504 
PACIFIC SCIENCE, Vol. XV, October 1961 
University of British Columbia for as long as 
a year, during which the complete sexual gen- 
erations were grown and the young sporophytes 
reached a length of 14 in., well past the stage 
where secondary morphological characteristics 
had developed to a point permitting positive 
identification. These studies have permitted in- 
disputable identification of the sporophytes to 
genus, and in some cases to species. The study 
of cultures in this group suggests that much of 
the early work on gametophytes in the Lami- 
nariales and in fact even on the early sporo- 
phytes may be in some question. In most of the 
early studies reported in the literature, plants 
were not grown long enough to establish beyond 
doubt the characteristic secondary morphological 
features of the sporophytes of the genera from 
which zoospores were intially obtained. In the 
presence of contaminating zoospores of other 
species which can soon supplant the original 
species under study, there is no other way of 
establishing that the same species or even the 
same genus in the Laminariales was obtained 
in the sporophyte generation succeeding the 
gametophyte generations in culture. 
It would be remiss not to mention much of 
the worthwhile physiological work that has been 
done on marine algae and other organisms. 
However, there is a need for a great deal more 
physiological work, particularly of the type done 
by Gail (1918, 1919, 1922) in an attempt to 
relate physiological processes more specifically 
and directly to the environment and ecological 
problems encountered in the field. In physio- 
logical studies there is frequently a tendency to 
proceed more and more deeply into special as- 
pects of the physiological behaviour or the bio- 
chemistry of an organism under artificial condi- 
tions. Although this information is very often 
of great value there is a very real need to project 
back to the field and attempt to explain be- 
haviour under the conditions existing in the 
natural environment. The statistical approach, 
as illustrated by Berquist’s (1959) revealing 
study of Hormosira, has also been little used 
as yet. 
Almost all of the quantitative aspects of the 
productivity of the benthonic algae in this area 
have related to species of economic interest 
(anon., 1947, 1948^; Scagel, 1948; Hutchinson, 
1949). These studies have dealt largely with 
harvestable quantities and distributions, and 
have contributed little to an evaluation or an 
explanation, in terms of oceanographic factors, 
of the causes for this production. 
Obviously the ideal of a functional interpre- 
tation in the ecology of marine benthonic algae 
is dependent on an adequate and balanced knowl- 
edge of all of the foregoing aspects — of the 
qualitative and quantitative features of both the 
organisms and the environment. Many, much 
needed data are still lacking. An attempt to fol- 
low this line of investigation has been pursued 
on the coast of British Columbia and in a some- 
what more restricted area at the north end of 
Vancouver I. in Queen Charlotte Strait. Fur- 
ther detailed work is in progress in the Strait of 
Juan de Fuca at the south end of Vancouver I. 
between Vancouver I. and northern Washing- 
ton. The study in Queen Charlotte Strait forms 
the major part of this paper. 
JUNE 16 HOUR OF DAY (PSD 
0600 0800 1000 1200 1400 1600 1800 2000 
Fig. 13. Fluctuations in temperature, salinity, and 
oxygen at various depths near Malcolm Island at sta- 
tion 19 (1953). 
