Reports and Agenda for the 1998 Meeting

Board of Governors of the American Society of Ichthyologists and Herpetologists

The ASIH Board of Governors is scheduled to meet on Thursday, July 16th from 4 to 6 PM in room 141 of the Animal Science Building. This building is across Gordon Street from the University Centre (and the main campus) just to the right of the crossing light on Gordon Street (a large grey building with a patio in front of the main doors).

The Chair plans to move blanket acceptance of all reports in the meeting agenda which is included in the report. Items that a Governor wishes to discuss will be exempted from the motion for blanket acceptance and will be acted upon individually. Of particular interest may be the proposal from Allen Press to publish Copeia online (please see the Secretary's report), and the report of the Long Range Planning and Finance Committee and associated Procedures Manual.

Please remember to bring your agenda with you to the meeting.

Please contact the Secretary's office (asih@uts.cc.utexas.edu or phone (512) 471-0998) with any questions you might have or to notify us of your inability to attend the meeting.

 

AGENDA

1. Call to order

2. Governors sign in

3. Distribution of late reports or additions to reports

4. Messages of regret from absentee governors

5. Call for motion to approve minutes of 1997 meeting of Board of Governors as published in Copeia 1997(4):923-939

6. Announcement of appointment of Resolutions Committee

7. Announcement of Stoye and Storer Award judges (names to be withheld until banquet)

8. Future annual meetings

 

REPORTS

REPORTS OF OFFICERS

9. TREASURER - Larry M. Page

10. SECRETARY - Dean A. Hendrickson

11. EDITOR - Michael E. Douglas

12. PUBLICATIONS SECRETARY - Jose Rosado

13. SOCIETY HISTORIAN - Mark R. Jennings

14. SOUTHEASTERN DIVISION - Steve Layman, Secretary/Treasurer

REPORTS OF COMMITTEES

15. AD HOC COMMITTEE ON THE STOYE ECOLOGY & ETHOLOGY AWARDS - Maureen Donnelly, Chair

16. AD HOC COMMITTEE TO DEFINE "CONSERVATION BIOLOGY" FOR THE NEW SECTION OF THE STOYE AWARD - Gene Helfman, Chair

17. COMMITTEE ON GRADUATE STUDENT PARTICIPATION - Adam Summers, Chair

18. COMMITTEE ON SPECIAL PUBLICATIONS - Richard L. Mayden, Chair

19. COMMITTEE TO REVISE THE HERPETOLOGICAL ANIMAL CARE LEAFLET

20. COMMITTEE TO REVISE THE ICHTHYOLOGICAL ANIMAL CARE LEAFLET - Stephen J. Walsh, Chair

21. COMMITTEE TO REVISE THE ICHTHYOLOGICAL CAREER PAMPHLET - Richard Rosenblatt, Chair

22. ENDOWMENT and FINANCE COMMITTEE - Robert Lavenberg, Chair

23. ENVIRONMENTAL QUALITY COMMITTEE - M. L. Warren, Chair

24. EQUAL PARTICIPATION COMMITTEE - Carol Britson, Chair

25. HENRY S. FITCH AWARD COMMITTEE - Harry W. Greene, Chair

26. GAIGE FUND AWARD COMMITTEE - Kiisa Nishikawa, Chair

27. HERPETOLOGICAL INFORMATION COORDINATOR - John E. Simmons

28. ICHTHYOLOGICAL AND HERPETOLOGICAL COLLECTIONS COMMITTEE - Brooks M. Burr, Chair

29. ICHTHYOLOGICAL INFORMATION COORDINATOR - Stephen J. Walsh

30. JOINT ASIH-AFS COMMITTEE ON NAMES OF FISHES - Joseph S. Nelson, Chair

31. LONG RANGE PLANNING AND POLICY COMMITTEE - Robert K. Johnson, Chair

32. NOMINATING COMMITTEE - Alan de Queiroz, Chair

33. PUBLICATIONS POLICY COMMITTEE - Michael E. Douglas, Chair

34. RANEY FUND AWARD COMMITTEE - Larry Allen, Chair

35. ROBERT H. GIBBS, Jr. MEMORIAL AWARD COMMITTEE - G. David Johnson, Chair

36. STUDENT AWARDS COMMITTEE - Paula Mabee, Chair

37. TIME, PLACE, AND PROGRAM COMMITTEE - Patrick T. Gregory, Chair

REPRESENTATIVES TO OTHER GROUPS

38. AMERICAN ASSOCIATION FOR THE ADVANCEMENT OF SCIENCES - Alan E. Leviton

39. AMERICAN ELASMOBRANCH SOCIETY - George H. Burgess

40. AMERICAN FISHERIES SOCIETY - M. L. Warren

41. ASSOCIATION OF SYSTEMATIC COLLECTIONS - Lawrence M. Page

42. EARLY LIFE HISTORY SECTION OF AMERICAN FISHERIES SOCIETY - Michael P. Fahay

43. FISH BEHAVIOR GROUP OF ANIMAL BEHAVIOR SOCIETY - Arthur A. Myrburg

44. INTERNATIONAL UNION FOR THE CONSERVATION OF NATURE - George Rabb

45. SOCIETY FOR THE PRESERVATION OF NATURAL HISTORY COLLECTIONS - John E. Simmons

46. SOCIETY FOR THE STUDY OF AMPHIBIANS AND REPTILES and HERPETOLOGISTS' LEAGUE - Alan H. Savitzky

APPENDICES

47. APPENDIX A: Attachments to the Treasurer's Report
48. APPENDIX B: Attachment to the Long Range Planning and Policy Committee Report

49. Call for blanket approval of BOG Agenda items and reports of officers, representatives, and committees, exempting those removed by BOG members for discussion.

50. Discussion of reports exempted from blanket approval

51. Discussion of Old Business

52. Discussion of New Business

53. Election of Gibbs Award Committee

54. Call for nominations for election to the Nominating Committee

55. Adjournment

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REPORTS OF OFFICERS

The enclosed report (see Appendix A) on the finances of the American Society of Ichthyologists and Herpetologists is based on audited financial statements for 1997 received from Martin, Hood & Associates, Certified Public Accountants, Champaign, Illinois.

As the report indicates, ASIH remains in excellent financial condition. Revenues in 1997 equaled $308,176, expenses totaled $216,924, and total net assets of the society stood at $621,129 on 31 December 1997.

For 1997, the society changed, at the suggestion of the independent auditor, its method of revenue recognition from cash to accrual. This means that revenue was recorded for the year in which it was earned rather than deposited. In the opinion of the auditor, the accrual basis properly matches revenues with expenses and provides a better measure of the Society's activities.

The enclosed report also differs from those of past years in that it divides expenses into those associated with programs of the society (publication - including Copeia, and granting awards) and those related to management (business management by Allen Press, Secretarial Office, etc.). Expenses of the editorial offices are considered part of the publication program.

The Endowment Fund was established constitutionally in 1993. On 31 December 1997, the Endowment Fund contained $45,628 (compared to $36,643 at the end of 1996) invested in mutual funds. The separate "Special Publication Fund" contains $30,000 which has been raised specifically for publication of The Fishes of Bermuda, to be authored by W. Smith-Vaniz, B. Collette, and B. Luckhurst.

Revenues and expenses for 1998 are expected to approximate those for 1997.

SECRETARY - Dean A. Hendrickson

Functions of the ASIH Secretary's Office (Texas Natural History Collections / R4000, University of Texas, Austin, TX 78712-1100; telephone (512) 471-0998; FAX (512) 471-9775; e-mail: asih@uts.cc.utexas.edu) in 1997 included coordination with Allen Press Business Management, management of correspondence, maintenance of Society files and archives, coordination of communications among officers, Board of Governors, committees, and representatives to other societies, maintenance and growth of the ASIH World Wide Web pages (http://www.utexas.edu/depts/asih/), keeping meeting minutes and reporting on meetings, and other routine secretarial tasks of the Society.

Allen Press recently provided a proposal to publish abstracts and full text of Copeia (including all graphics in black and white, grayscale and color) online on the World Wide Web. Two options differing mostly in current and future flexibility and degree of use of proprietary vs. non-proprietary software are suggested, both with the data being served from a dedicated server located at Allen Press. Charges for this five year project to publish four years of Copeia online range from $86,480 (using mostly proprietary Adobe PDF format) to $167,548 (using SGML to HTML full text conversions + PDF). This equates to about $8 or $15.50 per member per project year.

The Executive Committee considered the proposal and decided to query the Governors at the 1998 meeting regarding their interest in online publishing in addition to continued publication of the paper version of Copeia. In preparation for discussions of this issue at the meeting, governors are asked to visit the American Meteorological Society Web page (http://ams.allenpress.com/) to view samples of other journals published as Allen Press proposes to publish Copeia. Once at the AMS site, users will find that abstracts are not password protected and so may be viewed by anyone, but access to full text articles is password controlled. ASIH has been provided a temporary guest password for evaluation purposes. To view an article, click on "full-text article" or "print format." When prompted to login, go to the login page and use the following login and password provided by Allen Press for our testing purposes (note all upper case):

login: ALLEN
password: PRESS

If ASIH were to decide to publish Copeia electronically, a similar password-protected system might be instituted, and members might be charged an additional fee for an online subscription to cover the costs of providing this service. Alternatively, other means might be found to recover these costs if the decision is made to offer this additional service to members or the general public. It may be that the institutional subscription fees paid by libraries could be increased substantially since they are currently low in comparison to many other journals and librarians typically encourage the provision of online text since shelf space is limited. With online journal publishing being so new, it is still difficult to determine what impact, if any, provision of online text to the public might have on membership.

If Governors are interested in further exploring this proposal, a committee will likely be appointed to meet with Allen Press and others to rigorously evaluate all possibilities and implications and provide a report for possible action next year. Additional and extensive information about the specific services offered by Allen Press and about electronic publishing in general may be obtained at http://www1.allenpress.com/apopframes.html.

On 31 December 1997 the Society's mailing list included 1,358 regular, 731 student, 282 foreign, 209 life, 59 associate, 33 sustaining, and 35 honorary foreign members, for an overall total of 2,707 members. Overall totals for recent years were: 1985 - 2,199; 1986 - 2,241; 1987 - 2,151; 1988 - 2,215; 1989 - 2,325; 1990 - 2,407; 1991 - 2,442; 1992 - 2,389; 1993 - 2,410; 1994 - 2,449, 1995 Ò 2,387; 1996 Ò 2,569. As of December 1997 there were 745 domestic and 309 foreign institutional subscriptions, compared to 752 and 323, respectively in the previous year. The total number of Copeia 1997(4) mailed was 3,683, compared with 3,578, 3,429, 3,527, 3,460, 3,491 and 3,542 for the last (i.e., no. 4) issues of 1996, 1995, 1994, 1993, 1992 and 1991, respectively.

In 1997, permission was granted on 29 requests to reprint. Permission was granted on 7 requests for a total of 10 figures published in Copeia to be used in manuscripts. Eight reprint requests for a total of 11 Copeia articles for one-time academic use were received and permission granted. Both a children's magazine in Canada and a general science interest magazine in France requested permission to reprint the photograph of the Cuban Eleutherodactylus. Permission was granted for translation, publication, and Venezuelan distribution of 2 Copeia articles. Permission was also granted to the Scripps Institution of Oceanography for the reproduction of 2 articles by two of their researchers in the publication Scripps Institution of Oceanography Contributions. The US Department of Interior requested permission to reprint 2 articles for distribution to participants in the Long Term Resource Monitoring Program for the Upper Mississippi River System. Additionally, permission was granted on 9 requests for a total of 19 figures to be used in textbooks and other bound publications. Requests for permission to reprint should be directed to the office of the Secretary.

Three requests for Copeia mailing list rentals were received for both the ichthyology and herpetology lists. Requests came from Columbia University Press ($185), Smithsonian Institution Press ($250) and California Academy of Sciences ($250). Income from mailing list rentals for 1997 totaled $685.00. Beginning 1 January 1997, all distributions of the directory data in any format excluded those members who indicated a desire to be so excluded when returning the newly revised membership application and renewal forms, which were first used in the fall renewal season of 1996.

In 1997, $2335.50 was generated from the sale of single back issues of Copeia. Additionally, sales of Special Publication No. 3, Collection Building in Ichthyology and Herpetology, totaled $6,695.00 with an additional $743.50 for postage.

Royalty payments from University Microfilms International (UMI) from sales of microfilm and microfiche of Copeia in 1997 totaled $677.77. Additionally, $19.37 was received from Institute for Scientific Information (ISI) as compensation for ISI Document Solution requests fulfilled during 1997 and any existing royalties from prior years. Copyright Clearance Center, Inc. also sent a check for $13.59 as royalty payment for photocopying the Society's works in some or all of the following countries: Canada, France, New Zealand and the United Kingdom. Herpetological and Ichthyological career pamphlets sent during 1997 totaled 125 and 116, respectively (compared to 655 and 623 in 1996). Both pamphlets have been available on the WWW for over a year and an unknown number of copies have been distributed via that medium. The decrease in requests received by regular post may be due to the fact that interested parties are searching for and finding the pamphlets online.

The Secretary again solicits contributions and suggestions for improvement of the Society's World Wide Web pages, as well as offers to assist with management of portions of the system. Additional committee pages would be especially welcome additions. Long range plans for improvements in the Web offerings include posting of much of the society history recorded in files in the Secretary's office on the Web. The membership database continues to be maintained at Allen Press, which provides electronic copies to the Secretary on a quarterly basis. These are used for general communications with the membership and for updates of the membership directory on WWW. Members are asked to please update their address and e-mail data via the Web (http://www.utexas.edu/depts/asih/info/how2upd.html) or via e-mail tokhickey@allenpress.com.

The Editor, Michael E. Douglas, reported that during 1997, 983 pages of Copeia were published over four issues: 18 February (248 pages), 13 May (236 pages), 1 August (178 pages), and 09 December (321 pages). These four issues comprised 63 major articles (602 pages or 61%) and 49 shorter contributions (225 pages or 23%). The remaining 16% was distributed as follows: 31 book reviews (58 pages), a summary of the 1997 annual meeting (22 pages), a 1997 index (16 pages), a 1997 volume contents (16 pages), four obituaries (15 pages), five articles in "editorial notes and news" (nine pages), the ASIH constitution (seven pages), 11 books received (three pages), a list of reviewers (three pages), ASIH environmental quality committee address (three pages), three award notices (three pages), and instructions to authors (two pages).

Of the major articles published in Copeia, 60% (n=38) were in herpetology, while the remaining 40% (n=25) were in ichthyology. Of the shorter contributions, 55% (n=27) were in herpetology, while 45% (n=22) were in ichthyology. When major articles and shorter contributions were combined, 58% (n=65) were herpetological, while 42% (n=47) were ichthyological.

During 1997, 309 manuscripts were submitted to Copeia, a 17% increase when compared to 1996. Of these, 89% (n=276) were processed. Some 66% (n=183) were submitted from 38 different states and territories of the Union: California (15), Illinois (14), New York (12), Virginia (11), Florida (9), Louisiana (9), Pennsylvania (9), Mississippi (8), Oklahoma (8), Massachusetts (7), Texas (7), Colorado (6), South Carolina (6), and Missouri (5). Five states had four submittals, six others had three, five states had two each, and eight had one submittal each. The remaining 34% (n=93) of submissions were received from 24 different countries, distributed as follows: Japan (15), Brazil (15), Australia (10), Canada (9), Mexico (5), United Kingdom (5), Republic of China (4), Germany (4), Spain (3), South Africa (3), France (3), Argentina, Belgium, Italy, Portugal (2 each), and Austria, Chile, Colombia, India, Israel, Korea, Sweden, Switzerland, and Turkey (one each).

Of the 276 articles processed, 22% (n=61) were allocated to genetics, development, and morphology; 21% (n=59) to general ichthyology; 21% (n=57) to ecology and ethology; 18% (n=50) to physiology and physiological ecology; and 18% (n=49) to general herpetology. Rejection rates were calculated by section as number of manuscripts rejected during 1997 divided by total number for which a decision (positive or negative) was reached. These figures were as follows: Genetics, development, and morphology, 75% (12/16); ecology and ethology, 75% (24/32); general ichthyology, 60% (18/30); general herpetology, 46% (12/26); Physiology/physiological ecology, 46% (6/13). The overall 1997 rejection rate for Copeia was 60% (72/117). Thus, at the time this report was written, 159 of the 276 manuscripts submitted in 1997 (58%) were still in some aspect of review.

The Copeia office prefers a three-month period to edit, compile, and copy edit an issue. An additional month provides a safety cushion for those authors who either fail to respond to editorial queries or only respond differentially. Thus, time "in-train" at the Copeia office is four months. The time required by Allen Press to produce an issue has decreased from six to four months, primarily due to the efficiency with which electronic manuscripts can be processed. Thus, the average in-train period (i.e., from acceptance at Copeia to publication at Allen Press) should approximate eight months. For 1997, the average in-train period for each issue was 7.8, 7.1, 6.7, and 7.6 months, respectively (average 7.3 months).

As a result of electronic copy editing, the society saved $8,297.50 in publishing costs during 1997. Savings per issue were recorded as follows: 1997(1) $2,142.00; 1997(2) $1,963.50; 1997(3) $1,453.00; 1997(4) $2,739.00.

Small but significant changes also occurred with regard to Copeia style. In an endeavor to increase status and visibility of shorter contributions, the editorial office has been gradually enhancing their format. Starting with the 1997(1) issue, shorter contributions now start on a separate page, rather than "tailing into" one another. For 1997(2), title and authorship of shorter contributions span two columns rather than a single one. Also in that issue, an individual running head replaced the generic "shorter contributions" running head. Other changes are forthcoming.

PUBLICATIONS SECRETARY - Jose Rosado

The functions of this office were assumed by Allen Press at the start of 1997 and activities formerly reported on by the Publications Secretary will, starting with this report, be reported upon by the Secretary. Since the term of this elected office expired at the end of 1997, and the office was eliminated at the last Business Meeting, this constitutes the last report of the Publications Secretary.

During the past year as ASIH Historian, I answered letters about deceased ASIH members, assisted in finding portraits of the founder of ASIH, and made suggestions on how to file correspondence dealing with a former ASIH annual meeting. The oral interview project with senior ASIH members continues with another two individuals interviewed.

President Norm Scott called the 1997 Business Meeting of the Southeast Division American Society of Ichthyologists and Herpetologists to order at 4:00 PM on 17 April 1997. Minutes of the 1996 meeting were read by George Cline with copies distributed to members. These minutes were approved without change. Carol Johnson reported that the approved Mission Statement of the SE Division of ASIH was placed on the National Society's Web Page.

George Cline presented the Treasurer's Report:

Income:	Expenditures:
$258.41 - From 1996	$0.00 - Mailing costs picked up by JSU
$206 - Dues	$250 - Travel Awards (5@ $50)
$100 - Gifts	$200 - Student Paper Award(s)
Total Income: $564.41	Total Expenditures: $450
Balance $114.41

New Business was then addressed. Student Travel Grants - five students applied for and received $50 travel grants. These students were: Jennifer Piascik - Marshall University, Robert B. Tucker - Marshall University, Kyle R. Piller - Tulane University, Barton J. Paxton - West Virginia University, and Jeanine R. Burse - Tulane University.

In the Student Paper Competition Kyle R. Piller and Robert J. Paxton competed for the Student Paper Award in Ichthyology. No Herpetology students applied for the competition. Norm Scott challenged the membership to try to double membership by having each faculty recruit another person. Try to get your students involved in the competition.

We discussed developing an e-mail directory of SEASIH members. George Cline reported having difficulty translating the membership list from the current format. George planned on translating it into Word-Perfect over the summer. This could be used as the basis for a formal Directory.

Two individuals were nominated for Secretary/Treasurer, one from academia and one from private industry. Steve Layman was elected to the position. President Scott passed the President's Office to Carol Johnson.

A motion to adjourn was made and seconded. The group was encouraged to attend the 1998 meetings in Monroe, LA.

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At the 1997 BOG meeting in Seattle, I was appointed as the chair of an ad hoc committee by President Pietsch. This appointment came after I mentioned that the E & E category is problematic because of the number of competitors and that the creation of a conservation category, while laudatory for its timeliness, would not alleviate the problems faced by judges who are overwhelmed.

I asked Larry Allen, Edmund Brodie III, Deanna Stouder, and Jacqueline Webb to serve on the committee. I asked them because Webb has been active with the graduate students, and I had served as an E and E judge with Allen and Stouder. Brodie headed up the Student Awards Committee in 1997. Richard Rosenblatt and George Barlow also contributed to discussions.

I accumulated data from 1990--1997 by going through the meeting programs. I tallied the number of talks in the program in each Stoye category. In all years, The E and E category was the largest. This information has been graphed and is available from me on request. While all members of the committee agree that it is not wise to break the category up into taxonomic lines intellectually, functionally we already do that during the judging because the task is so huge -- it is impossible for an E and E judge to attend every paper. I broke E and E down into papers relating to fishes and those relating to herps. I also broke down papers into type: ecology and ethology. The only reasonable solution, in our opinion, is to split E and E along taxonomic lines. Clearly the only way to alleviate the burden on the E and E judges is to break it down into a fish E and E and a herp E and E.

There is always a worry that there will not be a true competition because of a lack of papers in a Stoye category. We recommend that the local committee chair, in conjunction with the Student Award Committee chair, make a fair decision and assign "orphans" to another category.

The Environmental Quality Committee bounced around several alternatives for defining Conservation Biology. We finally arrived at something so general as to be acceptable (or not unacceptable) to everyone:

"Conservation Biology: Includes, but is not limited to, studies whose primary focus is on the conservation of biodiversity, broadly defined as the identification, protection, preservation, restoration, management, or sustainable use of currently or potentially imperiled taxa or assemblages and their habitats."

 

Members: Adam P. Summers, Chair, Dr. Jackie Webb, Faculty Advisor, Robert Espinoza, Brad Hollingsworth, Kevin Jansen, Andres Lopez, Duane Stevenson, Jeff Stewart, Chris Tracy, and Tana McDaniel

Summary
The goals of the ASIH Committee for Graduate Student Participation (CGSP) are to represent the student membership of the Society and to consider ways that the Society may best serve and attract graduate students. A number of continuing responsibilities exist with which the Committee is charged: 1) fundraising for student travel support; 2) distributing student travel awards; 3) planning and executing student activities at the annual meeting; 4) distributing completed evaluation forms for student award presentations; and 5) enhancing recruitment of new students and promoting the effective and efficient communication among existing student members. Additional tasks pertinent to student concerns may be handled as necessary by the CGSP membership.

Fundraising at the 1998 Meeting In Guelph
Seattle meeting was a landmark in fundraising as the society matched the raffle money raised dollar for dollar. We raised a record amount $2083 at the book raffle and the society matched with $2000. This allowed us to double the number of travel awards this year. Jeff Stewart and Brad Hollingsworth took charge of the 1998 raffle and did an excellent job of obtaining many great books from various publishing companies. The CGSP local committee representative, Tana McDaniels at the University of Guelph also contributed considerable time and effort to the raffle. Money raised at the raffle provides travel funds for students giving oral and poster presentations at the annual meeting. The student committee would like to acknowledge the following publishers/individuals for their generous donations to this year's raffle: TFH Publications, SSAR, Univ. of Idaho Press, Saunders College Publishing, Univ. of Chicago Press, Princeton Univ. Press, Univ. Press of Florida, Univ. Press of Kansas, Chapman Hall, Amer. Fisheries Soc., Acad. of Nat. Sci. of Philadelphia, Academic Press, Sinauer Associates, Univ. of Texas Press, W. H. Freeman & Co., Univ. of North Carolina Press, and Elsevier Scientific Publishing, Johns Hopkins Press, University of Texas Press, Dr. David Etnier, University of Utah Press, Benthic Press and Ichthyological Explorations of Fresh Waters.

Student Travel Awards
$200.00 travel awards were offered for the 1998 meeting in Guelph: 8 in ichthyology and 8 in herpetology. Students were asked to submit their applications/abstracts via email. There were 43 qualified applicants that submitted materials by the deadline: 25 in ichthyology and 18 in herpetology. This is less than half the number that applied last year. Kevin Jansen was again responsible for handling award applications and their distribution. Outlining how winners would be chosen, and highlighting the important linkage between these awards and the CGSP raffle by inviting members to buy raffle tickets in Guelph. A list of awardees and alternatives was mailed to Dr. Larry Page, Treasurer ASIH. The eight herpetology awards went to: Sylvie Rondeau, Jason Kolbe, Andrea Litt, Maureen Kearney, Alison Hamilton, Peter Trenham, Sharon Downes, and Megan Chen. The eight ichthyology awards went to Kasi Jackson, Peter Nelson, Ann Cleveland, Brian Kreiser, J. Andres Lopez, Morgan Raley, Molly Pretlow, and Sean Meehan. In the event that one of the awardees cannot accept an award, the alternate for the herpetology category is Sarah Faragher and the alternate for the ichthyology category is Brenda Ertan.

THE ANNUAL MEETING:

Student Social
for the Graduate Student Social have been arranged with the local committee by Tana McDaniel, and other student volunteers from the local committee at the University of Guelph.

1997 CGSP Workshop 1998 CGSP Workshop
On Monday, July 20, from 12:00 to 1:30 PM, the CGSP will hold its annual workshop in a continuing effort to encourage constructive interaction and discussion among ASIH student members. The workshop, entitled "The Benefits of Student Participation in ASIH", will feature a seven-member panel of scientists who were active as student members of the society and are now vocal advocates of student participation in the society. Panelists will include the current president of ASIH as well as several past officers; all distinguished members of the herpetological and ichthyological community. The organizers of this event are J. Andres Lopez and Duane Stevenson.

Time, Place, and Program Committee
Tracy is the student representative on the TPP committee and will be attending this year's TPP meeting in Guelph.

Student Oral Presentation Feedback
Evaluation forms will be distributed to the judges of the Stoye Award competition by Jackie Webb. These forms are filled out by the judges as a means of positive feedback to those students presenting a paper for the Stoye Award competition. Forms are then redistributed to the students following the meeting by the chair of the CGSP.

CGSP Recruitment and Communication
As with every meeting it is the local committee members of the CGSP that greatly facilitate the organization of student events. I would like to thank the student local committee representatives, Tana McDaniel for her help with all CGSP activities scheduled for the 1998 meeting in Guelph, and Jim Bogart, 1998 annual meeting host, for his continued support of the CGSP while organizing this years ASIH meeting. I would like to thank Jackie Webb for her role as faculty representative to the CGSP for 1997.

Committee Members: Mayden, Richard L. (Chair), Pietsch, T. W., and Trueb, L.

The Committee on Special Publications received and considered two proposals this year. One proposal was submitted by Dr. John E. Randall; the second proposal was submitted by Drs. William Smith-Vaniz, Bruce Collette, and Brian Luckhurst. Each of these proposals and SPUC recommendations to the Executive Committee and Board of Governors are briefly described below. During this past year SPUC committee, in collaboration with Dr. Robert K. Johnson, developed a draft version of the committee responsibilities, mission, and goal to be included in the ASIH manual.

I. Randall Proposal
Dr. John Randall has requested that ASIH provide financial assistance in the continuation of the publication series Indo-Pacific Fishes (IPF). Dr. Randall serves as Editor of the series and his wife Helen serves as Managing Editor, both providing their time without charge. Indo-Pacific Fishes is an outstanding series with high-quality revisionary studies with color images. The series is considered important to anyone working with revisionary studies of marine fishes. Since 1982 the IPF series has been supported by grants received by Randall from Engelhard Foundation and NSF (total = $149,000). With these two grants they have produced 26 numbers of the series. Funds supporting the publication are now nearly exhausted and the publication series is in need of financial subvention to continue publication.

Initial print runs of the series consisted of 1,000 copies; however, more recent issues have been reduced to 500 copies. The list of subscribers is currently 156 and is growing slowly. The publication series is expensive to produce because of its general format and the color images. The series has traditionally been sold at or less than cost. For example, number 25 on Myripristis, with 9 color plates, cost $17,750 to produce (500 copies). It is sold at $29.50 and if all 500 copies were sold it would generate only $14,750. Thus, the series has not been generating revenue for continued publication support.

This proposal requests that ASIH consider supporting the continued publication of this series through financial subvention. Dr. Randall has requested either a $50,000 award for five years or $10,000 per year over the next five years.

Recommendation from SPUC:
The committee unanimously agrees that IPF is a quality publication and represents a phenomenal personal career investment by the Randalls and their colleagues. While the committee acknowledges the outstanding quality of this publication series and its contribution to ichthyology, at this time we cannot unanimously recommend publication subvention for IPF from the Society. The SPUC considers proposals and evaluates them on the basis of suitability, publication mechanisms, editing, costs to the Society, and cost recovery. Because of the economic history of the series and the overall loss of funds with continued printing, the committee recommends that the Editors of the series and other interested parties carefully consider and revise various aspects of the publication to make it much more economically feasible and provide continued cost recovery to the Society and income to IPF. Issues to be considered in reducing the cost of the series include the pricing of the issues, establishing a realistic break-even point, print run numbers, marketing strategies, format, and other aspects that can reduce the cost for publication.

II. Smith-Vaniz, Collette, and Luckhurst Proposal
These authors have nearly completed their publication entitled "Fishes of Bermuda: Historical Perspective, Zoogeographic Summary, and Annotated Checklist with Identification Keys." They requested that we consider this manuscript for consideration as ASIH Special Publication No. 4.

The authors provided the committee with extensive documentation on their publication regarding size, costs, subvention obtained, obligations, samples of chapters, tables, keys, text, and the proposed layout specifications (in consultation with Allen Press). A 1997 cost estimate to produce 1,000 copies of the book, shrink wrapped individually and packed into cartons for shipment, would be $19,528.80, with an additional $4.25 per copy for cloth binding (total = $23,778.80). A 1998 cost estimate will be produced in June and will be available at the 1998 Board of Governors meeting. The authors currently have $39,966.23 committed by different sources for the subvention of this book. Most, if not all, of these funds have already been received by the Society Treasurer, Dr. Lawrence M. Page. Nearly the entire manuscript has been reviewed by competent scientists; other specialists have also reviewed individual species accounts and other text. The authors have already identified a person (Lisa Spinella) to provide editing and indexing, and composition of the digital files for Allen Press (as per specs. from Allen Press).

Below, we have provided some basic information and statistics on the book and a general breakdown of the anticipated costs for the publication, as well as any obligations that have been established in obtaining the subvention for the publication.

1. Format: page size 8.5 x 11, double column (except for family key); headings 11 or 12 pt, text 9 or 10 pt.

2. Manuscript Size: 404 text pages (10 pt. New Times Roman, 1.5 spacing) plus tables and appendixes.

3. Obligations: Some subsidy for the publication of this book originated from the Bermuda Zoological Society (BZS). In return for this subsidy it has been agreed that the BZS will receive 100 copies of the book at no charge and 100 copies at cost of publication. The BZS will have sole sales rights for Bermuda. Any orders received from Bermuda will be directed to the BZS. A second obligation is that authors of the book would receive some gratis copies of the book.

4. Schedule: The manuscript will be submitted to Allen Press by 1 Oct. 1998. In discussions with persons at Allen Press a 5-6 month turn around is realistic. The publication date would then be estimated as 1999.

5. General Costs (some prices are not available at this time)

Publication through Allen Press	$23,778.80
Editing, Indexing, Composition	1,000.00
Color Plate preparation (3) from slides	Not available
Beebe photographs (2 @ 125 ea.)	250.00
BZS free copies (100 @ ~ $23.00)	2,300.00
BZS copies at cost	0.00
Author's copies (number unknown)	?????
Marketing	?????
Total Estimated Costs	$27,328.80
Subvention obtained	$39,966.23
Balance	$12,637.43

Recommendation from SPUC:
We unanimously recommend this proposal be approved by the Executive Committee and ASIH Board of Governors for ASIH Special Publication No. 4. The authors have produced a high-quality manuscript that is worthy of publication through our Society. We feel that the market exists for this publication, that the ASIH standards for publication are met with this book, that their plan for editing, indexing and composition are well prepared, and that there will be no costs to the society. The authors have also raised a significant amount of funding to cover subvention costs for the book. The authors have not yet provided any information regarding how the book will be marketed and the costs associated with marketing. The SPUC recommends that the authors prepare information regarding marketing and associated costs for the 1998 Board of Governors meeting.

No report this year.

The "Guidelines for Use of Fishes in Field Research" was initially drafted by Clark Hubbs (ASIH), John G. Nickum (American Fisheries Society), and John R. Hunter (American Institute of Fisheries Research Biologists), with input from many additional individuals. The guidelines emphasize the care and handling of live fishes in field research, and do not reflect some of the most recent recommendations endorsed more widely throughout the scientific community; there is little emphasis on use and care of live fishes in laboratory or experimental settings. A similar situation exists for the ASIH brochure on care of amphibians and reptiles in field research. The Committee to Revise the Ichthyological Animal Care Leaflet is unaware of any actions that have been taken regarding revisions and publication of both brochures as discussed extensively in the past (Copeia 1987[4]:1102-1103). Moreover, no information is available about the current status of related activities, if any, by the other professional societies that were previously involved in drafting the original animal welfare guidelines.

The Committee recommends that members of the BOG openly discuss the need to revise both animal care brochures, including the following options: (1) the Committee suggests that the ASIH consider formally adopting guidelines published elsewhere as the official position of the society on the care and use of fishes, amphibians, and reptiles in both field and laboratory research, specifically those of DeTolla et al. (1995; Guidelines for the care and use of fish in research, Institute of Laboratory Animal Resources Journal 47[4]:159-173), DeNardo (1995; Amphibians as laboratory animals, ILAR Journal 47[4]:173-181), Greene (1995; Nonavian reptiles as laboratory animals, ILAR Journal 47[4]:182-186), Martin (1995; Evaluation of hypothermia for anesthesia in reptiles and amphibians, ILAR Journal 47[4]:186-190), Schaeffer et al. (1992; The care and use of amphibians, reptiles and fish in research, Scientists Center for Animal Welfare, Bethesda, MD, 196 p.), and others, and; (2) notify collaborative societies (AFS, AIBS, HL, SSAR) of such action, and/or; (3) place on the ASIH worldwide-web pages or make available through the business office a list of relevant literature and other sources of information for guidelines on the humane and ethical treatment of lower vertebrates in scientific research, or; (4) the current President appoints a single committee, with appropriate representatives specialized in ichthyology or herpetology, to further investigate the need to update both ASIH brochures and/or consolidate them into one, including care of fishes and herps in both field and laboratory research; if a decision is made to make revisions, the Committee would coordinate such efforts, select individuals to participate in revising the guidelines, contact other societies as necessary, and solicit additional input

After reading the pamphlet we find that the information presented is still sufficiently complete and timely, so that revision of the text is not now needed. We doubt that another printed edition will be necessary, considering that the text is available electronically. However, if, as is likely, the "pamphlet" will mainly be accessed electronically in the future, we believe that the presentation of the material must be modernized. Considering the quality of the graphics used on even rudimentary web pages, it seems to us that present day high school and college students, accustomed to attention-grabbing formats, will not relate well to columns of plain gray text. However, we do not know the capability of the present site to support enhanced graphics and typography.

For the present, the SELECTED READINGS should be updated and augmented as follows:

Bond, C.E. 1996. Biology of fishes, second edition. W.B. Saunders Co., Philadelphia

Bone, Q., N.B. Marshall, and J. H. S. Blaxter. 1996. Biology of fishes. Blackie, Glasgow and London (Distributed in the U. S. by Chapman and Hall, New York).

Eschmeyer, W.E., E.S. Herald, and H. Hammann. 1983. A field guide to fishes of the Pacific coast of North America. Houghton Mifflin, Boston.

Helfman, G., B.B. Collette, and D.E. Face. 1997. The diversity of fishes. Blackwell Science, Malden Mass.

Nelson J.S. 1994. Fishes of the world, third edition. John Wiley and Sons, New York.

Robins, C.R. and C.C. Ray 1986. A field guide to Atlantic coast fishes of North America. Houghton Mifflin, Boston.

No report received at time of printing.

Melvin L. Warren, Jr., Chair of the Environmental Quality Committee, reported several committee activities. Joe Mitchell, an EQC member, assisted in preparing a draft letter for President Pietsch to the USDA Forest Service, Region 5, urging the inclusion of the foothill yellow-legged frog, mountain yellow-legged frog, and the Yosemite toad on the Regional Forester's list of sensitive species for Region 5. In response to ASIH concerns and that of other groups, these species were added to the list for Region 5 in December 1997. The committee reviewed comments prepared by Noel Burkhead concerning the proposed delisting of the Okaloosa darter (Etheostoma okaloosae) by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. In response, the committee prepared a letter for President Pietsch to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service urging that the Okaloosa darter not be delisted because of the minute range of the species and other ecological attributes and threats to its continued existence. Selina Heppel, EQC member, drafted a letter for President Pietsch to the National Marine Fisheries Service in response to increased strandings of Kemp's ridley sea turtles in the Gulf of Mexico. The letter cited ASIH support for increased enforcement of turtle excluder devices, required registration of all shrimp fishing vessels, increased funding for in-water censuses for juvenile and adult sea turtles in feeding areas, and incorporation of science-based information into management and research efforts. The committee reviewed and approved a letter initiated by the Society for Integrative and Comparative Biology and joined by ASIH and others concerning the reauthorization of the Endangered Species Act. The Committee was charged by President Pietsch under an ASIH resolution (Copeia 1997:939) with developing a list of potential actions that might be taken during planning stages of future meetings to mitigate negative environmental impacts of annual meetings. Gene Helfman, EQC member, is developing the list for presentation at a future meeting. Under another ASIH resolution (Copeia 1997:939-940), the committee accepted Steve Walsh as a representative of the Southeastern Fishes Council.

The ASIH Equal Participation Committee sponsors activities that increase and support the role of women in the society by involving all interested members of ASIH. At the 1998 meeting the committee coordinated a mentoring program and held a lunchtime panel discussion. Over 36 members participated in the mentoring program that is designed to match mentorees with established professionals in their chosen fields. All participants in the mentoring program were invited to attend an informal meeting on 17 July. The topic for the panel discussion was, "Mothering on the Tenure Track." Over 45 participants attended the 19 July lunch meeting which was financially supported by the University of Guelph.

HENRY S. FITCH AWARD COMMITTEE - Harry W. Greene, Chair

No report received at time of printing.

GAIGE FUND AWARD COMMITTEE - Kiisa Nishikawa, Chair

The Gaige Fund Committee has chosen 7 outstanding awardees from among the 34 completed applications that we received for evaluation this year. Only 1 application was incomplete by the time that review began, and the applicant has been notified that his application was not considered for an award this year. We decided to make 5 awards to Ph.D. students and 2 awards to M.S. students, of $500 each. This year's awardees are:

1) Michael J. Angilletta, Jr., Department of Biology, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA 19104-6018; "Physiological causes of life history variation in a geographically widespread lizard."

2) Rafe Brown, Department of Zoology, University of Texas, Austin, TX 78712; "Systematics, biogeography and the importance of direct development in the evolution of platymantine ranids (Anura; Ranidae)."

3) Sharon J. Downes, Biological Sciences A08, University of Sydney, NSW 2006, Australia; "Using behaviour, a common garden and genetics to investigate the mechanisms of predator-prey coevolution in rock-dwelling reptiles."

4) Maureen Kearney, George Washington University, Department of Biological Sciences, Washington, DC 20052; "Phylogenetic analysis of the Amphisbaenia based on evidence from fossil and recent forms."

5) Meredith J. Mahoney, Museum of Vertebrate Zoology, 3101 VLSB #3160, University of California, Berkeley, CA 94720; "A phylogenetic approach to the study of morphological evolution in salamanders."

6) Jeanne M. Serb, Illinois Natural History Survey -CBD, 607 East Peabody Drive, Champaign, IL 61820; "Phylogeographic analysis of the Kinosternon flavescens species group."

7) Rachel Willard, 1721 Morningside Dr., Fort Collins, CO 80525; "The role of the integument in freeze avoidance in the painted turtle (Chrysemys picta): a possible barrier to ice inoculation."

I have notified the treasurer in writing of the names and addresses of the awardees. I cannot be at the banquet to present the awards, but will inquire whether another member of the committee is able to do so. Karen Lips will rotate to chair the committee next year. I am rotating off the committee after three years of service and another person will be appointed by the new president to replace me.

HERPETOLOGICAL INFORMATION COORDINATOR - John E. Simmons

Responses were provided to 44 inquiries received between March 1997 and April 1998. 41 of these inquiries came via e-mail, three by letter. The inquiries can be grouped into the following categories: salamanders (3), frogs (9), turtles (3), lizards (8), snakes (9), general herpetological questions (7), and careers in herpetology (5).

ICHTHYOLOGICAL AND HERPETOLOGICAL COLLECTIONS COMMITTEE - Brooks M. Burr, Chair

The Ichthyological and Herpetological Collections Committee (Brooks M. Burr, Chair), the largest committee in the Society with 28 members, is divided into four subcommittees: 1) Newsletter (H. J. Walker, Chair); 2) Supplies and Practices (Alexandra M. Snyder, Chair); 3) Ichthyological Data Standards (Jeffrey T. Williams, Chair); and 4) Herpetological Data Standards (Linda S. Ford, Chair). A major accomplishment in 1997 was the preparation and approval of a lengthy report on the history and purpose of the Collections Committee for inclusion in the ASIH Policies and Procedures Manual.

The Newsletter Subcommittee reported that the proposed publication date for Curation Newsletter #12, summer 1998, will be delayed at least six months. The lead, major article was withdrawn recently and two more articles which were proposed have yet to be submitted. The Subcommittee has been soliciting contributions and has posted a "call for papers" announcement on the ASIH Homepage. The plan is to have a discussion item and coordination effort with potential authors during the Collections Committee Meeting at the 78th Annual ASIH Meeting in Guelph.

The subcommittee on Supplies and Practices now has a searchable database of supplies for collections of fishes, and amphibians and reptiles, that is located on the ASIH web Page under "Committees" (http://www.museum.tulane.edu/asih/supplies.htm). More information will be added to this list and some information needs updating by the editor. Gratitude goes to Dean A. Hendrickson and Lori Bockstanz for establishing the webpage and to Michael S. Taylor for designing the Supplies Database web pages. Committee members continue to respond to a variety of questions regarding supplies and practices via electronic mail and telephone. Typical questions are those on database field structure, source of X-ray machines, source for rubber jar gaskets, and so forth. Discussions among committee members have been facilitated by a listserv or an electronic conference in which such topics as museum accessions, wet collection jar labels and their production, and sources for larger-than-normal specimen tanks have been brought up. A comprehensive statement on Accessions will be submitted to the ASIH Newsletter by Subcommittee Chair L. Snyder in 1998.

The Subcommittee on Ichthyological Data Standards was charged with developing "computer-based collection standards" that will bring systematic collections closer to the goal of sharing information by having "data accessible under a single format." Primary goals have been to: 1) ensure that collections are recording the fundamental bits of information that are important to the ichthyological community; 2) ensure that those bits are documented in a manner that is more or less consistent with existing schemes and future directions; and 3) specify the semantics (definitions) of an interchange format (i.e., ensure that the right values are entered into the right fields, so that sender and receiver understand one another, and so that there is less heterogeneity among many senders contributing to a single data set). In an effort to provide guidelines that will assist collections in moving toward an improved system of sharing information, the subcommittee has developed a preliminary list and definitions of the basic data elements that should be captured in the course of computer cataloging specimen lots. This list is a starting point for data exchange and not a database structure. Many additional fields could be added to cover a much broader range of data values (more detailed information on general data elements is available for viewing on the world wide web at http://gizmo.lbl.gov/DM_TOOLS/OPM/BCSL/LIB/BioCollections.html), but fields suggested cover critical information that should be captured for an ichthyological catalog record. Data managers at individual collections should strive to capture as much information as possible about each lot being cataloged, using the list of fields on the web page cited below as a starting point. The subcommittee report is on the ASIH web site and is available for review and comment from ASIH members and others interested in systematic collection data standards. The URL for the web page is http://www.utexas.edu/depts/asih/coms/ihcc/datastandards/fish/fishdata.html. Future goals are to develop shared geographic authority files and shared major river drainage authority files. It is hoped that these authority files will facilitate the standardization and sharing of data among collections.

No report was received from the Subcommittee on Herpetological Data Standards.

ICHTHYOLOGICAL INFORMATION COORDINATOR - Stephen J. Walsh

Ichthyological Information Coordinator Stephen J. Walsh replied to 41 total inquiries received from the United States, seven foreign countries, and unknown origins. Questions were from students, the general public, aquarists and aquarium curators, and several journalists. Responses covered a variety of topics, including: general ecology and behavior; systematics; physiology; ever-popular piranha myths; Pfiesteria hysteria; and mysterious denizens of the deep. Most correspondences were directed to the business office via e-mail.

JOINT ASIH-AFS COMMITTEE ON NAMES OF FISHES - Joseph S. Nelson, Chair

The Joint ASIH/AFS Committee on Names of Fishes, Joseph S. Nelson, Chair, reported that the fish names committee and advisory subcommittee met Sunday, 29 June, 1200-1400 hrs at the 1997 ASIH conference held in Seattle. The following committee members were present: Joe Nelson (Chairman), Ed Crossman, Carter Gilbert, Bob Lea, Hector Espinosa-Perez, Don Stewart, and Jim Williams. In addition, the following participated in the Seattle committee meeting: William Anderson, Jr., Reeve Bailey, Carl Bond, George Burgess, Brooks Burr, Morgan Busby, Bruce Collette, Bill Eschmeyer, Lloyd Findley, Michael Hosie, Mary Mickevich, Larry Page, Richard Rosenblatt, William Smith-Vaniz, Wayne Starnes, and Mel Warren, and guests Keith Hatch and George Lee. Agenda items included: a) Bruce Collette discussed ITIS, the Integrated Taxonomic Information System, which is on the Internet, URL: http://www.itis.usda.gov/itis. Its implications to our list were discussed. b) Squawfish & jewfish revisited. Mr. George Lee, a biologist with the Yakima Indian Nation, gave a presentation on the offensive name squawfish. We will choose a replacement name (probably the name pikeminnow). The name jewfish will not be changed. c) Scope of list: lancelets, French names for all species in Quebec (FW & marine), and Spanish names for all FW species in Mexico will be added. Several other items were also discussed. A revised draft manuscript was given to the committee members for further work. All have an assigned task.

LONG RANGE PLANNING AND POLICY COMMITTEE - Robert K. Johnson, Chair

The sole activity of the Long Range Planning and Policy Committee during 1997-1998, has been the development of an ASIH Policy and Procedures Manual. The ASIH Policy and Procedures Manual seeks to clearly outline the responsibilities of each officer, committee, and representative, in the Society and provide detailed information on term of appointments and operating procedures. Although the Constitution and By-laws define the officers, Board of Governors, and (in part) the standing committee structure of the Society, the specifics relating to duties, timing of transitions of office and function has existed largely as oral tradition. Whereas this has worked fairly well in the past, the Society and its volunteer bureaucracy have grown sufficiently large that it is now appropriate to establish a written procedure statement.

This document shall address these specific issues:

For all ASIH officers, to develop a statement that clearly outlines operating procedures and specific time lines for their office.

For all ASIH committees, to develop a statement that clearly outlines the purposes of each committee, operating procedures and specific time lines.

To develop a synoptic history of constitutional and bylaws changes in the last 20 years related to duties and timing of actions of officers and committees. (Unless otherwise stated, any historical review in this document extends to 1980 but not before).

To develop a detailed recommendation on terms of officers and committee members and the timing of transitions functions relevant to the calendar year, the Society fiscal year, and the annual meeting.

To review the committee structure of ASIH and as appropriate make recommendations for change, including the consideration of "sunset" rules for ad hoc committees.

To develop a detailed recommendation to the Executive Committee on matters that should be handled as they occur vs. matters that should await BOFG consideration

We expect this document to be evolutionary, as Society functions change to reflect circumstances, opportunities and technologies. Therefore we, and future, members of LRPP will continue to depend upon suggestions from all members to make this Manual most useful.

Implementation and Use of the Procedures Manual

The approval of this Manual shall be by majority vote of the Executive Committee (EXEC) and the Board of Governors (BOFG). If approved, the Manual shall go into effect six months after the date of approval.

The Manual includes three classes of items:

(1) Procedures and policies mandated by the ASIH Constitution and/or Bylaws. An attempt has been made to clearly identify policies that are established as "code" and therefore binding.

(2) Procedures and policies that have been adopted as standard operating procedure by the various cognizant ASIH officers and committees, by the Executive Committee, and/or the Board of Governors, but which are not explicitly mandated by the Constitution or Bylaws. If the manual is approved, the bulk of the manual falls into this category.

(3) Procedures and policies that are presented as recommendations, not code, but for the most part reflect current and often long-standing practice. An attempt has been made to clearly identify procedures that are to be regarded as recommendations. Any officer or committee may choose to act in a manner different from that recommended but it is strongly suggested that contact be made with the Secretary (SECR) if this involves substantive departure. Clearly any action on behalf of ASIH is ultimately subject to review by the BOFG.

This Manual may be amended by recommendation of any officer or committee subject to review by EXEC and approval by majority vote of BOFG. Amendments may also be initiated by individual members through the EXEC and BOFG review and approval process. Minor editorial changes not involving changed meaning or added function require only approval by EXEC or the SECR.

Once approved, maintenance and emendation of the Manual are charged to the SECR. It is anticipated that current "hard" copy will be maintained by the SECR and by the Chair of the Long Range Planning and Policy Committee (LRPP). It is recommended that a current electronic copy be maintained by the SECR on the ASIH website for access by all interested persons.

Sunset Rule for Rules: Six months after the adoption of this Manual by the BOFG, should such adoption occur, any previously adopted resolution or rule or procedure not treated in or at variance with this Manual shall be null and void. Resurrection after the six month period shall be treated as consideration of a new proposal. This "Sunset Rule" does not apply to items specifically covered in the Constitution or Bylaws of the Society. The purpose of this "Sunset Rule" is to ameliorate debate over priority for "rules" that may best be treated as "leges oblita". During the six month period any Governor or individual member may forward to EXEC items for possible inclusion or revision in the Manual. Items not approved for inclusion by EXEC on this basis shall be treated as new proposals if the sender so wishes, and will be subject to the normal approval process. Please note that this is not a backdoor route for new items or for substitution for established procedure, only items that have received documented BOFG approval will be considered.

The Long Range Planning and Policy moves Board of Governors acceptance and adoption of this Manual.

Members of the Long Range Planning and Policy Committee:

Larry G. Allen (1996-1999)
Kassi Cole (1998-2000)
Maureen A. Donnelly (1998-2000)
David Greenfield (1998-2000)
Robert K. Johnson (1995-1998, Chair)
Deanna J. Stouder (1995-1998)
Joseph Travis (1995-1998)

 

Attachments:

(1) The Manual is available for inspection at the following website addresses:

http://www.utexas.edu/depts/asih/pubs/policy/Policy41.html (465 k)
http://www.utexas.edu/depts/asih/pubs/policy/Policy41.pdf (425 k)

(2) A limited number of hard copy sets will be available at Guelph for inspection.

(3) Sample Officer Account (ASIH Treasurer) (See Appendix B).

NOMINATING COMMITTEE - Alan de Queiroz, Chair

No report received at time of printing.
Late report available at http://www.asih.org/meetings/1998/late98.html

PUBLICATIONS POLICY COMMITTEE - Michael E. Douglas, Chair

No report this year due to the fact that the committee did not meet at last year's meeting.

RANEY FUND AWARD COMMITTEE - Larry Allen, Chair

The Raney Award Committee this year included Larry G. Allen (California State University Northridge, chair), John E. Olney (Virginia Institute of Marine Sciences), and George R. Sedberry (South Carolina Department of Natural Resources). The call for applications was published in Copeia 1997(4): 918, with a cutoff date for receipt of applications of March 1, 1998. Fourteen completed applications were received. With $4,000 in funds to disburse in 1998, the committee was able to fund six proposals: April Randle, Department of Zoology, University of Florida, Gainesville ($1000), "Respiratory partitioning in two species of anabantoid fishes: implications for the evolution of bimodal breathing"; Stephen M. Kajiura, Department of Zoology, University of Hawaii at Manoa ($640), "Electroreception in juvenile scalloped hammerhead sharks"; Kyle R. Piller, Museum of Natural History, Tulane University ($485), "Systematics and historical ecology of the Etheostoma blennioides complex"; Elena Amesbury, Department of Zoology, University of Florida, Gainesville ($900), "Embryo development in elasmobranchs and the evolution of viviparity"; Ian M. Hamilton, Department of Biological Sciences, Simon Fraser University ($510), "The influence of dominance status and predation risk on habitat use by juvenile salmonids"; and Christopher E. Skelton, Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, University of Tennessee ($478), "Systematics of the Etheostoma tippecanoe and E. denoncourti."

ROBERT H. GIBBS, Jr. MEMORIAL AWARD COMMITTEE - G. David Johnson, Chair

During March of this year, the Robert H. Gibbs, Jr. Memorial Award Committee evaluated six nominees for the 1998 award and arrived at a decision by regular mail, e-mail, and telephone. As is customary, this year's recipient of the award, the tenth since its inception, will be announced at the annual ASIH Banquet, on 22 July 1998 in Guelph.

The Committee will continue to announce and promote the award through publication of notices in scientific journals, including Copeia. Following the annual ASIH meeting, the Committee Chairman will forward the announcement of the winner for 1998 to these journals along with a request for future nominations. Following the tradition of previous years, a full page in Copeia, 1998 (4), will be devoted to a plaque bearing the name of the 1998 awardee as well as a list of all former recipients of the award. As with previous awardees this year's recipient of the award will be encouraged to submit a paper in systematic ichthyology to Copeia to appear (following the normal editorial review process) in the second year following the award as the lead ichthyological paper in the journal.

STUDENT AWARDS COMMITTEE - Paula Mabee, Chair

No report received at time of printing.

TIME, PLACE, AND PROGRAM COMMITTEE - Patrick T. Gregory, Chair

The Time, Place, and Program Committee has little to report this year. Preparations are well underway for the proposed meeting in La Paz, Mexico in 2000. Final approval of that meeting is subject to a satisfactory report on planning to the Time, Place and Program Committee at this year's meeting in Guelph. We now need to turn our attention to meetings for 2001 and beyond. Given the geographic pattern of recent and currently planned meetings, a meeting site in the Midwest would be ideal. We will be happy to receive invitations from prospective host institutions.

Patrick T. Gregory, Chair
Jay Stauffer, Pennsylvania Meeting (1999) Organizer
Jim Bogart, Guelph Meeting (1998) Organizer
Bob Cashner, New Orleans Meeting (1996) Organizer
Chris Tracy, Graduate Student Representative
Sanford Moss, AES Representative
Ellen Censky, SSAR Representative
Joe Mitchell, HL Representative

---

REPRESENTATIVES TO OTHER GROUPS

AMERICAN ASSOCIATION FOR THE ADVANCEMENT OF SCIENCES - Alan E. Leviton

AMSIE'98, the 164th general meeting celebrating the 150th anniversary of AAAS, was held in Philadelphia, February 21-26. The anniversary meeting was well attended, attracting nearly 5,000 people. Among the special events for the 150th anniversary were the noontime address by President Bill Clinton on Friday, February 13, a substantive exhibit relating to the history of the Association, and a symposium celebrating the past and future of AAAS, "AAAS at 150: The Past as Prologue?" Unfortunately, once again, because of conflicting obligations and schedules, I was unable to attend several functions held expressly for affiliated society representatives. However, I did attend the Section on Biological Sciences meeting as ASIH representative.

At the Section meetings, those items that, on balance, would be of general interest to the ASIH membership were (1) continued discussion on the subject of the Fellow's nomination process and (2) planning for the Anaheim (California) meetings next year (21-26 Jan.). A cluster of symposia topics, rather wide-ranging in content, were suggested, several of which are likely to interest ASIH members, including two that could have broad appeal, (a) "Science and Scientists as seen by Hollywood" (one can certainly let their imagination run wild with this one!), and (b) a Film Festival dealing with science and scientists. Other suggestions, perhaps of a more serious cast, include (c) "Evolution and Development: New Insights on Developmental Mechanisms that Shed Light on How Organisms Evolved;" (d) "The Value of Natural Reserve Systems to the State of California;" (e) "The History of Natural Resources in California: 150 years of Human Impact;" and (f) "Towards an Integrative Biology." Among proposals coming from other AAAS Sections, those that seem to this correspondent most likely to interest ASIH members, because they relate to (a) living systems and biogeography and/or (b) evolving technologies for research and analysis, include, from Section E (Geology and Geography), (a) "Island Ecology and Geology," (b) "Paleoclimatic Change and Civilization," and (c) "Monsoon Glaciation: Summertime Precipitation and Ice in High Asia;" from Section L (History & Philosophy of Science): (a) "Visions of Nature in Museums, National Parks, Aquaria, and Disneyland;" and Section T (Information, Computing and Communications): (a) "Image Information: Storage and Retrieval," and (b) "Geographical Information Systems." Many other sessions have been proposed; their contents will assuredly cross discipline boundaries and should have some appeal to the ASIH members even though they do not deal specifically with fishes, reptiles, or amphibians.

With respect to the Fellows' nomination procedures, several procedural changes were proposed and the Sections were asked to comment on them. Among these were: (a) Should consideration be given to the option of creating section search and screening committees to assist the steering committees of the larger sections in their review of fellows nominations, and (b) What mechanisms can be used to increase the number of three-fellow nominations for fellowship. The latter is of special interest inasmuch as it allows three fellows to nominate a person for fellowship who may not be known to the section's steering committee and would ordinarily be rejected by the committee for whatever reason, but often because the section will exceed the statutory limit on the number of new fellows it can present, and whether one likes it or not, friends do come first! As an aside, but nonetheless important, the section's steering committee could still reject the nominee, but because the proposal comes from three fellows, the nominators may appeal for a reversal to the Committee on Council Affairs (not true if the nomination arises from within the steering committee).

The names of Fellows of AAAS who were elected in 1997 were published in the October 31, 1997 issue of Science magazine. The following ASIH members are among those recently recognized: Louis J. Guillette, Jr. (Univ. Florida), James Hanken (Univ. Colorado), Bruce H. Robison (MBARI, Pacific Grove, CA), and Peter C. Wainwright (Florida State Univ.). It is also gratifying to report that the Chair of the AAAS Section on Biological Sciences for 1998-1999 is Marvalee Wake (Univ. California, Berkeley).

Because your AAAS representative recently stepped down, after 22 years, as executive officer of the Pacific Division AAAS, he did not attend this year's AAAS Board of Directors meeting or the Council that met several days later. Thus, he is unable to report on what went on and like most AAAS and ASIH members will have to wait until the information appears in Science during the coming months.

With respect to the meetings themselves, and as mentioned earlier, the President addressed the meeting on Friday, February 13th, and, of course, drew an overflow crowd. The highlights of his presentation appeared in the February 20th issue of Science on the "Editorial" page (Science 279:1111) under Bill Clinton's authorship. Apart from this event, several topical lectures were especially attractive to your correspondent: Eugene Garfield's "The Scientist Mapping the World of Science"; Garland Allen, "Genetics, Eugenics, and the Medicalization of Social Behavior"; Michael Novacek's "Exploring the Web and the Tree of Life"; and last, but assuredly not least, C. Everett Koop's ringing indictment of the tobacco industry in a presentation titled "The Tobacco Wars." On a less tempestuous note, the track (AAAS organizes its sessions in tracks, i.e., clusters of symposia that look at one or more closely related themes) on Environment and Life Sciences included several theme sessions of interest to ASIH members: (a) "The International Biodiversity Observation Year;" (b) "Systematic Biology for the New Millennium;" and (c) "Ocean Sciences: Advances, Challenges, and Marine Policy Management Implications."

AMERICAN ELASMOBRANCH SOCIETY - George H. Burgess

The American Elasmobranch Society (AES) held its 13th Annual Meeting in Seattle, WA concurrently with ASIH. As in past meetings, the hard work of the local ASIH committee, chaired this year by Ted Pietsch, made planning an easy one. About 150 AES members, plus additional ASIH attendees, attended the AES sessions of contributed papers and symposia. More than 50 AES papers were presented. The AES plenary address given by Samuel H. Gruber honored the memory of Donald Nelson, an AES founder who passed on recently.

The AES Executive Committee and the Board of Directors met on 26 June, and the society's business meeting was held on 28 June. The issue of non-payment of dues was addressed by adding late and reactivation fees and Don Nelson was posthumously awarded Distinguished Fellow status. Results of mail-ballot elections were announced: Phil Motta, President; Gerald Crow, Treasurer; Leighton Taylor, Secretary/Editor; Sandy Moss and Buck Snelson, Board of Directors; Steve Branstettter, Grant Fund Committee; Brad Wetherbee, Jennifer Wyffels, Ed Heist, Joe Sisneros, and Cathy Walsh, Nominating Committee.

The AES Banquet was held at the Faculty Club. Peter Piermarini received the Gruber Award for best student paper, "Osmoregulation of the Atlantic stingray (Dasyatis sabina) in the freshwater Lake Jessup of the St. Johns River, FL." In attendance were 1997 officers John Morrisey (President), Sanford A. Moss (Secretary/Editor), and Franklin F. Snelson (Treasurer).

AES wishes to thank ASIH for its continued support of joint meetings, and will next meet in Guelph in conjunction with the 1998 ASIH annual meetings.

AMERICAN FISHERIES SOCIETY - M. L. Warren

Melvin L. Warren, Jr., ASIH representative to the American Fisheries Society (AFS), reported several activities within AFS of direct relevance to ASIH, particularly those concerning conservation of aquatic organisms. The AFS approved a request from the Southeastern Fishes Council (SFC) to accept an SFC representative to sit on the AFS Endangered Species Committee. Malcolm Pierson, an ASIH, AFS, and SFC member, has been appointed to that committee. The AFS published a special issue of Fisheries [1997. 22(5)] on stream restoration that emphasized the need for large-scale, holistic approaches. A must-read essay appeared on the goals and strategies of animal-rights activists regarding fish and fishing in Fisheries [1997. 23(1)]. Jack Williams and Cindy Deacon-Williams in cooperation with the Pacific Rivers Council and Desert Fishes Council plan to publish an article in Fisheries on the status of western U.S. fishes early next year. Likewise, Mel Warren and Brooks Burr and 13 southern ichthyologists of the Southeastern Fishes Council are developing a distributional checklist with conservation status for all native freshwater fish taxa (described and undescribed) in the southern U.S. for publication in Fisheries in the spring of 1998.
 

ASSOCIATION OF SYSTEMATICS COLLECTIONS - Lawrence M. Page

The 1997 Annual Meeting of the Association of Systematics Collections was held in Atlanta, Georgia, on April 24-26. The meeting featured a public session on strategic planning to expand ASC membership, a joint ASC -Association of Science Museum Directors meeting on the collections mission of natural history institutions, and a workshop on research, collections, and education. Industry and government representatives spoke to meeting attendees about projects in informatics.

Elaine Hoagland presented her Executive Director's report and identified key issues for the ASC as business planning for systematics services and informatics at natural history institutions, and ownership/stewardship of collections from public lands. Director Hoagland resigned effective 30 September 1997; ASC is searching for a new Director.

EARLY LIFE HISTORY SECTION OF AMERICAN FISHERIES SOCIETY - Michael P. Fahay

The 22nd Annual Larval Fish Conference (the annual meeting of this society) will be held in Ann Arbor, Michigan between July 9 and 13, 1998. This meeting will feature sessions on otolith chemistry, ELH modeling studies, zooplankton-larval fish interactions, and ELH of fishes of the Great Lakes. The organizers are particularly soliciting talks focusing on processes that affect survival or recruitment in both marine and freshwater ecosystems. Further details on the meeting can be found on the organizers' web page: http:// www.snre.umich.edu.

The Early Life History Section now has its own web-page. Contained therein are details of upcoming meetings, a membership directory, an online version of "Stages" The section's newsletter) as well as back issues of "Stages". The address is: http://www.eos.ubc.ca/afs_early.

Membership in this section of AFS now includes researchers from around the world. The semi-annual newsletter "Stages" contains contributions from Europe, Asia, Africa, Australia, South America, and four regions from the U.S. Affiliate. Non-voting membership includes a subscription to this informative newsletter and is available for $10.00/year. Interested ASIH members should contact Kathy Lang, NOAA, NMFS, 166 Water Street, Woods Hole, Massachusetts 02543.

FISH BEHAVIOR GROUP OF ANIMAL BEHAVIOR SOCIETY - Arthur A. Myrburg

The Animal Behavior Society had its 34th annual meeting at the University of Maryland, College Park, June 21-26, 1997.

331 papers were presented, essentially the same number as presented in 1996. Forty-two papers dealt with subjects of direct interest to our members. That was a decrease of 18% in the number presented in 1996: 18 (5.4%) dealt with fishes, 15 (4.5%) dealt with amphibians, and 9 (2.7%) dealt with reptiles. These totals accounted for 12.7% of the total papers presented at the meeting.

Papers on fishes were the lowest in % of total representation since 1992. Families, having the most reports, were: poeciliids (5), salmonids (4), and cyprinids (3).

Herpetological groups dropped slightly from their high representation in 1996 (28 papers) to 24 contributions in 1997. Reports on frogs (8) and salamanders (7) were about even among the amphibians, while lizards were the major subjects among the reptiles (6).

Reports were divided among several topics (loosely defined):

	Fishes	Amphibians	Reptiles
Reproduction	6	3	1
Aggression	3	1	2
Communication	0	6	0
Predator-prey	2	1	1
Learning	0	1	1
Mate-choice	1	1	0
Feeding	1	1	0
Species-recognition	2	0	0
Applied	2	0	0
Locomotion	0	0	2
Various (one each: sex-differences, hormones, over-wintering, schooling)	1	1	2
Totals	18	15	9

The ABS, in 1997, initiated a permanent Business Office and Editorial Office at Indiana University, Bloomington.

The 1998 annual meeting of the ABS will be at Southern Illinois University, Carbondale, July 18-22,1998; web site: http://www.cisab.indiana.edu/ABS.

INTERNATIONAL UNION FOR THE CONSERVATION OF NATURE - George Rabb

The IUCN celebrates its 50th anniversary this year. More regionally structured than ever, it has become a substantial force in bringing technically and scientifically informed considerations to the increasing debates over environmental welfare and development. Its input in CITES affairs is a long-standing example, but its contributions are now also looked to in the context of the Convention on Biological Diversity, the GEF program, and in particular international treaties and conventions. An example is the Protocol on Environmental Protection to the Antarctic Treaty, which became effective on ratification by Japan on January 14, l998. For most ASIH members, the most pertinent work in IUCN takes place in two of its volunteer commissions, the Species Survival Commission and the World Commission on Protected Areas, and this report concentrates on recent activities of the SSC network.

The most outstanding accomplishment in the SSC was the publication in April 1998 of the first-ever Red List of Threatened Plants. The main finding was that about 34,000 species of vascular plants, 12.5% of the total flora, are threatened. Insular floras are at special risk, but so are the plants of well-studied areas such as the continental U.S., with 29% of 16,000 native species being threatened. This list will be updated using IUCN's more quantitatively rigorous criteria of threat. The first update, on the trees of the world, will be published shortly.

The SSC is pursuing the development of the Species Information Service to share species conservation information at various geographical levels worldwide. Prototype software is being provided to SSC Specialist Groups for use and review, and it is hoped that similar efforts already underway by some groups can be made compatible with the general system, which in turn will be linked to the Biodiversity Conservation Information System. The latter puts the species data in ecosystem and legal relationships, in particular to information on protected areas. For more information on BCIS visit the website: http://www.biodiversity.org or contact Susan Tressler for the BCIS Information Packet (tressler@igc.apc.org). More information on SIS is available from Mariano Dixon (mgd@hq.iucn.org).

Invasive species, identified as a principal global threat to the integrity of the biota, are receiving more and more attention, thanks to the efforts of the SSC Invasive Species Specialist Group and SCOPE. IUCN is also integrating work of commissions, programs, and four regional offices on the issue. SCOPE has submitted a proposal to GEF through UNEP to fund a Global Strategy and Action Plan for Alien Invasive Species, with IUCN as a major partner. For more information, send email to s.lowe@auckland.ac.nz.

Fishes for the Future is a partnership initiative of SSC, Fauna and Flora International, the World Conservation Monitoring Centre, and ICLARM, the International Center for Living Aquatic Resources Management. The partnership is committed to providing information to ensure the survival and sustainable use by people of the world's freshwater fishes. Objectives include a comprehensive Red List assessment and regional conservation action plans. Fund-raising is underway for the initiative.

SSC's Declining Amphibian Population Task Force members have been stimulated to greater activity by reports at the last ASIH-SSAR-HL meeting in Seattle, the subsequent Third World Herpetological Congress in Prague last August, and recent assemblies of regional task force groups. A special workshop at the University of Illinois considered the nature of a fungal pathogen known to affect frogs in Central America, Australia, and in captive conditions. Results of the workshop are to be published soon in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. Meetings with the heads of U.S. agencies (CEQ, Interior, Health, EPA) by DAPTF chair Ron Heyer, former chair David Wake, Karen Lips, Sam Droege, myself and others may lead to greater attention to the problem and more coordination of effort within U.S. agencies. The latter outcome is more likely if there is indeed a connection between the population declines and extinctions and the high incidence of abnormalities in northern U.S. and Canadian frog populations. Ken Dodd reported in Froglog 26 on the December 1997 meeting on the latter topic sponsored by the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences. Jim Collins has organized an NSF workshop in late May 1998 to develop the research agenda needed within and outside U.S. governmental agencies. Tim Halliday, DAPTF International Director, has represented the issue to Diversitas, following on a presentation in late 1997 by Marvalee Wake, Karen Lips, and myself. The objective is to obtain more international notice and to access funding from GEF and other sources. The Global Amphibian Campaign, a joint venture of Conservation International, Fauna and Flora International, and SSC, will help promote attention to the scientific and political issues and fund-raise. The Amphibian Conservation Alliance, based in Berkeley, is also working to attract money and notice to the problem.

On the reptile front, two outcomes of the Seattle meeting were the recognition of a West Indian Iguana Specialist Group as part of SSC, and a small workshop convened by Ross Kiester and John Behler (chair of the Freshwater Turtle and Tortoise Specialist Group) on the substantial impact of trade on the turtles of southeast Asia. On the shark front, Sarah Fowler, co-chair of the Shark Specialist Group, reported the rediscovery of a very rare freshwater shark in Sabah, Borneo, as well as new species of sharks and rays from the region (sarahfowler@naturebureau.co.uk). For websites and other information on SSC Specialist Groups, visit: http://www.iucn.org/themes/ssc. For information on a November 1997 review of progress in conservation of protected areas since the last World Parks Congress in Caracas, contact David Sheppard (das@hq.iucn.org).

SOCIETY FOR THE PRESERVATION OF NATURAL HISTORY COLLECTIONS - John E. Simmons

The 12th annual SPNHC meeting was held 8-13 July, 1997, at the University of Wisconsin in Madison. Of particular interest to ASIH members were the following papers and posters.

Brokerhof, A. Acidity in fluid preserved specimens (determined that simple pH measurements were not an accurate measurement of acidity in ethanol solutions).

Njie, B. A custom box for holding the wet collections at the Canadian Museum of Nature (construction of storage boxes from the archivally stable material Coroplast)

Rowe, A. Charles Darwin's home-collections conservation strategy (English Heritage took over Down House in 1996, where Darwin worked for 40 years. A conservation survey was made of 5000 objects and specimens in the home and steps are being taken to preserve objects in danger of deterioration).

Russ, J., C.J. Kolman, S.L. Jewett, and N. Tuross. The whites of their eyes: criteria for selection of fluid stored fish for molecular studies (Fish preserved in ethanol have white, opaque lenses, unlike those preserved in formalin, which can be used to screen specimens for DNA extraction. However, subsequent fixation in formalin does not alter eye color).

Russ, J.L., C.J. Kolman, and N. Tuross. Time in a bottle: the effects of fluid fixation on biomolecules (fixation in formalin results in a rapid decline of extractable DNA from fish, beginning within hours of fixation).

Shaw, K. and J.E. Simmons. Design and construction of a fluid collection facility (outlined the planning, fire code, and storage environment concerns for a facility housing 625,000 specimens).

van Dam, A.J., J.P.M. van der Ploeg, G. J. M. Koper, and D. Bedeaux. Conservation of fluid preserved specimens: the warping and cracking of Plexiglas jars (Plexiglas containers fail due to pressure changes, which can be ameliorated by use of a simple bi-directional valve).

Von Endt, D.W. and P.E. Hare. Spirit collections: rates of change in the amino acids of bone at elevated temperatures (measures of the rate of amino acid racemization in bone stored in formalin and ethanol).

SOCIETY FOR THE STUDY OF AMPHIBIANS AND REPTILES and HERPETOLOGISTS' LEAGUE - Alan H. Savitzky

The Herpetologists' League and the Society for the Study of Amphibians and Reptiles will again be meeting jointly with ASIH in Guelph this year. In addition, both societies have committed to meeting jointly in 1999 at Pennsylvania State University. Those meetings follow the highly successful 1997 Seattle meeting, establishing an unprecedented record of three joint annual meetings in succession. Efforts are being made to encourage the societies to meet jointly again in La Paz in 2000.

The long-delayed joint herpetological directory, combining the membership of HL and SSAR with the herpetological membership of ASIH, is nearing completion. All three societies provided their membership files, and the difficult task of merging the data, which had been maintained in dissimilar database formats, was undertaken by several dedicated SSAR members. The resulting file is now being checked, and plans for publication of the directory will be finalized this summer.

Several important issues deserve the joint attention of the three herpetological societies. First, the issue of protocols for joint meetings has been raised, including matters such as the visibility of participating societies on the meeting logo and abstract book, sponsorship of joint events, the division of auction proceeds, etc. These issues are especially appropriate for discussion prior to the planned revision of the guidelines for hosting annual meetings of ASIH. Second, as ASIH considers the merits of professional business management, it would be useful to evaluate whether such an arrangement might be shared with the other two societies. A possible model for such an arrangement is the shared business office that serves several major North American ornithological societies. Finally, the three societies have worked together closely this year to respond to a number of environmental issues that impact upon amphibians and reptiles. While the three societies have welcomed the opportunity to participate jointly in those responses, it is evident that a more efficient procedure for expressing the societies' positions on such issues would be desirable, especially in the frequent cases when the response time is short. Those items and others will the subjects of discussion at the Intersociety Liaison Committee meeting this summer in Guelph.

---

APPENDICES

APPENDIX A:

 

Independent Auditor's Report	Page 3, Page 4
Statement of Financial Position (exhibit A)	Page 5
Statement of Activities (Exhibit B)	Page 6
Statement of Cash Flows (Exhibit C)	Page 7
Notes to Financial Statements	Page 8, Page 9, Page 10
Combining Schedule of Activities (Schedule 1)	Page 11, Page 12
Scedule of Management and General Expenses (Schedule 2)	Page 13
Schedule of Mutual Funds (Schedule 3)	Page 14

 

APPENDIX B:

N. TREA Treasurer

1. History of Office

Position extant in 1980.

2. Constitutional Mandate

a) Constitution

(IV-1) designated officer

b) Bylaws

(IV-1) has charge of all ASIH funds and securities (Implicit: serves ex officio on and/or as regular consultant to ENFC)

(IV-2) reports on finances annually to BOFG

3. Description of Functions

a) Summary of Responsibilities

The Treasurer shall be in charge of the funds and securities of the Society. At the annual meetings of the Society, the Treasurer shall present a statement of the funds and monies of the Society, the statement to cover the calendar year. The Treasurer serves ex officio on the ENFC.

b) Tenure

Although election is from year to year, the expected commitment is for a minimum of five years of service.

c) Operations of the Office of TREA

(1) Manage Cash Flow

(a) Revenues

Revenues to the Society come from memberships, subscriptions to Copeia, page charges for publication in Copeia, the sale of mailing lists, sales of back issues of Copeia, sales of special publications, donations to the Society, and income from investments.

Membership payments, subscriptions to Copeia, page charges for publication in Copeia, the sale of mailing lists, sales of back issues of Copeia, and the sales of special publications are all handled by Allen Press, and the money is deposited in a checking account in Lawrence, Kansas.

Donations to the Society are made directly to the Treasurer or through Allen Press on the membership/subscription application form. Money received by the Treasurer is acknowledged by a receipt and deposited in an appropriate account.

Income from investments is distributed to various funds as described below.

(b) Cash Flow

Checking/savings accounts are maintained by the Treasurer to facilitate cash flow as needed by the Society and to maximize interest earned.

(c) Disbursements

Expenses related to the publication of Copeia and to the operation of all offices of the Society are paid through checking accounts maintained by the Treasurer. For some offices (e.g., Secretary) an annual advance is given at the beginning of the year, and an annual summary of expenses is submitted to the Treasurer, for others (e.g., Sectional Editors), vouchers are submitted to the Treasurer and paid as received.

(2) Manage Investments

(a) Oversight

The Treasurer manages the investments of the Society with direction and advice from the Board of Governors (BOFG), the Executive Committee (EXEC), and the Endowment and Finance Committee (ENFC). Investments include money in the Current (Operating) Fund, Board-Designated Funds, and Restricted Funds.

(b) Fund Categories

(i) Unrestricted

Board-Designated Funds are the General Endowment Fund and the Life Membership Fund.

The General Endowment Fund consists of unrestricted donations and earnings on these donations. Donations are received by the Treasurer and invested in mutual funds as directed by the ENFC. When the Fund is large enough, a percentage of the net asset value will be disbursed for activities specified by the BOFG.

The Life Membership Fund consists of dues received from life members. The dues are invested in mutual funds specified by the EXEC and interest is retained in the Fund.

(ii) Restricted

Restricted Funds are the Gaige, Gibbs, Raney, Storer, and Stoye Funds. Each was established by a gift to the Society to enable the Society to present awards to its memos for their scientific endeavors.

The Society has combined resources of the Gaige, Gibbs, Raney, and Storer Funds into a common investment pool (also containing the Current Fund). The pool consists of government securities, certificates of deposit, and mutual funds. The amount of annual income earned annually by each Fund is determined by the return on the investments, and is apportioned according to the percentage of the total investment held by each Fund or as directed by the EXEC. The Stoye Fund is invested wholly in a single mutual fund.

(3) Arrange for Annual Audit

The Treasurer annually submits all necessary paperwork, including deposit records, receipts for bills paid, and a spreadsheet showing cash flow of the Society, to an independent accounting firm. The firm reviews the material submitted, prepares financial statements, and expresses a written opinion as to whether the financial statements accurately reflect the assets, liabilities, and fund balances of the Society.

(4) Submit Annual Financial Statement

The results of the independent audit, plus comments on the general financial condition of the Society, are submitted annually by the Treasurer in the form of a written report to the BOFG. The Treasurer also provides additional information on the finances of the Society as requested by the BOFG or at the Annual Business Meeting.

 

(4) Sample Committee Account (Raney Fund Award Committee)

 

N. RFAC Raney Fund Award Committee

1. Description and History

The Raney Award is presented annually in honor of Edward C. Raney (1909-1984). Raney was a leader among ichthyologists. He possessed a broad knowledge of the fishes of the world, and his particular area of expertise was the fishes of the eastern United States. A member of the faculty of Cornell University, Dr. Raney authored over 75 papers dealing with the systematics, behavior, and ecology of fishes. He was an expert on aquatic environmental problems and served on numerous environmental advisory committees. He was a member of over 30 professional societies, and he served as secretary (1948-1951) and president (1955-1956) of ASIH. The students of Ed Raney were and are among the leaders in modern ichthyology in no small part because of his mentorship and enthusiasm in the study of fishes. The Raney Fund was established in 1973 by BOFG action, to wit: "The Board voted unanimously that the Society accept with profound thanks the gift of $20,000 from Edward C. and Charlotte E. Raney within the spirit of the letter of transmission, to encourage young ichthyologists through small grants and prizes." (Copeia 1973(4): 834). This was confirmed by resolution in the Annual Business meeting of that year, "Resolution 1. Whereas Edward C. Raney and Charlotte Raney have made a substantial gift to the American Society of Ichthyologists and Herpetologists to support studies of young ichthyologists. In view of the increasing difficulties of financing student studies the gift is most timely and welcome. Be it resolved that the American Society of Ichthyologists and Herpetologists in convention assembled at San Jose, Costa Rica, accordingly extends most sincere thanks to the Raneys for their generosity." (Copeia 1973(4): 838). In 1974, the Raney Award and the Raney Award Committee were made part of the Bylaws (Copeia 1974(4): 1016) and Chairman Robert H. Gibbs, Jr., announced the first Raney Award recipients, Labbish Chao (VIMS) and Kevin Howe (OSU) (Copeia 1974(4): 1024). Funds derived from the Raney Fund for Ichthyology are used to provide support for young ichthyologists for museum or laboratory study, travel, fieldwork, or any other activity that will enhance their professional careers and their contributions to the science of ichthyology.

2. Constitutional Mandate

a) Bylaws

(VIII-5) Established as a Standing Committee

(XII-2-d) Responsibility for Raney Awards

3. Committee Appointment and Tenure

Applications for fund support are submitted for consideration to a committee of three ichthyologists appointed annually by the ASIH President. The Chair of the committee is appointed by the ASIH President. The committee serves 12 months, from annual meeting to annual meeting.

4. Charge to the RFAC

The committee shall:

(1) Arrange with the Managing Editor for publication of the announcement of the competition (text of announcement appended as Ancillary Document) in fourth number of Copeia of the year proceeding the year of competition, i.e. in 1995(4) for awards to be made in 1996.

(2) Receive applications and respond to questions from prospective proposal authors.

(3) Ensure that all proposals are fully documented as required in the printed instructions, that a letter has been received from the student's major advisor, and that the student is a member of ASIH or is aware of this requirement.

(4) Review and rank, individually and collectively, the proposals on the basis of scientific merit.

(5) Consult with the ASIH Treasurer to determine the amount of funding available for disbursement.

(6) Make the funding determination and inform all applicants of the success or not of their proposal.

(7) Notify the ASIH Treasurer of the recipients and amounts of the awards.

(8) File a final report with the ASIH Secretary for inclusion in the BOFG packet.

(9) Assure that due announcement of the competition and the results are made before the assembled membership at the Annual ASIH banquet.

 

5. Calendar

a) Annual Calendar

May: ASIH President contacts prospective Committee Chair to determine willingness to serve. ASIH President may request that Chair nominate additional Committee members.

June (variable): Appointment of the Committee and Committee Chair by the ASIH President. Announcement at annual meeting.

July: Committee Chair communicates notification of competition to Managing Editor for inclusion in fourth number of Copeia.

December: Publication in Copeia of announcement of competition.

February: Receipt and compilation of proposals. Communication with proposal authors as necessary to ensure compliance with documentation and membership certification requirements

March 1: Deadline for receipt of proposals. Committee begins proposal review and consideration. Chair contacts ASIH Treasurer to determine funding available for awards.

April 1: Committee completes deliberations. Award decisions finalized. Chair contacts proposal authors. Successful authors informed of how to receive funds. Notification to ASIH Treasurer. Submission of Final Report to ASIH Secretary.

June: Announcement of results of competition at ASIH annual banquet.

6. Ancillary Document(s)

a) Raney Award Announcement

Raney Fund Award Announcement, for publication in fourth issue of Copeia in year preceding award decision. Text follows:

RANEY FUND AWARD

The Raney Award is presented annually in honor of Edward C. Raney (1909-1984). Raney was a leader among ichthyologists. He possessed a broad knowledge of the fishes of the world, and his particular area of expertise was the fishes of the eastern United States. A member of the faculty of Cornell University, Dr. Raney authored over 75 papers dealing with the systematics, behavior, and ecology of fishes. He was an expert on aquatic environmental problems and served on numerous environmental advisory committees. He was a member of over 30 professional societies, and he served as secretary (1948-1951) and president (1955-1956) of ASIH. The students of Ed Raney were and are among the leaders in modern ichthyology in no small part because of his mentorship and enthusiasm in the study of fishes. Applications are solicited for grants to be awarded from the Raney Fund for Ichthyology. These funds are used to provide support for young ichthyologists for museum or library study, travel, fieldwork, or any other activity that will effectively enhance their professional careers and their contributions to the science of ichthyology. Applicants should be members of ASIH and should be enrolled for an advanced degree. Applicants who do not meet these basic requirements may be considered for the award under exceptional circumstances if their careers are judged to be in a developmental stage. Individual awards are typically in the $300 - $500 range and will be awarded on the basis of both merit and need. Applications for the Raney Award and a letter of recommendation (normally from the applicant's major advisor) should be sent to <Committee Chair, Contact Information>. The original and three copies of each application should consist of no more than two single-spaced, typewritten pages and must include the following: (1) name, address, social security number, telephone number, fax number, and email address of the applicant; (2) institutional affiliation; (3) academic degree being sought and the year of its expected completion, or the highest degree and its date of award; (4) name of applicant's current or most recent major professor; (5) title of the proposed research; (6) a concise description of research objectives (including broad questions being addressed), methods and/or experimental design; (7) sources of partial support for the research and pending applications for support from other funds; (8) an outline budget; and (9) a short statement of the way in which the award would be used to enhance research.. A Literature Cited section should be appended. Budget items should be listed as nearly as possible in order of priority. Applicants should attempt to keep the budget within the amount of available funds. In case the award must be less than the requested budget, the impact of eliminating part or all of any of the items should be clearly given. An original plus three copies of a letter of recommendation from the applicant's current major professor are required. The letter should include statements concerning the following: (1) the competence of the applicant; (2) the significance of the applicant's research; (3) the desirability of and need for the funds being requested by the applicant. The applicant should request that the letter be sent directly to the Raney Award Committee Chairperson. The application and letter of recommendation should reach the committee chairperson no later than March 1, <year>. It is expected that awards will be made by 15 April <year>.