History of phycology

The history of

Early days

The study of botany goes back into pre-history, as plants have been eaten since the beginning of the human race. The first attempts at plant cultivation are believed to have been made shortly before 10,000 BC in Western Asia (Morton, 1981)^[1] and the first references to algae are to be found in early Chinese literature. Records as far back as 3000 BC indicate that algae were used by the emperor of China as food (Huisman, 2000 p. 13).^[2] The use of Porphyra in China dates back to at least AD 533–544 (Mumfard and Miura, 1988);^[3] there are also references in Roman and Greek literature. The Greek word for algae was phycos whilst in Latin the name became 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 the Elder in the 1st century AD (Irvine and Chamberlain, 1994 p. 11).^[4]

The classification of plants suffered many changes since

Little is known of botany during the Middle Ages—it was the Dark Ages of botany.^[1]

The development of the study of phycology runs in a pattern comparable with, and parallel to, other biological fields but at a different rate. After the invention of the

Written accounts of the algae of South Africa were made by the Portuguese explorers of the 15th and 16th centuries; however, it is not clear to which species they refer. (Huisman, 2000 p. 7)^[2]

17th century

In the 17th century, there was a great awakening of scientific interest all over Europe, and after the invention of the printing-press books on botany were published. Among them was the work of John Ray,[2] who wrote in 1660: Catalogus Plantarum circa Cantabrigiam., this initiated a new era in the study of Botany (Smith, 1975 p. 4).^[7] Ray "influenced both the theory and the practice of botany more decisively than any other single person in the latter half of the seventeenth century" (Morton, 1981).^[1]

However, no real progress was made in the scientific study of algae until the invention of the

The first Australian marine plant recorded in print was collected from Shark Bay on the Western Australian coast by William Dampier, who described many new species of Australian wildlife in the 17th century (Huisman, 2000 p. 7).^[2]

18th century

Before

Harvey commented on "...motion, apparently spontaneous, among the seeds at the period of germination. Some found it difficult...to account for these anomalous motions. ...that the seeds becomes (how is not said) a perfect animalcule, which after enjoying an animal existence for a time ceases to live animally, and, reverting to its original nature, gives birth to a vegetable. Thus, this seed was first vegetable, then animal, and then again vegetable,...".[11] During the 18th century, there was a stormy controversy as to whether coralline algae were plants or animals. Up to the mid-18th century, coralline algae (and coral animals) were generally treated as plants. By 1768, many, but by no means all authorities, considered them animal. Five years later, Harvey concluded that they were certainly of vegetable material he noted: "The question of the vegetable nature of Corallines, among which the Melobesia take rank, may now be considered as finally set at rest, by the researches of Kützing, Phillipi and Decaisne." (Harvey, 1847, pl. 73).^[12][13]

The first scientific species description of a South African seaweed accepted for most nomenclatural purposes is that of Ecklonia maxima, published in 1757 as Fucus maximus (Stegenga et al., 1997).^[14]

Knowledge of North American Pacific algae begins with the 1791–95 expedition of Captain George Vancouver (Papenfuss, 1976 p. 21).^[15]

The real awakening of interest in American algae resulted from a visit by William Henry Harvey in 1849–1850 when he visited areas from Florida to Nova Scotia and produced three volumes of Nereis Boreali-Americana. These gave an incentive to others to study algae (Taylor, 1972 p. 21).^[16]

The first collector of marine algae in Greenland waters seems to have been J.M.Vahl, who lived in Greenland from 1828 to 1836. Vahl's East Greenland species were not recorded until 1893 when Rosenvinge included them in his work of 1893 together with the species collected by Sylow (Lund, 1959).^[17] F.R.Kjellman records only 12 species from East Greenland, 4 of which are doubtful; these records are based on Zeller's list (Lund, 1959).^[17]

Early 19th century

The first records of algae from the Faroe Islands were made by Jørgen Landt in his book of 1800, where he mentions about 30 species. Following this, Hans Christian Lyngbye visited the Faroe Islands in 1817 and published his work in 1819. In this, he described several new genera and species, some 100 new species were listed. Emil Rostrup, who visited the Faroe Islands in 1867, listed ten new species and a total not far from 100. In 1895, Herman G. Simmons mentioned 125 species. In that year, F. Børgesen (1866–1956) started work and in 1902, published his work (Børgesen, 1902).^[18]

Jean Vincent Félix Lamouroux (1779–1825) was the first, in 1813, to separate the algae into groups on the basis of colour (Dixon and Irvine, 1977 p. 59).^[19] At this time, all coralline algae were considered animals. It was R. Philippi who, 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 p. 11).^[20]

Freshwater algae are commonly treated separately from marine algae and may be considered not correctly placed in phycology. Lewis Weston Dillwyn (1778–1855) "British Confervae" (1809) was one of the earliest attempts to bring together all that was then known on the British freshwater algae .^[21]

Specimens of Anne E. Ball (1808–1872) have been found in both the

His primary herbarium is in Trinity College, Dublin (TCD). However, large collections of Harvey's material are to be found in the Ulster Museum (BEL) (Morton, 1977; Morton, 1981);^[23][24] University of St Andrews (STA); and National Herbarium of Victoria (MEL), Melbourne, Australia (May 1977).^[25] 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 William Thompson (1805–1852), William McCalla (c. 1814–1849), John Templeton (1766–1825) and D. Landsborough (1779–1854) who collected, as he did, from distinct sites in Ireland. The collections of these botanists, and many others, are represented separately by collections in the Ulster Museum.

Sir

The number of books published in the mid to late 19th century shows how interest in the natural world developed. Books on algae were written by: Isabella Gifford (1853) The Marine Botanist..., some of her specimens are in the Ulster Museum; D. Landsborough (c. 1779–1854) A Popular History of British Seaweeds,... third edition published in 1857; Louisa Lane Clarke (c. 1812–1883) The Common Seaweeds of the British Coast and Channel Islands;... in 1865; S.O. Gray (1828–1902) British Seaweeds:... published 1867 and W.H. Grattann British Marine Algae:...published about 1874. These books were for the common people.

In 1902, Edward Arthur Lionel Batters (1860–1907) published "A catalogue of the British Marine algae." (Batters, 1902).^[40] In this, he detailed records of algae found on the shores of the British Isles with the localities. This was the start of a new approach, the bringing together of records, detailed keys, checklists and mapping schemes.

The process accelerated in the 20th century.

Research advanced so quickly that the need for an up-to-date checklist became apparent. Mary Parke (1902–1981), who was a founder member of the British Phycological Society, produced a preliminary checklist of British marine algae in 1953; corrections and additions of this were published in 1956, 1957 and 1959. In 1964, M.Parke and Peter Stanley Dixon (1929–1993) published a revised checklist; a second revision of this was produced in 1968 and a third revision in 1976. Distribution was added to the checklist in 1986 with G.R.South and I.Tittley's A Checklist and Distributional Index of the Benthic Marine Algae of the North Atlantic Ocean. In 2003, A Check-list and Atlas of the Seaweeds of Britain and Ireland was published by Gavin Hardy and Michael Guiry with a revised edition in 2006. This shows how rapidly knowledge of algae, at least in the British Isles, advanced. First efforts had been made by interested biologists and people capable of identifying the algae; this required books using the botanical names. Botanical keys to identify the plants then developed, followed by checklists. As more information was brought to light by interested workers, some volunteers, the checklists were improved and eventually a mapping scheme brought together all this information. The same pattern of knowledge developed with birds, mammals and flowering plants, though to a different time-scale and knowledge in other parts of the world has developed to this degree.

Numbers and checklists

As records were collected, the need to draw all the information together advanced. Checklists and annotated checklists were produced and updated so the actual numbers of different species became more precise. At first this was quite local. Threlkeld, in 1726, produced the first attempt at an enumeration of Irish Algae and in 1802, William Tighe published his "Marine plants observed at the County of Wexford"; it included 58 marine and 2 freshwater species. In 1804 Wade published Plantae Rariores in Hibernia Inventae, in which 51 species of marine and 4 species of freshwater algae were enumerated. In the north of Ireland

In more localised lists, Adams (in 1907) listed the species of County Antrim [44] noted that of the 747 species included in "Batter's List" ^[40] he recorded 211 species from the Co. Antrim coast. In 1907, a list of marine algae from Lambay Island (County Dublin) was published by Batters.^[45] In 1960, A preliminary list of the marine algae of Galloway coast was published.^[46]

At the international level there are well over 3,000 species of alga in Australia.^[2]

Identification

As the study and identification of the different species became more extensive, it became clear that identification was not at all easy. Harvey's 1846–1851 Phycologia Britannica along with his other publications makes no effort to provide "keys" to help in the identification. In 1931, Newton's Handbook^[41] which gave the first key to assist in the identification of algae of the British Isles, in the same year Knight and Park gave a key in their "Manx Algae."^[47] Eifion Jones in 1962, wrote a key to the genera of British seaweeds.^[48] Others soon followed: Dickinson wrote one entitled British Seaweeds.^[49] and Adey and Adey (1973) gave keys to the identification of the Corallinaceae of the British Isles.^[50] Abott and Hollenberg, in 1976, published keys to the identification of algae of California.^[51]

Evolution of classification in the algae

Linnaeus's "sexual system" (Linnaeus, 1754)^[52] in which he grouped plants according to the number of stamens and carpels in their flowers, although wholly artificial was advantageous in that a newly discovered plant could be fitted in amongst those already known. He divided the plant kingdom into 25 classes, one of which was the Cryptogamia—plants with "concealed reproductive organs" (see above) (Smith, 1955).^[5] Linnaeus accepted 14 genera of algae of which only four, Conferva, Ulva, Fucus and Chara, contained organisms now regarded as algae (Dixon, 1973 p. 231).^[53] As a consequence of the great increase in the number of species, the artificiality of the Linnaean system was appreciated so that during the 18th century and early 19th century, considerable numbers of new genera were described. J.V.F. Lamouroux in 1813, ^[54] was the first to separate the groups on the basis of colour, however this was not taken up by other botanists and it was Harvey who, in 1836, divided the algae into four major divisions solely on the basis of their pigmentation: Rhodospermae (red algae), Melanospermae (brown algae), Chlorospermae (green algae) and Diatomaceae (Dixon, 1973 p. 232).^[53]

In 1883 and 1897, Schmitz separated the Rhodophyceae into two main groups. The first contained the Bangiales and the second the Nemoniales, Cryptonemiales, Gigartinales and Rhodymeniales (Newton, 1931).^[41] The Rhodophyta are now arranged in the Orders: Porphyridiales, Goniotrichales, Erythropeltidales, Bangiales, Acrochaetiales, Colaconematales, Palmariales, Ahnfeltiales, Nemaliales, Gelidiales, Gracilariales, Bonnemaisoniales, Cryptonemiales, Hildenbrandiales, Corallinales, Gigartinales, Plocamiales, Rhodymeniales and Ceramiales. The Chlorophyta are arranged in the Orders: Chlorococcales, Microsporales, Chaetophorales, Phaeophilales, Ulvales, Prasiolales, Acrosiphoniales, Cladiphorales, Bryopsidales, Chlorocystidales, Klebsormidiales and Ulotrichales. The Heterokontophyta: Sphacelariales, Dictyotales, Ectocarpales, Ralfsiales, Utleriales, Sporochniales, Tilopteridales, Desmarestiales, Laminariales and the Fucales (Hardy and Guiry, 2006).^[55]

Recently (1990s), The Kingdom:

• Algae – Diverse group of photosynthetic eukaryotic organisms
• Botany – Science of plant life
• History of biology
• History of botany – History of the study of plants
• List of botanists

Miscellaneous notes

• Máirin de Valéra (1912–1984). Professor of Botany at University College, Galway (1962–1978).

Publications:

De Valéra, M. 1958. A topographical guide to the seaweed of Co. Galway Bay with some brief notes on other districts on the west coast of Ireland. Institute for Industrial Standards and Research Dublin, Dublin.

De Valéra, M. 1959. The Third International Seaweed Symposium at University College, Galway. 1958, Irish Naturalists' Journal 13: 18–19.

De Valéra, M. 1960. Interesting seaweeds from the shores of the Burren. Irish Naturalists' Journal. 13: 168.

De Valéra, M. * Cooke, P.J. 1979. Seaweed in Burren grykes. Irish Naturalists' Journal. 19: 435–436.

De Valéra, M., Pybus, C., Casley, B. & Webster, A. 1979. 1979. Littoral and benthic investigations on the west coast of Ireland.X. Marine algae of the northern shores of the Burren, C. Clare. Proceedings of the Royal Irish Academy. 79B: 259–269.

• Edward Batters (1860–1907). B.A.; FLS 1883
• Elmer Yale Dawson (1918–1966). American phycologist
• Kathleen M. Drew-Baker
  (...1925–1927...). University of Manchester. President of the British Phycological Society 1953.
• Margaret Constance Helen Blackler (1902–1981). Assistant Keeper of Botany, Liverpool Museum (1933–1945). In 1947 joined staff University St Andrews.
• Peter Stanley Dixon (1929–1993). Professor Emeritus of Biology at University of California.
• William Dwyn Isaac (1905–1995).
• Harald Kylin (...1906–1949...). Author: Die Gattengen der Rhodophyceen. 1956 CWK Gleerups Förlag,Lund. Specimens in Ulster Museum....
• George Russell (...1983–1984...). President of British Phycological Society 1983–1984.

References