Assembly
Minutes of the General Assembly
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Swansea, Wales: 26 July 2007
1. Opening
R. Peet, the newly-elected President of IAVS, opened the General Assembly meeting at 14:00. He introduced P. Glaver of Swansea University who commemorated our late colleague Dr. Paddy Coker who had been one of the driving forces behind the 50th IAVS Symposium in Swansea. Paddy passed away unexpectedly in June 2005 and consequently was not able to experience the realization of his efforts to bring IAVS to Swansea.
President Peet and Secretary-Treasurer Mucina commended the contributions of outgoing President Elgene Box and outgoing Secretary-General Joop Schaminée. They were presented a modest but fitting token of appreciation in the form of a T-shirt carrying the image of J. Braun-Blanquet, one of the greatest minds ever associated with IAVS and vegetation science in general.
The President also announced the composition of the new Executive Committee elected during the Council meeting earlier in the week: R. Peet (US), President; L. Mucina (ZA), Secretary & Treasurer; M. Diekmann (DE), Publication Officer; V. De Patta Pillar (BR), J. Loidi (ES), J.H.J. Schaminée (NL), and M. Zobel (EE), all Vice Presidents. The report on the election of the new Executive Committee was accepted by the General Assembly.
2. Financial Report
Secretary-General Mucina presented a financial report covering the period since the previous IAVS meeting in February 2007 (for details see the Financial Report compiled by J. Schaminée and N. Smits below). The report was accepted by the General Assembly.
3. Publication Report
In the absence of the Publication Officer (M. Diekmann), the Publication Report (below) was read by the President. He informed the General Assembly of developments with respect to the decision of the Council to not renew the current contract with Opulus Press but instead to either negotiate a new contract with Opulus or select a new publisher – issues dealt with in more detail in the Minutes of the Council meeting. The President also announced the formation of a Publication Committee composed of M. Diekmann (Chair), H. Bruelheide, A. Chiarucci, R. Peet, and M. Zobel to advise the Council in the selection of a publisher and the negotiation of a contract.
4. Operating Procedures
The President informed the General Assembly of the intention of the new Executive Committee (in cooperation with the new the Council) to re-examine business procedures and governance of IAVS. The Council anticipates that a new set of by-laws will be prepared, discussed, and voted upon in the near future. The Secretary-Treasurer will lead this initiative.
5. Resolution on Biofuels
Vice President Pillar presented a draft resolution on biofuels. The resolution was initially prepared by Council member Michael Palmer and was circulated for comment among members of the Council prior to the Swansea meeting. The General Assembly discussed the resolution in an interested and spirited manner. Objections were voiced by some members with respect to wording, especially sections of the motion pertaining to funding of vegetation science or straddling the line between the science and politics. Several members emphasized that the IAVS should avoid making political statements whereas others felt it important that IAVS fully and aggressively honor the aim of the Association articulated in the statutes to “.increase awareness and to disseminate knowledge about vegetation.” J.B. Wilson moved that the original motion not be put to a vote by Council, but be returned to Palmer for revision. The motion was amended by S. Wolf-Will to direct that the revised resolution be forwarded to the Council for further deliberation and possible adoption. A majority of the General Assembly voted in favour of the Wilson motion as amended by Wolf-Will.
6. Membership
The President expressed concern about the declining membership of IAVS. Measures are needed to maintain and preferably increase the membership. For details see the Minutes of the Council.
7. Meetings
The Secretary-Treasurer informed the General Assembly of the upcoming meetings in 2008 (Stellenbosch, South Africa), 2009 (Herakleion, Greece) and 2011 (Lyon, France). The Council has also received information about the meeting in 2010 – possibly in Mexico or South America.
8. Report on the Swansea Meeting & Awards
Hilary Thomas of the Local Arrangements Committee informed the Assembly about the outcome of the Swansea IAVS Symposium. Despite initial financial uncertainties, the meeting was a success with 127 participants from 32 countries attended the meeting. A late sponsorship grant guarantees that the Committee will be able to repay the loan from IAVS and even contribute a significant profit to the IAVS Global Fund. This outcome and the proposed contribution were highly commended by the General Assembly.
Alison McDonald of the Local Arrangements Committee thanked all those who assisted with the running of the symposium and the preparation of the meeting. Special thanks went to the Charlotte Thomas and the coordinators of the scientific sessions.
Alison McDonald also announced the prizes for the best posters.
First Prize (1-yr free subscription to JVS + AVS)
Flore Viard-Cretat, Christiane Gallet, & Sandra Lavorel
Laboratory of Alpine Ecology, CNRS, Grenoble, France
Does mowing increase allelopathic effects of dominants on recruitment in subalpine grasslands?
Second Prize (1-yr free subscription to JVS)
Gert Rosenthal
Institute of Landscape Planning and Ecology, University of Stuttgart, Germany,
Restoration of wet meadow communities after sustained abandonment
Third Prize (1-yr free subscription to AVS)
Kai Rünk, Martin Zobel, & Kristjan Zobel
Institute of Botany and Ecology, University of Tartu, Estonia
What are the key factors for three congeneric (Dryopteris) forest ferns with contrasting regional abundance: soil, illumination or something else?
Honorable mention
A.T. Kuiters1, H.P.J. Huiskes1, W.A. Ozinga1,2, & J.H.J. Schaminée1,2
1 Alterra, Wageningen, The Netherlands
2 Radboud University, Nijmegen, The Netherlands
Endozoochorous seed dispersal by sheep in limestone grasslands in South Limburg, the Netherlands
Welsh love-spoons were presented to those who assisted with the meeting.
Co-ordinators/Chairmen:
Jan Bakker, Renée Bekker, Guillaume Decocq, Ulrich Deil, Carsten Eichberg, Jason Fridley, Peter Glaves, Thomas Ludeman, Rob Marrs, Laco Mucina, Meelis Pärtel, Robert Peet, Angelika Schwabe Kratochwill, Rob Whelan
Student assistants:
Alisandra Fidelis, Charlotte Thomas, Libby Rumpff
The Special IAVS Wales Prize was awarded to Charlotte Thomas for her many contributions to the organization and conduct of the meeting.
Palmerston North, New Zealand: 15 February 2007 (=2006 meeting)
1. Opening
The meeting was opened at about 5 pm by the President (Elgene Box). Since attendance was small at both the Council and Assembly meetings, the Assembly involved mainly a report on actions taken by the Council and brief discussion of upcoming events. The announcement of student prize winners, which often occurs at the end of the Assembly meeting, was to be held the next day, the final afternoon of the meeting.
2. Report from the Council Meeting
Financial and publications reports were not given formally, since some officers were not present and since the text of these reports was already available in the Bulletin.
Box summarized the discussion and actions taken during the Council meeting, in particular the three action items that were voted on (see also Council minutes):
- resolution to renegotiate the contract for publication of the IAVS journals
- appointment of an ad hoc Contract Committee to handle the negotiations; and
- appointment of a Newsletter Committee to develop an e-mail newsletter.
3. Activities in Coming Years
- 2007 Wales
Members were reminded of the next IAVS meeting, to be held 23-27 July 2007, at Swansea University in Wales. - 2008 South Africa
This meeting will be held in Stellenbosch, in the Cape region, probably in September. - 2009 Greece
Members were informed of discussions for a 2009 meeting in Greece, perhaps in Ioannina (Epirus, northwestern Greece).
Suggestions were sought for other meeting locations and organizers, noting that discussion has been ongoing with Russia, at least for excursions. It was noted that excursions and annual meetings have not always been and need not be at the same place.
4. Other Business
Meeting attendance was announced as 178 registered participants, from 30 countries
Lisbon, Portugal: Thursday, 28 July 2005
1. The President, E.O. Box, opened the Assembly at 17.00. All members had been notified of, and were invited to, the General Assembly through the IAVS Bulletin of Decmber 2004 and through the Third Circular of the Lisbon Symposium. Some 80 members were present, which constituted a quorum for decision making.
2. The assembly opened with obituaries for Paddy Coker and Janusz Falinski, presented by Hillary Thomas and Maria Wojterska respectively. Both scientists have been of great importance to the IAVS and our society is much obliged to them. Their life and work will be commemorated elsewhere in this Bulletin.
3. In contrast to this sad event, three new IAVS Honorary Members were appointed and spoken to. The great achievements of Hartmut Dierschke, Eddy van der Maarel and Salvador Rivas-Martínez were mentioned by subsequently Joop Schaminée, Ladislav Mucina and Xavier Loidi.
4. Information was given on issues discussed during the Council meeting, as reported in the relevant minutes. Extensive information was given about future meetings, including the meetings in 2007 in New Zealand (February) and Wales (July-August). Some options were presented for publishing papers of certain sections of the symposium.
5. Nina Smits reported on the decisions by the jury judging the student posters. The job was difficult because many excellent posters had to be compared. The following posters were awarded. Two second prizes went to Alessandra Fidelis of the Technical University of Munich in Freising (Germany) and to Ligia Carvalho of the University of Madeira in Funchal (Portugal), and the first price went to Ana Luisa Diogo of the Musea Nacional de Historia e Jardim Botanico in Lisbon (Portugal).
Kailua-Kona, Hawaii, USA: 23 July 2004
1. Opening
The meeting was opened at 1:35 pm by the President (Elgene Box).
2. Approval of the minutes
The minutes of the 2003 meetings (posted on web site) were approved.
3. Report from the Council Meeting
Box noted that the Secretary-General and other officers were not present for a complete Executive Committee Report. The financial report (see Council minutes) was read by Box, who also explained the negative balance for 2003 and the recent problem arising from supporting participants at the annual meetings without any mechanism for a corresponding increase in IAVS income. A report on the journals was given by Bastow Wilson.
4. Activities of the IAVS
Reports on recent activities were given by Peet for North America and Fujiwara for East Asia. Some information was given on activities during coming years (see further under ‘Minutes of the Council meeting’):
Vienna. An invitation to the International Botanical Congress in Vienna, in July 2005, was presented by Georg Grabherr.
Portugal. The members were reminded of the dates for the IAVS annual meeting in Portugal, in July 2005, which had already been presented in detail the previous year.
Montreal. The members were reminded of the dates for the INTECOL Congress to be held in Montreal in 2005, immediately after the IAVS post-symposium excursion in Portugal (August 7-12).
New Zealand. An invitation, dates and details for the ‘2006’ annual meeting, in New Zealand, were provided by Jill Rapson, the local organizer. The meeting is to be held during February 2007.
Wales. Members were reminded of the 2007 IAVS meeting in Wales.
Proposals from South Africa and from Trondheim (Norway) were mentioned for 2008 and after.
5. Other business
It was announced that there were no plans for publishing the Symposium proceedings. Participants were invited to pursue publication possibilities for particular topics or sessions.
A short report on the Hawaii meeting was provided by Julie Denslow. There were 227 registered participants from 35 countries, presenting 133 papers. Kent Bridges presented certificates of appreciation for local organization helpers.
IAVS awards for the best student posters were presented by Susan Will-Wolf. First Prize: Hiroko Kurokawa, Kyoto University, for ‘Factors explaining plant defensive investments in tropical rainforests in Borneo’. Second Prize: Teresa Hollingsworth, University of Alaska, Fairbanks, for ‘Environmental controls on floristic variability in Black spruce communities of interior Alaska’. Third Prize: Haruka Ohashi, Tokyo University, for ‘Effect of Shika deer (Cervus nippon) on species composition and plant species diversity of forest vegetation’.
Naples, Italy: 12 June 2003
Information was given on issues discussed during the Council meeting, as reported in the relevant minutes. Also the outcome of the election of the new Executive Committee was announced. The departing members were honoured by the audience. In addition to warm applause, they received a Tshirt showing a portrait of Braun-Blanquet. Information was also given about future meetings, and options were presented for publishing papers of certain sections of the symposium.
Nina Smits reported the decisions by the jury judging the student posters. The job was difficult because many excellent posters had to be compared. The following Posters were awarded. Two second prizes went to Imelda Somodi (Eötvös Lorand University, Budapest) and Roberto Costi (Roma), and the first prize went to M. Ghobadnejhad (University of Teheran, Teheran).
Sandro Pignatti invited everyone to the Conference Dinner just following the Assembly meeting, and Elgene Box closed the Assembly.
Puerto Alegre, Brazil: 7 March 2002
1. The president, E.O. Box, opened the Assembly. With many officers missing, the Assembly was a bit shorter than usual. A minute of silence was held in remembrance of Prof. Makoto Numata (Japan), honorary member of IAVS.
2. Information was given in the Bulletin about the election of the new Council. Votes could be cast via Internet. There should be a representative of each of the major geographic regions of the IAVS. The election of the Executive Committee will be postponed until next year, since so many members were absent.
3. Information about the General Assembly from Freising was given in the Bulletin. The Assembly accepts the report without objection.
4. The contract with Opulus Press has been renewed. A new contract had to be made for the new journal AVS. The number of members is around 1800. Some members (e.g. from Argentina) have currency problems. Further information will be given on the IAVS home page, where members can obtain more detailed information about IAVS finances and related matters.
5. The new Statutes were taken to the authorities in The Netherlands, where some changes had to be made in order to conform to Dutch law. Eddy van der Maarel took care of these changes, but the Assembly must again vote to accept the Statutes with these minor changes. The Assembly accepted the Statutes without objection.
6. Valerio Pillar suggested to publish papers from session A in the section ‘Community Ecology’. Furthermore, a special feature on vegetation dynamics in time and space was suggested. There will be no publication of the whole meeting. There was no meeting of the JVS Editorial Board, so no information from JVS was available. George Bredenkamp suggested to publish papers on ‘Disturbance and vegetation dynamics’. Various presentations from different sessions could contribute to this topic. Appropriate journals will be identified. Papers should be published quite soon, especially conceptual papers.
László Orlóci pointed out that all journals have waiting lists and suggested publishing papers in special issues and perhaps as a book. This is likely to increase the circulation and could be made available perhaps more quickly.
7. About meetings. A first official excursion under the name IAVS was made by the IAVS regional section in southern Africa. The next INTECOL Congress (International Association for Ecology) will be held in Seoul, South Korea. Kazue Fujiwara informed about possibilities to arrange symposia during this meeting. There is still time to organize sessions and to submit abstracts of individual presentations. Franco Pedrotti provided information on the next meeting of the European Vegetation Survey, which will not be held at its usual spring date but rather late, in September 6-9 (2002), partly in the Apennine mountains near Rome. An E-mail was read that introduced this meeting. The excursion will be in the central Apennines. The special theme of this conference will be ‘Wetland vegetation’. Pedrotti also announced a meeting on ‘Dynamics and Mountain Vegetation’ to be held from 8-13 July 2002 at Peyresq/Annot (Provence), by French and Belgian members of the Amicale Internationale de Phytosociologie. The Boreal Forest working group of the IAVS will hold a meeting in Prince George (British Columbia), Canada, August 9-14, 2002, on ‘Disturbance Dynamics in Boreal Forests”. The annual meeting of the Ecological Society of America (August 2002) will again have a session and excursion organized by the North American section of IAVS, according to Michael Barbour. Prof. Pillar announced that a short course will be given in Porto Alegre after the end of this symposium, presented among others by László Orlóci.
Professors Pignatti and Pedrotti have proposed to hold the next IAVS meeting in Napoli (Naples), Italy, 8-13 June 2003. The meeting will be held in the Botany Department of the Federico II University, situated in the old Botanical Garden. Mid-symposium excursions will be to the island of Capri and other places in the surroundings. The pre-symposium excursion will start on June 5 at Rome airport and lead to Napoli on June 7. The post-symposium excursion will go by boat to Sicily and concentrate on mountain ecosystems (e.g. Mount Etna). Places with Pinus leucodermis and the Abruzzo National Park will be visited on the way back to Rome (arrival June 22). The famous botanical gardens can be visited in Palermo and Napoli. Close to Napoli one can also visit the volcanic ecosystems (Solfatara di Podzuoli) which develop on extreme substrates, including geysers and hot springs. The journal Braun-Blanquetia offers the possibility to publish some of the presentations to be made in Napoli.
For the following years there are already seven proposals for hosting the annual IAVS meeting. The meeting for 2004 will be held outside Europe. The Council voted in April 2002 for Hawaii. For 2005 there are proposals from Portugal, St. Petersburg and Wales. This decision must also be made quite soon, since meetings require some time in advance for organization. A long-term strategy is required.
8. Student awards. Prof. Fujiwara reported the decisions by the jury judging the student posters. The job was difficult because many excellent posters had to be compared. The Jury was introduced and comprised members from seven countries. The following Posters were awarded. The third price was awarded to Fabina Pezzani, the second price to Gervasio Pineiro, and the first price to Diego Gurvich.
9. Valerio Pillar provided information and invited everyone to the Conference Dinner just following the Assembly meeting. Elgene Box closed the Assembly.
Freising, Germany: 2 August 2001
1. The President, E.O. Box, opened the Assembly at 16.45. All members had been notified of, and were invited to, the General Assembly, through the Third Circular of the Freising Symposium. More than 130 members were present, which constituted a quorum for decision making. Short obituaries were expressed by Joop Schaminée for Prof. Victor Westoff and by Elgene Box for Prof. Antoni (Ton) Damman.
2. The Minutes of the last IAVS meeting, in Nagano (Japan), were approved without further comments.
3. The President and the Secretary General (J. H. J. Schaminée) reported on the major items that were discussed during the meetings of the Advisory Council on 30 and 31 July 2001 (see Minutes of this meeting): financial situation, account of the publication officer, election of the new Council next year, and reports of working groups, commissions and regional sections. With regard to the election procedure, members were asked to send suggestions for candidates to the Secretary General. There was agreement on the procedure to ensure that all major regions will be represented in the Council. Ballots will be sent to all members, with the new IAVS Bulletin, before Christmas and must be returned before the end of January 2002.
A new Membership List and the IAVS Bulletin were made available at the registration desk. All IAVS members were asked to forward any changes in address or e-mail to the Secretary General. The General Assembly authorized the Publication Officer (E. van der Maarel) and Secretary General to sign official documents, as needed, at the office of a Notary in the Netherlands. All proposals for minor changes (including text corrections sent by e-mail) will be collected and carried out by van der Maarel.
3. The organizing committee for next year’s meeting in Porto Alegre invited all members to attend the next IAVS Symposium, in Brasil. A brief overview of the scientific themes of this meeting and the excursion program were presented. Deviating from the usual schedule, the 2002 Symposium will take place early in the year, in March 2002, corresponding to late summer in the Southern Hemisphere.
4. Information was presented about the publication of contributions to the Freising Symposium. In consultation with the chairs of the individual sections, the editors of the Journal of Vegetation Science, Applied Vegetation Science, Phytocoenologia, and Basic and Applied Ecology (Gesellschaft für Ökologie) have offered the possibility to publish special issues. The selection of relevant topics will be made in consultation with the chairs of the individual sections. Two topics were already selected for a special issue of Phytocoenologia, respectively on ‘Plant-animal interactions’ (sections 2.4 and 4.1) and on ‘Vegetation patterns at the landscape level’ (section 6.1). The proceedings of the Uppsala symposium from 1998 are available now and will be sent to all participants of that meeting. A special volume on ‘Vegetation and Climate’ (topic of the Bilbao symposium), edited by Ulrich Deil and Javier Loidi, was published in Phytocoenologia in November 2000.
5. At the Freising Symposium, out of a total of 90 student posters, three posters were awarded prizes. The prizes were all given to students from Germany. The First Prize was given to Silke Werth from Germany for a poster ‘Are epiphytic macrolichens faithful indicators of hemeroby in deciduous forests?’. Posters by Stephanie Clauss and Christian Wild on ‘Assessment of vegetation cover as a tool for environmental planning of Utila Island, Honduras’ and by Astrid Søe on ‘The effect of forest structure on soil respiration in beech forests under different managent regimes’ were ranked second.
6. Michael Richter made some suggestions for improving future meetings.
