REGISTER for the meeting at https://www.sgmeet.com/psa/psa2007/psareginfo.asp
The 2007 Annual Meeting will be held 5–10 August in Providence, Rhode Island (at the Crowne Plaza Hotel, Providence-Warwick), and is being hosted by Dr. Glen Thursby (U.S. EPA). This will be a joint meeting with the International Society of Protistologists (ISOP). The meeting will kickoff with an opening mixer on the evening of Sunday, 5 August, and the scientific program will be Monday through Thursday, 6–9 August. The always-popular PSA Auction and Mixer will be on Monday evening, and the Poster Session and Mixer will be on Wednesday evening. The PSA/ISOP banquet will be Thursday evening, and there will be an optional intertidal field trip on Friday morning. Link to information on the hotel and food options.
PLENARY—MINISYMPOSIUM SESSIONS
Continuing with the new meeting format begun in 2006, PSA will again sponsor plenary talks and associated minisymposia with participants identified by the Plenary speakers. Contributed papers related to the minisymposia topics will be solicited and scheduled in "featured contributed talk" sessions immediately following each minisymposium. The sessions and invited speakers for 2007 are as follows:Phylogenetics, systematics, and biogeography of macroalgae
Plenary: MAX H. HOMMERSAND (University of North Carolina) Phylogeny, systematics, and biogeography of the red algae.Minisymposium speakers:
- HEROEN VERBRUGGEN (Ghent University) Evolutionary biogeography of siphonous green algae.
- STEFANO DRAISMA (Leiden University) Our current understanding of brown algal evolution.
Physiological and structural advantages of chloroplast evolution
Plenary: ELISABETH GANTT (University of Maryland) Chloroplast evolution: past and present.Minisymposium speakers:
- WOLFGANG LOEFFELHARDT (University of Vienna) The cyanelle of Cyanophora paradoxa: missing link of plastid evolution.
- JARED WORFUL (University of Maine) Plastid kleptoplasty: one first step toward endosymbiosis.
Energetic and elemental stoichiometries in phytoplankton: ecology and evolution
Plenary: JOHN A. RAVEN (University of Dundee) Why do phytoplankton make such a fuss about carbon dioxide?Minisymposium speakers:
- ZOE FINKEL (Mount Allison University) Size matters: macroevolutionary patterns in marine diatoms and dinoflagellates.
- ANTONIETTA QUIGG (Texas A&M University, Galveston) Title TBA
JOINT PSA-ISOP SYMPOSIUM ON SYMBIOSIS
PSA is proud to cosponsor a standard format symposium on symbiosis with ISOP. This is being coordinated by Dr. Charles Delwiche (University of Maryland) for PSA and Dr. Wayne Coats (Smithsonian Environmental Research Center) for ISOP. The speakers are as follows:- MARY ALICE COFFROTH (SUNY Buffalo) Symbiodinium-cnidarian symbioses: ontogeny and diversity.
- CHARLES F. DELWICHE (University of Maryland) The distribution of plastids among eukaryotes: past, present, and future.
- BAS IBELINGS (Netherlands Institute of Ecology) Diatom blooms, chytrid epidemics and the evolutionary ecology of their interactions
- MATTHEW JOHNSON (Rutgers University) Organelle retention in the photosynthetic ciliate Myrionecta rubra: organelle performance and an energy budget for growth.
- BRIAN S. LEANDER (University of British Columbia) Convergent evolution in eukaryotic parasites.
- GIULIO PETRONI (Università di Pisa) Bacterial symbiosis in protists.
ISOP SYMPOSIUM ON BIOGEOCHEMICAL CYCLING
ISOP will sponsor a standard format symposium entitled Biogeochemical Cycling: the Protist Connection. Symposium chairs are Joan M. Bernhard (Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution) and Samuel S. Bowser (Wadsworth Center, NY State Dept Health). Speakers will include:
- JOAN M. BERNHARD (Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution): "Extremophile" Foraminifera and N, H, C, and S cycling.
- PETER FRENZEL (Max Planck Institut für Terrestrische Mikrobiologie): Methane from protists and methane for protists: their contribution to methane production and their effect on methane oxidation.
- MARTIN LANGER (Rheinische Friedrich-Wilhelms Universität Bonn): Carbonate production in the World's Ocean: The role of foraminifera.
- BENJAMIN S. TWINING (University of South Carolina): The role of protozoa in ocean iron biogeochemistry.
ISOP INVITED LECTURES
- HUTNER LECTURE: Per Juel Hansen (Marine Biological Laboratory University of Copenhagen), Interactions among marine protists: importance of mixotrophy, pH and toxins.
- ISOP VICE-PRESIDENT: IGOR DOVGAL (Schmalhausen Institute of Zoology), Suctorian Ciliates: Diversity, Distribution, Ecology and Evolution.
- PAST PRESIDENT ADDRESS: WAYNE COATS (Smithsonian Environmental Research Center), Lost Among the Alveolates.
ISOP will sponsor two thematic platform sessions consisting of invited speakers and contributed paper related to the topics.
- Protists and the Molecular and Informatics Revolution: from Species Pages to Barcodes Chair: Linda Amaral Zettler, Brown-MBL Joint Graduate Program, International Census of Marine Microbes
- Drug Targets in Parasitic Protists Chair: Nigel Yarlett, Haskins Laboratories, Pace University
NEW FOR 2007: PHYCO–SPEED DATING
Do you have a great photograph or SEM, choice nugget of data, or interesting hypothesis that you would love to share with your phycological colleagues but don't think would fill a 15-minute talk or be worth printing a poster for? Why not try Phyco–Speed Dating? At this year's meeting in Rhode Island, we will try out an innovative and (we hope) fun way of sharing these ideas. We will have an informal session where presenters can give 3-minute talks (with or without PowerPoint) on short, sweet phycological topics. The 3-minute limit will be strictly enforced, including any questions and answers.FOR STUDENTS
BOLD AWARD: Since 1974, students have been invited to participate in the Bold Award competition for the outstanding student research presentation at the annual meeting. The award, named in honor of the late Professor Harold Bold, consists of a certificate and monetary prize. The information presented must be that of the student's, must be presented orally by the student in English, and should be a complete or nearly complete study. Bold Award papers will be oral presentations within an organized symposium at the annual meeting. Students wishing to be considered for the Bold Award must submit a letter from the student's research director (mentor/major advisor) or department chair, verifying that the candidate is a student and that the work to be presented represents the initiative, imagination, and labor of the student. Further details on eligibility and the address for application are available on the PSA Web site: http://www.psaalgae.org/soc/students.shtm.POSTER AWARD: PSA is pleased to continue the new award for the best student poster, which was initiated at the 2006 meeting. Details on this are available on the PSA Web site: http://www.psaalgae.org/soc/students.shtm. Poster size 3' x 4'
HOSHAW TRAVEL AWARD: Student members can apply for a limited number of awards to assist in their travel expenses to the annual PSA meeting. All other factors equivalent, students who will present their research at the meeting (lecture or poster) will be given priority. Successful applicants will be notified prior to the meeting, and the awards will be presented at the meeting. Application forms (and appropriate contact/application information) are available on the PSA Web site: http://www.psaalgae.org/ops/grants.shtm.