Historical Records, 1700-1900
During the 1700s, many natural historians began extensive descriptions
of what were termed ‘the Algae’ from the initial growth to
fructification (formation of reproductive structures) in intertidal
species (Greville, 1830 and authors listed within). Some of these
researchers focused on seaweeds of the British Isles (present day Éire
and the United Kingdom), and many were women and clergymen (e.g.
Reverend David Landsborough of Glasgow, 1847) who had a keen interest in
the natural world (see Table 3). This work may have been driven by the
need to understand marine harvest because ‘kelp,’ potash of all
seaweeds, was an economic resource used in agriculture, as packaging
material, and an iodine resource (Harvey, 1849), and this is certainly a
driver for renewed interest in seaweeds from the 1940s (Ara Mara; South
& Titley, 1986) to today (Monagail & Morrison, 2020). Cultural uses of
kelp were also observed: one herbarium record from The National Botanic
Gardens of Ireland is a rosary made from the stipes of L.
digitata collected from Glencolumbkille, County Donegal (Figure 4).
Historical records of Irish or Irish-based phycologists is very
thoroughly outlined in Guiry (2012); but unfortunately, the information
does not define the distribution of any recorded seaweeds, but instead
refers to zonation on the shoreline (e.g., the taxon now termed S.
latissima was thought to only live between high and low tides).Laminaria spp. and other seaweeds were often described as tangles
(Harvey, 1849), and herbarium records in The National Botanic Gardens of
Ireland and Trinity College indicated many Laminaria spp. could
easily be grouped into what was Laminaria phyllis (present dayL. digitata ) which Harvey noted as having multiple ecotypes, some
of which are actually L. hyperborea (Harvey, 1841). Previous
names (not misnomers) for L. hyperborea include Fucus
hyperboreus Gunnerus, Fucus scoparius Strom 1762, Hafgygia
cloustonii (Edmondston) Areschoug, 1883, Laminaria cloustoniEdmondston, Laminaria hyperborea f. compressa Foslie, 1884
(Guiry & Guiry, 2020).
Marine algal communities in the British Isles were originally described
as dominated by ‘Olive series’ (Phaeophyta), with many red algae (3/8 of
species) and greens (1/4 species: Harvey, 1849). Interesting notes on
the ecology of seaweeds include seaweed support of food webs and
community structure: “The Algae, therefore by supporting the base,
support the structure” (Harvey, 1849), which is potentially the first
description of seaweeds as ecosystem engineers and/or providing
ecosystem services. Observations were also noted on ecological
interactions between coralline algae and fleshy algae (Lamouroux, 1826),
the annual phenology (annual growth patterns) of marine algae, variation
in zonation from subtidal to intertidal (‘land flora’) across regions,
and the distribution of dominant brown algae (Cocks, 1859; Harvey,
1849). Most of these studies were restricted to coastlines where seaweed
could be easily observed. Cocks (1859) even notes his thought that there
would be little space for seaweed below the tidelines (i.e., subtidal).
There could be a good deal of data on subtidal marine algae in sounding
records of the British Admiralty dating back to 1580 which would have
refuted this idea; however, these records were and are not easily
accessible. Up to the 20th century much of phycology
in Ireland was focused on species descriptions and distributions to the
extent of providing ‘presence’ data on certain portions of the
coastlines (broadly noted as ‘Northern Ireland’ or ‘County Cork’ for
example) which is still an issue with some reports today (see Scally et
al., 2020).