RESULTS

2005 ABS ELECTIONS

A total of 237 ballots were cast in the 2005-2006 election. This is 10.7 percent of the ABS membership and represents a decrease in voter response from last year. A big THANK YOU to Shan Duncan for setting up the ABS voting website.

Congratulations to the new officers:

President-elect: Molly Morris
Treasurer: James Ha
Editor: Michael Breed
Jr. Program Officer: Diana Hews
Member-at-large: John Eadie

DIRECTION OF CORRESPONDENCE

ABS Newsletter: Send general correspondence concerning the Society to Jan Randall, jrandall@sfsu.edu. Deadlines are the 15th of the month preceding each newsletter. The next deadline is 15 April, 2006. Articles submitted by members of the Society and deemed appropriate by the Secretary are occasionally published in the ABS newsletter. The publication of such material does not imply ABS endorsement of the opinions expressed by contributors.

Animal Behavior Society Website:

http://www.animalbehavior.org/

Animal Behaviour, manuscripts and editorial matters: Animal Behavior Editorial Office, Indiana University, 2611East 10th St, Bloomington, IN 47408-2603, USA. E-mail: aboffice@indiana.edu, Phone (812)856-5541. Fax (812) 856-5542.

Change of address, missing or defective issues: Animal Behavior Society, Indiana University, 2611East 10th St., Bloomington, IN 47408-2603, USA. E-mail: aboffice@indiana.edu, Phone(812)856-5541. Fax (812) 856-5542.

ABS OFFICERS

President: Stephen Nowicki, Department of Biology, Duke University, Box 90338, Durham, North Carolina 27708-0325. E-mail: snowicki@duke.edu

First President-elect: Douglas Mock, Department of Zoology, University of Oklahoma, Norman, OK 73019. Phone: (405) 325-2751, E-mail: dmock@ou.edu

Second President-elect: Gerald Wilkinson, Department of Biology, University of Maryland, College Park, Maryland 20742. E-mail: wilkinso@umd.edu

Past President: Ken Yasukawa, Department of Biology, Beloit College, 700 College St., Beloit, WI 53511. E-mail: yasukawa@beloit.edu

Treasurer: Lee Drickamer, Department of Biological Sciences, Northern Arizona State University, Flagstaff, AZ. E-mail: Lee.Drickamer@nau.edu

Secretary: Jan Randall, Department of Biology, San Francisco State University, San Francisco, CA 94132. E-mail: jrandall@sfsu.edu

Program Officer: Jennifer Fewell, Department of Biology, Arizona State University, Tempe, AZ 85287. E-mail: j.fewell@asu.edu

Junior Program Officer: TBA in January 2006

Parliamentarian: Jill Mateo, University of Chicago, Chicago, Illinois 60637. Phone: (773) 834-9848, E-mail: jmateo@uchicago.edu

Executive Editor: George Uetz, Department of Biological Sciences, ML006, University of Cincinnati, Cincinnati, Ohio 45221-0006. E-mail: uetzgw@email.uc.edu

Members-at-Large:

Lynette A. Hart, Department of Population Health and Reproduction, and Director, UC Center for Animal Alternatives, School of Veterinary Medicine, University of California, Davis, CA 95616. E-mail: lahart@ucdavis.edu

Chris Evans, Animal Behavior Laboratory, Department of Psychology, Macquarie University, Sydney, NSW 2109, Australia. Phone: 61 (0)2 9850 9230, E-mail: chris@galliform.psy.mq.edu.au

Regina H. Macedo, Departamento de Zoologia, Universidade de Brasília 70910-900 – Brasília – DF – Brasil, Phone: +55-61-307-2265, E-mail: rhfmacedo@unb.br

Historian: Donald Dewsbury, Department of Psychology, University of Florida, Gainesville, FL 32611. E-mail: dewsbury@ufl.edu

New President-elect Molly Morris and Member-at-Large Regina Macedo at the ABS Banquet, 2005

2006 WARDER CLYDE ALLEE

COMPETITION

The Warder Clyde Allee Competition for Best Student Paper will take place at the 2006 Annual Meeting in Snowbird, Utah, 12-16 August, 2006. All eligible graduate students are encouraged to participate.

Eligibility requirements : Independent graduate student research (including, but not limited to, the doctoral dissertation), most of which is unpublished at the time of submission for the session, will be eligible. The work presented may be part of a larger collaborative effort, but the graduate student should have the principal responsibility for the conceptualization and design of the research, collection and analysis of data, and interpretation of results. Only single-authored papers are eligible (though they may eventually be published with other authors). Entrants cannot have completed defense of the doctoral dissertation before the preceding ABS annual meeting (August 2005), and an individual can enter the Allee Competition only once per lifetime.

To enter : Students must indicate their desire to be considered for the competition by checking the appropriate box on the abstract submittal form for the annual meeting; submit a written version of their paper which includes their addresses, telephone numbers and e-mail addresses; fill out a signed and dated form indicating that they meet all eligibility requirements (which will be supplied to entrants after receipt of their written papers); present a spoken version during the 2006 Annual Meeting; and attend both the Allee welcoming dinner on the evening before the competition day and the banquet during the Annual Meeting. The spoken portion of the competition is limited to 11 students. If more than 11 students enter, the Allee Judges will select the best 11 submitted papers for the spoken paper session and participation in the Allee competition. Four (4) copies of a written version of no more than seven double-spaced text pages and no more than a total of four tables and/or figures (this limit does not include abstract, references or acknowledgments) must be received by ABS 2nd President-elect, Gerald S. Wilkinson (Department of Biology, University of Maryland College Park, MD 20742, E-mail: wilkinso@umd.edu), by the abstract deadline. In addition to the hard copies, please send a complete electronic file (one that you have carefully screened for viruses!) as an e-mail attachment in document, text, rtf, or pdf format. THOSE INTERESTED IN THE COMPETITION MUST ALSO SUBMIT AN ABSTRACT FOR THE ANNUAL MEETING BY THE ABSTRACT DEADLINE, 5 June, 2006.

If significant new results arise after submission, students may submit a one-page addendum to their papers up to 30 days before the first day of the Annual Meeting. Questions should be addressed to Dr. Gerald Wilkinson, wilkinso@umd.edu.

DIVERSITY FUND

STUDENT REGISTRATION FEE AWARDS FOR ANNUAL MEETINGS

A limited number of awards will be made from the Diversity Fund to cover registration fees for graduate students attending ABS annual meetings. Applicants must be enrolled in a graduate program at the time of application and must be members of under-represented minorities, including those living in North America who are of African, Asian, or Latin American descent, or of Native American heritage; citizens of Latin American countries; and non-white citizens of African countries. Awards will be made by a lottery of all valid applications received before 15 March, 2006. A letter of application and a signed statement from the student’s major professor confirming the student’s graduate status should be directed to ABS Treasurer, Lee C. Drickamer, Department of Biological Sciences, Northern Arizona University, Flagstaff AZ. E-mail: Lee.Drickamer@nau.edu

2006 FOUNDERS' MEMORIAL POSTER AWARD

This award is given to the best poster paper presented in the Founders' Poster session at the annual meeting and is open to all members of the society in good standing. To join that session (and thus receive consideration from the judging panel), you must so indicate your interest on the registration form for the scientific program.

2006 GENESIS AWARD FOR UNDERGRADUATE RESEARCH

The Genesis Award, first presented at the 2000 meeting, was created to encourage undergraduates from academic institutions of all sizes to participate in research and present their findings in a professional forum. Undergraduates who submit posters for presentation at the annual meeting of the Animal Behavior Society are automatically entered in the Genesis Award poster competition. Judging criteria include significance of the research topic, research methodology, research results, and presentation. Presentation encompasses the student's oral discussion with the judges and the poster itself, including clear statements of the question and results, demonstration that there has been appropriate literature review, good organization, and visual appeal. Students should be prepared to demonstrate a mastery of their subject material. A complete set of judging criteria can be found at the ABS Education Committee website, under Career Development.

ANIMAL BEHAVIOR SOCIETY DISTINGUISHED TEACHING AWARD

CALL FOR NOMINATIONS

PLEASE NOTE THE CRITERIA HAVE BEEN BROADENED IN ORDER TO RECOGNIZE A GREATER RANGE OF TALENTED MEMBERS. The recipient of this award receives recognition, a plaque from the Society, and the opportunity to organize an education-related event at the following annual meeting. It is easy to know about our colleagues’ research by reading publications; it is much more difficult to know about their teaching excellence. We rely on nominations. PLEASE NOMINATE QUALIFIED COLLEAGUES FOR THIS PRESTIGIOUS AWARD. Selection of the award recipient will be made by the Animal Behavior Society Education Committee and approved by the Executive Council. The award recipient will be announced at the annual meeting of the Society.

DEADLINE : Nominating letters should be submitted by 31 March, 2005, to Dr. Penny Bernstein, Chair, Animal Behavior Society Education Committee, Kent State University, Stark Campus, 6000 Frank Avenue, Canton, OH 44720, USA. E-mail: pbernstein@stark.kent.edu . Although e-mail copies are acceptable by the deadline, hard copies of letters of nomination with signature are required before final considerations can be made.

CRITERIA and PROCEDURES : 1. Nominees must be current members of the Animal Behavior Society (NOTE: Current officers and committee chairs are not eligible for nomination).

2. Nominees must have demonstrated highly effective and innovative teaching in the classroom or in an informal education setting (e.g., zoos, aquaria, museums, 4-H programs, research labs, field stations, and environment centers). They should have a reputation among peers and students for excellence in educating people about animal behavior.

3. Persons wishing to nominate an individual for the award should submit a one-page nomination letter providing evidence to support the nomination. The letter also should include names of at least two additional peer reviewers, and two current or former students or program participants. If students are under 18 years old, the student/participant references should be accompanied by, or attached to, a letter from the appropriate teacher or youth program coordinator.

(NOTE: Department chairs, directors, supervisors, or colleagues may be helpful sources for this information if you are not at the same institution as the person you are nominating.)

4. The Education Committee will solicit appropriate supporting materials, including those indicated in nominating letters (e.g., documentation of other teaching awards; peer and student evaluations; additional references; evidence of innovation in curriculum development; development of educational tools, programs, or multimedia products; or other appropriate indicators of superior educating).

5. If you would like to re-nominate an individual for the award, please submit a letter indicating that you are doing so and provide any additional information you feel might be helpful to the committee. Please also include the date of the original nomination. Names of additional peer or student reviewers may also be provided.

ABS FELLOWS CALL FOR NOMINATIONS

The Executive Committee of ABS recognizes outstanding animal behaviorists by electing them as Fellows. To nominate a member of ABS for this honor, submit the name to Steve Nowicki, Department of Biology, Duke University, Box 90338, Durham, North Carolina 27708-0325. E-mail: snowicki@duke.ed. Current Fellows can be viewed at nhttp://www.animalbehavior.org/ABS/Members/fellows.phtml.

CALL FOR SYMPOSIA

FOR THE 2007 ABS ANNUAL MEETING

Symposium proposals for the 2007 annual ABS meeting, 21-25 July in Burlington, Vermont, should be submitted to the Junior Program Officer by 15 September, 2006 . Information on organizing symposia may be found at the ABS website:

http://www.animalbehavior.org/ABS/Program/HostGui

de/SympGuide.html

FOR THE 2007 AAAS MEETING

ABS is striving to expand awareness of its excellent science via symposia for the annual AAAS meeting. The target date for the next symposium is February 2007 at a location to be announced. Anyone interested in organizing a symposium for the meeting, please contact Jan Randall (jrandall@sfsu.edu).

CALL FOR RESOLUTIONS

Resolutions that deal with timely and substantive political or social issues that members wish to submit for the consideration of the ABS membership should be submitted by 15 June, 2006. Submitted resolutions should provide direction to the ABS President to facilitate prompt action and will be evaluated by the Public Affairs Committee for appropriateness. Resolutions will be voted on at the annual business meeting in Snowbird. Approved resolutions reflect the views of the Animal Behavior Society membership and are sent to the appropriate external agencies, organizations, or to the general public. Send resolution proposals to Jill Mateo, Acting Chair of the ABS Public Affairs Committee, University of Chicago, 5730 S Woodlawn Avenue, Chicago, Illinois 60637, USA, or electronically to jmateo @uchicago.edu.

articles

KAY HOLEKAMP RECEIVES C. Hart Merriam award

Dr. Kay Holekamp, Michigan State University, is a recipient of the C. Hart Merriam Award from the American Society of Mammalogy for outstanding research contributions to the science of mammalogy. She will present a plenary talk at the 17-21 June, 2006, meeting, University of Massachusetts, Amherst, titled: “Evolution and development in the spotted hyena.” Kay is only the third women to receive the award and the seventh animal behaviorist in its 30 year history. Other awardees known for their outstanding research in animal behavior include Gail Michener, Katherine Ralls, John Eisenberg, Tim Clutton-Brock, Brock Fenton, and Ken Armitage.

Kay Holekamp in the Maasi Mara Reserve in Kenya holding a young hyena

DID YOU KNOW?

Purchases via the Amazon.com link on our main Web page, http:www.animalbehavior.org, contribute five percent of the total to ABS. If you have books to order and would like to contribute to the Society's efforts at the same time, please consider this option. The Amazon link is found at the bottom of our main page.

A TRIBUTE TO STANLEY A. RAND

(1932-2005)

by

Michael Ryan

There is a hole in my chest where my heart used to be, and a chasm in tropical biology the size of the Panama Canal. Stan Rand died on November 14, 2005, and we are all the worse off for it, personally and professionally.

Dr. Austin Stanley Rand, Stan to all who knew him, was born on September 29, 1932. Perhaps destiny dealt him no choice but greatness in biology, as his father Austin was already a famous ornithologist at Stan’s birth. Stan was never far from field biology or museums when he grew up — he published his first paper when he was 12!

Stan began his graduate studies with Dr. Ernest Williams at Harvard, where he became an early member of that awesome lineage of students of anolis biology under Williams’ tutelage. He received his Ph.D. in 1961, and remained at Harvard on a postdoc for one year, which included an intensive period of study of Jamaican anoles at the University of the West Indies. He and his wife Pat then relocated to Sao Paulo, Brazil, for two years while Stan was a postdoc with Dr. Paulo Vanzolini. Initially, Stan was paid from royalties from a song that “Vanzo” wrote which must have been quite a hit in Brazil — maybe. Stan always lived modestly and money was never a big issue to him. Regardless, the Rand’s first child, Hugh, was born there and it appears he didn’t starve

In 1964 Stan received an invitation from Dr. Martin Moynihan to join a new cadre of impressive young scientists that Moynihan was assembling at the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute in Panama. Stan joined the staff. He, Pat, and Hugh moved to Panama and had two daughters, Margaret and Katherine, on STRI’s Barro Colorado Island (BCI), where the forest was inhabited by anoles and iguanas during the day, and the Rands were serenaded by choruses of túngara frogs at night.

Stan published early and often — over 100 scientific papers in 60 years of publishing. (Note that he is not done yet. Túngara frog papers with his data will continue to bear his name for some time, and I predict there will be one in 2014 which will mark Stan’s 70th year in the scientific literature.) Much of Stan’s scientific contributions can be partitioned into studies of anolis lizards, iguanas and crocodiles, and, as a grand finale, his study of túngara frogs. Stan explored many fascinating tidbits of nature in between these projects, but I will briefly review only these contributions here.

Stan published a series of studies on anolis biology in the 1960s that had an immediate and lasting impact on tropical biology, ecology, and behavioral ecology. Prominent among those contributions was his notion of the “ecomorph.” The genesis of this concept originated with his data showing that on each island of the Greater Antilles, different anolis species had diversified and adapted to nearly identical niches among islands. During that time Stan also investigated dominance interactions among lizards, showing that if the size difference between males was sufficient, the larger male won, but if there were a smaller size difference, the resident won. He demonstrated the “residency effect” in 1967, well before this became an important issue in behavioral ecology. Stan also integrated physiological ecology into his studies. Critical to the concept of the ecomorph was the climatic, not just the structural, habitat the lizards occupied. At the behavioral level he showed that lizards’ response to predators was strongly influenced by their body temperature. All of this foreshadowed Stan’s continuing emphasis on the organism’s entire biology and the necessity of viewing it in its natural context.

Stan made at least two other major contributions from his work with anolis. One was a paper with Williams in 1970 on signal redundancy in communication systems. They used information theory to estimate the quantity of information about species identity that could potentially be communicated in a lizard community. They calculated that the total amount far exceeded what was necessary. This study was a wonderful demonstration of how animals use multiple aspects of their displays to reinforce the same message, and it was one of the first uses of information theory applied to animal communication in the wild. Stan also considered the relationship between ecological space and predator-prey interactions in the context of “aspect diversity,” arguing that variation among species could result from predator-driven selection that causes species to diverge in the “escape space” available to them. This concept greatly augmented studies of apostatic selection and anticipated much of the work we see today in sensory ecology. (Thanks to both Ray Huey and Jonathon Losos for their thoughts on Stan’s anolis work.)

Another stage in Stan’s work dealt with social behavior in and between green iguanas and crocodiles. Much of this work was with Gordon Burghardt and his students, centered on the small island of Slothia, a mere stone’s thrown from Barro Colorado Island. Female iguanas swim to Slothia from BCI and communally nest. Stan and his brother Will wrote an insightful paper on conflict resolution. It analyzed the competition between female iguanas over burrows they dug for nesting. The analysis combined stochastic processes and energetic constraints and showed that females took into consideration the amount of energy they had expended in building the burrow. This study later led to some consternation among theoreticians interested in honest signals who were convinced that the “Concorde Effect” (adding more investment only because past investments have been made) should be maladaptive. I remember one night on BCI when, over some rather mediocre Panamanian rum, John Maynard Smith (who to me was always the “Stan of theoretical biology”), asking Stan just how this could be. Although Stan knew the theory about games, the data reigned supreme — this is what they do, he replied.

There were also some interesting interactions between crocs and the female iguanas that few besides Stan had witnessed. A female croc had earlier nested at the same site where the fecund iguanas sought shelter for their eggs. The female croc, Natasha, as the several meter crocodile was affectionately known, rushed a nesting iguana, and grabbed the expectant mother in her mouth. Instead of devouring her, or at least dismembering her as any protective maternal archosaur should do, Natasha delicately carried the iguana back to the water and released her. Crocodiles carry their newly hatched young to the water, so Stan thought that having a small squirming baby reptile in her mouth released Natasha’s maternal instincts. Some of this crocodile work is published, and much more is oral history on BCI. When great scientists such as Stan pass, we marvel at the accumulation of knowledge they left us, and we lament the untapped knowledge that went with them.

Stan began to study acoustic communication in frogs in the forest of Boracéia in Brazil while conducting his postdoctoral research with Vanzolini. That interest continued when he moved to Panama. He immediately set out to document the vocal diversity of these gnomes of the Panamanian nights, but he also turned his considerable nocturnal skills towards one species, the túngara frog, Physalaemus pustulosus, which then had the more melodious moniker of Engystomops.

I went to BCI to begin my studies of sexual selection and communication in red-eyed tree frogs in 1978. These frogs proved intractable for the study I had planned, and I quickly switched my attention to túngara frogs. At this point Stan had published one paper on their foam-nesting behavior, although nothing on their communication. But he gave me a manuscript that had been written in the late 1960s or early 1970s. It described the complex calling of these frogs, a simple call, or “whine,” that could be produced alone or could be followed by one-to-many secondary components, or “chucks.” The manuscript was filled with incredibly interesting and detailed natural history as well as experimental studies of female phonotaxis. Among other things, Stan was interested in whether female frogs were more attracted to the complex call over the simple call. These experiments were conducted when the emphasis of mate recognition was focused at the species level and was concerned with how it contributed to speciation through behavioral isolation. In frogs this work was being carried out in exemplary fashion by such luminaries as Murray Littlejohn and Carl Gerhardt, both of whom were inspired by the earlier studies of Frank Blair. So at that time, Stan was working in the intellectual shadow of the Modern Synthesis and its emphasis on speciation, but he was addressing questions about female choice and sexual selection instead. This was some time before Robert Trivers (who also worked on anolis and was advised by Williams during his Ph.D. thesis research) wrote his paper on parental investment and sexual selection in 1972. I added some to that early manuscript of Stan’s and we published it in 1981. I finished my thesis in 1982 while Stan was still concentrating on reptiles.

Stan and I remained in touch during the next few years while neither of us worked on these frogs. In 1985 we met in the halls of the Smithsonian’s Natural History Museum in Washington, D.C., and I asked, Why don’t we start up a joint project with those little beasts? In 1986 we began a now 20-year collaboration on what became known to some as the “túngara frog project.” Our initial interests were modest as we began testing female phonotaxis in a carport using a plywood and burlap testing chamber in Gamboa, Panama. Stan and family had just moved from Panama City to Gamboa, and STRI was figuring on having some laboratory facilities there soon. The first question we addressed was what aspects of the mating call made it attractive to females, and the first studies we published in 1990 argued that in this system sexual selection was generated by sensory exploitation. That idea, convergent with and inspired by others such as M. J. West Eberhard at STRI, has generated some interest. Our interests in sexual communication in these frogs continued to expand in concert with the lab facilities in Gamboa, which in turn accommodated a more sophisticated approach to our own research questions.

Stan was always interested in the entire biology of the animal, and our studies soon grew to embrace additional aspects of communication, comparative studies of populations and related species and, through our collaboration with Dr. Walt Wilczysnki, the neural mechanisms that controlled mate choice. Memorable during those years was a 5,000 km transect that Stan and I sampled in which we collected túngara frog calls and tissues throughout the entire range of this species. Most of the data were collected when we departed from Austin, Texas, after the meetings of the American Society of Ichthyologist and Herpetologist (ASIH) that was hosted there in 1993. We drove from Texas to Panama, collecting all the way. Those samples were supplemented by numerous trips to South America, where we studied other populations of túngara frogs and their relatives. The data from that transect has provided the grist for at least four separate studies, and its uses are still not exhausted.

In the year 2000, Stan, Walt Wilczynski, David Cannatella and I were PI’s on a multidisciplinary grant. This grant, which involved collaborations among more than half-a-dozen labs, addressed issues from phylogenetics to molecular neurobiology, all emanating from the basic biology of the túngara frog that Stan first glimpsed in 1964. As the grant ended in 2004, we were asked to organize a two-day symposium on “Sexual Communication in Túngara Frogs” at the Animal Behavior Society meetings in Oaxaca, Mexico. To kick off this symposium, numerous attendees, many with little or no interest in frogs, sexual selection, or communication per se, packed the room to hear Stan Rand present what ended up being his last scientific presentation — “Natural History of the Túngara Frog.” When Stan finished that talk, there was a sustained applause in which I detected a tone of reverence and appreciation for someone special.

The work on túngara frogs will continue unabated. It will be a scientific legacy of Stan’s, but more so: It will be a continuing collaboration from the grave. Although he is no longer with us, we will never outlive Stan’s inspiration nor exhaust his insights.

Having now provided a most cursory summary of Dr. Rand’s scientific career, I would like to end saying more about Stan the person: This is the real reason why so many of us mourn his passing

Above all Stan was a naturalist. His eyes, ears and mind were focused on the organism in its environment. He was well schooled in theory, but not terribly impressed by it. He was a great experimenter, but was always a bit cynical about how such results might apply in the wild. An anecdote: We were waiting out a drought in a small dusty town in the bush in Brazil. We went to see the movie, “Edward Scissorhands.” An old woman narrates the story in which, as a youth, she befriends a boy who has scissors for hands. Afterward, I asked Stan how he liked the movie. He said it was totally unrealistic, the chronology didn’t match, and the old woman could not have been a youngster when she first met Edward S. I said, “Stan, for chris-sakes, the boy had scissors for hands! How realistic is that? So what if the chronology was off?” He wouldn’t budge. The opening of the movie was built on a house of cards and he could contemplate no further.

For most, Stan is intricately associated with STRI. The Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute is a great institution, and Barro Colorado Island is its crown jewel. We celebrated Stan’s retirement from STRI with a symposium in his honor at the 1998 meetings of the ASIH in Guelph, Canada, the proceedings of which are published in “Anuran Communication” (Smithsonian Institution Press, Washington, D.C., 2001). All of the more than 20 authors I first invited to participate said yes — so much for a backup list! When I introduced the symposium, I said that but perhaps for BCI, Stan was STRI’s most valuable resource. An institution’s greatness is defined, of course, not just by its physical facilities but by its humanity. And it is here that Stan made by far his greatest contribution. Because of his immense knowledge of tropical biology, Stan was often called upon for advice, especially to initiate novices to this land of plenty. His generosity knew no bounds, and his humor, warmth and enthusiasm were contagious. He readily extended this generosity into the personal realm. He and Pat were the social hub of Gamboa for the last 20 years and their house a scientific salon. Pat’s famous “frog dinners” for many of the visiting researchers in Gamboa (regardless of whether or not the scientists worked on frogs) were the social highlight of our summer. These dinners were also an incubator of scientific ideas. Stan was not a “science nerd.” He was broadly informed and could entertainingly engage one with a broad array of topics, but his insights and wit were always sharpened and ready to be administered to the next scientific question.

I remember once bemoaning that because Stan was not at a university, numerous students missed out on all that he had to offer. Wrong, wrong, wrong! STRI offers a wide array of fellowships for researchers at all stages. They all need STRI sponsors. I have counted more than 50 students that Stan sponsored before 1990; surely I have missed many. In addition, since 1986 Stan has acted as sponsor to more that 70 interns and associates who have worked with us on the túngara frog project. He visited my lab in Austin twice a year for a long time; those visits were so heavily booked that I had to sequester Stan at a local pub to have time with him. But that hiding place was found too soon. Finally, there are literally hordes of students who owe Stan deeply. Two now rather famous biologists — one studies monkeys, the other ants — told me long before they were famous that Stan was crucial to the early development of their research forays on BCI. When I informed by mass e-mail numerous colleagues of Stan’s death, I received a plethora of responses in which the word “love” was used much more than one might associate with “macho” (and “macha”) field biologists.

So now we say good-bye Stan. Thanks for all that you shared: the family, the friends, the tropics, and the frogs. You will not be forgotten. Next rum’s on me.

Stan in the field in Panama. (Picture courtesy of Neal Smith)

NOTICE

Issues of the ABS Newsletter are published first on the ABS Web page. To get ABS news fast, point your browser to http://www.animalbehavior.org/ and select News and Announcements from the left menu.

NOTICE TO DEVELOPING NATION

SCIENTISTS PLANNING TO ATTEND ABS 2006

The Latin American Affairs Committee can provide letters of invitation to help scientists (faculty or students) from developing countries obtain travel funding from their universities in order to attend the ABS meeting in 2006. If such a letter would be useful in helping you to obtain funding, please contact Zuleyma Tang-Martinez (zuleyma@umsl.edu) to request an invitation. Please provide your name and address, as well as the title or topic of the paper you will be presenting at the conference.

ATTENTION AUTHORS

CALL FOR RESOLUTIONS

Resolutions that deal with timely and substantive political or social issues that members wish to submit for the consideration of the ABS membership should be submitted by 15 June, 2006. Submitted resolutions should provide direction to the ABS President to facilitate prompt action and will be evaluated by the Public Affairs Committee for appropriateness. Resolutions will be voted on at the annual business meeting in Snowbird. Approved resolutions reflect the views of the Animal Behavior Society membership and are sent to the appropriate external agencies, organizations, or to the general public. Send resolution proposals to Jill Mateo, Acting Chair of the ABS Public Affairs Committee, University of Chicago, 5730 S Woodlawn Avenue, Chicago, Illinois 60637, USA, or electronically to jmateo @uchicago.edu.

ANNOUNCEMENTS

LATIN AMERICAN STUDENT MEMBERSHIPS

At the August 2005 ABS Executive Committee Meeting in Snowbird, Utah, a new initiative was approved to aid with recruitment of Latin American faculty and students. This endeavor involves contributions from ABS Members to a fund that will be maintained at the Central Office. Each year, beginning now, the Membership Committee will fund a certain number (depending upon contributions) of new subscriptions from the fund. Each membership costs $24 for the student rate with the paper journal ($19 for online only). With the assistance of Regina Macedo, the Membership Committee has already compiled a list of over 60 students who would like to join the ABS. We ask that you consider making a contribution to the Latin American Membership Fund (checks made out to Animal Behavior Society with appropriate notation for this fund). Please send your contribution to the ABS Central Office, 2611 East 10th St, #170, Indiana University, Bloomington, IN, 47408-2603, noting that your gift is for this program.THANKS in advance to all who contribute — this sort of endeavor is exactly what we, as a society, have decided to make a high priority. If you have questions, please contact Lee Drickamer (Lee.Drickamer@nau.edu).

SYLVIA TAYLOR MEMORIAL SESSION. Primate Behavior Studies: Essential to Primate Welfare

On August 14, 2006, as part of its annual meeting, the Animal Behavior Society will host a special session exploring the relationship between a knowledge of primate behavior and the ability to provide for the welfare of primates, both in the wild and in captivity. This session will be held in memory of Dr. Sylvia Taylor, an active ABS member and the primate field specialist for the USDA, APHIS, AC at the time of her unexpected death in January, 2005. The session will bring together people from the fields of primatology, ethology, conservation biology, and applied animal behavior, along with anyone else interested in primate behavior and/or welfare, for a discussion forum in which all can work together to improve our knowledge and care of the animals which Dr. Taylor loved.

The talks in this session will address communication studies, social housing, veterinary conditioning, consumer demand studies, and the current stage of knowledge and need for further research with regard to primate behavior and welfare in research/dealer facilities, zoos (and other exhibitor facilities), sanctuaries, and in the wild. There will also be panel discussion forums to encourage audience input in these areas. The tentative list of speakers includes Sue Savage-Rumbaugh, David Seelig, Gail Laule, Steve Schapiro, Kate Baker, Linda Brent, Donald Lindburg, and Elizabeth Lonsdorf.

While the Animal Behavior Society will be hosting this special session, it is not providing additional funding to underwrite speakers. Donations of any amount will be gratefully accepted and applied toward the reimbursement of the speakers' expenses. Organizations or individuals who simply wish to make donations in honor of Dr. Taylor may also contribute. It is hoped that the proceedings of this session will be published, and include recognition of donors. Funds collected in excess of the expenses of producing the special session and proceedings will accrue to a research grant in Dr. Taylor's honor. Donations may be mailed to The Sylvia Taylor Memorial Fund, Animal Behavior Society, 2611 East 10th St, Bloomington IN 47408-2603, or through the ABS website.

For further information, please go to

http://www.animalbehavior.org/ABSCentralOffice/sylviataylorsession/

Join an ABS Committee!

If you would you like to volunteer for one of the society's active committees, contact ABS President Stephen Nowicki, Department of Biology, Duke University, Box 90338, Durham, North Carolina 27708-0325, USA. E-mail: snowicki@duke.edu.

A B S n e t

THE ELECTRONIC MAIL NETWORK OF THE ANIMAL BEHAVIOR SOCIETY

ABSnet provides a fast electronic forum for animal behaviorists, and others interested in the study of animal behavior, in a digest or newsletter form. ABSnet provides job announcements, requests for information, computer related news (virus and bug alerts), appropriate software and hardware reviews, and news of Society activities and business. ABSnet is not an interactive, listserv-type discussion group, but rather a moderated forum for the exchange of information of interest to animal behaviorists. The digest or newsletter does not replace the official Society hard-copy newsletter sent to all Society members via regular mail. Questions? Ask James C. Ha, University of Washington (jcha@u.washington.edu). To suBcribe to ABSnet, go to http://www.animalbehavior.org, click on the News and Announcements link on the left, and then on the Subscribe/Unsubscribe link under ABSNet. Then fill out the Web-based form. Links to post an article or view the archives are also available.

MEETINGS

ANIMAL BEHAVIOR SOCIETY

ANNUAL MEETINGS

2006: 12-16 August, Snowbird, Utah

See below and watch the ABS website for details.

2007: 21-25 July, Burlington, Vermont

INTERNATIONAL MEETINGS

2006: International Society of Behavioral Ecology, 23-28 July, Tours, France

2007: International Ethological Conference,

15-23 August, Dalhousie University, Halifax, Canada

I nternational Society for Comparative Psychology

The 13th Biennial Meeting of the International Society for Comparative Psychology will be held in Christchurch, New Zealand, 31 August to 3 September, 2006. The program will include oral presentations of 20 minutes maximum (including questions), symposia, posters, and keynote addresses. The call for papers will be made shortly along with the provision of detailed information regarding registration, accommodation, social events, etc.

CONSERVATION WEBSITE

Check out the completely redesigned Canisius Ambassadors for Conservation (CAC) website at www.conservenature.org.

JWATCHER EVEN-RECORDER AND ANALYSIS PROGRAM

We are proud to introduce the newest version of our event-recorder and analysis program, JWatcher 1.0, which is designed to be used on 2006-era computers (Mac OS-X and Windows-XP). Supported by a grant from the National Institute of Mental Health, JWatcher 1.0 adds new functionality and algorithms. Version 1.0 includes a number of additional algorithms that can be used to study sequences and conditional behaviors (e.g., to study the frequency of, or time allocated to, walking while chewing gum), as well as algorithms to combine multiple results files into one summary file, and those to study inter- or intra-observer reliability. Future releases will have integrated video scoring capabilities and the ability to score behavior on a PDA or Java-equipped device.

Since releasing JWatcher 0.9 in November 2000, we have had thousands of downloads from all over the world. Neuroscientists, human factors experts, psychologists, and veterinarians have joined the many behavioral ecologists who use JWatcher to analyze their observations and experiments. We have taught thousands of students the fundamentals of quantifying animal behavior using JWatcher, and these labs at UCLA have been extremely popular. Educators in other institutions have used these labs to teach the process of quantifying behavior to their students.We're very excited about our new release that updates JWatcher to make it more compatible with current versions of Java, as well as adding numerous new and powerful features. Our philosophy is to provide a free event recorder and analysis program to the research community. We are developing a book, "Analyzing behavior the JWatcher way," and are instituting a paid support program to help you get the most out of JWatcher. We hope that JWatcher helps you solve your behavioral analysis problems.

As a registered user, we'll update you first when we have new releases. To download JWatcher, please go to the JWatcher website: http://www.jwatcher.ucla.edu. Questions? Contact Dan Blumstein at marmots@ucla.edu.

CORRECTION TO NOVEMBER NEWSLETTER

Sylvia Atsalis and Melinda Pruett-Jones

are at the Brookfield Zoo

NOTICE!

Issues of the ABS Newsletter are published first on the ABS Web page. Hardcopies of the Newsletter are delivered by mail and may take weeks to arrive. To get ABS news fast , point your browser to http://www.animalbehavior.org/ABS/Newsletters/Directory/ .

OPPORTUNITIES

University of Illinois (Urbana-Champaign)

New degree program in applied animal behavior

The Master of Science in Biology degree offers a specialization in Applied Animal Behavior. This is an interdisciplinary, interdepartmental program

administered through the Masters in Biology Program, with adjunct support from the ASPCA (www.aspca.org). It is designed to provide graduate training for careers in applied animal behavior, including academia; companion animal behavior consulting; shelter behavior; training and enrichment for animal shelters, zoo, laboratory and livestock animals; and commercial pet care industries. The curriculum is tailored to meet the course requirements of the Animal Behavior Society for certification as Associate Applied Animal Behaviorists (http://www.animalbehavior.org/Applied/). All students are required to develop strong quantitative and experimental skills. Participation in research is mandatory and each student will complete a research project.

This is an in-residence two-year program. All students must meet the entrance requirements for the Masters in Biology Program

(http://www.life.uiuc.edu/programs/BMP/MS%20in%20Biology.htm). In addition, successful applicants will provide evidence of animal-related experience such as sheltering, training, animal exhibiting, etc.

For Sale: A complete set of Animal Behaviour journals, 1986-2000 (Vol. 34-60); and a complete set of The Auk, 1984-2000 (Vol. 101-117). Contact Elizabeth Procter-Gray. Phone: (508) 943-6036, E-Mail: LizGray79@Hotmail.com

Snowbird 2006

Announcing the 43 rd Annual Meeting of the Animal Behavior Society,

12-16 August

For more information consult the website:

http://www.animalbehavior.org/ABS/Meetings/Snowbird06/

When: The meeting will begin with a free welcoming reception on Saturday evening, 12 August, and continue through the Wednesday night banquet, 16 August, 2006.

Where: Venue for the meeting is in the Little Cottonwood Canyon, Utah, at the Snowbird Ski and Summer Resort in the Wasatch mountains of eastern Utah, just 45 minutes from the Salt Lake City airport. The venue is in a gorgeous mountain setting, and the luxury hotel, the Cliff Lodge, where we will be meeting offers spectacular views and deluxe accommodations in a location perfectly situated to serve as the starting point for a family vacation in the Rocky Mountains. Grand Canyon, Zion, Arches, and Bryce Canyon National Parks are all within a day’s drive.

Early Registration and Abstract Submission due 5 June, 2006. Early registration and abstracts will be accepted via the conference Web page (http://www.animalbehavior.org/ABS/Program/) beginning Monday, 3 April and ending on Monday, 5 June, 2006.

Registration fees for 2006, as approved by the Executive Committee, are listed below:

Early Late

Full member 190 270

Student Member 86 165

Full Non-Member 263 350

Student Non-Member 165 245

Guest/Spouse 65 70

Developing Country 62 62

Food: There are several restaurants on the hotel grounds that range from fast and relatively inexpensive (at least by Snowbird standards) take-out sandwiches and pizza to 45-minute in-and-out casual or bar sit-down dining to very formal, relaxed (i.e., slow) and expensive penthouse restaurants.

Last year, a number of participants in the meeting expressed concern as to the relatively high prices of food in the hotel restaurants. This year everyone will have the opportunity to register for a condo that provides full kitchen facilities. There is a food store on site and arrangements can be made to go to a supermarket at the entrance to the canyon to purchase supplies.

We will be making a “cheat sheet” available so that the locations of the best food deals at Snowbird will be known to registrants before they arrive on site, and we will be extending the lunch break by 15 minutes to allow more time for conference participants to forage efficiently at midday.

Housing: Housing will be primarily on site, in either the Cliff Lodge (hotel-style rooms) or the Lodge at Snowbird (condo/kitchen suites). Reservations will be handled entirely by Snowbird staff.

Prices:

$99/night ($79/night for a limited number of students) for a hotel-style standard room (2 queen beds) or a studio condo (1 queen bed and kitchen).

$149 and $169 for deluxe bedrooms and rooms with spa access (1 king bed).

$249/night for a one-bedroom suite (2-3 queen/king beds) or a studio-style loft (3 beds and kitchen).

$299/night for a two-bedroom suite (2-3 queen/king beds) or a one-bedroom condo (3 queen beds and kitchen).

$349/night for one-bedroom condo with loft (5 queen beds and kitchen). Last year, the president of the Society and five students stayed in one of these condos.

Camping is also convenient and inexpensive at National Forest Service campgrounds a few miles up and down the canyon from Snowbird, though reservations need to be made in advance.

Transportation: Salt Lake City (SLC) has a major international airport that acts as a hub for Delta Airlines. Consequently, transportation into and out of SLC by air is relatively easy and inexpensive. SLC is also located at the confluence of several interstate highways.

Ground transportation from the SLC airport to Snowbird is provided by Canyon Transport shuttle vans. The ride to and from Snowbird from the airport or downtown SLC is about 45 minutes, and the cost for the airport run is currently $44 roundtrip. An Enterprise car rental service is available at Snowbird.

Things to Do. If you feel lazy, the hotel has an excellent full-service spa, hot tub, two swimming pools, and three bars. Those of you with more energy can hike the many alpine trails on Snowbird’s mountainsides, which range from 8000-11,000 feet above sea level. The mountains are laced with alpine meadows full of colorful wildflowers (usually in full bloom in August), streams, cascades and lakes. Mountain goats, deer, moose and small mammals are often seen and there are many birds for bird watching. If hiking has no appeal, but you would like to enjoy the view from the top, the resort has a tram that will take you to the mountaintop. The adventuresome can hike down or rent trail bikes and have a wild ride down. A gorgeous U.S. Forest Service campground is located 5 miles up the road at Alta (advance reservations required). Other activities include mountain-biking, jogging, tennis, basketball and volleyball, fly-fishing, and helicopter rides. Golf and Salt Lake City are nearby.

Child Care. Snowbird runs a children’s day camp all summer long, and with advance registration, the children of attendees of almost all ages can be accommodated at “ Camp Snowbird.”

For Further Information: Please have a look at the Snowbird website (summer.snowbird.com), the Animal Behavior Society website or, if all else fails, contact the Designated Host: Jeff Galef by e-mail (galef@mcmaster.ca) or phone, (905) 525-9140, ext 23017.

Scientific Program Highlights:

Featured Speakers:

Robert Trivers, Rutgers University, will give the Distinguished Animal Behaviorist address,

Tim Clutton-Brock, Cambridge University , is the Keynote speaker.

Carl Gerhardt, University of Missouri, will present the Fellows Address

Symposia:

The evolution of sensory and signaling systems

Organizers: Tim Wright, Jenny Boughmann, Paige Warren

Behavioral Syndromes

Organizers: Andy Sih, Alison Bell, James Chadwick Johnson

Workshop :

Data collection software, led by Sue Margulis.

Invited Paper Session:

Primate Behavior Studies: Essential to Primate Welfare. A special educational session in memory of Dr. Sylvia Taylor (1963-2005) with introductory talk by Sue Savage-Rumbaugh.

Organizer: Wendy Koch