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PACIFIC SCIENCE, Vol. XV, October 1961 
( 1950) and his students in New Zealand. Some 
attempts have also been made to describe uni- 
versal features of intertidal zonation through- 
out the world ( Stephenson and Stephenson, 
1949). At the same time there has been a tend- 
ency to place greater emphasis on the inter- 
relationships between the various organisms. 
Many of these intertidal studies have been 
of great value as an initial descriptive stage of 
investigation, and there is a need for further 
descriptive studies of this type in new and un- 
described regions. However, the variety of sys- 
tems of nomenclature and terms that have been 
proposed by marine ecologists to describe zona- 
tion, associations, and other ecological concepts 
has frequently only complicated the descriptive 
study rather than succeeded in explaining the 
observed phenomena. This has led to some con- 
fusion in terminology. It is a debatable point 
whether there can be such a thing as a universal 
system of classification beyond a generalized 
scheme, such as that proposed by Ekman (1935), 
and it is questionable whether some of the sys- 
tems proposed can contribute further to progress 
in marine algal ecology even in regional studies 
without simplification or clarification. There 
have been a number of recent comprehensive 
papers dealing with various aspects of marine 
ecology which make it unnecessary to dwell at 
length on a review of the trends that have been 
followed more recently in marine algal ecology 
and the results that have been attained ( Gislen, 
1929, 1930; Feldmann, 1937, 1951; Fischer- 
Piette, 1940; Chapman, 1946, 1957; Doty, 1957; 
Hartog, 1959). 
Although the shift in emphasis to the inter- 
relationship of organisms was an important one, 
in some instances this approach has been re- 
sponsible for excluding adequate concurrent 
studies of the physical and chemical aspects of 
the environment. It is for this reason that a case 
may be made for reassessing the status of marine 
algal ecology, and a critical evaluation of the 
steps to be taken to further its progress is timely. 
Perhaps what may be called a three-dimensional 
or an oceanographic approach can be used to 
analyze more precisely various factors in the 
marine environment and the relationship of 
these factors to the benthonic algae. Steps in 
this direction have been made more recently 
Fig. 2. Map of Queen Charlotte Strait showing depth contours. 
