Additional sessions to include discussions of framing issues in scientific explanations, launch of online Encyclopedia of Life

AIBS will mark its 60th anniversary at its 2007 annual meeting, to be held 14–15 May 2007 at the Capital Hilton Hotel in Washington, DC. The theme of the meeting is “Evolutionary Biology and Human Health”; the program chair is 2007 AIBS president Douglas Futuyma, of the State University of New York at Stony Brook. The meeting is cosponsored by the Federation of American Societies for Experimental Biology.

Plenary speakers and discussion groups will approach the meeting's topic from a variety of cross-cutting themes involving science, education, and public policy. Principles and methods of evolutionary biology are becoming increasingly important in many aspects of health science, among them understanding the human genome, the normal functions and malfunctions of human genes, and the origin and evolution of infectious diseases. These are among the topics addressed in sessions on infectious diseases, genes and genomics, and human adaptation and malfunction. The rest of the meeting's program will be rounded out by events such as a contributed poster session, a diversity lunch, and the AIBS awards presentations.

The AIBS meeting will be held in conjunction with the annual meeting of the Natural Science Collections (NSC) Alliance. The AIBS and NSC Alliance meetings take place immediately after the International Union of Biological Sciences Conference and General Assembly, 9–12 May, also at the Capital Hilton. Following the annual meeting, the AIBS Council of member societies and organizations will meet at the Capital Hilton, 15–16 May (contact: spotter@aibs.org).

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AIBS Honors Outstanding Contributions to the Biological Sciences

Each year AIBS presents awards to eminent individuals or groups for outstanding contributions to the biological sciences. AIBS is pleased to announce the following award winners for 2007:

The awards ceremony will take place on 14 May at the AIBS annual meeting, to be held at in the Capital Hilton Hotel in Washington, DC.

AIBS president Douglas Futuyma and executive director Richard O'Grady said in a joint statement, “We are pleased to honor these talented and dedicated individuals. From a variety of backgrounds, they have all made significant positive contributions to the field of biology.”

For more information on the AIBS annual awards, see  www.aibs.org/about-aibs/awards.html. For more information on the 2007 awards ceremony, see  www.aibs.org/annual-meeting/annual_meeting_2007.html.

Below are brief descriptions of the award winners.

Simon A. Levin will receive the Distinguished Scientist Award, presented to individuals who have made significant scientific contributions to the biological sciences. Levin is the George M. Moffett Professor of Biology and the director of the Center for Biocomplexity at Princeton University. He is also a prolific author whose contributions have helped shape modern ecology. His research on the loss of bio-diversity due to human impact has led to new methods of environmental protection. Among his many awards and honors are the 2005 Kyoto Prize in Basic Sciences and the 2004 Heineken Prize for Environmental Sciences.

William Murdoch will receive the Outstanding Service Award, presented in recognition of an individual's (or organization's) noteworthy service to the biological sciences. Murdoch is the Charles A. Storke II Professor of Ecology at the University of California, Santa Barbara. One of the foremost ecologists in the world, Murdoch has been awarded a Guggenheim Fellowship, the President's Award from the American Society of Naturalists, and the Robert MacArthur award from the Ecological Society of America. He was the founding director of the National Center for Ecological Analysis and Synthesis, and he is editor in chief of Issues in Ecology and a member of the board of directors of The Nature Conservancy.

Carol A. Brewer will receive the Education Award, presented to an individual (or group) who has made significant contributions to education in the biological sciences, at any level of formal or informal education. At the University of Montana, Brewer serves as the associate dean of the College of Arts and Sciences. Her efforts to improve scientific literacy reach diverse audiences through projects that interconnect the general public, educators, and scientists. Especially noteworthy in this regard is her work heading the educational initiatives of the National Ecological Observatory Network. She encourages collaboration between scientists and educators, trains teachers to use their schoolyards for ecological investigations with students, and practices new assessment strategies to clearly connect teaching and learning.

Niles Eldredge will receive the President's Citation Award, which recognizes meritorious accomplishments by an individual (or group) in the biological sciences. Eldredge currently serves as curator in the Department of Invertebrates at the American Museum of Natural History and as an adjunct professor at the City University of New York. He has made enormous contributions to making the general public aware of the central importance of evolution and biodiversity to all of modern biology. Most recently, Eldredge launched the journal Evolution: Education and Outreach, and he was the driving force behind the wildly successful “Darwin” exhibit at the American Museum of Natural History ( www.amnh.org/exhibitions/darwin/), which gave hundreds of thousands of visitors an in-depth understanding of the central role that evolutionary thinking plays in all of modern biology.

Kent E. Holsinger will receive the Past-President's Award, which recognizes the services of the immediate past-president of AIBS. Holsinger is a professor in the Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology and an adjunct professor in the Department of Statistics at the University of Connecticut. His research encompasses three broad areas: the evolution of plant reproductive systems, the genetics of geographically structured populations, and the application of basic biological principles to conservation problems. He has served as chair of the board of directors for the Connecticut State Museum of Natural History, vice-chair for science and stewardship of The Nature Conservancy Connecticut Chapter, a member of the editorial board of Conservation Biology, and an officer of the Botanical Society of America. His leadership and service to AIBS go back more than a decade, with numerous board and committee appointments to cross-disciplinary projects, including the BioOne online journals initiative, the National Ecological Observatory Network, the Coalition on the Public Understanding of Science, and the Year of Science 2009.

Kenneth R. Weiss and Usha Lee McFarling will receive the Print Media Award for their series “Altered Oceans,” which appeared in the Los Angeles Times 30 July–3 August 2006. They traveled great distances to capture the story of the oceans' transformation in light of human activity. The series frighteningly portrays the decline of fish and mammal populations and the proliferation of more primitive species, such as algae, jellyfish, and bacteria. Weiss has been reporting on the oceans for five years for the Los Angeles Times. McFarling, who has reported on topics related to earth science and the space program, has recently expanded her portfolio to include the effects of global climate change, with a focus on the Arctic.

David Baron will receive the Broadcast Media Award for “Bioko's Endangered Monkeys,” originally aired 5 January 2006 on PRI's series The World. Baron traveled to Bioko Island, off Africa's western coast, to research how rare primate species are being driven further toward extinction by human consumption. He is an award-winning journalist whose broadcasts and books demonstrate his passion for science and his adventurous spirit. He spent much of his career at National Public Radio, where he reported on science, medicine, technology, and the environment for All Things Considered. He is currently the global development editor for The World, a coproduction of the BBC World Service, PRI, and WGBH Boston.

Survey results

Taylor described the ESA online survey of NEON science and education and summarized key results from the 450 participants who responded to the questionnaire. The majority of respondents (70%) are from academia. Prior to participating in the survey, 91% of the respondents had heard of NEON and 58% had engaged in NEON discussions at ESA, LTER, or NEON meetings, or with colleagues. A majority of respondents (72%) anticipate using data from the NEON network, and 76% said they would use data from environmental gradients. More than 80% think that open access policies will have a positive effect on student or postdoc use of NEON data.

Respondents mentioned a number of incentives to their conducting research at NEON sites: collaboration opportunities, data accessibility and integrity, affordable housing, funding, on-site staff, facility and equipment access, and how well NEON sites and data will integrate with existing research. Barriers to conducting research at NEON sites include the cost of accessing a site and its facilities and equipment; lack of relevancy of NEON site locations and data streams to a researcher's interests; distance of a NEON site from a researcher's home institution; site overcrowding, overuse, or abundance; and data quality and data ownership issues.

Questions and answers

The survey summary was followed by questions and answers from the community. Many of the questions posed to the panel by telephone and text message echoed survey questions. On the issue of data policy, Schimel noted that NEON, Inc., was creating as open a data policy as possible, and that NEON data would be made available to researchers and educational users in near-real time via user-friendly portals. Schimel emphasized the importance of undergraduate access to NEON data for training the next generation of ecologists. He also noted that NEON partnerships with other agencies would help to drive the development of data-sharing arrangements, and that NEON data would be made readily available to a variety of partners.

In response to a question about NEON as an international entity, Collins and Schimel noted the importance of NEON to the development of GEOSS (Global Earth Observation System of Systems). Schimel also highlighted the Arctic observing partnership now forming with NEON and NSF's Office of Polar Programs, as well as opportunities for NEON collaboration with Canada, Mexico, and Caribbean partners.

A number of questions were related to the latest configuration of NEON design, including site locations and cyberinfrastructure. Schimel responded in detail, describing the sensor networks envisioned for core sites in wildland areas, research gradients, the regional and continental scale of the project, and how relocatable and mobile assets will extend the range of NEON data gathering and the capacity to respond to sudden events. Mobile labs not otherwise engaged in campaign-style operations could be used as roving teaching resources, giving high school students across the United States hands-on experience with advanced research instrumentation. (See  www.neoninc.org for the research design basis for NEON relocatable systems.)

On the question of minority participation in NEON, Collins underscored the importance to NSF of broadening participation in the sciences. Schimel affirmed that same commitment for NEON, noting that while many ecological research deployments are limited to remote, pristine locations, NEON facilities will be deployed in all parts of the United States, including urban–suburban–exurban areas, creating educational and training opportunities for a variety of geographically underserved populations.

Several questions focused on the use of NEON data for education, and especially access by undergraduate users. Schimel stressed that colleagues in the science and education community are currently working on refining ideas and possibilities in these areas for NEON. He also emphasized that as a major research equipment and facilities construction program, NEON is required to be transformational, and that ecological scientists of all generations have a retraining experience ahead of them that will enable advances in how ecological research is conducted and taught. At the end of the Webcast, Schimel invited ongoing comment from the community on NEON education and science issues, noting that now is the time for the community to contribute to the final design and effectiveness of NEON as it prepares for its NSF reviews in 2007.

Original articles in English

Lesson for classroom activities

Spanish translation of previously posted article

Public Policy Report for 2 April 2007

Public Policy Report for 19 March 2007