Program Committee: Janet Braun (Chair), Brad Blood, Brandi Coyner, Liz Flaherty, Meredith Hamilton, Eileen Lacey, Susan Loeb, Karen Mabry, Daniel Odell, Diane Post, Marcia Revelez, Margaret Schadler, Barbara Shaw, Cody Thompson, Patrick A. Zollner, Hadley Jerman, (2012 logo design), Tony Ballard (KSU Conference Planning), Heide Burke (KSU Conference Planning), and Charissa Bowditch (KSU Conference Planning).
Members were notified by e-mail of online access to the program before the meeting and abstracts for papers presented were provided to members attending the meeting. Full program and abstracts are available at http://www.mammalsociety.org/meetings. Abridged minutes of the directors' and members' meetings follow.
ABRIDGED MINUTES OF MEETINGS OF THE BOARD OF DIRECTORS
Meetings were held between 0900 and 1538 on 22 June 2012 and between 1300 and 1351 on 25 June 2012. The meetings were attended by 31 and 30 Officers and Directors and 5 and 4 invited guests, respectively. The reading of the minutes of the last meeting was dispensed. Reports were read, accepted, or otherwise acted upon from the President, the Secretary-Treasurer, the Trustees, Publications, Human Diversity, Informatics, Planning and Finance, Program, and Publications committees; the ad hoc AIBS-ASM Graduate Student Public Policy Internship Committee and from the ASM representatives to other organizations.
Actions of interest to the membership were: announcement by the Secretary-Treasurer that we have 2,392 members (including 1575 Annual, 633 Life, 56 Patron, 111 Emeritus, and 16 Honorary Members) and that subscriptions to the Journal of Mammalogy totaled 476; recommendation of 238 new nominees for membership, and termination of 469 individuals; announcement that there were 43 members who reinstated membership, 0 resignations, 5 deaths, and 7 persons completing Life Membership payments; notification that in 2011 the Future Mammalogists Fund received contributions of $6,589.00, the Latin American Student Field Mammalogy Fund took in $1,100.00, the African Student Fund $3,040.00, the ASM General Contribution Fund received $1,515.00; the Oliver Pearson Fund received $1,075.00, and the ASM Century Fund received $400.00; acceptance with thanks for the report of the Secretary-Treasurer; reconfirmation of Ron Van Den Bussche as Secretary-Treasurer; notice from the Trustees that the value of the Society's net reserve principle was $2,909,762.20 as of 31 December 2011 and the value of the Society's Pooled Income Fund was $43,356.00 as of 31 December 2011; election of Phil Sudman to a three year term as a Trustee for the Society; acceptance with thanks of the Trustees' report; thanks to outgoing Associate Editors Brian Arbogast, Jon Jenks, and Dirk Van Vuren as well as outgoing Editor for Reviews, Bill Gannon, and the appointment of five new Associate Editors Sharon Jansa, Ryan Norris, Chris Pavey, Jeanette Thomas, and Varcus Vieira and one Editor for Reviews, Peter Meserve, for the Journal of Mammalogy; and confirmed election of Joe Merritt to continue in the role of Journal Editor.
The following budget for general expenses in 2012 was adopted: $46,293.00 for committees; $1,500 for support of the Secretary-Treasurer's office and a $2,000 honorarium to the Secretary-Treasurer; $76,100 editorial honoraria and editorial expenses; $50,000 for A.M.& M. Services; $1,100 for on-line member services; $45,500 Grants-in-Aid; $5,000 for Student Honoraria; $4,500 for Latin American Field Mammalogy Awards; $7,500 for ASM Graduate Fellowship Award; $7,000 for Oliver P. Pearson Award; $1560 for the C. Hart Merriam Award, $1,800 for the Aldo Leopold Award; $1,850 for Grinnell Award; $300 for Jackson Award; $250 AAZN dues; $200 AIBS dues, and $1,000 SCAW dues, and $2,100 to send a representative to the SCAW meeting; $150 PRIM&R dues, and $800 to send a representative to the PRIM&R meeting; $100 AAALAC dues, and $1000 to send a representative to the AAALAC meeting; $100 NSCA dues; $1,000 indemnity/liability insurance, $6,800 for audit/tax preparation and $350 for bank fees; $9,000 President's contingency fund; transfer of $146,952 from the Reserve Fund brought the estimated expenses and income both to $383,137.00.
ABRIDGED MINUTES OF ANNUAL MEETING OF MEMBERS
The 1st session was called to order at 1008 and was recessed at 1200 on 24 June 2012 and the 2nd was called to order at 1051 and adjourned at 1221 on 25 June 2012.
Minutes of the preceding meeting were approved as published in abridged form in the Journal of Mammalogy and as approved by the Directors and Officers. Abridged minutes of the 1st Board Meeting were read. Reports were presented in oral and/or written form from the President for the Executive Committee, the Secretary-Treasurer, the Recording Secretary, the Trustees, standing committees, ad hoc committees and ASM representatives to other organizations.
Actions of interest to members were: acceptance of 238 new members, reinstatement of 43 members, and dropping of 469 members delinquent in dues payment; election of Vice-President, Recording Secretary, and 7 Directors, including 1 Student Director (new officers and directors listed on page iv); election by acclamation of Rui Cerqueira and David Schmidly to Honorary Membership; notification that the 2013 annual meetings are scheduled from 14–18 June at the Philadelphia Marriott in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania; announcement at the Banquet that Grants-in-Aid had been awarded to: Andrea Bailey (University of Minnesota) – B. Elizabeth Horner Award ; Danielle Adams (University of Maryland); Carolyn Bauer (Tufts University); Kayce Bell (University of New Mexico); Kristin Brzeski (Louisiana State University); Joseph Burger (University of New Mexico); Gerald Carter (University of Maryland); Jeremy Chase Crawford (University of California, Berkeley); Jonathan Derbridge (University of Arizona); Shelly Donohue (Vanderbilt University); John Doudna (Iowa State University); Sheena Faherty (Duke University); Brian Gaston (Fort Hays State University); Rebecca Green (University of California, Davis); Chun-Chia Huang (Texas Tech University); Eric Keen (University of California, San Diego); Elizabeth Kierepka (University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee); Bryan Kluever (Utah State University); Ipek Kulachi (Princeton University); Matthew Mauldin (Texas Tech University); Haley O'Brien (Ohio University); Nicté Ordóñez-Garza (Texas Tech University); Jesse Patterson (University of Calgary); Kendra Phelps (Texas Tech University); Erin Posthumus (University of Arizona); Emma Robert (Texas Tech University); Melissa Roberts (Smithsonian Institution); Torrey Rodgers (University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign); Jennifer Schieltz (Princeton University); Sarah Smiley (The Ohio State University); Lucy Tran (University of Michigan); Danielle Tufts (University of Nebraska-Lincoln); Rachel Walsh (University of California, Berkeley); Elizabeth Warburton (Western Michigan University). The recipient of the ASM Fellowship in Mammalogy, Ryan Long (Idaho State University) and the nominee for the Albert R. and Alma Shadle Fellowship in Mammalogy, Miguel Pinto, American Museum of Natural History and City University of New York), were announced at the banquet. The Anna M. Jackson Award went to L. Mark Elbroch (University of California, Davis), the Elmer C. Birney Award to Eliécer E. Gutiérrez (City University of New York), and the A. Brazier Howell Award to Nathan S. Upham (University of Chicago). The ASM Undergraduate Award was presented to Aspen Reese (Yale University). The ASM-AIBS Graduate Student Public Policy Internship recipient is Eve McCulloch (Louisiana State University). The following awards were announced at the annual banquet: Latin American Student Field Research Awards to: Nícholas Camargo (University of Brasilia); Juan Pablo Carrera (Texas Tech University); Lenin Oviedo (The University of Hong Kong); Mariana Raño (Universidad de Buenos Aires); Daniela Rivera (Universidad Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile); Mauro Tammone (Universidad Nacional del Comahue, S. C. de Bariloche, Argentina); Veronica Zamora-Gutierrez (University of Cambridge); the Joseph Grinnell Award for Excellence in Education in Mammalogy to James H. Brown (University of New Mexico); the Oliver P. Pearson Award to María Encarnación Pérez (Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas; CONICET of Argentina); the C. Hart Merriam Award to Jim Estes (University of California, Santa Cruz). The 2012 Aldo Leopold award winner is Dean Biggins (US Geological Survey).
The following resolution was adopted:
HOST RESOLUTION FOR THE ANNUAL MEETING OF THE AMERICAN SOCIETY OF MAMMALOGISTS
WHEREAS the 92nd annual meeting of the American Society of Mammalogists was held in Reno, Nevada, 22–26 June, 2012; and
WHEREAS in a show of fiscal conservatism and in order to keep our expenditures at 4.5% of the Reserve Fund, stretch limo rides from the airport were restricted to Society officers; and
WHEREAS the smoke and mirrors and games of chance in the casino inspired our budget discussions; and
WHEREAS the Peppermill Tower provided rustic field mammalogists with lessons in tasteful décor and fine Italian art; and
WHEREAS after several hours of scraping with their Swiss army knives, mammalogists were disappointed to discover that all that shiny gilt trimming wasn't real gold; and
WHEREAS sleek black telephones were provided next to the toilets in the bathrooms so mammalogists could quickly call room service if they ran out of toilet paper; and
WHEREAS trays of tempting bait located in each room were electronically linked to invisible snap traps that captured your credit card; and
WHEREAS before he knew it, Secretary-Treasurer Ron Van Den Bussche unwittingly blew half the Reserve Fund on a can of smoked almonds and a Kit Kat; and
WHEREAS the affordable, low-budget meal plan consisted of swiping candy bars from the golfers in the next meeting room; and
WHEREAS honoraria winners Mark Elbroch, Eliecer Gutierrez, and Nathan Upham showed us that mucho cool science is being done in South America, but raised the important question: once guinea pigs have dispersed around the Cordillera de Merida, does the ringing of their cell phones increase the risk of predation from pumas, or have some clades learned to set them on vibrate? and
WHEREAS Nate Upham showed that a six-foot-tall student speaker shows no fear of a menacing Mike Mares, so Janet Braun is negotiating with the next meeting host to have trap doors installed behind the podia at plenary sessions; and
WHEREAS Justin Lack discovered that sometimes it's hard to identify a rat, and Brett Pasch reminded us that for castrated males, the trill is gone; and
WHEREAS when Joe Cook was caught lurking around The Edge on Rogue Saturday Night, he claimed, “I was just trying to recruit new members! They look like our type!” and
WHEREAS at the 2013 meeting, a pre-meeting workshop on how to get the most out of your smartphone will be taught by Robert Baker; and
WHEREAS President-elect Ed Heske's presentation to the Board on ideas for membership retention went on for so long that by the time he was finished we had lost another 20% of our members; and
WHEREAS, after the 2nd Board meeting, it was resolved that Heske really needs to lay off the 5-hour energy drinks; and
WHEREAS, to alleviate our declining membership, no current ASM members will be allowed to leave the Society for any reason until they have fostered at least 2 college-aged children that become Life Members, and our senior members are encouraged to join a new online-only category of AfterLife Members; and
WHEREAS, Twitter sounds like something for ornithologists, so ASM is creating our own limited-text media called Growl, where instead of Tweets, mammalogists can send each other Grunts and Snorts; and
WHEREAS, in an effort to speed up our time from submission to publication, the number of Associate Editors for JM was finally made equal to the number of annual submissions; and
WHEREAS, after President Mares got lost in the casino and suggested we might want to move the picnic indoors due to high winds that felt to most of us like a gentle breeze, we're starting to wonder where it really was that he did his field work all those years; and
WHEREAS, inspired by the surrounding Tuscan statuary, the program committee made a taxi pick-up sign the focal point of the group photo; and
WHEREAS wildlife observed in the casino included several cougars and a sabretooth; and
WHEREAS, George “The Hammer” Feldhamer said to heck with Joe Grinnell, his academic ancestry goes back to Aristotle; and
WHEREAS, to remind them of the surrounding Sierra Nevada, mammalogists were treated to simulated long, narrow canyons with high red walls and curious corkscrew-shaped trees; and
WHEREAS, many mammalogists discovered that if they got bored with the technical sessions, they could attend a wedding; and
WHEREAS Enzo Eliaga-Rossell and Ruben Barquez inspired us with actions for mammalian conservation that were truly heroic; and
WHEREAS, we take a moment to send our best wishes to our stricken comrade, Tom Kunz; and
WHEREAS, after much gnashing of teeth and philosophical debate, the members of ASM concluded that the sky wasn't falling, actually it was a quite beautiful blue, and we look forward to those interesting times ahead;
THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED that the American Society of Mammalogists meeting at their 92nd annual meeting in Reno, Nevada, 22–26 June 2012, gives its warmest thanks to Janet Braun, Tony Ballard, and the ASM Program Committee for taking a gamble and organizing a memorable and fun meeting.