ECOLOGICAL DISTRIBUTION OF FRESH-WATER ALGAE 



L. A. Whitford 

 North Carolina State College 



Ecology is one of the younger divisions of 

 biology, and yet the desire and search for eco- 

 logical data is as old as man's culture of plants 

 and animals. Needham and Lloyd (1915) say the 

 science of limnology began with the musings of 

 the contemplative fisherman. We can likewise 

 say the science of ecology began when the cave 

 man first began to wonder why his patches of 

 half-wild peas and cereals grew better at certain 

 times and places than others, and that the study 

 of algal ecology began when the Chinese began 

 to try to manage fish ponds, probably a thousand 

 years ago . 



Just as the ecology of land plants began 

 with, and was stimulated by, such works as 

 Kerner's Plant Life of the Danube Basin, and by 

 Humbolt's studies of world floras, algal ecology 

 also had its beginnings in floristic studies. 

 Many early students of algal floras were good 

 observers and worked at such a leisurely pace that 

 they took many notes. Furthermore, page space 

 for publication was not at such a premium then as 

 now. Many papers of a few decades ago have 

 valuable ecological data among the more volumi- 

 nous floristic and taxonomic material. Among 

 those who have published material of this type are 

 the Wests (W. and G. S.), Chodat, Fritsch, and 

 Pascher. More recently in this country Smith, 

 Taylor, Transeau, and Tiffany have published 

 floristic and taxonomic papers from which eco- 

 logical data can be gleaned. Some like Fritsch, 

 Taylor, and Tiffany have also later written eco- 

 logical papers . 



As early as 1904 West pointed out that 

 regions with drainage from pre-cambrian rocks 

 have an algal flora richer in species than regions 

 of more recent rocks. Later, a flora few in 

 species but rich in numbers of individuals was 

 recognized. These became known as the Cale- 

 donian and the Baltic floras. By 1920 this first 

 classification of fresh-water algal floras was 

 established in the literature. While the original 

 theory as to the reason for the two types is now 

 held to be invalid, the names can still be used to 

 designate the types of flora. 



The rapidly developing science of limnology, 

 of course, has contributed most to algal ecology. 

 Welch (195 2) has given an excellent summary of 

 the history of ecology from which an idea of its 

 influence on algal ecology can be gained . We 

 have taken over, however, a number of limnologi- 

 cal terms and concepts without, perhaps, too 

 critical an evaluation of their use and value. 

 Thienemann and Naumann's oligotrophic , eu- 

 trophic , and dystrophic lake types are a case in 



point. Welch (195 2, p. 344) says these terms 

 have "drifted slowly into a certain limited, un- 

 crystallized acceptance in American limnology, 

 although no serious attempts have yet been made 

 to reduce the diagnostic characters to positive 

 specifications valid for American inland waters . " 

 The terms suggest a type of lake or type of habitat 

 and they have also been defined in a number of 

 different ways . If used in phycology they should 

 designate a habitat and not a type of flora . 



During the past sixty years phytoplankton 

 studies have been by far the most numerous. 

 Many limnological papers including phytoplankton 

 and papers on algae alone have been published 

 both in Europe and in this country. In the United 

 States , the Wisconsin lakes , the New York lakes , 

 and the Great Lakes have all received attention. 

 Until recently the south and the west have been 

 relatively neglected . 



The algae of streams have also been inves- 

 tigated in the course of limnological studies. The 

 Russians are reported to have worked especially 

 on the large rivers . The algae of other European 

 streams have received considerable attention and 

 series of papers have been published by Budde, 

 Butcher, and Fritsch. In this country stream algae 

 have received relatively little attention, especially 

 non-planktonic species. Published material is 

 found mostly in limnological surveys . There are 

 plankton papers by Allen (1920), Chandler (1937), 

 Eddy (1932), Purdy (1916), Reinhard (1931) and 

 Roach (1932) . Recently there have been papers on 

 non-plankton algae by Blum (1954, 1956, 1957) 

 and Whitford (195 6). 



During the nineteen hundred forties a system 

 using organisms to indicate limnological condi- 

 tions was developed by Liebmann (1951) . It seems 

 to have some merit but it has not been widely 

 tested by investigators. This is the saprobien 

 system mentioned by Dr. Blum. Symoens also in 

 1951 outlined a classification of fresh-water algal 

 communities . An acceptable system of ecological 

 classification should be based on experimental 

 data, but before it will be generally adopted, it 

 must be widely tested under experimental condi- 

 tions . 



Algal ecology will someday have its Warming 

 or its Forel, who will write a definitive treatise as 

 Warming did for land plant ecology and Forel did 

 for limnology. We probably do not yet have a suf- 

 ficient body of data for such a paper on fresh- 

 water ecology . 



In a consideration of the ecological distribu- 

 tion of algae it is obvious that the effects of 

 light, temperature, and water quality should be 



