Search

Presents news briefs concerning biologists and biological research. Presentation of the 1987 Award for Excellence in Weed Science in Western Canada to William H. Vanden Born of the University of Alberta's Department of Plant Science; Award of the 1988 Tyler Prize for Environmental Achievement to Bert Bolin, a professor of meteorology at the University of Stockholm; Presentation of the Outstanding Young Investigator Award by the American Federation of Clinical Research to Richard Klausner of the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development in Bethesda, Maryland, and to William Chin of the Harvard University Medical School in Boston, Massachusetts; Alumni award from Rutgers University which was presented to F. Herbert Bormann of Yale University's School of Forestry and Environmental Studies.

In documenting biological responses to climate change, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change has used phenology studies from many parts of the world, but data from the high latitudes of North America are missing. In the present article, we evaluate climate trends and the corresponding changes in sequential bloom times for seven plant species in the central parklands of Alberta, Canada (latitude 52°-57° north). For the study period of 71 years (1936-2006), we found a substantial warming signal, which ranged from an increase of 5.3 degrees Celsius (°C) in the mean monthly temperatures for February to an increase of 1.5°C in those for May. The earliest-blooming species’ (Populus tremuloides and Anemone patens) bloom dates advanced by two weeks during the seven decades, whereas the later-blooming species’ bloom dates advanced between zero and six days. The early-blooming species’ bloom dates advanced faster than was predicted by thermal time models, which we attribute to decreased diurnal temperature fluctuations. This unexpectedly sensitive response results in an increased exposure to late-spring frosts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article presents the plan in the joint meeting of the Canadian Botanical Association L'Association Botanique du Canada and the American Institute of Biological Sciences Inc. It is stated that the meeting will be held at the University of Alberta in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada from June 22-24, 1971. The meeting will be chaired by Wilson N. Stewart from the Department of Botany in the University of Alberta together with Samuel N. Postlethwait from the Department of Biological Sciences of Purdue University in Lafayette, Indiana. It highlights the participating societies and the schedules of field trips for the participants.