From Plant Press, Vol. 8, No. 4 from October 2005.
Department staff members were conspicuous participants at the XVII International Botanical Congress (IBC) in Vienna, Austria, 17-23 July. This meeting was the second IBC to be held in Vienna, the first one convened there 100 years ago.
Immediately preceding the main program of the XVII IBC, the Nomenclature Section of the Congress took place at the University of Vienna, from 12-16 July. This Section was presented by the Congress’s Bureau of Nomenclature as prescribed by the International Code of Botanical Nomenclature. Dan H. Nicolson, president of Bureau of Nomenclature, chaired the session. Attending from the Department were Nicolson, Paul Peterson, Laurence Dorr, Vicki Funk, Laurence Skog, Robert Soreng, and Warren Wagner. Important topics that were discussed include the elimination of illustrations as types beginning in 2007, the defeat of the proposals to conserve names below the rank of genus and species, the defeat of the proposal to conserve names across ranks, and the approval of the moving of the type of Acacia from a paraphyletic grade in Africa to a smaller monophyletic group centered in Australia. Recommendations for electronic publication were also passed although the date of publication will remain the date of hard copy publication. Currently eight flowering plant families have two names (e.g., Compositae and Asteraceae; Palmae and Arecaceae); the proposal to eliminate that option for seven of those families was defeated in the mail ballot and was not discussed on the floor.
The Congress was opened with a reception at the Vienna Town Hall attended by thousands of participants and the program began on Monday, 18 July, with an opening talk by Peter Raven. The congress focused on the newest developments in the botanical sciences worldwide and included plenary talks, general lectures, symposia, and poster sessions. All aspects of basic and applied botanical research were included. More than 4,000 participants of XVII IBC 2005 attended from 97 countries making this Congress a truly international event.
Highlights of the Congress included keynote addresses by scientists from the National Museum of Natural History:
- John L. Clark, “Phylogenetic relationships and patterns of diversification in Gesneriaceae subfamily Gesnerioideae,” with Eric H. Roalson, Laurence E. Skog, John K. Boggan and Elizabeth A. Zimmer;
- Vicki A. Funk, “Evolution of the Compositae: the big picture,” with R.J. Bayer, L. Watson, B. Gemeinholzer, C. Oberprieler, N. Garcia-Jacas and A. Susanna;
- Conrad C. Labandeira (Department of Paleobiology), “The Mesozoic context for the origin of angiosperm plant-insect associations and floral syndromes;”
- Cristián Samper, “Implementing the global strategy for plant conservation: challenges and opportunities;”
- Robert J. Soreng, “Phylogenetic structure of Poaceae (R. Br.) Barnhart subfamily Pooideae Benth. based on sequence data of four chloroplast-encoded genes (matK, ndhF, ndhH, and rbcL),” with J.I. Davis;
- Warren L. Wagner, “It is not just a flora anymore;”
- Kenneth J. Wurdack, “Progress in Malpighiales phylogeny: new insights from eight genes,” with C.C. Davis.
Other departmental members and research associates who presented talks and posters during the scientific sessions were H. David Clarke, Susan Grose, Pat Herendeen, Vivian Negron-Ortiz, Paul Peterson, Karen Redden, Harold Robinson, Laurence Skog, Chelsea Specht, Anna Weitzman, and Jun Wen. Co-authors of talks and posters who could not attend the meeting were John Boggan, Robert Faden, W. John Kress, and Elizabeth Zimmer.
In addition to the talks and posters, there were also specialized workshops, small group meetings, and ad-hoc discussions. Several were organized by members and affiliates of the Department including the International Compositae Alliance (V. Funk), Flora Neotropica (P. Acevedo) and the Legume working group (P. Herendeen), OSU systematics group (V. Funk), New York Botanical Garden group (P. Acevedo), International Association of Plant Taxonomy business meeting (W. Wagner), Species Plantarum Project (W. Wagner and V. Funk) and others.
The next congress will be in July 2011, in Melbourne, Australia.
Contributed Presentations
L. Bohs, S. Knapp, M. Nee, D. Spooner, J. Bennett, L. Walley and J. Clark: The Solanum PBI project: taxonomy in the electronic information age;
P. Catalán, A. Quintanar, L. Gillespie, L.A. Inda, J.G. Segarra-Moragues, A. Archambault, J. Müller, M. Olonova, R. Soreng and S. Castroviejo: Evolutionary analysis of the Poaceae subfamily Pooideae tribal complex Aveneae-Poeae: systematic and biogeographic implications;
D. Clarke: Biogeography of plants of the Guiana Shield: Inferences from seven florulas from Northern South America;
S.O. Grose and R.G. Olmstead: Evolution of mammal dispersed fruits: morphology and anatomy of fruits in Crescentieae (Bignoniaceae);
P.S. Herendeen, G.P. Lewis and A. Bruneau: Reproductive structures of Leguminosae: phylogenetic and paleobotanical utility;
N. Hoffmann and P.T. DePriest: Unexpected genetic diversification in morphological uniform taxa and exceptional morphological diversification in Cladia and closely related lineages;
P. Hoffmann, K.J. Wurdack, H. Kathriarachchi, R. Samuel and M.W. Chase: Systematics of Euphorbiaceae s.l. lineages;
P. Karis, V. Funk, R. Chan, R. McKenzie and N. Barker: Small tribes, but a large challenge: clades and grades of Arctotideae and Liabeae;
H. Kathriarachchi, R. Samuel, P. Hoffmann, K.J. Wurdack and M.W. Chase: Phylogenetic relationships in Phyllanthus and relatives (Phyllanthaceae): evidence from nuclear ITS and plastid matK sequences;
S. Knapp, L. Bohs, M. Nee, D. Spooner, J. Bennett, J. Clark and L. Walley: Taxonomy as a team sport: PBI Solanum or how to monograph a monster;
P.M. Peterson, S.J. Pennington and R.J. Soreng: Biogeography and classification of New World Pooideae (Poaceae);
H.R. Robinson, S. Keeley and R. Chan: Progress in understanding Vernonieae evolution;
J.M. Saarela, P.M. Peterson and S.W. Graham: Phylogeny and biogeography of Bromeae;
C.D. Specht and W.J. Kress: Pollination syndromes and diversification rates in the tropical Gingers (Zingiberales);
A.L. Weitzman and C.H.C. Lyal: The Biologia Centrali-Americana Centennial: a vision for digital access to taxonomic information;
J. Wen: Patterns of morphological differentiation among intercontinental disjunct plants in the Northern Hemisphere.
Contributed Posters
L. Bohs, M. Nee, S. Knapp, D. Spooner, J.R. Bennett, J. Clarke and L. Walley: The PBI Solanum project - an international collaboration to monograph Solanum;
H. Dempewolf, T.J. Motley, D.H. Lorence and W.L. Wagner: Biogeographic patterns and affinities of the Pacific island genus Oparanthus (Coreopsideae: Asteraceae);
F. Eggens, M. Popp, M. Nepokroeff, W.L. Wagner and B. Oxelman: The origin of the Hawaiian endemic Silene species;
T.M. Evans, C.R. Hardy, R.B. Faden and R.F. Bode: A combined molecular phylogenetic analysis of Commelinaceae; evidence from rbcL, ndhF, and 26S nuclear ribosomal sequences;
L.J. Gillespie, A. Archambault and R.J. Soreng: Partial incongruence between nuclear ribosomal ITS and chloroplast trnT-trnF phylogenies of the bluegrass genus Poa and allied genera: new insights into reticulate evolution in Poaceae;
L.J. Gillespie, A. Archambault, R.J. Soreng, S.W.L. Jacobs and H. Ma: A close phylogenetic relationship detected between Poa subg. Andinae of Patagonia and Hookerochloa and Festucella of Australia (Poaceae, Pooideae, Poeae): evidence from nuclear and chloroplast DNA sequences and morphology;
L.A. Inda, J.G. Segarra-Moragues, P.M. Peterson, J. Müller and P. Catalán: Phylogenetic studies and the radiation of the New and Old World festucoids (Loliinae, Pooideae, Poaceae);
D.H. Lorence and W.L. Wagner: Vascular flora of the Marquesas Islands;
V. Negron-Ortiz and L.I. Strittmatter: Characterizing polyploidy in the Caribbean Consolea Lem. (Cactaceae): chromosomes, cytomixis and pollen grain size;
K.M. Redden and P.S. Herendeen: Morphology, diversity and phylogeny of Paloue, Elizabetha, Heterostemon and related Caesalpinoid legumes from northeastern South America;
N.F. Refulio-Rodriguez, J.T. Columbus and P.M. Peterson: Systematics of Dissanthelium Trin. (Poaceae: Pooideae);
T.M. Rehse, W.J. Kress and P.S. Manos: Appendages matter, again: Phylogenetics and the classification of Curcuma L.;
W.L. Wagner, P.C. Hoch and P.H. Raven: A new classification for Onagraceae.