Since the mid 1960’s, the combined herbaria of Rancho Santa Ana Botanic Garden [RSA] and Pomona College [POM] have followed the classification system of Taxonomist and Curator, Dr. Robert F. Thorne (1920-2015). Thorne, whose research interests were largely centered on floristics and plant geography, is best known for his synoptic work to develop a classification system to accommodate all flowering plants. Nevertheless, Thorne was a strong proponent of an alphabetical arrangement of herbaria, and organized the RSA-POM collection accordingly. The last time the RSA-POM Herbarium experienced a major shift in the arrangement of its collection was nearly 20 years ago. Since that time, many outdated families that are no longer recognized – of which Thorne had recognized in his system of classification – have remained in the collection. Over the last two years, the RSA-POM Herbarium has been actively reorganizing both its digital and physical collections to follow the vascular plant families of the newest classification system, the Angiosperm Phylogeny Group (APG IV). Reorganization began with a complete overhaul of the herbarium’s database followed by curation of the physical collection. This presentation highlights the efforts in curating the digital and physical collections of the RSA-POM Herbarium, perspectives on collection reorganization, as well as challenges and limitations.
Classification of southern circumpolar vegetation has been based upon a system quite different than that used for alpine and arctic vegetation. Although the flora and in part the physiognomy of the vegetation is quite different in the Southern Circumpolar Region, it is felt that a more uniform classification system is needed.This paper subdivides the vegetation of the southern polar region into a Subantarctic and an Antarctic Biome. The former includes closed forest, scrub fern bush, maritime and montane tussock grassland. The Antarctic Biome includes tundra-like closed vegetation, cushion plant open fellfield, and the grass-herb fellfield, moss and lichen communities of the Antarctic Continent and adjacent islands.
The authors in this article first identify the extent to which research articles published in three American Speech-Language-Hearing Association (ASHA) journals included participants, age birth to 18 years, from international backgrounds (i.e., residence outside of the United States), and go on to describe associated publication patterns over the past 12 years. These patterns then provide a context for examining variation in the conceptualization of ethnicity on an international scale. Further, the authors examine terminology and categories used by 11 countries where research participants resided. Each country uses a unique classification system. Thus, it can be expected that descriptions of the ethnic characteristics of international participants involved in research published in ASHA journal articles will widely vary.
BOOK REVIEW: Mucina, L., Bültmann, H., Dierßen, K., Theurillat, J. -P., Raus, T., Čarni, A., Šumberová, K., Willner, W., Dengler, J., Gavilán García, R., Chytrý, M., Hájek, M., Di Pietro, R., Iakushenko D., Pallas, J., Daniëls, F.J.A., Bergmeier, E., Santos Guerra, A., Ermakov, N., Valachovič, M., Schaminée, J.H.J., Lysenko, T., Didukh, Y.P., Pignatti, S., Rodwell, J.S., Capelo, J., Weber, H.E., Solomeshch, A., Dimopoulos, P., Aguiar, C., Hennekens, S.M. & Tichý, L. 2016. Vegetation of Europe: Hierarchical floristic classification system of vascular plant, bryophyte, lichen, and algal communities.
