Long Island Botanical Society Vol. 25 No. 3 The Quarterly Newsletter Summer 2015 Report on LIBS’ Participation in Historic Research Conference By Margaret Conover and Sue Avery Long Island Botanical Society Members We recently had the opportunity to attend the New England Botanical Club’s 120th Anniversary Research Conference as official representatives of the Long Island Botanical Society, and we wanted to share our experience with LIBS members. The conference, held from June 5-7, 2015 on the Smith College Campus in Northampton, Massachusetts, was attended by about 155 botanists representing many of the 31 invited botanical organizations. The weekend included a networking reception, 21 talks and 16 posters on original botanical research, a selection of field trips, and a roundtable discussion on ensuring the future of botanical organizations. A more complete description of the conference can be found on the New England Botanical Club website: http://www. rhodora.org/ conference20 15 / . We arrived early Friday afternoon in order to visit the herbarium and greenhouses of the University of Massachusetts in nearby Amherst. Margaret was happy to verify that after 35 years, many of the plants she collected in Australia and Malaysia have survived in cultivation there, although none of her botany professors persist. At the Friday evening reception, held in the Smith College Greenhouses, we met up with Joanne Schlegel of the Niagara Frontier Botanical Society. Some LIBS members will remember Joanne from LIBS’ anniversary field trip to Florida in 2011, and will be happy to learn that she will also join our anniversary field trip next year. Following the reception and houseplant give-away, we enjoyed a dining adventure with some new Canadian friends from the North American Native Plant Society (www.nanps.org) . On Saturday there was a packed program of talks on a wide range of topics covering regional floras, vascular plant and fungal ecology, plant adaptations to stress and climate change, herbarium collections and paleobotany. Abstracts and videos of oral presentations are available on the conference website http:// tinyurl.com/ o47vb4g . Jesse Bellemare (Smith College) spoke on the naturalization of Magnolia tripetala in the context of climate change, including fieldwork conducted on Long Island. Emily Marsh (a student at Lyndon State College, VT) spoke on the impact of invasive honeysuckle removal on black-legged tick density in an exurban residential setting. LIBS member Richard Stalter presented results of his and Eric Lamont’s survey of the vascular plant diversity of the Monomoy Islands, Massachusetts. Barbara Thiers (NYBG) spoke about the digitization of the New York Botanical Garden Herbarium. David Werier (LIBS member) raised our awareness and knowledge about a highly invasive grass Brachypodium sylvaticum. James Mickley (UConn — formerly Stony Brook) presented a poster on flower development in Phlox species. C. John Burk (Smith College) reported on a study comparing marsh floras from the River Elbe with those of the Connecticut River along the freshwater-to -saltwater gradient. Perhaps the most extraordinary presentation was on the first North American record of a particular species of Laboulbeniales, an ectoparasitic fungus on the American cockroach, by Danny Haelewaters (Harvard). LIBS was among several botanical societies that exhibited at the poster session. We also distributed back issues of the newsletter, which was well received. Our poster (Fig. 1) highlights LIBS’ history and accomplishments, and although ( Continued on page 19) Page 18 Long Island Botanical Society Vol. 25 No. 3 Long Island Botanical Society Founded: 1986 • Incorporated: 1989 The Long Island Botanical Society is dedicated to the promotion of field botany and a greater understanding of the plants that grow wild on Long Island, New York. Visit the Society’s Web site www.libotanical.org Executive Board President Eric Lamont 631-722-5542 elamont@optonline. net Vice President Andrew Greller agreller2@optonline.net Treasurer Carol Johnston j ohnfj ohnston2 @optonline. net Recording Secretary Barbara Conolly bconolly@optonline.net Corresponding Secretary Rich Kellyvze2dxmil@verizon.net Committee Chairpersons Flora Eric Lamont elamont@optonline.net Andrew Greller agreller2@optonline.net Field Trips Allan Lindberg ajlindberg@optonline.net Programs Rich Kelly vze2dxmil@verizon.net Membership Lois Lindberg lalindberg3@optonline.net Conservation Bill Titus btitus@optonline.net John Turner redknot2@verizon.net Education MaryLaura Lamont woodpink59@gmail.com Hospitality Kathleen Gaffney kg73@cornell.edu Dorothy Titus btitus@optonline.net Newsletter Editor Margaret Conover margaret. conover@gmail. com with special thanks to Skip & Jane Blanchard Webmaster Donald House libsweb@yahoo.com Society News LIBS Volunteers Needed: Save The Orchids. Since 1996, LIBS has been partnering with Quogue Wildlife Refuge and other groups to manage populations of white- fringed orchid ( Platanthera blephariglottis) , rose pogonia {Pogonia ophioglossoides ), and associated marsh species including carnivorous plants. This year, LIBS will host two trips to the refuge. The first trip will occur when the white-fringed orchid blooms (end of July or early Aug 2015). The second trip will occur sometime after the first frost, perhaps in December, and will involve work clearing woody vegetation from the marsh. If you are interested in volunteering to help save the orchids please contact Eric Lamont (elamont@optonline.net) . Sold Out. In 2010, LIBS and the Torrey Botanical Society published “ Tidal Marshes of Long Island, New York ” edited by LIBS member John Potente. The last copy (of 550 originally printed) was officially sold in May 2015. Both societies are pleased with all aspects of this collaboration. LIBS Speakers’ Registry A registry of LIBS members willing to present a talk or lead a field trip for garden clubs, libraries, and other groups is posted on our website at http://www.libotanical.ora/speakers.html Members who wish to participate should contact Donald House at libsweb@vahoo.com . Eric Lamont reports on the condition of the last known colony of Platanthera ciliaris (yellow fringed orchid) in New York State. The population, along Barnes Hole Road in East Hampton Township, is down to about a half dozen individuals with one flowering in 2014. Invasive Species Awareness Week is July 12-18 - Steve Young, Coordinator of Long Island Invasive Species Management Area (LIISMA) urges us to consider volunteer opportunities posted at http://www.liisma.org Chuck O’Neill reports that in the past two years, the invasive species management structure envisioned by the New York State Invasive Species Task Force in 2005 has been fully realized. More information may be found at http://www.nyis.info/ John Turner reports on progress toward permanent protection of Plum Island. Congressman Zeldin has followed in Tim Bishop’s footsteps and has introduced federal legislation to stop the sale of Plum Island to a private bidder. There is more information about this at the Preserve Plum Island Coalition’s website http://preserveplumisland.org/ SAVE THE DATE: • Long Island Native Plant Initiative (LINPI) will host its 3rd Native Plant Symposium on October 24, 2015 at Farmingdale University. • The New York Botanical Garden will host the Lower Hudson Partnership for Regional Invasive Species Management’s “Invasive Species Summit: Challenges, Strategies, and Perspectives” on November 6, 2015 (Society News continued on page 23) Long Island Botanical Society Vol. 25 No. 3 Page 19 ( Report on LIBS’ Research continued from cover) we created it especially for this conference, we will certainly exhibit it at various Long Island events. The content of the poster is printed here, in abridged form, on pages 21 and 22 and can be reprinted and distributed as a membership recruitment flyer. Plant societies from throughout the Northeast were represented at the Sunday morning roundtable, which was held at Smith Colleges MacLeish Field Station. Fourteen participants represented these ten organizations: Botanical Society of America, Connecticut Botanical Society, Finger Lakes Native Plant Society, Long Island Botanical Society, New England Botanical Club, New England Wildflower Society, New York Flora Association, Southern Appalachian Botanical Society, Torrey Botanical Society, and the Vermont Botanical and Bird Club. The main focus of discussion was on networking and collaboration to ensure the survival of plant societies and how they can play a role in nurturing young plant scientists. We learned that we share many of the same challenges and opportunities and agreed that we would try to meet together again, perhaps at the 2016 Northeast Natural History Conference. Figure 2. A large, quite striking example of a shelf mushroom ( Ganoderma sp?) admired by Danny Haelewaters who is the mycologist who reported on the cockroach ectoparasite. The botanical foray that followed (Fig. 2) took us on a trail through the 240-acre property attached to the field station. We saw a striking example of black birch succession following eastern hemlock dieback, and Michelle Jackson (a student at Smith) showed us her field study work, which was the subject of her talk on the decline of the hemlock- associated liverwort, Bazzania trilobata. North On 17 June 2015, a meeting of the North Fork Preserve (NFP) Suffolk County Park Advisory Committee was convened. The meeting was held at the Riverhead office of Suffolk County Fegislator A1 Krupski. Kevin Jennings, biologist for NYS Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC), and Eric Lamont, president of LIBS, were the invited speakers and they presented a map showing the recently (2013 and 2014) mapped freshwater wetlands in the park. North Fork Preserve County Park is located in the hamlet of Northville in the Township of Riverhead. Over the past two years, DEC has funded the mapping of extensive wetlands at NFP, and additional wetlands in the nearby vicinity (on the Mattituck USGS Quadrangle Fork Preserve County Park Threatened with Excessive Development Eric Lamont, LIBS President Figure 1. “Paddleboat Pond” at North Fork Preserve County Park. Suffolk County plans to develop this pond for active recreational use including paddle boats. The extensive blanket of lush green plants covering much of the pond bottom is a native bur-reed ( Sparganium sp.). A 2014 LIBS field trip to the pond revealed it was bone dry on October 18 th and vegetated with a rich diversity of sedges, rushes, and flowering herbs including wool-grass ( Scirpuscyperinus ), dense stands of spike-rush ( Eleocharis spp.), several species of Carex, Canada rush (Juncus canadensis), soft rush ( Juncus effusus), bur-reed, and water- primrose ( Ludwigia palustris), among other species. Approximate size of the pond is 4.5 acres. [Photo by E. Lamont, June 20, 2015.] Map) also will be mapped if identified. Kevin explained that the vast majority of wetlands at NFP had not been mapped when the DEC last inventoried the area in 1993, but the regulatory process is now “in progress” for these wetlands. Eric spoke of Long Swamp which flows through more than 20 acres of the southernmost portion of NFP, and explained it has been locally known by that name for more than a century. Eric referred to accounts of Long Swamp from Roy Latham’s unpublished journal. The headwaters of Long Swamp lie just to the east of NFP on the north side of Sound Avenue. Water flows from east to west and increases in volume as more and more water enters the swamp from streams flowing down from the ( Continued on next page ) Page 20 Long Island Botanical Society Vol. 25 No. 3 (North Fork Preserve continued from page 19) Harbor Hill Moraine. Currently, Long Swamp is not officially regulated by the DEC and Kevin reminded the committee that the process takes time. Eric also presented the results of the 2013 study of NFP’s rare ecological communities by ecologist Greg Edinger of NY Natural Heritage Program (see LIBS Newsletter (2014), vol. 24, p. 10). Nick Gibbons, Environmental Analyst for Suffolk County Department of Parks, Recreation and Conservation, stated that because the NFP wetlands are not currently regulated by the DEC the County is proceeding with plans to develop Long Swamp into parking areas, picnic areas, and activity fields, and other wetlands will be developed into playgrounds, basketball and tennis courts, and an interactive spray park. One large pond in the southeastern portion of the park (Fig. 1) will be developed for paddle boats and another to the southwest will have a fishing platform constructed on its shoreline. 12 months and other years they are dry for 12 months. Some years the ponds are full in the spring and dry in summer; other years they are dry in spring and full in summer. Many ecologists now use the term “intermittent pond” rather than “vernal pond” when classifying this ecosystem. Historically, Long Swamp has periodically overflowed and flooded surrounding land and roadways (Fig. 2). Representatives from several other environmental groups attended the meeting, including Eastern Long Island Audubon Society, Group for the East End, and North Fork Environmental Council. John Turner, co-chair of the LIBS Conservation Committee, suggested to the NFP Advisory Committee that the County first conduct a comprehensive biological/ecological inventory, along the lines of what is now occurring at Plum Island, prior to any decisions regarding the various elements of an active park. Mary Laura Lamont, chair of the LIBS Education Committee, asked if the County could legally fill in Long Swamp and other freshwater wetlands. Nick Gibbons replied “yes” because the wetlands are not currently regulated by the DEC. Byron Young, president of Eastern Long Island Audubon Society, asked how long it would take the County to start implementing these development plans and the reply was four to five years. Suffolk County officials appear unaware that these ponds (“Paddleboat Pond” in particular) periodically dry up and the mucky substrate becomes blanketed with a dense cover of native vegetation (Fig. 1). Some years the ponds are filled with water for Figure 2. Northville’s Long Swamp went on a rampage in January, 1979, flooding the road near Vernon Wells’ house. After a similar flood in March, 1912, the Riverhead News reported, “It has been many years since the swamp has had such an outing.” [Image and caption provided by Richard Wines, from an exhibit at Hallockville Museum Farm], ELAINE JACOBSON While re-reading the Summer 2011 Newsletter which featured the LIBS 25th Anniversary Trip to Florida (March 30-April 8, 2011), I was struck by how much Elaine Jacobson added to the enjoyment of our trip. Elaine, my friend and neighbor in Sanibel Island, Florida was the “Energizer Bunny” who saw to it that every detail was attended to and everybody was happy. A peak moment of the trip was when Elaine discovered the long-sought rare mint, Ashe’s calamint, (Calamintha ashei) all by herself behind the Holiday Inn at Sebring. She was so thrilled that she burst into tears! We later learned that it was her birthday as well! Not long ago she told me that the LIBS trip was the highlight of her life. Elaine and I met on a “Weeds N Seeds” walk a good many years ago. She dove headfirst into botany - what people couldn’t tell her, she researched on the web and learned from her microscope. She led nature walks, kept lists, did inventories and ran the eight Audubon lectures every year on Sanibel. These were enthusiastically attended by as many as 300 people every Thursday night in January and February and the speakers were preceded by delightful slide shows put together by her husband Jake. Last February 17th she was suddenly diagnosed with cancer of the lung, brain and liver. Despite her illness throughout this winter, she put together the Audubon program for next year. In late April, she and Jake were able to drive up to their home in New Hampshire. After a valiant struggle against enormous odds, Elaine died in a hospital in Peterborough, N.H. last Friday July 10th. B arbor a/ H. ConoUy Page 21 Long Island Botanical Society Vol. 25 No. 3 LONG ISLAND BOTANICAL SOCIETY Dedicated to the promotion of field botany and a greater understanding of the plants that grow wild on Long Island, New York Long Island, New York is an island 118 miles long and 23 miles wide at its greatest width. With a land area of 1,401 square miles, it is larger than the state of Rhode Island. • ^ I p # * • * * m \ Q \l / . r D Jt m ft T 1 i J * ■- # 2. . . A 1. Sabatia stel laris, 2. Asclepias tuberosa, 3. Eriocaulon aquaticum Long Island is one of the most densely populated regions in the United States. As of the United States 2010 Census, the total population of all four counties of Long Island was 7,568,304. Western Long Island includes two boroughs of New York City. The two eastern counties of Long Island are home to over 2.8 million residents; population density averages over 2,000 residents per square mile. If it were a U.S. state, Long Island would rank 13th in population and first in population density. Today, nearly two-thirds of Long Island’s land surface is covered with buildings, pavement or other man-made structures. It is virtually guaranteed that Long Island will not meet its goal to preserve 10% of the Island’s land mass as open space and farmland by 2016. PfME Meetings LIBS holds monthly evening meetings eight times a year, alternating between locations in the two eastern Long Island counties. Invited speakers have presented programs on a variety of natural history topics such as “Novel Ecosystems” by Marilyn Jordan, “An Ecologist Visits New Caledonia” by Andy Greller, “Bat Pollination Studies in Costa Rica” by Maria Brown, “Long Island Lichens: From Distant Past To Uncertain Future” by James Lendemer, “Tropical American Botany Overview” by Eric Morgan, “The Urban Oasis: Queens Botanical Garden” by Shari Romar, and “Interesting Plants from Around the World” by Mike Feder. An annual barbecue is held each year in June. Attendance at meetings has remained strong over the years. WEBSITE: LIBS’ website, www.libotanicaI.org includes notices of programs, field trips, and frequently updated information about society activities. Back issues of the newsletter are archived and available to all. OM BfiUfSH PiAJNg DW.W Pipit FTJkBjS SOUTH BARRENS CiTHi.Pi f 'IMC 6 aRP£nMC*wiaTiCw£ OTHER FORMATIONS QJW-PQV NATE P FQHE5T3 EflOCWLVN OJEENS BARRENS HEMPSTEAD PLAINS iPFUURIEl SH WrtCOCK HILLS nafeaCrje cunt LAND UMwmvOOfiLvC 6CACM. DUNE AND SALTMArtSM Long Island is formed largely of two spines of glacial moraine, with a large, sandy outwash plain beyond. These moraines consist of gravel and loose rock left behind during the two most recent pulses of Wisconsin glaciation. Long Island ecosystems include beaches, salt marshes, oak forests and pine barrens as well as remnants of two globally rare ecosystems: a prairie grassland known as the Hempstead Plains and an area of dwarf pitch pines within the pine barrens known locally as the Dwarf Pine Plains. Map of Long Island Ecosystems (John Cryan) Page 22 Long Island Botanical Society Vol. 25 No. 3 Publications Tidal Marshes of Long Island, New York In cooperation with the Torrey Botanical Society, LIBS published Memoirs of the Torrey Botanical Society Volume 26: Tidal Marshes of Long Island, New York. This publication presents the most current research on the tidal marshes of Long Island, New York, by the region’s leading scientists and environmental law experts Atlas of the Vascular Plants of Long Island, New York The society’s soon-to-be-published Atlas of the Vascular Plants of Long Island, New York, presently under review, consists of distribution maps for vascular plant species occurring on Long Island, including native and naturalized non-native species. Sample illustration of the Atlas. Conservation The Long Island Botanical Society is not an environmental activist organization, but many times over the years it has partnered with other groups and taken a position advocating for the conservation and preservation of specific properties of botanical interest. For example, • Raised awareness of the rare maritime American beech sandhills, threatened with development (1999). • Supported the permanent protection of the Edgewood-Oak Brush Plains State Preserve and currently working to increase it by 50 acres (2008 and ongoing). • Supported grant request and provided volunteers for eradication of hardy kiwi from Coffin Woods Preserve (2013). • Helped DEC to document a rare ecological community at North Fork Preserve, Riverhead (2013). • Pursuing a conservation easement to preserve a 13-acre Islip industrial site where Pyxidanthera barbulata and several other rare species are found (ongoing). • Working with Suffolk County to preserve sensitive parcels around Hauppauge Springs (onging). Newsletter The Long Island Botanical Society Newsletter has been published for the last 25 years and features articles written by society members and others, a list of recent plant sightings, lists of upcoming programs and field trips, and announcements of society activities. Back issues of the newsletter are archived at www.libotanical.org . Field Trips 2011 : Field trip to Muttontown Preserve South. LIBS has offered nearly 250 field trips to regional botanical hotspots during the past 30 years. Records of these have been compiled into a database, accessible from our website. LIBS has a tradition of going on a week-long field trip to an exotic, flowery region every five years. Past trips have included adventures in Costa Rica, the Great Smoky Mountains, Newfoundland, and Florida. Membership The Long Island Botanical Society currently has 209 members, which represents a 10% increase in membership over the last decade. About 2/3 of members live in the two eastern Long Island counties. Upstate n™ 130ttier Vo, Ml A stales, ri Suffolk county, NfcwYork Ja 99 City, 38 Geographic Distribution of Members of the Long Island Botanical Society (n=209), May, 2015. Join LIBS today! Annual Membership is $20 payable to: Long Island Botanical Society Mail your dues to: Carol Johnston, LIBS Treasurer 347 Duck Pond Road Locust Valley NY 11560 Long Island Botanical Society Vol. 25 No. 3 Page 23 Field Trips AUGUST 1, 2015 (SATURDAY) 10:00 AM North Fork sites: Moores Woods, Paul Stoutenburgh Preserve, and a cobble beach, Suffolk County, NY Trip leader: Eric Lamont Email: elamont@optonline.net Moores Woods in Greenport features an interesting swamp forest with intermittent ponds as well as the only known population of crane-fly orchid ( Tipularia discolor) in NY. The nearby Paul Stoutenburgh Preserve (formerly known as the Arshamomaque Pond Preserve) features a population of swamp cottonwood {Populus heterophylld), showy wildflowers, and an extensive cattail marsh. If time permits we will visit a cobble beach just east of East Marion to see horned poppy 0 Glaucium flavuni) and other beach plants. Directions: At Mattituck, on the North Fork, take the North Road (route 48) east to Greenport. Turn right (south) onto Moores Lane and continue Vi mile to a ball field on the right. Turn right onto the dirt road and park at entrance to forest. Bring water, lunch, and insect and tick repellent. Bathroom facilities are available at the nearby 7-11 on route 25. AUGUST 15, 2015 (SATURDAY) 10:00 AM Persicaria Walk, Alley Pond Park, Queens, NY Trip leader: Andrew Greller Email: agreller2@optonline.net Phone 516-364-9377 The New York Flora Association is interested in understanding the extent of diversity in the genus Persicaria in the state. LIBS agreed to lead NYFA in a one day search for Persicaria species in Alley Pond Park, Queens, where many Polygonaceae have been noted over the years. Directions: Meet at the North end of Alley Athletic Playground parking lot, off Winchester Boulevard, just north of Union Turnpike. This is the southeastern corner of Alley Pond Park. Winchester Blvd. can be reached by taking the Union Turnpike exit of the Cross Island Parkway westbound and travelling for a quarter mile; or on Grand Central Parkway, coming from the west, take the Union Tpke. exit, continue east on the service road, then go right on Union Tpke. for 1/4 mile to Winchester Blvd. then turn left to the parking lot. Bring lunch and liquid; water resistant footwear is recommended but not required. Camera and hand lens recommended. Insect repellant and sun screen advised. Ticks are not usually a problem in Queens parks. SEPTEMBER 13, 2015 (SUNDAY) 10:00 AM Note! This is a Sunday trip! Flora Neglecta, Queens, NY Trip leader: Michael Feder Email: mdfeder2001@yahoo.com We will be making a variety of stops off of Cross Bay and Woodhaven Blvds. in Queens to observe overlooked weeds. Our Flora neglecta will include some tiny plants growing in sidewalk cracks, graminoids, genera that contain similar looking species for which we will make comparisons (i.e. Digitaria, Galinsoga and Oxalis) and a few local weeds not often encountered. We will also make a quick stop at a greenhouse to look at some unusual weeds, some of which are not known from our area. (Co-listed with the Torrey Botanical Society) Directions: Please contact the trip leader to register and for meeting place directions. ♦+♦ ♦+♦ (Society News continued from page 18) The New York Botanical Garden Announces Native Plants Summit: CURRENT STATUS, CONSERVATION, AND OUTLOOK FOR PLANTS OF THE NORTHEAST Friday, September 18, 2015; 9 a.m.-3 p.m. Ross Hall The northeastern U.S. hosts a rich diversity of native plants, many of which play essential roles for humans and the environment. Alarmingly, a significant number of these species are experiencing a precipitous decline. Many natives are imperiled as a result (New York State considers one-quarter of its native plant species to be of conservation concern). Despite these figures, no comprehensive or integrated program exists to study trends in the status of native plants across the region. Through a series of compelling presentations, followed by a panel discussion, this summit will address our dearth of knowledge by bringing together experts and interested members of the public to present and discuss the state of the areas plant species, plot the best course forward, and highlight ways in which everyone can make a difference for native plants in the Northeast. NOTE: LIBS member David Werier is one of seven invited speakers. Information and registration at www. nybg.org/ adulted Long Island Botanical Society PO Box 507 Aquebogue, NY 11931 Page 24 Long Island Botanical Society Vol. 25 No. 3 Upcoming Programs September 8, 2015* Tuesday, 7:30 PM Daniel Atha: “Smartweeds of New York: Taxonomy and Identification.” With twenty species in the northeastern United States, the genus Persicaria ranks among the top twenty-five largest genera of flowering plants, just behind sunflowers and hawthorns. Many are native wetland species and are an important food source for waterfowl. Others such as the East Asian mile-a-minute vine can inflict great ecological and economic harm. Daniel is a research associate at The New York Botanical Garden and has done extensive field work throughout the United States and abroad. He co-authored the Persicaria treatment for the Intermountain Flora and is currently writing the Polygonaceae treatment for the revision of the Gleason and Cronquist Manual. Location: Bill Paterson Nature Center, Muttontown Preserve, East Norwich October 13, 2015* Tuesday, 7:30 PM Emily Rollinson: “Biodiversity and Biological In- vasions in Stream-side Plant Communities.” Stream- side (or riparian) plant communities are often quite diverse, but atthe same time, may be highly susceptible to invasive species. This talk will describe ongoing research in small tributaries of the Hudson River in upstate NY, investigating the factors that underlie both diversity and species invasions in riparian plant communities. Emily is a Ph.D. candidate in the Department of Ecology and Evolution at Stony Brook University. Her research focuses on plant community ecology, ecological disturbances, and biological invasions. Location: Earth and Space Science Building, Gil Hanson Room (Room 123), Stony Brook University, Stony Brook * Refreshments and informal talk begin at 7:30 p.m. Formal meeting starts at 8:00 p.m. Directions to Muttontown or Stony Brook: 516-354-6506