The history of the Journal of the Marine Biological Association of the United Kingdom and the influence of the publication on marine research

The origin and development of the Journal of the Marine Biological Association of the United Kingdom is described on the occasion of the publication of the 100th volume. Papers in the Journal demonstrate how the techniques and approaches to the study of the marine environment have evolved over the 120 years of publication. The early papers provided a baseline description of the marine environment and of marine communities that allowed the effects of later perturbations of the environment to be determined. Both the early papers and the long time series of records have proved to be particularly relevant as marine scientists try to predict the long-term results of climatic and anthropogenic effects on the marine ecosystem. The Journal has now become increasingly international, with most papers coming from outside Europe.

Live protist curation at the Scottish Association for Marine Science, 1884–2017

Understanding and exploiting marine microbial biodiversity is a huge task. Integral to this is the capacity to identify and maintain exemplar taxa ex situ, so that they may be studied or utilized. This paper focuses on protists, primarily photosynthetic protists, including microalgae and macroalgae, as well as the prokaryotic cyanobacteria. It draws together the strands of activities undertaken by scientists in the fields of taxonomy, systematics and algal cultivation associated with the Scottish Association for Marine Science at Oban and its predecessors: the Scottish Marine Station, originally located on a converted lighter, The Ark, in a flooded quarry in Granton near Edinburgh, then subsequently at Millport on the Clyde; the Marine Biological Association – West Scotland at Millport; and the Scottish Marine Biological Association, founded in 1914, initially at Millport and subsequently at Dunstaffnage, Oban. The work undertaken is interwoven with the historical status and development of protistan curation over the past 130 years. The paper also examines the inter-linkages of the organization with the development of cultivation techniques and the provision of biological resources from 1914 by the then newly established Scottish Marine Biological Association to the Culture Collection of Algae and Protozoa today. Finally, we briefly outline current developments that will influence the curation and scientific exploitation of these diverse organisms in the future.

FROM THE TORREY CANYON TO TODAY: A 50 YEAR RETROSPECTIVE OF RECOVERY FROM THE OIL SPILL AND INTERACTION WITH CLIMATE-DRIVEN FLUCTUATIONS ON CORNISH ROCKY SHORES

ABSTRACT The Torrey Canyon was wrecked in 1967 with 117,000 tons of crude oil on board. The Plymouth Laboratory of the Marine Biological Association (MBA) of the UK was mobilized to deal with this environmental catastrophe. Many of the rocky shores affected by the spill and unaffected control sites had been studied by staff from the MBA, with A.J. and E.C. Southward charting fluctuations of rocky shore fauna and flora from the early 1950s – particularly barnacles – in relation to climate. Thus a baseline existed to help judge recovery of rocky shores from the beached oil and application of toxic first generation dispersants. A reminder is given of the initial acute impacts of the oil and its treatment by dispersants, and the first ten years of observations on recovery of shore communities. Subsequent follow-up work in the 1980s and 1990s suggested recovery took up to 15 years on the shore (Porthleven) subject to the most severe dispersant application. In contrast, recovery occurred in 2–3 years at Godrevy, a site where dispersants were not applied due to concerns about the impact on seals. The dispersants killed the dominant grazer, limpets of the genus Patella, leading to massive subsequent colonisation by seaweeds. The resulting canopy of fucoid algae (“rockweed” or “wrack”) facilitated dense recruitment of limpets. These subsequently grazed the seaweeds down, before the starving limpets largely died off after migrating across the shore in search of food. This reduction in limpet numbers and grazing pressure then prompted a further bloom of algae. There was then a return to normal levels of spatial and temporal variation of key species of seaweeds and limpets fluctuations charted at Porthleven from the mid 1980s to 2016. Comparisons are made with other oil spills for which long-term recovery has been assessed. Lessons learnt from observations stretching back 60 years, both before and after the spill, for rocky shore monitoring are highlighted – especially the need for broad-scale and long-term monitoring to separate out local impacts (such as oil spills) from global climate-driven change.

Harry Beal Torrey (1873–1970) of California, USA, and his research on hydroids and other coelenterates

Harry Beal Torrey was born on 22 May 1873 in Boston, Massachusetts. Two years later his family moved to Oakland, California. Torrey earned B.S. and M.S. degrees in zoology from the University of California, Berkeley, in 1895 and 1898 respectively, a Ph.D. in zoology from Columbia University in 1903, and an M.D. from the Medical College of Cornell University in 1927. He began his academic career as a marine biologist, investigating taxonomy, reproduction, morphology, development, regeneration, and behaviour of cnidarians of the west coast of the United States, but his research interests soon shifted to experimental biology and endocrinology. He eventually entered the field of medicine, specializing in public health, and served as a physician and hospital administrator. Torrey held academic positions at the University of California, Berkeley (1895–1912), the Marine Biological Association of San Diego (1903–1912), Reed College (1912–1920), the University of Oregon (1920–1926), and Stanford University (1928–1938). Following retirement from academia, he served as Director of the Children’s Hospital of the East Bay, Oakland, California, from 1938 to 1942. In retirement, he continued an association with the University of California at Berkeley, near his home. Of 84 publications by him listed herein, 31 dealt with coelenterates. This paper focuses on his early research on coelenterate biology, and especially his contributions to taxonomy of hydroids. He was author or coauthor of six genera and 48 species-group taxa of Cnidaria, and he also described one new species each of Ctenophora and Phoronida. Although he abandoned systematic work early in his career, his most widely cited publication is a taxonomic monograph on hydroids of the west coast of North America, published in 1902. He died, at age 97, on 9 September 1970.

Unravelling the life cycle of ‘<i>Polystomella crispa</i>’: the roles of Lister, Jepps and Myers

The meticulous observations of Lister, Jepps and Myers involved the culturing of material, monitoring the behaviour of live individuals over periods of days and weeks and at different times of the year, and decalcifying tests in order to stain and examine the protoplasmic contents with the best available microscopes. They all based their studies at the Laboratory of the Marine Biological Association in Plymouth and Myers and Jepps overlapped in the early 1940s although they chose to work separately. Through their combined efforts they determined that the life cycle of Elphidium crispum (Linné) (formerly called Polystomella crispa) involves an alternation of generations, sexual and asexual, over a two-year period. This has remained the ‘classic’ life cycle of benthic foraminifera, although subsequent studies, including those of Myers, have revealed other patterns. Lister also established that test dimorphism is not related to sex but to the asexual and sexual phases of reproduction.