This page lists titles, dates, and venues for taxonomic workshops I have prepared and presented; each has focused on freshwater Annelida, with emphasis on the aquatic Oligochaeta of North America. Numerous colleagues over the last 30 years have provided encouragement, advice, and unselfishly shared their taxonomic and systematic expertise with me - in particular, Ralph O. Brinkhurst, R. Deedee Kathman, Kathryn A. Coates, Steven V. Fend, Donald J. Klemm, William Moser, Stuart R. Gelder, Tarmo Timm, Warren U. Brigham (deceased), Jack D. Unzicker, Alison R. Brigham, Milt W. Sanderson, and Donald W. Webb. Without their support and enthusiasm for excellence in taxonomy, I would not have been able to prepare and present the following workshops. The past and present Executive Committee members of the North American Benthological Society (NABS) have been extremely supportive of taxonomic training, especially through their underwriting of taxonomic workshops and taxonomy fairs at annual meetings. In 2001, the NABS Technical Issues Committee established the Taxonomic Certification Subcommittee to develop a certification program for aquatic macroinvertebrate taxonomists throughout North America. This subcommittee met in Annapolis, MD, in mid-January 2003 to establish the mechanics and testing procedures for this certification program. This subcommittee was then elevated to standing committee status (as the NABS Taxonomic Certification Committee to develop the mechanics and procedures for the NABS Taxonomic Certification Program - TCP), at the 51st annual Society meeting in Athens, GA, in May 2003. Dr. Trefor B. Reynoldson (Acadia University, Wolfville, Nova Scotia, Canada) was chosen to serve as the TCP coordinator. Trefor retired from this position in December 2008; the new coordinator is Dr. Murray Colbo, who has expertise in bioassessments and dipteran systematics. Please visit the NABS TCP website for additional information, including testing procedures, list of recognized experts, and information regarding submission of identified and verified specimens for use during tests administered through this program.
Taxonomic Workshops Prepared and Conducted By M. J. Wetzel (and in collaboration with others, where noted)
1. "The Distribution, Ecology, Systematics, and Taxonomy of Aquatic Annelida in the Midwest." Presented to scientific staff of the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service, National Fisheries Contaminant Research Center, Columbia, Missouri; December 1990.
2. "Aquatic Annelida (Aclitellata and Clitellata) in the Southeast, with emphasis on distribution, ecology, systematics, and taxonomy." Presented to scientific staff at Duke Power Company, Huntersville, NC; October 1991.
3. "As the Worm Turns, and In Search of Opportunity: Aquatic Annelida (Aclitellata and Clitellata) in the West." Presented to biology staff and students at Northern Arizona University, Department of Biological Sciences, Flagstaff; November 1991.
4. "The Distribution, Ecology, Systematics, and Taxonomy of Aquatic Annelida in the Southeastern United States." Presented to scientific staff and students of various universities, state agencies, and private consulting firms, hosted by Normandeau Associates, Inc. and Clemson University, in Clemson, SC, 11-13 November 1992.
5. "Aquatic Oligochaeta occurring in the northeastern United States." Presented to biology staff and students at Castleton State College, Castleton, VT; October 1993.
6. "The Distribution, Ecology, Systematics, and Taxonomy of Annelida in North America." Presented to scientific staff at the National Water Quality Assessment Program, U.S. Geological Survey, Arvada, CO; {Part I - November 1995}.
7. "The aquatic Annelida of North America: Introduction, general distribution, ecology, taxonomy, and systematics, with emphasis on collection, processing, slide mounting, and identification of specimens." Presented to scientific staff of the Department of Zoology, Göteborg University, Göteborg, Sweden, April 1996.
8. "The Distribution, Ecology, Systematics, and Taxonomy of Annelida in North America." Presented to scientific staff at the National Water Quality Assessment Program, U.S. Geological Survey, Arvada, CO; {Part II - March 1997}.
9. "The aquatic Annelida of North America: Introduction, general distribution, ecology, taxonomy, and systematics, with emphasis on collection, processing, slide mounting, and identification of specimens occurring in the southeastern United States." Presented to scientific staff of the Florida Department of Environmental Protection, Tampa; 2-3 November 1998.
10. "Introduction to the collection, processing, identification of freshwater Oligochaeta." Presented to scientific staff of the Missouri Department of Natural Resources, Missouri Department Conservation, and University of Missouri faculty, staff, and graduate students, at the Enns Museum of Entomology, University of Missouri, Columbia; 6-7 March 2000.
11. "Taxonomy, Systematics, and Ecology of Aquatic Oligochaeta." An all-day workshop, underwritten by the Technical Issues Committee of the North American Benthological Society (NABS) and the US Environmental Protection Agency; organized and co-presented by Mark J. Wetzel, R. Deedee Kathman (Aquatic Resources Center, College Grove, TN), Steven V. Fend (US Geological Survey, Menlo Park, CA), and Kathryn A. Coates (Bermuda Biological Station for Research, Inc.), Sunday 28 May 2000, at the 48th Annual Meeting of NABS at Keystone Resort, Colorado. This workshop was underwritten by a non-construction grant from the U.S. EPA, through the North American Benthological Society (NABS) Technical Issues Committee (TIC). Our appreciation is extended to Susan Jackson (U.S. EPA), Susan Davies (Chair, NABS TIC), and Kim Haag (Treasurer, NABS) for their assistance in procurement of funding for this 2000 workshop. These funds also supported the preparation and publication of a workshop workbook (Wetzel et al. 2000). This 2000 workbook is now out of print; it has been superseded by several updated and expanded versions, compiled for use during subsequent workshops, listed below.
12. Two-day workshop on taxonomy of aquatic Oligochaeta was presented 16-17 March 2005 to bioassessment personnel at Duke Energy facilities, Huntersville, NC.
13. An introductory course on identification of aquatic Oligochaeta was presented to participants of the 31st meeting of the Carolinas Area Benthologists Workshop, Duke Energy facilities, Huntersville, NC. 18 March 2005.
14. Three-day workshop on taxonomy, systematics, and ecology of the aquatic Oligochaeta and Branchiobdellidae of North America, with emphasis on the fauna occurring in Florida [co-presented with S.V. Fend and K.A. Coates, S.R. Gelder, and R.D. Kathman]; 21-23 February 2006, at the Florida Department of Environmental Protection (FDEP) Bureau of Laboratories facility in Tallahassee. This workshop was presented to professional bioassessment personnel employed by /under contract to the FDEP.
15. Three-day workshop on taxonomy, systematics, and ecology of the aquatic Oligochaeta of North America, with emphasis on the fauna occurring in Florida; 9-11 May 2006, at the University of Florida Department of Entomology and Nematology, Gainesville, FL. This workshop was presented to participants of the annual spring workshop associated with / underwritten by the Florida Association of Benthologists.
16. "Introduction to the taxonomy, systematics, and ecology of freshwater oligochaetes (Annelida, Clitellata) of North America." An intensive half-day workshop presented to participants at the annual meeting of the Association of Mid-Atlantic Aquatic Biologists (AMAAB), convened at Cacapon State Park, near Berkeley Springs, West Virginia, Thursday, 3 April 2008.
17. "Introduction to the taxonomy, systematics, and ecology of freshwater oligochaetes (Annelida, Clitellata) of North America, with emphasis on species occurring in Missouri and adjacent states." A three-day workshop, sponsored and underwritten by the Missouri Department of Natural Resources Environmental Services Program, and convened in the Agriculture Building on the campus of the University of Missouri - Columbia, 6-8 January 2009.
18. "Introduction to the taxonomy, systematics, and ecology of freshwater oligochaetes (Annelida, Clitellata) of North America." A three-day workshop sponsored and underwritten by EcoAnalysts, Inc., and convened at their corporate facilities in Moscow, Idaho, 4-6 March 2009.
>> A complete citation, and information needed to obtain a copy of the 2009 workbook used for the Missouri and Idaho workshops (listed immediately above), is available via the link "Publications" from the navigation bar at the bottom of this page. >>
Upcoming Workshops.
One additional three-day workshop, to be sponsored by Watershed Assessment Associates, LLC (Schenectady, NY) is now being planned for mid to late 2009. Additional information will be posted here when dates and other particulars have been established.
Taxonomy Fairs
I have also participated in all 10 of the taxonomy fairs held during the annual meetings of the North American Benthological Society: 1999 (Duluth, MN), 2000 (Keystone Resort, CO), 2001 (LaCrosse, WI), 2002 (Pittsburgh, PA), 2003 (Athens, GA), 2004 (Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada), 2005 (New Orleans, LA), 2006 (Anchorage, AK), 2007 (Columbia, SC), and 2008 (Salt Lake City, UT). I extend my appreciation to Dave Penrose, Susan Norton, and other members of the NABS Technical Issues and Taxonomic Certification committees for their support of training workshops that underwrite excellence in taxonomy, and to Chris Outlaw and Bobby Louque for organizing the NABS 2008 Taxonomy Fair. All of us thank Bobby Martin (Martin Microscope Company) for his perennial support of the taxonomy workshops and taxonomy fairs convened during our annual society meetings, and especially for providing numerous microscopes for our use and unselfishly sharing his professional microscopical expertise with us.
The 11th annual NABS Taxonomy Fair is currently being organized for the upcoming 57th annual Society meeting that will convene in Grand Rapids, MI, 17-22 May 2009.
Questions, comments, suggestions, or ideas? Please E-Mail them to me at: mjwetzel{AT}illinois.edu
The site navigation bar at the bottom of this page directs you to resume-related information, some of my research projects, the INHS Center for Annelida Resources, and the INHS Annelida Collection.
page update: 10 April 2009