History of phycology

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The 18th Century was the century of "Enlightment" for Botany. Before Carl von Linné the study of botany goes back into pre history as plants were the food of people from the beginning of time. The first references to algae are to be found in early Chinese literature, there are are also references in Roman and Greek literature. The greek word for algae was "Phycos" whilst in Roman times they were called Fucus. There are early references to the use of algae for manure. The first coralline algae to be recognized as living organisms were probably Corallina, by Pliny in the first century AD (Irvine and Chamberlain, 1994). However no real progress was made in the scientific study of algae until the invention of the microscope. Before Linné algae had been given a name, but it took Linné to arrange the names and group the plants of this Earth in some sort of order.

• Carolus Linnaeus (Carl von Linné) 1707 - 1778 was a Swedish botanist, physician and zoologist who laid the foundations of modern biological systematics and nomenclature. He developed a coherent system for naming organisims. It was in this period that Anton van Leeuwenhoek (1632 - 1723) discovered bacteria and saw the cell structure of plants. In the eighteenth century all coralline algae were considered animals. R. Philippi in 1837 published his paper in which he finally recognized that coralline algae were not animals and he proposed the generic names Lithophyllum and Lithothamnion (Irvine and Chamberlain, 1994). Carl Adolph Agardh was born in Sweden on 23 January 1785 and died on 28th January 1859 was professor of botany at the University of Lund and later Bishop of Karlstad Diocese. He was one of the most prominent algologists of all time. Many species still bear his name as the authority of the name, he travelled widely in Europe visiting Germany, Poland, Denmark, the Netherlands, Belgium, France and Italy and was the first to emphasise the importance of the reproductive characters of algae and use them to distinguish the different genera and families. His son, Jacob Georg Agardh (1813 - 1901), who became Professor of Botany at Lund in 1939, made a study of the life-histories of algae, he described many new genera and species. It was to him that many workers sent specimens for determination and as donations. Because of this the herbarium at Lund is the most important algal herbarium in the world. Archibald Menzies was the appointed botanist on the expedition of 1791 - 1795 to the Pacific coast of North America. The algae collected by Menzies were passed to Dawson Turner who described and illustrated them in a four-volumed work published in 1808 - 19. However Turner only feferred to taxa referable to Fucus, either Menzies collected very few or he gave only a few to Turner. Three of these species described by Turner later became the types of new genera. Willian Henry Harvey 1811 - 1866 was Keeper of the Herbarium and Professor in Botany at Trinity College, Dublin. He was one of the most distinguished algologists of his time. Apart from Ireland he visited South Africa, the Atlantic seaboard of America as far south as the Florida Keys and east coast of North America and Australia (1854- ). Between 1853 to 1856 he visited Ceylon, Australia and New Zealand and various parts of the South Pacific. His collection in Australia resulted in one of the most extensive collections of marine plants and it inspired others. He published: Nereis Australis Or Algae of the Southern Ocean. in 1847 - 1849; in 1846 - 51 his Phycologia Britannica appeared. Nereis Boreali-Americana was published in three parts (1852 - 1858) and a five-volume Phycologia Australica in (1858 - 1863). His primary herbarium is in Trinity College, Dublin (TCD) however large collections of Harvey material is to be found in the Ulster Museum (BEL); University of St Andrews (STA) and National Herbarium of Victoria (MEL), Melbourne, Australia). Many of the collectors of this period sent, and exchanged, specimens freely one to another, as a result Harvey's books show a remarkable knowledge of the distribution of algae elsewhere in the world. His Phycologia Britannica lists species recorded and collected from various parts of the British Isles. For example he notes W.Thompson, McCalla, Templeton and D. Landsborough as well as himself as having collected certain species at certain sites in Ireland. The collections of these botanists, and many others, are represented separately by collecions in the Ulster Museum (BEL). Sir William Jackson Hooker (1785 - 1865) was a life-long friend of Harvey. He collected plants in Iceland, in 1820 was Professor of Botany at Glasgow University. Became Director in Kew 1841 - 1865. Hooker had recognised the talent in Harvey, lent him books and encouraged him and invited Harvey to write the section on algase in the section on algae in his British Flora. as well as the section on algae for The Botany of Captain Beechey's Voyage. Alfred Gatty (1809 - 1873), author of "British Seaweeds" corresponded with William Henry Harvey (The Phycologist. 65: 14 - 17). E.M.Holmes (1843 - 1930), an expert on sea-weeds, mosses, liverworts and lichens; specimens of marine algae, mosses and lichens were sent to him from all over the British Isles, as well as from Norway, Sweden, Florida, Tasmania, France, Cape of Good Hope, Cylon and Australia. He also exchanged specimens (The Linnean Newsletter and Proceedings of the Linnean Society of London. 1989. 5(3): 23 - 25. Much work was done by many workers of this time, specimens were sent and exchanged and the number of books published shows how interest in algae had grown; Isabella Gifford (...1823? - 1891) wrote "The Marine Botanist..." in 1853. Some of her specimens are in Collection No. 15 in the Ulster Museum) (BEL). In the same period F.T.Kützing in Germany described more new genera than anyone either before or after. His publications span the period 1841 to 1871 and added materially to knowledge of algae of cold waters of the Arctic seas. In 1889 Frans Reinhold Kjellman, Professor of Botany at Uppsala University, published a monograph on the algae of the Bearing Sea. 1n 1877 he published, between 1883 and 1910, published several works including, in 1883, "The Algae of the Arctic Sea." He devided the "Arctic Sea" into different regions which surround the North Pole. Further research of the marine algae in the world included: Charles Lewis Anderson (1827 - 1910) who collaborated with William Gilson Farlow and with Professor Daniel Cady Eaton to produce on the first exsiccatae of North American Algae. G.Clifton (1823- 1913) an Australian phycologist is mentioned in Harvey's Memoirs, as the Superintendent of the Water Police in Perth, West Australia (Taxon 26:495), sent algal specimens to Harvey. In these years there were many workers in this field: William Gilson Farlows who was appointed Professor of Cryptogamic Botany at University of Harvard (U.S.A.) in 1879, published in 1881 the "Marine algae of New England and adjacent coasts."; in 1876 John Erhard Areschoug, a Sweedish Professor of Botany at Upsalla University University, reported on some brown algae collected in California. George W. Traill (1836 - 1897) was a clerk in the Standard Life Company in Edinburgh where he worked long hours, yet he was one of the greatest authorities on Scottish algae. Despite bad health he was an indefatigable collector. In 1892 he gave his collection to the Herbarium of the Edinburgh Botanic Gardens (The Linnean 5: 28 - 29). Mikael Heggelund Foslie (M.Foslie) (...1884 - 1909...) published 69 papers between 1887 - 1909. During this time he increased the number of species and forms (of corallines) from 175 to 650. (Irvine and Chamberlain, 1994). He was a curator in the Royal Norwegian Scientific Society Museum, Trondheim and there is a small collection of his in the Ulster Museum, Collection No. 42, entitled; "Algae Norvegicae" (BEL: F10319 - F10334). Edward Arthur Lionel Batters (1860 - 1907) was a barrister and distinguished algalogist, amongst his valuable works is a supplement, published in 1902, to the Journal of Botany entitled "New or critical British marine algae" vol.40: 1 - 101. This paper detailed the records of algae found in the British Isles (ref. The Linnean Newsletter. 5: 25).

In 1935 and 1945 Felix Eugen Fritsch (1879 - 1954) published in two volumes his treatise: The Structure and Reproduction of the Algae. These two volumes virtually detail all that was then known about the morphology and reproduction of the algae. However knowledge of algae has so greatly increased since then it would be impossible to bring them up-to-date. Other valuable works published in the 1950s include Cryptogamic Botany. written by Gilbert Morgan Smith (1885 - 1959), the algal volume (no.1) was published in 1955 and in the following year, in 1956, Die Gattungen der Rhodophyceen., by Herald Johann Kylin (1879 - 1949), was published posthumously.

• Lilly Newton (nee Batten) (1893 - 1981) (Obituary: Br phycol.J. 17: 1 - 4). Professor in Botany at the University College of Wales, Aberystwyth. and Professor Emeritus in 1959. Wrote: A Handbook of the British Seaweeds. The only book to be used for identification of seaweeds in the British Isles for many years.

• George Frederik Papenfuss (1903 - 1981) (Obituary: Br phycol. J. 17 :347 - 349.)

• Irene Manton FRS (1904 - 1988)(Obituary: Br.phycol. J. 24: 103 - 109).

• Mary Park FRS (1908 - 1989) (Obituary: Br. phycol. J. 25: 211- -216.)

• Elmer Yale Dawson (1918 - 1966)

• Kathleen M. Drew Baker (...1925 - 1927...) University of Manchester. President of the British Phycological Society 1953.

• William Randolph Taylor (1895 - 1990)(Obituary: Br. phycol. J. 27: 1 - 2.

• Elsie Conway (nee Phillips)(1902 - 1992) Visited University of British Columbia in 1969 - 1970 and researched there in 1972 - 1974. She was president of the British Phycological Society 1965 - 1967. Retired in 1969. (An apppreciation: The Phycologist 35: 3 - 5.

• Máirin de Valéra (1912 - 1984). Professor Emerita of Botany at University College, Galway. (Obituary: Br. Phycol. J. 20: 81 - 84.)

• Elsie M.Burrows (Dr.) (1913 - 1986) University of Liverpool. (Ref: Obituary: Br.phycol.J. 22: 317 - 319).

• Margaret Constance Helen Blackler (1902 - 1981) Assistant Keeper of Botany, Liverpool Museum (1933 - 1945). In 1947 joined staff University St Andrews. (Obituary: Br.phycol. J. 17: 343 - 346).

• Joanna M.Kain (nee Jones) (...1987 - 1988...) President of British Phycological Society 1987 - 1988.

• Peter Stanley Dixon (1929 - 1993) Professor Emeritus of Biology at University of California. (In Memoriam: Phycologia) 34: 538 - 543.)

• David Edward Guthrie Irvine (1924 - 1995) (Ref. Obituary 1996. The Phycologist 44: 3 - 7.)

• William dwyn Isaac (1905 - 1995)

• Harald Kylin (...1906 - 1949...) Author: Die Gattengen der Rhodophyceen. 1956 CWK Gleerups Förlag,Lund. Specimens in Ulster Museum,....

• Willian Eifion Jones (1925 - 2004).

• George Russell (...1983 - 1984...) President of British Phycological Society 1983 - 1984.

[edit] References

Batters, E.A.L. (1902) New or critical British marine algae. J.Bot. 40: 1 - 101.

Chapman, V.J. 1968. The Algae. Macmillan. London, Melbourne, Torento.

Fussey, G.D., Sainsbury, D.W. and Smith, D.A.S. 2006. The William Hincks herbarium at Eton College: Botany in early nineteenth century Yorkshire. Naturalist 131:23 - 35.

Irvine, L.M. and Chamberlain, Y,M. 1994. Seaweeds of the British Isles Volume 1, Part 2B. pp. 11 - 12. The Natural History Museum, London.

Papenfuss, G.F. pp.21 - 46 "Landmarks in Pacific North American Marine Phycology" in Abott, I.A. and Hollenberg, G.J. 1976. Marine Algae of California. Stanford University Press, California.

[edit] See also

Algae