Life in Lakes and Rivers. T. Macan T.
behind in the early years and it is interesting to quote the words of Professor Charles A. Kofoid (1910) who, in 1908 and 1909, toured the research stations of Europe. He writes: ‘The direct support of biological stations by educational funds of local or state origin, often in connection with universities, so generally prevalent in other European countries, is almost wholly lacking in Great Britain.’
‘The stations have been forced, therefore, to turn to memberships of supporting societies composed to a considerable extent of scientific men themselves, to private benefactors and to the commercial interests of the fisheries for aid. The result has been a relatively meager and fluctuating financial support…and a relatively very large absorption of the funds and activities of the British stations in scientific fisheries work.’
However, in spite of this, or should it be because of this, the ‘meager and fluctuating financial support’ having deterred all but the most determined and enthusiastic from seeking employment of this sort, Kofoid’s opinion is: ‘The scientific fisheries work done by the British stations is unsurpassed in its excellence and effectiveness.’
Marine problems have always taken pride of place in Britain. As befitted the leading maritime power of the day, she was the first to send out a major expedition to explore the depths of the ocean, when it was first realized that life existed there. H.M.S. Challenger set out early in 1873 and was at sea until late in 1876. Soundings, collections of animals and plants, chemical analyses, meteorological records, and other scientific data were obtained in all parts of the world, and the total achievement was considerable. It was the culmination of a collaboration between science and the Royal Navy which had been yielding fruit for a century or more. One of the junior scientists was a certain John Murray, who later, as Sir John Murray, became head of the Challenger Office, and was responsible for seeing the final volumes of the reports through the press, many years after H.M.S. Challenger had been relegated to the scrapyard.
He found time to organize Britain’s first important contribution to limnology – the Survey of the Scottish Freshwater Lochs, carried out between 1897 and 1909. This was a private venture undertaken after he had ascertained that the Lords Commissioners of the Admiralty were not concerned with fresh water, and that the Survey Department of the Office of Works (late Ordnance Survey) was not interested in anything except the surface of bodies of fresh water. Five hundred and sixty-two lochs were surveyed and, though sounding was the principal activity, sufficient observations on temperature were taken to provide the data for a theory about the circulation of water in the deeper parts of lakes – a theory which is still accepted today. Plankton collections were made but other biological observations were few.
In 1901 Mr Eustace Gurney started a station on Sutton Broad in Norfolk, and during the succeeding years a vigorous programme was carried out here under the direction of his brother, Dr Robert Gurney. It was, however, a private venture and it lapsed when the Gurney brothers moved away from the neighbourhood.
The next event of importance in the history of British freshwater biology was the issue in 1915 of the final report of the Royal Commission on Sewage Disposal, appointed in 1898. This Commission had carried out a careful examination of almost all aspects of the problem, even to the extent of inaugurating research to obtain certain information which it deemed essential. That our rivers are still polluted by sewage must be laid at the door of the legislators and not blamed on the Royal Commission.
Between the two wars several rivers were surveyed by staff of the Ministry of Agriculture and Fisheries. The primary object was to discover the effect of pollution on animals and plants, but obviously in order to do this it was necessary to survey unpolluted stretches for comparison, and the result was an important contribution to knowledge about the fauna and flora of uncontaminated rivers. During the same time Dr Kathleen Carpenter of the University College of Wales investigated stream faunas and the effect on them of pollution from lead mines. This work established a tradition of freshwater biology in Wales which has persisted ever since.
In the twenties the foundation of a station for freshwater biological research in Britain was discussed. A number of distinguished men of science came together and worked hard exploring ways and means. The interest of universities, academic societies, fishermen, and waterworks undertakings was aroused and, when, in 1930, subscriptions totalled £575 and promise of a grant of about the same amount had been obtained from the Government, the time to start was deemed to have arrived. Ideas about a new, properly equipped, building had to be abandoned, and search was made for an existing building which could be adapted. It had been decided that Windermere was the most suitable location, and on the banks of this lake the committee found that a place called Wray Castle was only partly occupied. It appeared to be suitable and in October, 1931, work started in a Victorian country house built externally in the style of a medieval castle.
At the beginning there were two naturalists, P. Ullyott and R. S. A. Beauchamp, and one laboratory assistant, George Thompson. The apparatus and general facilities were meagre, as may be appreciated from the amount of money available. Further subscriptions were raised, and by the end of 1935 there were five research workers and three assistants. In the following year a committee from the Development Commission inspected the laboratories and the work in progress, and, as a result of their visit, a bigger annual grant from the Treasury became available. One of their recommendations was the appointment of a full-time director, this office having previously been honorary and filled by Dr W. H. Pearsall (later Prof. W. H. Pearsall, F.R.S.), at that time Reader in Botany at Leeds University.
Expansion continued and in 1947 there were ten research workers, twelve laboratory assistants, and an instrument-maker. Wray Castle was now too small to provide, as it had done hitherto, laboratories, and living accommodation for unmarried members of the staff and visiting research workers, and in 1948 what had been the Ferry Hotel was purchased to take its place. The move was effected in 1950 and now, twenty years later, the staff of nineteen scientific officers and fifty-two supporting staff is once again complaining of lack of space. It is planned to build an annexe. Most of the staff came from Cambridge in the early days, and at that time there were few other universities from which they could have come. If W. H. Pearsall was the father of limnological thinking in Britain, a cofounder of the Freshwater Biological Association, J. T. Saunders, was the father of limnological teaching. Among the students who attended the course he ran, in addition to those mentioned, were F. T. K. Pentelow, B. A. Southgate and C. F. Hickling, three pioneers whose names will be encountered later in this account, and G. E. Hutchinson, who is likely to be the last person to write a comprehensive treatise on limnology single-handed.
Students come to the laboratory of the Freshwater Biological Association every Easter to attend a course. For reasons of accommodation and transport, numbers are limited to about sixteen. During the first few years applications were often fewer than this. After the war freshwater biology became increasingly popular at universities, and demands for places on the course rose, which frequently meant that from five students specializing in freshwater studies two were selected. This situation proved unacceptable to teachers who, one by one, organized their own courses. Today (1970) there are universities where the numbers on the course are well above sixteen. It is the universities and colleges where freshwater biology is not taught that now send most of the students to the Freshwater Biological Association’s course. Cambridge is one of them.
During the decades since the war university expansion has provided posts for freshwater biologists, and some of the leading men have, unfortunately, found that American universities offer better conditions than those in Britain. A station for research on fish was established at Pitlochry by the Scottish Home Office soon after the war, and in 1962 work started at the Freshwater Biological Association’s River Laboratory in the south of England. Increasing numbers of freshwater biologists have also found employment with River Authorities, with which statement we conclude this brief review, for we lack faith in our ability to forecast the future.
As a final introductory topic, physical and chemical properties which affect living organisms demand brief notice. Warm water is lighter than cold water and so floats on it, a phenomenon which leads to temperature-layering of lakes in summer, and thereby exerts a profound effect on the animals and plants. This subject is explored further in later chapters.
In the present chapter we shall notice only some