Systematics—Lisa E. Wallace and Christopher H. Doffitt
Ecological—Donald G. Ruch, Byron G. Torke, Kemuel S. Badger, John E. Taylor, Benjamin R. Hess, and Paul E. Rothrock
The Richard and Minnie Windler Award recognizes the authors of the best systematic botany paper published in Castanea during the previous year. For 2013, authors of two papers were selected as winners: Lisa E. Wallace and Christopher H. Doffitt for their work entitled ‘‘Genetic Structure of the Mesic Forest-Adapted Herbs Trillium cuneatum and Trillium stamineum (Melanthiaceae) in the South-Central United States’’ (Castanea 78[2]:154–162) and Donald G. Ruch, Byron G. Torke, Kemuel S. Badger, John E. Taylor, Benjamin R. Hess, and Paul E. Rothrock for their work entitled ‘‘The Vascular Flora and Vegetational Communities of Cabin Creek Raised Bog, Randolph County, Indiana’’ (Castanea 78[4]:290–311; Figure 1).
Wallace and Doffitt’s project was undertaken to determine if landscape features, such as large rivers or prairies, influence the genetic structure of Trillium at a local scale. Trillium, which is represented by a number of endemics in the southeastern United States, has limited seed dispersal and exhibits localized genetic structure. Because many of these species are restricted to mesic forest habitats, their discontinuous distribution combined with their life history provides a great opportunity to study past geographic changes and provides insight into how future events may contribute to evolutionary diversification.
Lisa Wallace is Associate Professor in the Department of Biological Sciences at Mississippi State University. Her research focuses on population genetics and phylogenetics, and she is one of the leaders of Project Magnolia grandiFLORA, which aims to produce a checklist, atlas, and online herbarium specimen data for Mississippi. Christopher Doffitt is a Ph.D. candidate at Mississippi State University, studying the relationships and diversification of Amsonia (Apocynaceae).
Ruch, Torke, Badger, Taylor, Hess, and Rothrock’s study of Cabin Creek Raised Bog, a National Natural Landmark, spanned eight years and was an outgrowth of the authors’ interests in wetlands, conservation biology, and the biodiversity of east-central Indiana. Their paper provides not only a checklist of vascular plant species from the site, but also a detailed site history, comparisons to other floras, vegetation analyses, and notes on rare species and communities.
Donald Ruch is Professor in the Department of Biology at Ball State University. His research focuses on the vascular flora and plant communities of east-central Indiana and the systematics of Pilobolaceae (Zygomycota). Byron Torke was a professor of Biology at Ball State University, where his research focused on aquatic organisms and systems. He passed away in 2012. Kemuel Badger is Chair of the Department of Biology at Ball State University. His research focuses on plant ecology and conservation biology. John Taylor is the Land Manager for the Field Station and Environmental Education Center of Ball State University. Ben Hess is an ecological resource specialist in the Indianapolis office of Cardno JFNew, an ecological consulting and restoration firm. Paul Rothrock is professor of Earth and Environmental Science and Biology at Taylor University and specializes in the flora of the Midwest and the genus Carex. He is the author of the recent book entitled Sedges of Indiana and the Adjacent States: The Non-Carex Species (Indiana Academy of Science).