RECAP OF THE 89TH ANNUAL MEETING IN VANCOUVER, BC, CANADA
The 89th meeting of the Western Society of Naturalists was held November 6 – 9, 2008 at the Marriott Pinnacle Downtown Hotel in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. The meeting was attended by over 370 members and was a great turnout for an international meeting. Highlights of the meeting included a presentation of the Lifetime Achievement Award to Vicki and John Pearse of UC Santa Cruz, an award and presentation by WSN Naturalists of the Year Terrie Klinger of Univ. of Washington, two thought-provoking symposia sponsored by the Student committee and the President, the Presidential Address delivered by outgoing President Kathy Ann Miller, and banquet. The WSN Auction was presided over by Rafe Sagarin, and donations by members raised $5,400 for student travel. The prized “tequila and trophy” (well at least the tequila, Larry Allen forgot to bring the trophy!), won by CSU Northridge last year, was again bid on heavily and eventually won by SDSU. The student committee raised another $2,523 in sales of t-shirts and other merchandise. The contributed paper and poster sessions were again filled with many excellent presentations.
Elections, Nominations, and Other Society Business
A number of decisions were made at the 2008 business meeting:
• Phil Levin, of Northwest Fisheries Science Center, was nominated and unanimously elected as President-Elect.
• Continuing as WSN treasurer is Andrew Brooks of UC Santa Barbara.
• Gwen Goodmanlowe, Chris Lowe, Bruno Pernet from CSU Long Beach are the current Secretariats.
Additionally,
• Jarrett Byrnes provided a report on the student committee.
Travel Awards
Travel awards totaling $4,850 were given to students who presented papers at the Vancouver meeting. Although we are not able to fund all students who apply, and these awards cannot cover the majority of their expenses, students are encouraged to apply for these awards to support their attendance at the upcoming
meeting. All members are encouraged to contribute to the travel fund when they pay their annual dues. Details on applying for student travel awards are available on the WSN website.
Student paper and poster awards
From the student papers presented at the 89th Annual Meeting, awards for Best Student Paper were given in three categories: 1) Ecology and Conservation (Mia Tegner Award), 2) Genetics and Population Biology 3) Physiology and Organismal Biology. WSN also presented a Best Student Poster Award. The Best Student Paper/Poster Award Committee was chaired by Bonnie Becker and Rebecca Vega Thurber, who did an excellent job of organizing the judging and helping to evaluate the presentations; many thanks for their efforts!
As always, there were numerous outstanding papers that deserved awards, but this year was particularly
difficult for the judges due to the huge number of papers and posters of excellent quality. Here are the winners
and those receiving honorable mention in each category:
As always, there were numerous outstanding papers that deserved awards, but this year was particularly difficult for the judges due to the huge number of papers and posters of excellent quality. Here are the winners and those receiving honorable mention in each category:
Ecology and Conservation (Mia Tegner Award)
Winner: Mark Albins “Effects of the invasive indo-pacific lionfish (Pterois volitans) on Bahamian coral-reef fishes: predation and competition”
Honorable Mention: Rebecca Gooding “Multiple climate variables increase the growth of a keystone predator, the seastar Pisaster ochraceus”
Genetics and Population Biology
Winner: Brian Cheng “Biotic resistance by an exploited native species: consequences for predator loss”
Honorable Mention: Lisa Fong “Experimental confirmation of facilitative interactions of California mussels (Mytilus californianus) on rocky shores, Barkley Sound, British Columbia”
Honorable Mention: Eliza Moore “Relative influence of habitat complexity and edges on seagrass epifaunal communities”
Physiology and Organismal Biology
Winner: Christina Geierman. “Trends in feeding of the acorn barnacle Balanus glandula over growth”
Honorable Mention: Kerry Nickols “The coastal boundary layer: lowering the speed limit for nearshore dispersers”
Best Student Poster
Winner: Levi Lewis “Fishes positively affect seagrass performance by mediating negative effects of grazing and fouling invertebrates””
Honorable Mention: Evelyne Kuo “Do regional differences in tidal regimes leave an evolutionary signature on the thermal tolerance of intertidal snails?”
Honorable Mention: Selena McMillan “Trophic associations between Macrocystis pyrifera, Chlorostoma brunnea and marine fungi”
STATE OF THE SOCIETY AND MEMBERSHIP RENEWAL REMINDER
There are over 650 current members of WSN. Please continue to help promote the society by encouraging your colleagues and students to join so we can continue to grow the membership. Because the society now operates almost exclusively by e-mail, it is very important that you contact us with changes to your e-mail address and other contact information so that we can update our database. Please note again that you now have TWO ways to make a donation in support of the society: 1) a donation to the Student Travel/Dave Montgomery Endowment Fund and 2) a donation to help support the day-to-day costs of running the society.
Shop at Amazon.com and support WSN!
In association with Amazon.com, we have added a shopping feature to the WSN website. Clicking the "Shop"
link or searching Amazon from the WSN website will allow WSN to collect a portion (4-8% depending on sales
volume) of all purchases. We have also created a special WSN bookstore featuring books selected by winners
of the Naturalist of the Year and Lifetime Achievement Awards (see the books Paul Dayton thinks all
naturalists should read) as well as lists of books written by or enjoyed by WSN members. Add a bookmark to
www.wsn-online.org and use it for all your Amazon shopping; that one extra click will send a steady stream of
revenue to the society.
