Oppenheimer; Whether it is water or air should not make much difference in 

 the oxidation rates because the dissolved oxygen in the water 

 certainly should not be a limiting factor. Therefore oxidation 

 rates would be comparable with respect to the other parameters 

 such as temperature, salinity, etc. 



Chapman: I remember when I was up in Massachusetts we recognized two 



different varieties of the Spartina: the tall one which we called 

 variety glabra and a small one which w^e called variety pilosa. 

 The small one lived on the higher parts of the marsh and tall 

 one in the depressions which were the results of what we called 

 the "rotten spots" and I wondered whether you got those two 

 varieties down here or whether the taxonomists have merged 

 them. 



Smalley: There are no recognized types of Spartina from the taxonomists' 



point of view, and I do not know whether there are any real types 

 or not, but I rather doubt it. We never transplanted any from one 

 place to another. That would be the acid test. 



Chapman: We have just been playing about with a seaweed and we found that 



we could distinguish populations very easily and readily where 

 you got variations within populations by making use of what is 

 known as the "discriminant function". This depends upon two 

 variables that you can measure so that if you have two variables 

 in a population which you can measure as, for example, height 

 of plant or length of plant and spike, or something like that, which 

 seem to vary, you can make use of the "discriminant function" 

 to separate your plants into distinct populations occurring in dif- 

 ferent habitats. 



Smalley: Now this relates to your first question. You see from our point of 



view we do not want to separate these things. 1 have no interest in 

 trying to get as many different varieties as possible. I would like 

 as few varieties as possible. The production is what interests us. 



Chapman: Yes, but if you really have got different varieties, your production 



may be different for different varieties. 



Smalley: We would just as soon measure the production first. Why not? 



Chapman: _ Well, because you do not know what you are measuring production 

 of. 



*^ 



Smalley: It does not make any difference. Production is production whether 



you are measuring short grass or tall grass. You can measure 

 these things as you separate them by observation in the field. 



Burkholder: Measuring fixed carbon? 



99 



