[CPN] Fwd: Proposal to amend the PhyloCode

Wed Oct 5 15:13:42 EDT 2011

Dear CPN members,

I am forwarding Nico's message, which most or all of you received today, to the CPN listserv in order to be sure that everyone receives it.  All discussion should be sent to the listserv (cpn at listserv.ohio.edu).  

Since we have not used this listserv for quite a while and there are some newly elected members, I want to be sure it is actually working for everyone.  Therefore, please send me (cantino at ohio.edu, not the listserv) a simple "yes" indicating that you received this.  I will check names and contact anyone on the CPN who does not reply.

I have not yet read the proposal but I can see that it is lengthy and will entail considerable thought and discussion.  Before we can get started, we need to elect a Chairperson and Secretary.  The following is from the ISPN bylaws:
"The CPN shall consist of twelve voting members, including a Chairperson and Secretary. ...A Chairperson and Secretary shall be elected annually by the membership of the CPN for a one-year term and shall take office on 1 September. The Chairperson and Secretary may serve for up to three consecutive one-year terms, and shall not be eligible to serve again in the same office until one year has elapsed since completing the third consecutive term."

I don't think we have had an official chairperson or secretary for the last two or perhaps three years.  I was elected chairperson in 2007, and Dick Olmstead was secretary, but that should only have been for a year.  I've been functioning as sort of a de-facto chairperson/secretary ever since.  It is time that we elected new officers for the CPN, and I don't think it would be appropriate for me to continue in either post; it is time for someone else to take leadership of the CPN.  So the first item of business before we can consider the Nico et al. proposal is for the committee members to send nominations for Chairperson and Secretary to this listserv.  

In their message, Nico et al. cite articles 22.9 and 22.10 to mean that their proposal must be published (according to the rules in Art. 4, which currently would call for a paper publication) and be made available on the ISPN web site.  These rules are intended to apply to modification of the code after it is ratified and implemented.  This is not necessary at this point because the draft code has not yet been ratified by the CPN.  Until it is finalized, we need greater flexibility to make changes or it will take far longer than any of us wish for the code to be implemented.  For all modifications of the draft code to date, a less formal approach has been taken, in which the chairperson of the CPN calls for discussion and at some point when the discussion seems to have ended, calls for a vote.   I don't think the current proposal should be treated any differently.  However, there is nothing stating that proposals can't be posted on the ISPN website, and if the CPN approves of its posting, I don't personally see any problem with doing so.  Similarly, if the authors prefer to wait until the manuscript they submitted to Systematic Biology is published, or six months after that time if they prefer, in order to initiate discussion, I don't see any reason why the CPN shouldn't agree to this.  However, my main point is that Article 22 does not require the CPN to publish proposals to modify the draft PhyloCode or to wait any particular length of time before discussing a proposal.  I hope that Nico and her coauthors will provide some follow-up guidance on how quicly they would like the CPN to proceed in considering their proposal.

So, again, first of all, please send me a simple email saying that you received this message.   And, secondly, please send nominations for chairperson and secretary to the listserv.  Nominees are of course free to decline.  

Phil

Begin forwarded message:

> From: Nico Cellinese <ncellinese at flmnh.ufl.edu>
> Date: October 5, 2011 10:00:32 AM EDT
> To: Brian Andres <brian.andres at yale.edu>, "feander at siu.edu" <feander at siu.edu>, "Cantino, Philip" <cantino at ohio.edu>, Kevin de Queiroz <dequeirozk at si.edu>, Jacques Gauthier <jacques.gauthier at yale.edu>, "walter.joyce at uni-tuebingen.de" <walter.joyce at uni-tuebingen.de>, Michael Keesey <keesey at gmail.com>, Michel Laurin <michel.laurin at upmc.fr>, David Marjanovic <david.marjanovic at gmx.at>, Richard Olmstead <olmstead at u.washington.edu>, Kevin Padian <kpadian at berkeley.edu>, David Tank <dtank at uidaho.edu>
> Cc: Brent Mishler <BMishler at calmail.berkeley.edu>, "David A. Baum" <dbaum at wisc.edu>, "torsten.eriksson at nrm.se" <torsten.eriksson at nrm.se>
> Subject: Proposal to amend the PhyloCode
> 
> Dear members of the Committee on Phylogenetic Nomenclature,
> 
> With my colleagues Brent Mishler and David Baum, we are hereby submitting a proposal to amend the PhyloCode with respect to species.  Please find the full proposal attached .  According to the Code:
> 
> 22.9. Proposed modifications of this code must be submitted to the CPN. Once received, they will be published (Art. 4) and made available on a web site administered by the ISPN.
> 22.10. Proposed modifications of this code may not be voted upon until at least six months have elapsed from the date of their publication, to allow for discussion by the systematics community and communication of opinions to the members of the CPN.
> 
> Brent, David and myself have an article currently in review in Systematic Biology addressing the particulars of this proposal.  We would be happy to provide a copy upon your request.  I am copying Torsten Eriksson as he is the Society Webmaster and we may want to post the proposal to both phylonames.org and phylocode.org.  We will be happy to address any of your questions. Thank you very much for your attention on this very important matter.
> 
> Best regards,
> Nico Cellinese
> ISPN, President
> 
> 
> 
> <><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><>
> Nico Cellinese, Ph.D.
> Assistant Curator, Botany & Informatics
> Adjunct Assistant Professor, Department of Biology
> 
> Florida Museum of Natural History
> University of Florida
> 354 Dickinson Hall, PO Box 117800
> Gainesville, FL 32611-7800, U.S.A.
> Tel. 352-273-1979
> Fax 352-846-1861
> http://cellinese.blogspot.com/
> 
> 
> 
> 

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