Red-Tide Research Summarized to 1964 Including an 

 Annotated Bibliography 



By 

 GEORGE A. ROUNSEFELL and WALTER R. NELSON 



ABSTRACT 



This paper summarizes from published and unpublished data and reports the 

 status of research on the Florida red tide up to 1964. It contains 292 references, 

 mostly annotated, on red tide and closely related subjects. The relation of oceano- 

 graphic conditions to red-tide blooms, the seasonal and coastwise distribution of 

 the Florida red tide, and progress in various aspects of research are discussed. 



INTRODUCTION 



This summary of red-tide research is a 

 modified version of a report prepared for the 

 Bureau of Commercial Fisheries under Con- 

 tract No. 14-17-0002-79 with the University 

 of Alabama {Status of red-tide research in 

 1964, by George A. Rounsefell and Walter R. 

 Nelson, Technical Report 64-1, Alabama Ma- 

 rine Resources Laboratory, 1964, 192 p., 

 processed). 



The aim of the first report was to examine 

 and review published and unpublished papers 

 and data relating to red tide, to summarize 

 this material, and to make the summary 

 available prior to a symposium on red tide 

 called by the Bureau in October 1964. A 

 similar symposium, held at the Bureau of 

 Commercial Fisheries Biological Laboratory 

 in Galveston, Tex., March 5 to 7, 1958^, re- 

 sulted in several modifications to improve the 

 then existing research program. We hope that 

 the 1964 symposium has also been useful in 

 assessing current progress and suggesting 

 promising modifications of the research pro- 

 gram. 



We began by reviewing as many of the 

 published papers and manuscripts on red tide 

 as could be obtained and examined in the 



Note. — George A. Rounsefell, Professor of Marine 

 Biology, and Walter R. Nelson, Marine Biologist, Uni- 

 versity of Alabama, University, Alabama. 35486 



•'•All excerpts or references from the report of this 

 earlier symposium (mimeographed) are identified simply 

 as (USFWS, 1958). 



allotted time. The list includes many refer- 

 ences which, although not examined by us, 

 may prove useful to anyone needing closely 

 related infornnation. Stress was placed on 

 material relating to the red tide of Florida. 

 No attempt was made to undertake a synopsis 

 of each paper; rather the comments and ex- 

 cerpts given represent a deliberate attempt to 

 bring out important facets of the research 

 problem. Over 20 new references have been 

 added to the 1964 report. 



As a second step, the senior author is col- 

 laborating with staff mennbers of the Bureau 

 of Commercial Fisheries Biological Labora- 

 tory in St. Petersburg Beach, Fla., in prepar- 

 ing a paper based on 7 years of published raw 

 data on red tide covering the period 1954-61 

 collected by the staff of the Laboratory. The 

 data were coded, punched, and verified on 

 nearly 13,000 ADP cards and run through the 

 solid-state Univac-80 computer at the Univer- 

 sity of Alabama Computer Center in Tusca- 

 loosa in preliminary analyses, some of which 

 are presented in this report (see fig. 1). 



Finally, we presented our ideas on the 

 rationale of red-tide occurrence, together 

 with suggestions for future research. This 

 section of our report was presented with 

 some trepidation in view of the expert audience 

 at the symposium. It represented ideas gained 

 chiefly from winnowing of the extant reports, 

 and we hoped that the participants in the 

 symposium would not regard it as an attempt 

 to push our ideas, but as an attempt to furnish 

 material for stimulating discussion. 



