Abstract
Although much had been accomplished by the turn of the century, the missing element facing early 20th century scientists was that research had consisted of separate isolated projects that were not advancing a synoptic overview of reefs as ecological systems. Mayor, working on the Murray Island in the Torres Strait, provided the paradigm model for such research using the concept of ecology to investigate, record and analyse major interactions that led to the formation and sustainability of a coral reef. This was followed by the Great Barrier Reef Expedition of 1928/29, led by Yonge, and carried out on the Low Isles. In parallel with these expeditions and the resulting literature and debate was the significant taxonomic revisions of Vaughan and Wells, leaving the problem of calcification and reef building still not fully understood at the outbreak of World War 2.
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Notes
- 1.
Saville-Kent 1893, Plate II facing p. 6.
- 2.
Pan-Pacific Scientific Congress Honolulu 1920, III, p. 31..
- 3.
Pan-Pacific Scientific Congress Melbourne and Sydney (1923, I, pp. 18, 25). Note that name changed thereafter to “Science Congress”.
- 4.
Pan-Pacific Science Congress Tokyo (1928) s.v. Resolutions.
- 5.
The complex details of one of the most devious plots in coral reef history to ensure the most suitable leadership and outcomes are given by Bowen (2002, pp. 255–258).
- 6.
That document, plus a set of the progressive field mimeographed copies by Yonge from which citations have been taken while in the author’s possession, have since been donated to the archives of the Oxley Library, Brisbane (see Footnote 7 for an explanation of how the field mimeographed copies are cited).
- 7.
LIE, Low Isles Expedition. Copies of the six mimeographed progressive field Reports to the Great Barrier Reef Committee by Yonge are referred to as follows: Yonge LIE, followed by the sequence in Roman numerals from I to VI, followed by month and year, and finally page number. This reference: Yonge LIE 2/29, p. 8. In May 2010, these documents were transferred to the archives of the Oxley Library in Brisbane.
- 8.
Yonge LIE III 2/29, p. 9.
- 9.
Yonge LIE IV 5/29, p. 6.
- 10.
Yonge LIE IV 9/29, p. 7.
- 11.
Great Barrier Reef Expedition 1928–29 (1930–1940).
- 12.
The Emperor recognized his scholarship with the award of an Order of the Rising Sun.
- 13.
Aragonite has an orthorhombic crystal structure with three axes of symmetry, one vertical and two horizontal, at right angles to each other. Calcite has a trigonal structure with a vertical axis and three lateral axes at 120° to each other.
- 14.
Gk gloios. “gelatinous substance”; Bourne (1899).
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Bowen, J. (2015). Field Studies and Taxonomic Revision, 1901–1945. In: The Coral Reef Era: From Discovery to Decline. Humanity and the Sea. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-07479-5_9
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