Society for Experimental Biology Environmental Physiology Group AGM, 26th March 1996, Lancaster No apologies were received. Present were J. Morison (in Chair), P. van Gardingen, H. Ougham, P. Montiel, A. Jokhan, M. Jackson, J. Corlett, W. Seel, M. Jones, S. Clifford, S. Hoad, L. Incoll, J. Grace, S. Quarrie, I/ Bingham, B. Baxter, S. Caporn, L. Cawley, H.G. Jones, M. Press, A. Rey, C. Barton, G. Jackson, J. Irvine, T. Lawson, I. Godber, S. Jackson, M. Perks, P. Scholefield, A. Taylor. Minutes taken by P. van Gardingen 1) Minutes of previous meeting (5 April 1995, St. Andrews) were accepted without amendments. 2) Matters arising. 5.4 Prize for best postgraduate presentation. James Morison reported that this was discussed at Plant Biology Section but that no decision had been made. It was agreed that the convenor should bring this forward again at Plant Biology Section. action: Convenor 3) Reports on recent activities 3.1) St Andrews, 1995. The EPG was very active at the St Andrews meeting arranging three sessions. There was a one day session on General Ecophysiology that attracted a large number of papers and participants. Papers from the meeting on Wheat and Global Change organised by James Morison was subsequently published as a special issue of the new journal Global Change Biology. The session on Plant and Soil Interactions organised by Steve Hoad was well attended and well received by the participants. No publication was produced. Bill Davies commented that there was some overlap between the EPG session and one organised by the BBSRC earlier in the week. It was suggested that an attempt should be made to prevent such overlap through improved co-ordination for future meetings when groups outside the society (e.g. research councils) are organising satellite sessions. It was agreed that it is desirable to work together with the research councils linking into their research programmes for future meetings, but that the EPG and SEB should attempt to integrate the sessions more fully within the framework of the SEB meeting. James Morison commented that this had happened for the UV-B meeting held during the Lancaster meeting. 3.2) Field Techniques Workshop (Rapalano) Gail Jackson reported on the meeting held in Rapolano Terme (Italy) during September 1995. There were approximately 140 delegates coming from 22 countries. Invited papers and selected offered contributions resulting from the workshop will be published as a special issue of the Journal of Experimental Botany during 1996. The meeting made a profit of around o7000. The Group agreed that this should be used to support the next field techniques workshop provisionally to be held in Almeria Spain in 1998. There was concern that the surplus might be absorbed into SEB funds, and it was agreed that the convenor should try to get the funds protected under a separate heading in the Societies accounts. Action: Convenor The Group expressed its appreciation to the organisers of the workshop and asked that they should write to the Italian organisers, manufacturers and the township of Rapalano Terme expressing the gratitude of the Group for their assistance. Action: G. Jackson 3.3) Lancaster 1996 The sessions on UVB and General Plant Ecophysiology were considered to have run well with good numbers of participants. 4) Nominations and Elections. Antonio Raschi was re-elected (Proposed, J. Morison, Sec. H.G. Jones) James Morison was re-elected (Proposed P. van Gardingen, Sec. S. Quarrie) 5) Future meetings 1996-1997 (5.1) Canterbury 1997 5.1.1) The proposals for meetings on "processes in mixed plant communities" and "new techniques in molecular biology" were withdrawn as the organisers had not been able to produce more detailed plans for these meetings. 5.1.2) A 2.5 day meeting on the topic of Stomata was proposed by Bill Davies (with A. Hetherington) to be published as a special issue of Journal of Experimental Botany. 5.1.3) A one day session on general plant Use of uninitialized value in concatenation (.) or string at E:\listplex\SYSTEM\SCRIPTS\filearea.cgi line 455, line 188. ecophysiology will be organised by Wendy Seel. 5.2) AAB/EPG Stables Isotopes meeting, Newcastle, 1996 Plans for this meeting organised by Howard Griffiths are progressing well and the proceedings will be published by BIOS and by the AAB in their Aspects of Applied Biology series. 5.3) BES Winter meeting Durham, December 1996 There will number of sessions of interest to EPG members at this meeting. Further details will be published in the BES Bulletin and from the EPG email list. 6) Future meetings 1998- 6.1) 1998 Field Techniques Workshop. There is a proposal to hold this meeting in Almeria, Spain during Spring 1998. Lynton Incoll agreed to take this further during his next visit to Almeria. The group agreed that the meeting should emphasise training. 6.2) 1998, SEB Annual Meeting. (York) A number of proposals were discussed for the future meetings. All organisers were asked to provide the convenor with a detailed proposal for their meetings by September 1996 so that they could be considered. 6.2.1) Leaf growth to be organised by Gail Taylor and Jim McDonald. This could be considered for a special issue of the Journal of Experimental Botany. 6.2.2) Processes in mixed plant communities. Lynton Incoll was keen for this meeting to run. The group agreed that members should be asked if they are interested through the Bulletin and email list. James Morison suggested that this would be suitable for 1999 if suitable organisers can be found. Convenor 6.2.3) A session on Tropical Plant Ecophysiology was proposed for a joint meeting with the BES. Malcolm Press and John Grace have agreed to act as initial organisers. The meeting will range from leaf scale up to community level. 6.2.4) Endogenous rhythms (Gail Jackson). There was not support for an EPG session on this topic since it was felt that there were potential clashes with other similar meetings 6.2.5) Stress Physiology (Lyn Jones). There is potential to link this session in with the proposed BBSRC topic on "Plant acclimation to environmental stress". This could be held in 1999. 6.2.6) QTL Analysis in environmental physiology (Steve Quarrie). Emphasising how new molecular biological techniques can be used as a tool in environmental physiology. 7) Joint meeting with Ecological Society of America. Paul van Gardingen reported that the BES has asked that a joint meeting should be held as part of a larger BES/ESA meeting planned for 2000. 8) Publicity and membership James Morison commented that it was gratifying to see a large turnout for the AGM. There was a general request for ideas for raising the profile of the EPG and SEB to contact members of the committee. James Morison undertook to produce a web page for the EPG to be attached to the SEB web page. Action: J. Morison 9) AOB 9.1) EPG Committee organisation. Paul van Gardingen will resume the position of Convenor, with James Morison acting as co-convenor. Other committee members will take a more active role in future group activities. 9.2) Sean Clifford is trying to put together a list of ecophysiological equipment users following from discussions held at the field techniques workshop. He will contact users via email. 9.3) Paul van Gardingen put forward a proposal to change the name of the group to be the "Plant Environmental Physiology Group". This was proposed in response to recent comments to the convenor(s) of the group that it was not clear whether group activities should include animal environmental physiology. The proposal was discussed at length. There was no support for the EPG to organise meetings involving animal environmental physiology. The proposal to change the name was put to a vote and carried by 13 votes to 6. action: convenor agm1996.doc 29 April, 1996 New text goes in here.