[PCA] NYC, Friday, September 15th, 2017: The Torrey Botanical Society Anniversary Symposium to Celebrate 150 Years of Natural History

[Flatbush Gardener]

[image: Torrey Botanical Society]
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Friday, September 15th, 2017: The Torrey Botanical Society Anniversary
Symposium to Celebrate 150 Years of Natural History
Registration is now open!

The registration fee will be $25 for all attendees. In addition to the
program of speakers, this fee includes a continental breakfast and post-
symposium reception. Attendees may bring their own lunch, or pre-purchase a
boxed lunch for an additional fee of $15.
Register today! <https://t.e2ma.net/click/h1fyl/h1f2wu/1ks8ne>

Symposium Program

The day begins with a continental breakfast, complimentary with your
registration. The main program includes five speakers, with a break for
lunch.

   - Jessica L. Allen: *Lichens of New York City: Past, Present, and Future*
   - Robert Naczi:* What would Torrey do? Floras and floristics in the
   northeastern U.S.A. and adjacent Canada*
   - Eric Sanderson: *The Welikia Project: On the Historical Ecology of New
   York City*
   - Lena Struwe: *From Vasculums to iPhones: 150 years of botanical field
   research technology in a nutshell*
   - Peter del Tredici: *The Introduction of Japanese Plants into North
   America (with a Torrey Botanical Club Footnote)*

The day will conclude with a Panel Discussion among the speakers, moderated
by Susan K. Pell, Science and Public Programs Manager, United States
Botanic Garden. Dennis Wm. Stevenson, President, Torrey Botanical Society,
and Vice President for Science and Cullman Curator, The New York Botanical
Garden, will provide Opening and Closing Remarks, and present a Torrey
Distinguished Service Award. The day concludes with a wine and beer
reception, also included in your registration.
Symposium Speakers and Abstracts

*Jessica L. Allen: Lichens of New York City: Past, Present, and Future*
Jessica L. Allen, Post-Doctoral Researcher, Swiss Federal Institute for
Forest, Snow and Landscape Researcher
*Abstract:* Lichens, organisms formed by intimate cooperation between fungi
and algae, grow worldwide in habitats from the frozen tundra of Antarctica
to the tropical rainforest in Brazil. While they can withstand extreme
climate conditions, most lichens are sensitive to air pollution. Studying
the lichens that occur in an area provides valuable information about the
air quality and environmental health. In this talk a detailed discussion of
the change in lichen communities in New York City through the past century
and corresponding change in air quality will be presented. Reports of
lichens from the New York metropolitan area date back to the 19th century,
with the first list of species published in 1823, and continue through the
present. The findings from previously published literature were combined
with results of recent surveys of lichens in Central Park, Freshkills Park,
and the Highline. The general trend shows that lichen diversity was very
high in the New York metropolitan area in the 19th century, it then sharply
declined in the 20th century, and has increased slightly in the 21st
century. To test how much the air quality has improved in New York City,
sensitive lichens were reintroduced to the Bronx in The New York Botanical
Garden. The reintroduction was successful, and highlights the possibility
of increasing biodiversity in urban areas through continued improvement of
the air quality and pollution.

*Robert Naczi: What would Torrey do? Floras and floristics in the
northeastern U.S.A. and adjacent Canada*
Robert F. C. Naczi, Arthur J. Cronquist Curator of North American Botany,
The New York Botanical Garden
*Abstract:* In 1843, John Torrey completed both A Flora of North America
and A Flora of the State of New York, setting a high standard of
scholarship for all subsequent Floras in North America. If Torrey could
return now to spend some time with his beloved flora, what would he think?
What would most surprise him? What would he do? This presentation will
address these questions by reviewing the states of botanical knowledge
during Torrey’s time and the present day, evaluating consequences of major
developments and discoveries, and considering the future of Floras and
floristics. Especially germane are key developments in plant systematics,
floristic knowledge, floristic documentation, landscape-scale floristic
change, and conservation. Advances, many of them recent, have deepened
understanding of our flora far beyond that of Torrey’s day. However,
serious concerns about floristic change and conservation make the future
uncertain. Much remains to be accomplished before we can consider any Flora
of the Northeast truly final---a realization that is simultaneously
humbling and inspiring. No doubt, Torrey would strive to make our flora
better known and appreciated, just as he did.

*Eric Sanderson: The Welikia Project: On the Historical Ecology of New York
City*
Eric W. Sanderson, Senior Conservation Ecologist, Wildlife Conservation
Society
*Abstract:* Dr. John Torrey made his name as a botanist with the
publication of a Catalogue of Plants growing spontaneously within Thirty
Miles of the City of New York in 1819. Nearly 200 years later, this book
remains a primary source for reconstructing the ecology of landscapes much
transformed -- before, during, and after Torrey's time -- by urbanization.
With Torrey's appreciation of "Bloomingdale woods" and the "cedar swamps of
Weehawk" in mind, I will discuss the some of the recent findings of the
Welikia Project (the successor and expansion of the Mannahatta Project) on
the historical ecology of New York City. New York is remarkable not only
for its tall buildings and wide avenues, but also its geology, soils,
fortunate climate, exemplary geography, and its many and changeable
inhabitants, from the trout lily and downy rattlesnake plantain to the once
mighty American chestnut. Uncovering the ecological neighborhoods that
underlie the modern ones encourages to appreciate how one generation gives
to the next problems and possibilities. Thinking from Hudson to Torrey, and
Torrey to our own time, begs the question of what we are giving to the
future of plants and people now?

*Lena Struwe: From Vasculums to iPhones: 150 years of botanical field
research technology in a nutshell*
Lena Struwe, Associate Professor, Dept. of Ecology, Evolution, and Natural
Resources and Director of the Chrysler Herbarium, Rutgers University
*Abstract:* Botany is a remarkable science when it comes to the longevity
and resilience of our field tools and data. The tools of the past are often
the tools of the present and future with some modifications. Botanical
knowledge and basic field methods have survived hundreds of years. The same
type of herbarium presses have been in use for centuries, and herbarium
labels are following the same format and content as when the first
botanists started to do excursions in the Northeast. But many things
changed as well. Vasculums as containers for collecting plants have been
replaced by ziplock bags. Field books are now often handheld digital
devices with wireless connections that obtain fast and detailed GPS
coordinates and let us upload our notes, and a quick e-mail to an expert
has replaced a handwritten or typed up letter. Recorded sightings are now
shared through a quick upload to iNaturalist instead of as a species lists
published months later in print. Plant identification tools have gone from
rare books to interactive websites and forums with easy-access experts (and
less rare books), but in the end, we still have to check for the hairs,
leaf margin types, and number of pistils. What has been gained, what has
been lost, what can be preserved and developed to ensure quality of data
and observations? This presentation will present timeline of botanical
tools and communication systems in the context of the history of materials,
production techniques, and innovation for the tools botanists used and use.

*Peter del Tredici: The Introduction of Japanese Plants into North America
(with a Torrey Botanical Club Footnote)*
Peter del Tredici, Senior Research Scientist Emeritus, Arnold Arboretum of
Harvard University and Visiting Lecturer of Applied Ecology and Planning,
Massachusetts Institute of Technology
*Abstract:* This presentation describes the history of plant introductions
from Japan into North America, from the Perry Expedition in 1854 through
the collections of George Rogers Hall of Bristol, Rhode Island and Thomas
Hogg of New York City between 1861 and 1875. Both men sent plants to the
innovative nurseryman, Samuel Bowne Parsons of Flushing, Long Island, who
propagated and sold them to the gardening public. This process, which took
more than twenty years from initial collection through commercial
distribution, succeeded in adding innumerable Japanese species into the
ornamental landscapes of North America, including Japanese maple, kousa
dogwood, panicle hydrangea, and Sawara cypress. Unfortunately these early
introductions also included a number of species which escaped cultivation
and have become infamously invasive, including oriental bittersweet, kudzu,
porcelain berry, and Japanese honeysuckle. The pioneering work of these
three horticulturists--compounded over the past hundred and fifty
years--has had a profound impact on both cultivated and wild landscapes
across North America. An interesting sidelight to this story is that Thomas
Hogg, along with his nurseryman brother James, and the botanist James
Thurber, who was the first to describe many of these introductions, were
all active members of the Torrey Botanical Club.
About the Torrey Botanical Society

The Torrey Botanical Society is an organization for people interested in
plant life, including professional and amateur botanists, students, and
others who simply enjoy nature. The organization was named with the
appearance of its first publication, Bulletin of the Torrey Botanical Club,
in 1870, and was incorporated in 1871. The Society has published a
scientific journal since that time, and currently publishes the Journal of
the Torrey Botanical Society quarterly.

Today, the objectives of the Society are “to promote interest in botany,
and to collect and disseminate information on all phases of plant science.”
These objectives are fulfilled through meetings, field trips, public
lectures, publications, funding of graduate research and education, and
sponsorship of symposia and regional conferences. Through outreach and
publications, the society has become an international organization and is
affiliated with the American Institute of Biological Sciences. It differs
from many scientific societies in that it hosts numerous free public
lectures and field trips.
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*Torrey Botanical Society*
810 East 10th Street Lawrence, Kansas, 66044 USA
*Phone:* (785) 865-9405   *Fax:* (785) 843-6153    *Email:*
torrey at allenpress.com <torrey at allenpress.com?subject=>
*Website:* www.torreybotanical.org
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