The Southwestern Association of Naturalists
Minutes of the Business Meeting
Cuernavaca, Morelos, México
Friday, 26 April 2002
President Paula S. Williamson called the meeting to order at 1115 with a quorumpresent.
The membership approved the Minutes of the 2001 Business Meeting asprinted in
Volume 46(4) of The Southwestern Naturalist. The Secretary read a
summary of the 2002Meeting of the Board of Governors and Officers (BOG).
President Williamson appointed the Wilks Award presenters(M. Castillo-Rivera, Chad W. Hargrave, Lisa A. McWilliams, and RicardoTorres-Cervantes) tellers for the BOG election.
Brenda Clark gave the Treasurer's report, with copies of the written version
tothe BOG available. She reported income, expenses, and checkbook
activityas provided in the written report and as summarized in the Minutes of
theMeeting of the Board of Governors and Officers (BOG).
The Treasurer then reported on memberships, with details on2001 and current memberships contained in the written report and summarized inthe Minutes of the Meeting of the BOG on 25 April 2002. She alsopresented a roster of 117 new members for approval. There was a motionand second to approve the new members. The motion carried.
Clark then reported a summary of the 2003 proposed balanced budget
of $76,500 approved at the Meeting of the BOG on 25 April 2002.
Theminutes of that meeting summarize her report. President
Williamsoncalled for questions on the budget, and there were none.
Jerry Choate reported for the Trustees that SWAN had areasonably successful investment year, considering the behavior of thefinancial markets during the past year. Details are available in his writtenreport and a summary appears in the Minutes of the Meeting of the BOG.
Karen McBee reported that publication of the journal is progressing in a
timelyfashion, with all of Volume 46 and 47(1) published, 47(2) at press, and
47(3)ready for submission to Allen Press in early June. McBee thanked the
AssociateEditors and the other staff members for their valuable contributions,
and TroyBest for his work in preparing the 10-year index for the journal. Several editorial board changes werealso
announced, and McBee also described some details of the submission,review, and
publication process that have improved efficiency, as reported inthe Minutes of
the Meeting of the BOG.
Anthony Echelle, Chair of the Honors Committee last year, made a
specialpresentation of the Robert L. Packard Outstanding Educator Award to
Robert J.Baker (who would be unable to attend the banquet on Saturday evening),
citingnumerous of Baker's achievements. Baker accepted the award with a short
recitation of the large benefit tohim of his association with Packard and
Packard's numerous outstandingqualities and contributions as an educator
himself.
Troy Best, Chair of the Honors Committee, announced that 3awards for the year 2002 were approved by the BOG this year, to be made at thebanquet at the 2003 Annual Meeting in Norman, Oklahoma:
Robert L. Packard Outstanding Educator Award: John T. Baccus, Professor
ofBiology, Southwest Texas State University.
W. Frank Blair Eminent Naturalist Award:(1) Roger Conant,Adjunct Professor of Biology, University of New Mexico and Director and Curatorof Reptiles Emeritus, Philadelphia Zoological Garden; (2) Robert C. Stebbins, Professor Emeritus, University ofCalifornia at Berkeley Museum of Vertebrate Zoology.
President Williamson, Troy Best, and the tellers conducted the BOG election,and
the tellers retired to count the ballots.
President Williamson then received committee reports.
Philip Sudman reported on the Membership Committee'sactivity over the past year in awarding 17 Student Membership Awards andproducing a reminder to current and lapsed members and authors to join. He also solicited nominees for this year's Student Membership Awards.
Bruce Stewart reported for the ad hoc Committee on International Relations. Hethanked the Local Committee for its outstanding effort at making the meetingthis year a success, and appealed to the membership to participate ininternational research and educational activities.
Dwight Moore reported that the SWAN web site is active, he thanked CarriePreite
of Southwest Texas State University for her work in revising the webpage, and
he appealed to the members to contribute their expertise and work tothe web
page.
Moore also reported for the ad hoc 50th Anniversary Committee on plans fornext year's celebration, and offered 50th Anniversary pins in returnfor contributions to the Student Research Fund. President Williamson also encouraged students to apply forStudent Research Awards.
President Williamson asked for someone to step forward tochair the Development Committee.
William J. Matthews, Local Representative for the 2003 50thAnniversary
Meeting, described plans for the meeting in Norman hosted by theSam Noble
Oklahoma Museum of Natural History, the University of OklahomaBiological
Station, the Oklahoma Biological Survey, and the University ofOklahoma
Department of Zoology. Healso made
brochures describing the meeting site and facilities available to
themembership. The dates of the
meeting will be 17-19 April 2003, and field trips will be a part of the meeting.
President Williamson announced that a tie occurred in theBOG
election. She and the tellersconducted
a run-off election, with the results to be announced at the banquet.
The membership thanked Karen McBee for her hard andsuccessful work as Managing Editor, and Celia López-González for hertranslation of the meeting's activities for the benefit of Spanish speakingmembers.
President Williamson announced that the University of Texasat San Antonio will host the 51st Annual Meeting on 15-17 April in San Antonio.
The following actions were taken at the Banquet on
theevening of Saturday, 27 April 2002:
President Williamson announced that Troy Baird, TopiltzinContreras MacBeath, Celia López-González, and Karen McBee, were elected to3-year terms as Governors.
President Williamson presented Special Recognition to KarenMcBee for her service as Managing Editor.
David Hafner presented the George Miksch Sutton Award forConservation Research to Marlis R. Douglas, Michael E. Douglas, and Patrick C.Brunner for their paper, published in The Southwestern Naturalist 46(2) pp 141-150, "Population Estimates, Movements,and Size Structure of the Endangered Quitobaquito Pupfish, Cyprinodonmacularis eremus."
Edie Marsh-Matthews presented Clark Hubbs Student Poster Awards to
thefollowing:
Winner: Victor H. Luja
Molina of Unidad de Biología, Tecnología y Prototipos for his poster, "La
Conducta Alimentaria de la Nauyaca Bothrops asper (Serpentes: Viperidae)
en Cautiverio."
Honorable Mention: Oswaldo Hernández-Gallegos, Andrea Zamora, and A. G. Trejo-Loyo.
Stanley Fox then presented the Wilks Award for the bestpaper authored by a student to two winners:
(1) Chad W. Hargrave of the University of Oklahoma for his paper,"Density-Dependent Ecosystem Effects of Fishes from Four FunctionalGroups," and
(2) Ricardo Torres-Cervantes of Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México for his paper, "Reproductive Patterns of an Anuran Community From theChihuahuan Desert in Guadalcazar, San Luis Potosi, México."
Anthony A. Echelle presented
2001Distinguished Awards as follows: Donald W. Tinkle Research
ExcellenceAward: David Schmidly; W. Frank Blair Eminent NaturalistAward:
Hobart Smith. LeeFitzgerald
accepted the award for Smith, who was unable to attend.
Troy Best, Immediate Past President, presented hisSWAN Song, an entertaining and interesting description of his experiences as anaturalist in México.
Philip Sudman read and themembership adopted the following resolution:
WHEREAS, the 49th Annual Meeting of the SouthwesternAssociation of Naturalists was held at the Universidad Autónoma del Estado deMorelos, Cuernavaca, Morelos, México, 25-27 April 2002, under the watchful eyeof Emiliano Zapata Salazar; and
WHEREAS, the Board of Governorsfirst action was to approve funding for the purchase of a new watch forPresident Williamson to insure that she will show up on time for future meetingevents; and
WHEREAS, the local committeeattempted to curb our consumption of Tequila by limiting the serving size toless than 5 mL, causing many caffeine addicts concern about the next morning'scoffee break; and
WHEREAS, Stan Fox and TopiltzinContreras MacBeath took SWAN to new heights, hitting the local airwaves earlyone morning to warn the locals that SWANees were roaming the streets, and,among other things, to give away pet fish to children, who, as it turns out,would rather have a dog; and
WHEREAS, a Wilks Award presentationshowed that a 4-year-old child's hypothesis that bats eat flying bugs wasstatistically correct, earning her a Master's Degree from Auburn University andan invitation to present at next year's Wilks Award competition; and
WHEREAS, random dispersal movementpatterns of southwestern biologists was greatly reduced with the suddenappearance of signs directing us to the oral presentation locations; and
WHEREAS, competition for floorseating in CIICAP was directly correlated with a lack of available habitat andled to a modified version of musical chairs between each presentation; and
WHEREAS, thanks to Bruce Stewart'sexcellent travel directions, many gringos and gringas experienced seamlesstrips through México City and around Cuernavaca, gaining a new respect forpublic transportation in México, from the Autobuses Pullman de Morelos to thelocal Rutas; and
WHEREAS, all participants improvedtheir bilingual capabilities - except Troy Best; according to Troy, "Ifall of the children around here can learn Spanish, why can't I?" and
WHEREAS, through the hard work ofTopiltzin Contreras MacBeath, SWAN has made great strides towards becoming atrue international organization, with representatives from 5 countries (UnitedStates, México, Honduras, Guatemala, and Cuba) in attendance; and
WHEREAS, the local committeeprovided us with beautiful vistas, colorful flowers blanketing the landscape,ample opportunities to experience the local cuisine and culture, a perfectenvironment for exchanging information related to the biota of the Southwest,and an example to our governments on how to improve international relationsthrough open dialogue with one another, after all, we all have one goal - topreserve our biotic environment; and
THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED, that theparticipants in the 49th Annual Meeting of the Southwestern Association ofNaturalists, extend our sincere thanks to Topiltzin Contreras MacBeath, theUniversidad Autónoma del Estado de Morelos, the Centro de InvestigacionesBiológicas, members of the local committee, and everyone involved with theorganization of this cross-cultural event for an enjoyable, enlightening, andhighly successful meeting.
Following a motion to do so, a second, and approval, the Business
Meetingadjourned at 1247.
Respectfully submitted,
David L. McNeely
Secretary
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your suggestions and comments to swan03@ou.edu
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