美国蕨类植物协会（American Fern Society，简称 AFS）成立于 1893 年，是世界上历史最悠久、规模最大的国际蕨类植物专业学术组织之一，目前拥有遍布全球五百余名会员，宗旨是推动对蕨类与石松类植物的栽培、保护与科学研究。协会总部设在美国，按非营利学术组织运作，长期通过出版物、孢子交换与年度野外考察向会员和公众传播蕨类植物知识。
协会沿革与组织架构
美国蕨类植物协会创立于 1893 年，距今已有 130 余年历史。协会以推动对蕨类、石松类与广义蕨类植物（pteridophytes，包括卷柏、水韭、石松以及木贼、蕨类等 10000 余个物种）的兴趣为宗旨，是国际上公认的代表性蕨类植物学会。协会由志愿者组成的理事会领导，现任理事会主席为 Weston Testo，前任主席为 Joshua P. Der，秘书 Jordan Metzgar、财务 Eric Schuettpelz、理事 Mary Stensvold、学生理事 Mwihaki John，会员秘书 Sally Chambers 同时负责会员数据库管理，社交媒体由 Sylvia Kinosian 协调，《American Fern Journal》主编 Christopher H. Haufler 与制作编辑 Tom A. Ranker 负责学术期刊，《Fiddlehead Forum》由 Alejandra Vasco 主编并由 Nikisha Patel 担任制作编辑，孢子交换由 Brian S. Aikins 担任馆长，推广材料由 Emily Sessa 管理。理事会下设出版、奖项、会员、教育、孢子交换等专项委员会，全部由志愿者运作，会员与公众均可通过官网了解最新动态。
出版物与蕨类学术期刊
美国蕨类植物协会出版三类核心刊物，是国际蕨类学界最重要的连续出版物之一。同行评审的《American Fern Journal》（美国蕨类杂志，ISSN 0002-8444）创刊于 1910 年，刊载关于蕨类与石松类植物解剖学、保护学、发育、生物多样性、生态学、民族植物学、进化、遗传学、古生物学、系统发育、生理学与系统学的原创研究，2024 年影响因子为 0.857，2001 年（91 卷）以后的近刊通过 BioOne 平台向会员开放电子访问，更早期的卷次则可在 JSTOR 上查阅。面向广泛读者的《Fiddlehead Forum》（提琴头论坛）作为协会季刊通讯，刊载协会动态、蕨类自然史与栽培研究文章，40 卷以后的往期通过官网公开档案查询。专题丛书《Pteridologia》收录蕨类与近缘类群的深入专著（如 2012 年 Regina Y. Hirai 与 Jefferson Prado 关于 Moranopteris 的专著），2015 年起停止出版新卷但早期卷次仍可通过密苏里植物园出版社订购，会员享受九折优惠。
孢子交换与年度野外考察
AFS 孢子交换（Spore Exchange）由馆长 Brian S. Aikins 运营，自 1962 年起由历任馆长（包括 1962–1988 年的 Neill Hall）累积维护，向会员提供数百种来自全球的蕨类孢子包，每包仅收 1 美元手续费外加邮资与 PayPal 费用，每年每位会员限订 20 包；该交换在 2025 年与 Hardy Fern Foundation 的孢子交换合并，进一步扩充了可获得的物种数量，会员与非会员均可通过孢子捐赠页参与贡献。协会每年夏天与植物学大会联合举办蕨类野外考察（Fern Forays），由专家带队到北美各地野生蕨类栖息地进行现场教学与物种识别，会员与公众均可报名参加，是近距离学习野生蕨类物种与生态习性的核心渠道。网站同时提供由 Wendy A. Born、Barbara Joe Hoshizaki、Hope Diamond、Lucinda Swatzell、Dean Whittier 等专家撰写的栽培指南，涵盖从入门级通用孢子繁殖、干旱适生蕨类（Myriopteris / Cheilanthes）到 Psilotum nudum、Botrychium 等特殊类群的无菌培养技术。
奖项资助与教育资源
协会设立多项科研奖项支持蕨类学术研究。Edgar T. Wherry 奖（500 美元）与 Warren H. Wagner 旅行资助由协会与美国植物学会蕨类学分会联合颁发，前者表彰贡献论文中最出色的蕨类植物学/演化研究，后者为学生参会提供差旅支持；James D. Caponetti 本科生研究奖（500 美元）纪念 Caponetti 博士推动学生投入蕨类研究以及担任协会财务长达 42 年的贡献；Nathalie S. Nagalingum 研究生研究奖（1500 美元）表彰 Nagalingum 博士对植物多样性（特别是蕨类）的卓越贡献。American Fern Journal 年度最佳论文奖由副主编团队每年评选。协会还开设初级与高级蕨类植物识别工作坊（如缅因州 Eagle Hill Institute 举办的”蕨类与石松类：识别、生物学与自然史”专题研讨），并与全球蕨类学组织（如国际蕨类学家协会 IAP、Hardy Fern Foundation、英国 Pteridological Society 等）建立长期合作关系，会员可访问全球蕨类组织名录、栽培指南与学术专著资源。
The American Fern Society (AFS), founded in 1893, is one of the world’s oldest and largest international organizations dedicated to the cultivation, conservation and scientific study of ferns and lycophytes. Headquartered in the United States and operating as a non-profit learned society, AFS serves more than five hundred members across the globe and shares knowledge of pteridophyte botany through peer-reviewed publications, a member spore exchange, annual field forays and an active volunteer council.
History and Organizational Structure
Founded in 1893, the American Fern Society now has a continuous history of more than 130 years of fostering interest in ferns, lycophytes and the broader pteridophytes, a group that today is recognized as encompassing two distinct lineages of vascular land plants: the lycophytes (quillworts in Isoetaceae, spike mosses in Selaginellaceae and club mosses in Lycopodiaceae) and the ferns (including horsetails in Equisetaceae, whisk ferns in Psilotaceae and the more than 10,000 species traditionally treated as ferns). The Society is led by a volunteer council headed by President Weston Testo, Past President Joshua P. Der, Secretary Jordan Metzgar and Treasurer Eric Schuettpelz, with Mary Stensvold and Mwihaki John serving as at-large and student council members; Sally Chambers acts as Membership Secretary and administrator of the CiviCRM membership portal, Sylvia Kinosian coordinates social media, Christopher H. Haufler and Tom A. Ranker edit the American Fern Journal, Alejandra Vasco edits the Fiddlehead Forum with Nikisha Patel as production editor, Brian S. Aikins curates the Spore Exchange, and Emily Sessa manages promotional materials. Standing committees covering publications, awards, membership, education and the spore exchange are staffed entirely by volunteers, and the public is welcome to follow council activities through the Society’s website.
Publications and the American Fern Journal
The Society publishes three core periodicals that together form one of the most important English-language reference libraries on pteridophyte biology. The peer-reviewed American Fern Journal (ISSN 0002-8444), launched in 1910, publishes original research on the biology of ferns and other seed-free vascular plants (horsetails, lycopsids and related lineages), covering anatomy, conservation, development, diversity, ecology, ethnobotany, evolution, genetics, paleobotany, phylogeny, physiology and systematics; with a 2024 impact factor of 0.857, recent volumes from 2001 (Volume 91) onward are hosted on BioOne for member electronic access while earlier volumes remain available through JSTOR. The Fiddlehead Forum newsletter serves a general-interest audience with society announcements, articles on fern natural history and member-contributed cultivation notes, and back issues from Volume 40 onward are openly archived on the Society’s website. The Pteridologia monograph series, although suspended for new volumes in 2015, remains an authoritative reference covering ferns and fern allies (including Moranopteris, Cheilanthes relatives and Costa Rican pteridophyte floras) and can still be ordered through the Missouri Botanical Garden Press at a ten percent discount for Society members.
Spore Exchange and Annual Fern Forays
The AFS Spore Exchange, curated since 1962 by successive curators including Neill Hall (1962–1988) and currently by Brian S. Aikins, distributes hundreds of spore packets drawn from members’ donations at one U.S. dollar per packet plus postage and PayPal fees, with an annual cap of twenty packets per member; following the 2025 merger with the Hardy Fern Foundation spore exchange the catalogue now spans an even wider range of temperate and tropical taxa, and both members and non-members can contribute fresh spores through the dedicated collecting page. Each summer the Society co-hosts Fern Forays in conjunction with the annual Botany meetings, where experts lead multi-day field excursions into North American habitats rich in wild ferns and lycophytes; these forays are open to members and the wider public and are widely regarded as the Society’s signature education event. The Society’s cultivation library complements these forays with detailed guides authored by Wendy A. Born, Barbara Joe Hoshizaki, Hope Diamond, Lucinda Swatzell and Dean Whittier, covering beginner-friendly general spore propagation, drought-adapted xeric ferns (Myriopteris and Cheilanthes) and laboratory-based axenic culture of unusual genera such as Psilotum and Botrychium.
Awards, Fellowships and Educational Outreach
The Society underwrites a portfolio of research awards that collectively support pteridology at every career stage. The Edgar T. Wherry Award (US$500) and the Warren H. Wagner Travel Award are co-sponsored with the Pteridological Section of the Botanical Society of America and recognize the best contributed paper and support student travel, respectively; the James D. Caponetti Undergraduate Student Research Award (US$500) honors Caponetti’s decades of encouragement of student pteridophyte research and his 42-year tenure as Society Treasurer, while the Nathalie S. Nagalingum Graduate Student Research Award (US$1,500) commemorates Nagalingum’s contributions to understanding plant diversity in ferns and lycophytes. The annual American Fern Journal Outstanding Paper Award is selected each year by the journal’s associate editors. Beyond awards, the Society curates and promotes fern-identification workshops such as the long-running “Ferns and Lycophytes: Identification, Biology, and Natural History” seminar at the Eagle Hill Institute in Steuben, Maine, and partners with peer organizations worldwide (the International Association of Pteridologists, the Hardy Fern Foundation, the British Pteridological Society and many regional groups), giving members access to global directories of partner societies, cultivation libraries and monographic literature.
发表回复