Yonge, Sir Maurice (1899–1986)

Definition

An eminent British zoologist, who led the 1928–1929 Great Barrier Reef Expedition to Low Isles and who, together with other team members, provided some of the earliest insights into the feeding biology, growth and reproduction of reef corals. He was also one of the first scientists to describe the bleaching of corals under natural conditions and to investigate the bleaching process both in manipulative experiments and in the field.

Maurice Yonge was an extremely distinguished marine zoologist whose research interests spanned both molluscan and coral physiology. He completed an undergraduate and postgraduate degree at the University of Edinburgh before beginning postdoctoral research at Plymouth Marine Laboratory on feeding and digestion in bivalves. In 1927 he accepted the leadership of the Great Barrier Reef Expedition and soon after began to assemble his interdisciplinary team for a 13 month stay on Low Isles in the northern Great Barrier Reef. The expedition members were...