows sponsored by scientific societies this year, and will be on the staff of the Senate Agriculture Committee, working with Senator Tom Harkin of Iowa. He will be working on issues of farm conservation, specifically pesticide regulations. The GB requested that Notman reflect on his year as a Fellow at the ESA Annual Meeting in Portland.

C. Report of the President

President Schlesinger reported on Capitol Hill activities, including letters about the ruling regarding observance of the Endangered Species Act on military bases, fire policy, revisions to the Endangered Species Act, briefings to Senators on the carbon cycle, and an Inter-American Institute letter to Rita Colwell, Director of the National Science Foundation. President Schlesinger noted that Maggie Smith in the Public Affairs Office deserves credit for much of this work, and the GB thanks her. President Schlesinger also noted that enacting the recommendations of the Visions Committee will be a big agenda item in 2004.

D. Report of the Executive Director and Staff

1) Executive Director McCarter noted that ESA staff have been devoting time to redesigning the web site, building Frontiers subscriptions, the Federation of the Americas, manuscript tracking, and education programs. Membership and subscription numbers look good, and the Savannah annual meeting was successful.

2) Education. President-elect Melillo and Education Director Taylor will go to NSF BIO directorate to promote increased funding for SEEDS students to come to ESA meetings, and generally strengthen the links with NSF.

3) Finance Biggs noted that there are 8116 ESA members.

4) Journals. Frontiers Editor-in-Chief Silver reported that there are 83 days from submission to acceptance for Frontiers in Ecology and the Environment, and the journal has a 53% rejection rate. The journal is not yet indexed by ISI or BioSys, but Frontiers is under consideration by both. President-elect Melillo noted that advertising still needs to improve in order to cover more of the costs of producing the journal. Managing Editor Baldwin announced the imminent inauguration of manuscript tracking for ESA journals.

5) Science. Science Director Duke noted the significant help provided by Rhonda Kranz to the Visions Committee and to the Science Program overall in 2003. The Weed Science meeting was a success, and credit is due to Lori Hidinger. Duke is preparing a proposal to develop a common statement across many societies regarding data archiving.

E. Reports from Committees

A written report from the Annual Meeting chairman was submitted.

F. Financial Updates

Vice President for Finances Christensen and Executive Director McCarter reported that ESA had a solid first quarter. In stocks, ESA mutual funds are holding steady, while those in the equities fund are slightly higher than they were in January 2003.

G. Federation of the Americas

1) A motion was made, seconded, and unanimously approved to add $600 to the funds Member-at-Large Sala now has to increase the print run of three Spanish-version Issues in Ecology from 450 to 1000.

2) Discussion regarding the possibility that the 450 ESA overseas members receive a hard copy of Frontiers ended with the suggestion that funding for mailing could be an introductory request to a small foundation interested in building international cooperation. Finance Director Biggs will e-mail GB members with the costs of mailing Frontiers.

3) As a result of a suggestion from the Meeting of the Americas in August, a letter of support for the InterAmerican Institute for Global Change Research was sent to NSF.

4) Member-at-Large Sala reported on meetings ESA has had with potential funding organizations to support the activities of the Federation of the Americas. The Organization of American States (OAS) Sustainability in the Environment sections, USAID, and NSF International Programs are all interested with varying levels of available support. President-elect Melillo suggests ESA meet with DEB, GEO, and International Programs in February to inform a greater funding base at NSD.

5) ESA staff are exploring the possibility of holding a theme meeting in Mexico in 2005–2006.

III. DISCUSSION ITEMS

A. Ecological Visions Committee Update

Member-at-Large and Visions Committee Chair Palmer presented a draft report of the Visions Committee, which the GB reviewed and commented on. Among the questions raised during discussion were whether the Visions Report would lead to a sea-change within ESA, what is and what is not part of the role of ESA in implementing the plan, how should ESA bring in partners (national and international), since the vision is larger than ESA alone? Other professional societies named to include early as partners included AIBS, AGU, ASLO, the Agronomy Society, and education societies.

B. A special meeting of the ESA GB will be held February 20 to begin to revise the ESA strategic plan around the recommendations from the Visions Committee.

C. Trends in ESA Revenues, Expenses, And Subscriptions

There was an anticipated decline in individual member journal subscription trends between 1999 and 2003, but institutional subscriptions remained fairly constant. VP Brewer suggested ESA explore the idea of a State University System pricing (“Tier 4”) for multiple universities that share site licenses and subscriptions. It was also suggested that ESA look again into bundling the journals, since students at universities that do not subscribe to one or more ESA journals (such as Duke University) are not exposed to those journals. A discussion of the PLOS initiative noted that there is lots of opposition to the idea of pay-per-view fees for individual manuscripts. Member-at-Large Sala requested to see the trends of Impact Factors for ESA journals in comparison with other society and for-profit journals over time. Other trends observed were increases in both total income and total expenses, with income slightly higher than expenses. The Board asked to see the trends for the Annual Meeting displayed as net revenue per participant. Funding for the Public Affairs Office has not changed since 1999, while other offices within the Headquarters Office have increased. The GB greatly appreciated the information provided by trend lines, and requested similar summaries once a year.

D. Awards Issues

1) Odum Award. Linda Wallace, Chair of the Odum Award, and Carol Brewer, VP for Education and Human Resources, request more recognition for the recipient of the Odum Award, such as presentation of a lecture and/or paper in Frontiers. The GB responded with the idea that the committee consider additional creative activities, such as sponsoring a symposium or a workshop.

2) Buell/Braun Awards. There is a perennial problem of getting enough people to judge Buell and Braun student paper and poster presentations. The GB recommends a pre-screening process and suggests that Sections and Chapters be involved; Secretary Baron will urge Sections and Chapters to support these awards by volunteering judges. VP Brewer will explore student award guidelines from other societies, such as NABS. The Buell/Braun award committee is urged to change the wording of the announcement for submissions to suggest that participation should present the capstone of a student’s career.

3) Sustainability Award. The GB unanimously agreed that presentation of the new Sustainability Science Award be included in the ESA annual award ceremony.

4) Awards Ceremony. The GB agreed that the awards ceremony in the Opening Plenary Session at the Annual Meeting was effective.

E. Canada Chapter

The Board reviewed a petition by 20 Canadian ecologists as well as draft Chapter by-laws and unanimously approved recommending establishment of a Canada Chapter to the ESA Council in August.

F. Corporate Grants Policy

The Board adopted a Corporate Grants Policy for ESA to guide the solicitation and receipt of corporate grants and sponsorships. GB recommended that corporate prospecti and awards are to be approved by the GB prior to solicitation or receipt, and a time limit will be established for how long a sponsor can use the ESA logo.

G. Public Policy Priorities

The PAO proposes that Forest Fire Management, Air Pollution, Endangered Species Act, Marine Issues, Genetically Modified Organisms, and Invasive Species become the topics of focus for 2004. The first four issues are on the legislative agenda, and the last two have pending position papers. Maggie Smith recognized these issues are not exclusive of others that may arise. GB recommended there should be a list of 8–10 experts identified for each of the issues, and will send names of experts to Smith. GB also recommended that a list of the upcoming year’s PAO activities be prepared yearly and brought to the GB in August before the fall legislative session. The list should be reviewed again each May.

H. Editor-in-Chief/Publications Program Review Criteria

The Publications Committee presented review criteria for Editors-in-Chief and for the entire Publications Program to the GB. The GB approves the broad criteria for evaluations. For all EiC evaluations except Frontiers these are: (1) quality and breadth of editorial board; (2) interaction with editorial board and authors; (3) interaction with society membership; and (4) interaction with Managing Editor. For the entire Publications Program, including Frontiers, the criteria are: (1) scientific quality of journals; (2) service to ESA members; (3) scope and breadth of publications; and (4) efficiency and quality of journal production and publication. Details under these broad criteria need not be spelled out explicitly, but the Governing Board requested that the evaluations presented to them reflect how each criterion was specifically reviewed. Review committees for EiC and the Publications Program should be recommended by the Publication Committee to the Governing Board.

I. Meeting Issues

1) Montreal 2005 symposia. The GB voted unanimously to cap the number of symposia at 24 for the joint meeting of ESA with INTECOL, but to encourage all symposia to reflect the international flavor of the meeting. The GB strongly suggests ESA and INTECOL work as partners to develop themes for the symposia.

2) Program Chairs

a) There was approval of Kiyoko Miyanishi as the Program Chair for the 2006 meeting in Memphis, Tennessee, with Ed Johnson abstaining.

b) Names were suggested as possible Program Chairs for 2007 and 2008 and will be forwarded to the Meetings Committee for consideration. The Board looks forward to the Meetings Committee returning with recommendations.

3) Local Hosts—2005. The GB unanimously approved Christian Messier and Catherine Potvin as local hosts for the 2005 Montreal annual meeting.

4) Mexico Meeting

Discussion centered on possible themes and program chairs for a meeting in Mexico to be held in the winter of 2005. The GB felt that the theme of the meeting should be decided before appointing program chairs, and possible topics (partnerships for the planet, ecological consequences of trade, GMOs, and bioprospecting) were added to the list already developed by the Meetings Committee. Theme possibilities should be cycled back to the Federation of the Americas leaders. The Mexico Chapter should be involved in planning the meeting.

J. Position Paper Updates

The GB wonders if the Invasive Species paper under construction by Lodge et al. could be produced in time for the March 2004 AIBS invasive species theme meeting. VP for Science Clark will ask for a ~ 5-page distillation of the Biodiversity paper, which is currently being considered for publication in Ecological Applications or Ecological Monographs. Secretary Baron will check on guidelines for the role of the Governing Board on position papers.

K. New Business. There was no new business.

Respectfully submitted,

Jill Baron, Secretary