Abstract Detail

Colloquium in Honor of John McNeill

Funk, Vicki [1], Wagner, Warren [2], Thurland, Nicholas [3].

Colloquium in Honor of John McNeill.

John McNeill has contributed to the global botanical community in three main ways. First he has had a major influence on botanical nomenclature. He served on the Nomenclatural Committee for Spermatophyta from 1975 until 1999, on the Editorial Committee of the International Code of Botanical Nomenclature (now the International Code of Nomenclature for algae, fungi, and plants) since the XIII International Botanical Congress, held in Sydney in 1981. He was appointed Vice-rapporteur for the Nomenclature Section of the Berlin (1987) and Tokyo(1993) Congresses and Rapporteur-general for the Vienna (2005) and Melbourne(2011) Congresses. He also served for 12 years as Nomenclature Editor for Taxon (1999-2011), and continues to serve as a column editor for proposals to conserve and reject names. Second, He worked on Taxonomic studies in the Caryophyllales. He studied Alsinoideae for his Ph.D, which proved to be a very insightful study of the core groups including Arenaria s.l. and associated genera. He continued to work in the family during his career, especially on Alsinoids, but also on Silene and Stellaria. He was a participant in the recent molecular study of the family and interpretation of the impact of these new data on generic classification. During his career he worked on other groups mostly including weedy species including several within the order Caryophyllales including asynopsis of classification of the Portulacaceae, Atriplex in the Chenopodiaceae, and of course numerous papers on nomenclature. He was deeply involved in the Flora North America project and serve for some time as Chair of the FNA Management Committee.Finally,he has served as an able administrator at three botanical institutions: as professor and chair of the Biology Department the University of Ottawa(1981-1987), Regius Keeper of the Royal Botanic Garden, Edinburgh (1987-1989),and as Associate Director (1989-91) and Director of the Royal Ontario Museum,Toronto (1991-1997). John retired from ROM in 1999 and moved back to Scotland where he continues to work using Edinburgh as his base and he recently stepped down as Nomenclature Editor of Taxon. At this point in his career it seems appropriate to recognize his many accomplishments by organizing a series of interesting talks about the topics he cares deeply about.[Please note that we have too many talks listed. We have not yet invited very many of the speakers and some will no doubt not be able to attend and will send written comments that I will summarize in the "Remarks"

Broader Impacts:

1 - Smithsonian Institution, DEPT OF BOTANY-NHB 166, P.O. Box 37012, Washington, DC, 20013-7012, USA, 202/633-0950
2 - Smithsonian Institution, Botany, MRC-166 National Museum Of Natural History, PO Box 37012, WASHINGTON, DC, 20013-7012, USA, 202/633-0968
3 - Missouri Botanical Garden, P.O. Box 299, St Louis, MO, 63166-0299, USA

Keywords:
Caryophyllales
Nomenclature.

Presentation Type: Symposium or Colloquium Presentation
Session: C3
Location: Delaware D/Hyatt
Date: Monday, July 9th, 2012
Time: 1:30 PM
Number: C3SUM
Abstract ID:33