AQUATIC BIOLOGY

BIOLOG Y COLLOQUIUM 19416

OREGON STATE CHAPTER OF PHI KAPPA PH I OREGON STATE COLLEGE + CORVALLIS 1 1946 Seventh Annual Biology Colloquium Saturday, April 27, 1946

Aquatic Bioko

OREGON STATE CHAPTER OF PHI KAPPA PH I OREGON STATE COLLEGE i CORVALLIS + 1946

TABLE OF CONTENT S

. 1

Pag e Foreword 3

Colloquium Committee s

Discussion Leaders 4

Chairmen of Sessions

Opening of the Colloquium .

Water as an External Environment, Robert C . Miller

Some Physical and Chemical Characteristics of Natural Water Bodies o f the Pacific Northwest, Clinton L. Utterback 12

The Use of Marine Organisms in the Study of Physiological Theory,

Arthur R. Moore .4 15

A Half Century of Biological Science, Trevor Kincaid 16

The Salmon of the Upper Columbia River and the Effect of Environmen- tal Changes, on the Resources, Frederic F . Fish . . 20

Biological Research Connected with the Fisheries of Oregon , Arnie J. Suomela 25

Public Health Problems Related to Aquatic Biology, Ivan Pratt 3 1

Water as an Internal Environment, Robert C . Miller . 35 FOREWOR D

The Biology Colloquium is conducted in a "Recent Advances in Biological Science." Lead- spirit of informal discussion and provides oppor- ers and themes of succeeding colloquia have been : tunity for participation from the floor . The col- 1940, Dr. Homer LeRoy Shantz, chief of the Di - loquium is sponsored by the Oregon State Chapte r vision of Wildlife Management of the Unite d of Phi Kappa Phi with the collaboration of Sigma States Forest Service, theme "Ecology" ; 1941, Xi, Phi Sigma, and Omicron Nu . Sigma Xi as- Dr. Cornelius Bernardus van Niel, Professor of sumes special responsibility for the colloquium Microbiology, Hopkins Marine Station, Stanfor d luncheon. Phi Sigma and Omicron Nu provid e University, in collaboration with Dr. Henrik afternoon tea. The College Library arrange s Dam, Biochemical Institute, University of Copen- special displays of the writings of colloquiu m hagen, theme "Growth and Metabolism" ; 1942, leaders and notable works on the colloquiu m Dr. William Brodbeck Herms, Professor of Para- theme. sitology and Head of the Division of Entomology Grateful acknowledgment is made of the co- and Parasitology, University of California , operation and interest of the several faculties of theme "The Biologist in a World at War" ; 1943, Oregon State College that are concerned wit h Dr. August Leroy Strand, Biologist and President C biology, of those biologists contributing to the of Oregon State College, theme "Contributions o f program, of Chancellor Frederick M . Hunter, Biological Sciences to Victory" ; 1944, Dr. George President A. L. Strand, and other executives o f Wells Beadle, Geneticist and Professor of Bi- Oregon State College. ology, Stanford University, theme "Genetics and The first Biology Colloquium was held Marc h the Integration of Biological Sciences." Because 4, 1939, with Dr. Charles Atwood Kofoid of the of wartime travel conditions, the 1945 Biology University of California as leader, on the theme Colloquium was omitted.

COLLOQUIUM COMMITTEES SEVENTH ANNUA L BIOLOGY COLLOQUIU M

COLLOQUIUM COMMITTE E SIGMA XI EXECUTIVE COMMITTE E VERNON H . CHELDELI N WALLACE H. MARTI N (chairman ) (president) G. V. COPSON E. L . PACKAR D (vice president) ERNST J. DORNFELD do FRANK H . SMITH MARGARET L. FINCKE (secretary) DELMER M . GOODE E. M . DICKINSON ELMER HANSE N (treasurer) HENRY P . HANSEN ROSALIND WULZEN PHI SIGMA EXECUTIVE COMMITTE E ERNEST ANDERSO N MARGARET JEAN BENNET T (president) PATRICIA HACKET T ETHEL I . SANBORN VIRGINIA WEIMA R (lice president ) PHI KAPPA PHI EXECUTIVE COMMITTE BERTHA M . DAN A E (secretary-treasurer ) MABEL W. WINSTO N (president) OMICRON NU EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE GEORGENA SAMSON KNAPP BETTY C . HAMLIN (secretary) (president) CAROL L. ANGERMA N JANELLE HOSTETTER (assistant secretary) (vice president ) DAN W. POLING ELEANOR SWIFT (journal correspondent) (secretary) FRANK L. HENRY BEVERLY OSTERMAN (president elect ) (treasurer) DONALD D . HILL GEORGIA C. BIBEE (past president) (adviser) 3 ROBERT C. MILLER, Ph .D. Leader of Seventh Annual Biology Colloquium Seventh Annual Biology Colloquiu m

Theme : Aquatic Biology Leader : ROBERT C. MILLER, Ph.D., Director, California Academy of Science s

Discussion Leaders : Chairmen of Sessions : FREDERIC F. FIsH, Sc.D. VERNON H. CHELDELIN, Ph .D. In Charge of Pacific Coast Fish-Cultural Inves- Associate Professor of Chemistry, Oregon State tigations, U . S. Fish and Wildlife Service . College (opening session) . TREVOR KINCAID, A.M., Sc.D. HENRY P . HANSEN, Ph.D. Professor of Zoology, University of Washington. Associate Professor of General Science, Oregon State College (luncheon session) . ARTHUR RUSSELL MOORE, Ph.D. Research Professor of General Physiology, Uni- JAMES A . MACNAB, Ph.D. versity of Oregon . Professor of Biology, Linfield College (first af- ternoon session) . IVAN PRATT, Ph .D. RALPH W. MACY, Ph .D. Assistant Professor of Zoology, Oregon Stat e Professor of Biology, Reed College (secon d College. morning session) . ARNIE J . SUOMELA, M .S. CECIL R. MONK, Ph.D. Master Fish Warden, Oregon State Game Com- Professor of Biology, Willamette University mission . (second afternoon session) . CLINTON L . UTTERBACK, Ph .D. MABEL W. WINSTON, M .A. Executive Officer, Department of Physics, Uni- President of Oregon State Chapter of Phi Kappa versity of Washington . Phi (evening session) .

DR. CHELDELIN : On behalf of the commit- on the other side and countless others that we tee on preparations for this event and as a mem- know very little about, but of those which H e ber of Phi Kappa Phi, I welcome all of you t o built in our neighborhood, we think that He par- the 1946 Biology Colloquium . Before introducing ticularly favored our own residence . He took the speakers on the scientific program, however , care of central heating, which has proved fairly I am going to turn the meeting over to Dr . Gil- satisfactory. He air-conditioned the earth, which fillan, Dean of the School of Science of Oregon He did not do for our neighbor satellite the moon, State College. and lastly He provided us with a combination i n DEAN GILFILLAN : Dr. Cheldelin and mem- His particular building block consisting of on e bers of the colloquium, if we may unleash our atom of oxygen and two of hydrogen . This, of imaginations for a few moments, we may wel l course, has made things possible on this plane t fancy that millions and millions of ages ago the that are not possible on some of the other houses great Architect of the Universe gave thought t o on the street, such as Neptune and Uranus. His construction plans for this world and the The importance of water to life was recog- other countless worlds that fill up the infinite nized by the early Greeks who had their ow n space. We may think also, as He looked aroun d ideas about the fact that life originated from th e for construction materials for the job, that thing s ocean. It is strange that this idea did not develop didn't look too auspicious. He had a bin full o f through the ages . In fact, it was not until 1872 protons, neutrons, and a few little electrons, but that the first marine biological station was estab- His job was one like trying to build a house out lished at Naples . In 1888 the first marine biologi- of marbles . So then He took a different line o f cal station was established at Woods Hole in thi s thought. Taking these little protons and elec- country. Now we on the Pacific Coast enjo y trons, He hit upon the idea of putting them into having in our front yard the biggest of these larger building blocks. He coined hydrogen an d bodies of water, and we are rather belatedly pay- then, with increasing complexity, built up ninety - ing some attention to it. It is interesting to not e two blocks from which He made His Universe . at this meeting today devoted to aquatic biology So He went ahead and built some eight or ten or that we have representatives from Oregon, Wash- twenty houses on our side of the street, and then ington, and California, the three states that do Morning Session have this great Pacific Ocean on our front door - An equally important reason for discussing step. aquatic biology at this time is that in our sister On behalf of Oregon State College and Presi- state to the south there is a man who is thoroughl y dent Strand, and on behalf of the School of Sci- and ably qualified to lead us . That man is Dr. ence, I welcome you researchers in aquatic biol- Robert C. Miller, who is with us representing ogy. We hope that your stay will be pleasant , the California Academy of Sciences, of which and we believe it will be profitable both to us an d group he is the director. you mutually. Thank you. Dr. Miller was born in Pennsylvania and re- DR. CHELDELIN : Thank you, Dean Gilfillan . ceived his college education at Greenville College This is the seventh annual Biology Colloquium , in Illinois. He came west to California where he as I am sure you have already noted from you r received his doctor's degree. After teaching program. During these seven years, two of th e zoology at California, he went to the Universit y programs have been devoted to the role of biology of Washington and was associated with that in- in winning the war. This year, as the biologis t stitution in various capacities for fourteen years . turns his mind away from thoughts of military In 1938 he resigned his position as professor o f security, he can again attend to his "other loves." zoology to become director of the California Acad- One of the most important of these is the en- emy of Sciences, the position he now holds . He largement and development of the fund of vital has held intermittent positions at the Hopkins information that is available about living things . Marine Station and at Lingnan University i n Organisms on this planet, and in the Pacific China. He is a member of numerous scientific Northwest in particular, have a prior interest i n societies, both in this country and abroad. Dr. water, as Dr. Gilfillan has said ; it is on our front doorstep (and often on our roof) . Because of Miller is an expert on bird behavior and bird the great value of water to our state and to the flight. He has published many works dealing states adjacent to us, the Committee on Prepara- with the biology of marine wood-boring organ- tion for this year's colloquium has felt that i t isms, oceanography, and photobiology. With this would be desirable to discuss aquatic biology in prologue, we now turn the meeting over to Dr. many of its ramifications. Miller, with our best wishes . WATER AS AN EXTERNAL ENVIRONMEN T

ROBERT C. MILLER

Mr. Chairman, Dean Gilfillan, members o f the view, may look down and find beneath -his this Biology Colloquium : I am distinctly pleased feet marine sediments . At altitudes he may .t6 have this opportunity to return to the Pacifi c reach only with utmost toil-10,000-12,000-in Northwest, distinctly honored to be asked to lea d some cases even 19,000 feet-the geologist finds this colloquium, and somewhat apprehensive re- sedimentary rocks indisputably of marine origin , garding the responsibilities involved . I was re- and the paleontologist may collect the fossil re- assured to learn that your first biology colloquiu m mains of the inhabitants of some ancient sea . seven years ago was - conducted by Professo r Few if any portions of the earth 's surface Kofoid. I am pleased to bring you greetings have escaped this cosmic inundation . Even the from Professor Kofoid who recently celebrate d shield-lands, those areas of highly metamorphose d his eightieth birthday. I attended a biology col- Archaean rocks. which form the nuclei of the con- loquium about twenty-three years ago this month , tinental-'masses, may well have been at times the which was also conducted by Professor Kofoid, bottom of shallow seas. Two of them even today and the printed program carried the information are partly under water, the Baltic, shield'being well that it was the final public examination of one invaded by the Baltic Sea, and the Canadian si ld Robert C. Miller for the degree of Doctor o f being half submerged by ' Hudson Bay. Indeed, Philosophy. it may reasonably be doubted that there is ;a- single There was a feature of that colloquium whic h square foot of the earth's surface that has bee n was very gratifying to me and was a matter o f permanently above water since Archaean time . remark on the part of other persons present, If all the hills and all the valleys and all of namely, that whenever I was asked a question the ocean depths were to be smoothed out, an d and paused or hesitated over the answer, th e the world to become as smooth as the proverbia l chairnian of my committee, Professor Kofoid , billiard ball, the entire surface of the globe would promptly came to the rescue and answered the . be covered by water to a depth of nearly tw o question himself . That is the sort of procedure miles. I like to see followed at a colloquium, and I sug- These continents on which man lives and gest .the idea to my fellow participants on thi s moves and has his being, and which in eighth occasion. grade geography we learned to enumerate and The committee in charge of this colloquium describe and to regard as permanent, extensive, did a very efficient job . They offered certain sug- and important areas, are really only small island s gestions to me which may work oht for good or in a great world ocean. In the long view, we ill. One was that I should this morning intro - hold them in insecure tenure, like the natives o f duce the general topic of the colloquium, and at Bikini Atoll, and look out questioningly at th e the evening session say something tending to in- ocean from which we came and which ever threat - tegrate' the discussions of the day. Not having ens to engulf us. the prescience to know what my colleagues ar e Man seldom stops to realize the importanc e going to say, I find both these assignments a littl e of water in the world-the vastness, the power , difficult. If my remarks this morning seem too and permanence of the sea-the beauty of floating general, you must remember that I am trying t o clouds, the beneficence of gentle rain, the fury o f set the stage for those who follow me and at the storms, the devastation of floods, the grinding same time avoid transgressing on their topics . force of ice, the continuous hydraulic minin g Water constitutes the most important environ- of streams. These forces operate with a large ment in the world. In support of what seems a indifference to man-sometimes to his benefit, rather sweeping statement, it may be pointed out sometimes to his destruction-but always to th e that, in comparison with other biological• environ- end of wearing down the land and submergin g ments, water is by all odds the most extensive . It it again beneath a cosmic sea . covers more than seven-tenths of the surface o f Life' itself is predominantly aquatic, not ter- the globe today, and in times past has covered restrial. As pointed out by Quinton nearly hal f more. One may stand high up on the slopes o f a century ago, the vast majority of living animals Mt. Whitney, or the Alps, or the Andes, or the, are marine. This is undeniably true, as regards Himalayas, and when he has sufficiently admired numbers of individual organisms, as anyone who 7

8 AQUATIC BIOLOGY Morning Session

has ever hauled a plankton net can testify . No- hunter who has fallen out of his boat, or a person where on land, unless it be in an anthill or a caught in the rain, is a very satisfying aspect o f swarm of bees or locusts, do we find a .concentra- such processes as taking a bath or drinking a re- tion of organisms equal to that normally present freshing draught of cool water, or of keeping in the surface waters of the sea. It is true also mucous membranes in a healthy, functional state. as regards numbers of species if we make th e The ability of water to wet most substances with single exception of insects . which it comes _ in contact is one of the most im- According to a recent (1946) tabulation o f portant factors in its 'role as a biological medium . Mayr, the total number of species of animals A second property of water that is pretty ob- known to science approximates one million . Of vious is its fluidity. It is this property which this number, three-fourths or 750,000 are insects allows tides to ebb and low, and waves to roll and 40,000 are arachnoids and myriapods. Of up on the beach, and currents to rotate in ma- the remainder we find in the following groups , jestic vortices in all the oceans, and which allows which are predominantly aquatic and, in a ma- brooks to trickle, and waterfalls to tumble fro m jority of cases marine, 18,000 fishes, 25,000 crus- cliffs with crash and spray, and rivers to fin d tacea, 88,000 mollusks, 10,000 coelentrates an d their courses to the sea . We need only to con- ctenophores, 5,000 sponges, 15,000 protozoa, an d sider for a moment the inconvenience of bein g 25,000 'miscellaneous invertebrates including An- subjected to a rain of some less fluid medium, nelida and several minor phyla. In contrast to like molasses, to appreciate the fluidity of water . these large numbers, we find only 3,500 mammals , s ; and 5,500 reptiles and amphibians . Fluidity is the reciprocal of viscosity . It i 8,600 birds important to note that water is not completely With reference to the- striking predominanc e - of insects in this picture it needs to be remarked fluid, but has a measurable viscosity, which de creases with rising temperature and increases that this is in some measure due to the intensity r . Any with increasing salinity. The viscosity of wate with which this group has been studied is important in reducing turbulence (consider fo r planktologist is well aware that our knowledge of f the species of plankton organisms is only frac- a moment the alarming state of the ocean i water were as turbulent as air) ; it is important tional, and the same is true -of various aquati c e . And even if we admit that, as no w in the swimming of aquatic organisms, in th groups movement of ships, and particularly to the flota- seems probable, insect species are in fact mor e e numerous than any others, it must be remembered tion of plankton organisms, many of which hav long slender spines or filaments which retard the that many groups of insects have aquatic larvae , . and belong at least as much to the water as to rate at which they sink in water the land. Other characteristics of water _fundamental to We live in an aquatic world, in which th e its role as a biological environment are its peculia r continents are hardly more than accidents of di- density relations, its high specific heat, and its astrophism, and the effort to people them with function as a universal solvent. No effort here higher vertebrates appears as a precarious experi- is made to list the properties of water in order ment. We: do not yet know how it is going to of their importance. They are listed rather i n turn out. To any reflective organism, the safes t the order in which they come to mind. It is, in place in the world is obviously at the bottom o f fact, impossible to assign any order of importanc e the sea. to properties all of which are essential to water Let us now examine some of the character- considered as a medium for living organisms . istics of water which make it so important as a n Water is unique in having its maximum den- environment for living organisms . sity at 4° C-in other words 4° above its freezing The first and most obvious character of water point. It is this fact which permits ice to float is its wetness-the characteristic which caused a instead of sinking to the bottom, thus preventing disillusioned poet to write : fresh-water lakes and streams in colder climates The sea is cold, and wet, and rough ; from freezing solidly from top to bottom, an d They do not keep it warm enough . avoiding the accumulation of tremendous quanti- It seems a pity that they can t ties of ice at the bottom of polar and even tem- Equip it with a heating plant. . . . The sea is wet, and full of fish perate seas . ,If water had its maximum density And you can have it, if you wish. at its freezing point, large portions of the aquati c This same characteristic, which may be-unpleas- environment-both fresh and salt-would be un- antly familiar to a shivering swimmer or a duck suitable for organic life.

Morning Session MILLER-WATER AS AN EXTERNAL ENVIRONMENT 9

There is, it is true, a reverse side of the coin . creases, and it becomes a drying wind instead o f When organisms are subjected to freezing, i t a bringer of rain. In several parts of the world appears to be the expansion of water on freez- -as in northwest Africa, western Australia,-and ing, rupturing cells and tissues, that is a primar y the west coast of South America-we have the cause of disaster, preventing the resumption o f interesting phenomenon of deserts close to th e normal functioning when the tissues are thawe d sea. out. But it . is not my purpose to digress to. the The expansion of water at temperature s subject of weather and climate. I desire only to - above that of its maximum density is, of course , illustrate the importance of the ocean in affecting the basis of convection, and hence both the cause conditions of life even of terrestrial organisms . of thermal stratification and the autumnal over- Perhaps the most extraordinary characteristi c turn in fresh-water lakes and ponds, and of the of water is its function as a universal' solvent . motive power of ocean currents . These last are Water dissolves practically everything . When augmented, it is true, by prevailing winds, whic h we say that .a substance is insoluble in water we are themselves, however, the result of convection mean only that it dissolves very slowly . We can- in a different medium. not keep water An bottles without altering it s The high specific heat of water, coupled with character, because it takes up substances from its abundance, its wide distribution, and its tend- the glass . If by some magic we could suspend ency to move about-whether by convection , a drop of .absolutely pure water in mid-air, in a wind-driven currents, evaporation, or othe r few moments it would cease to be pure water causes-make it the world's most important ther- and contain measurable amounts of both oxygen moregulator. Of all the factors affecting the and carbon dioxide taken from the atmosphere . welfare of organisms, temperature is one of th e Even gold and silver, which we are prone to most critical . Few organisms are able to survive regard as completely immune to the solvent ac- long in .a temperature either higher or lower tha n tion of Water, occur in the sea in an aggregate the one to which they are adapted . The life zone amount that would make the wealth of Midas concept of the distribution of terrestrial plant s seem but a pittance. The figure is of the order and animals is based on the temperature gradient , of hundreds of millions of tons, and per- from lower to higher latitudes, or from lowe r sons whose cupidity has been aroused will be to higher altitudes, as the case may be. In the further excited to know that Nodak in 194 0 distribution of animals in the sea, temperature is found exactly twice as much gold in sea wate r .even more convincingly a determining factor . ( .008 mg./m3 ) as Haber found in 1928 ( .004 The ability of . water to hold heat, to take it mg./m3 ) . Interesting ,to note, the concentratio n up slowly, and to give it off slowly, provides the of gold appears to be higher in waters rich in uniform temperature conditions which most plankton, suggesting that man is not the onl y aquatic animals require. organism with an affinity for this curious metal. Water is, moreover, an important regulator Forty-nine elements are known to occur in of temperature over the adjacent land. The dif- sea-water and four others (titanium, thallium, ferences in winter temperatures between Portlan d germanium, and antimony) have been detected and Minneapolis, or the differences in summer in marine organisms. It is likely that nearly all temperatures between San Francisco and St . of the elements will ultimately be found in the Louis, afford convincing evidence of the effect - sea. The search for these minor constituents i s not to say the advantages-of proximity to the an interesting one, and there is always the excit- Pacific Ocean (I refrain from specifying . the ing possibility that some . substance present i n California Current) . seemingly negligible amounts will prove to play The effects of the sea on terrestrial, climat e some major role in biological processes . are in fact very considerable and extremely di- For the moment, however, we are interested verse. Proximity of a relatively warm ocean to in the major constituents of sea-water-especially a relatively cool land mass-as occurs along the the salts of sodium and to a lesser degree those Pacific Coast from Alaska to central California- of magnesium, calcium, and -potassium, whic h results in a mild, uniform climate, with much are responsible for the "saltness" of the sea as fog and rain. Proximity of a warm land mas s we know it. These salts are present in so much to a cooler ocean has quite a different effect . The greater abundance than any other substances tha t moisture-laden air. from over the ocean has its for what we. may call "bulk consideration " we relative humidity lowered as its temperature in- may disregard the others-you may forget now

10 AQUATIC BIOLOGY Morning Session

those hundreds of millions of tons of gold-and a relatively dry atmosphere . Although bacteria think of the salt content of the ocean as made up in general can be regarded as aquatic organism s of the chlorides or carbonates or sulfates of th e since they cannot grow or multiply without wa- metals named. Sea-water may be roughly de- ter, some bacteria not only will grow in molasse s scribed as a 3 .5 per cent solution of these salts. where the water content is low, but will even If through some cataclysm of nature the ocean s grow and multiply on dry sugar, getting the were to evaporate completely, there would re - necessary moisture from the atmosphere . There main on the bottom of the desiccated seas a are others which will grow only on dry salt, layer of salt averaging about 200 feet in thick- again getting their moisture from the atmos- ness (5 X 1016 metric tons) . More than 4/5 o f phere. Such bacteria grow on salted hides, de- this would be sodium chloride. Less than one teriorating their quality. per cent would be made up of substances othe r Regarding organisms at the bottom of the than salts of sodium, magnesium, potassium, an d sea at great depths : Water as we know it is no t calcium. a simple liquid or a simple substance . It con- But let us hasten to redissolve this great des- sists not only of H 2O molecules, but a polymer ert of salt and get our ocean back. In the pro- of H2O taken twice and in some places taken cess of solution, we get dissociation into positiv e three times. Fresh, still water is made up o f ions of the salts mentioned, with their corres- H2O while steam is made up chiefly of H 2O ponding anions-chlorides, sulfates, carbonates . taken twice, and ice is made up largely of H 2O We also get in some degree dissociation of the taken three times. Pressure tends to deoxygen- water itself, with the release of hydrogen ion s ate water. So at the bottom of the sea wher e and hydroxyl ions . With hydrogen ions an d there is tremendous pressure, these organism s carbonate ions in the same solution, we immedi- must not be existing in the presence of ordinar y ately have the carbonate equilibrium set up . By water as we know it, but rather in water that i s the simple process of putting sea-salts in water , more characteristic of steam. Our recent experi- we have established a solution that is a good ments have shown that such water is definitel y electrolyte, has a high osmotic pressure, has a antagonistic to protozoa and to certain bacteria . pH a little on the alkaline side of neutrality, an d That means the organisms which live on the bot- a good buffer effect, so that it can absorb carbon tom of the sea are not influenced in a simila r dioxide, for example, without seriously disturb- manner, perhaps because of their having over - ing its properties . In other words, we have a come the water's toxicity. solution which is an excellent milieu for organi c The discussion of temperature brings to min d life. At this point we are ready to turn it ove r some of the extremes in temperature over which to the other participants in this colloquium. organisms have grown, and again I have had to DR. CHELDELIN : Thank you, Dr . Miller. refer chiefly to bacteria and to other micro-organ- Ladies and gentlemen, the California Current i s isms. There are bacteria which live and multipl y running very strong. Would anybody like to in the polar waters at a temperature slightly below take a dip ? zero. As the temperature is raised ten degrees , DR. BOLLEN : Mr. Chairman, there are a most reaction rates are increased about thre e number of remarks which the speaker made o n times. Certain biological reactions, however, are which I should like to offer a few comments. In affected to a very much greater extent, so that the first place, as to the wetness of water : There instead of the customary threefold increase, it are some bacteria which are not wet by water . may be three hundredfold . Of course, as the Those are the mycobacteria or the organisms temperature approaches zero, the rate become s which cause tuberculosis . They have a waxy very, very low. That brings out some interesting coating around them, and when put in water, speculations as to how these organisms chang e they float ; when mixed with water and oil, they and multiply below the freezing point and are pass spontaneously into the oily layer. Now able to carry on metabolic action rapidly enough this, of course, is a very unusual type of organ- to effect growth. Actually, they do grow very ism, but it does bring up some considerations a s slowly. to how they can possibly carry on growth and At the other extreme we find thermal organ - metabolism . How do they exchange their food isms which multiply as no ordinary bacteria . and waste products within the medium in which They develop in water which is hot enough to they live? Molasses, for example, certainly doe s boil an egg. For example, changes develop in not have much fluidity. Certain bacteria live in hot springs at a temperature of 80° C. Cer-

Morning Session MILLER-WATER AS AN EXTERNAL ENVIRONMEN T

tainly they must- live at a very rapid rate; and source of the .disturbance. The tidal wave was the cell must have some unusual protective con- produced by a major dislocation of the sea bot- trols. tom, and the disturbance at that point must have - DR. MILLER : Bacteria are certainly the most been very great. The sudden, dislocation of the !- versatile. organisms in the world. There is no sea bottom over a considerable area Might' seri- other group that can occupy the wide variety o f ously disturb many or-ganisms . In the Lase of.- a habitats and exist under the severe conditions submarine earthquake there are two effects pro that bacteria seem to manage . I think some very duced. The first is a shock which is the direct important problems of the relation of living or- transmission of the earthquake through the water . - ganisms to the physical environment can be solved Mariners passing over seismic disturbances ar e by bacteriologists, although I will say that th e often startled by a shock that makes them think - study of the physiology of bacteria requires as they have hit a rock . A shock' of that irntengity great ingenuity as any other field of human in- might be fatal to some organisms ., Rut the tidal quiry. wave as it affects man some distance f rdm th e point of origin of the quake is quite a different DR. MOTE : As an entomologist, I should lik e to put in a word for the insects-their ability to phenomenon. It is a large oscillation _of, the water. A tidal wave may on occasion be fifty to exist in oil and water, and to multiply in molas- , ses, etc. a hundred feet high and have a wave length.. of many miles. It' moves through the ocean' with a DR. MILLER : I still- question whether insects speed of as much as three to four hundred mile s can live in as wide a variety of habitats as bac- an hour. It sounds very terrifying, and is -de- teria . The bacterium- .finally gets the insect in structive when it piles up on a shore ; but, if-you any case. - were out there in a ship you would go over it DR. CHELDELIN : Are there any other- ques- quite easily. So I don't think the tidal wave it- . tions or comments ? self would seriously affect organisms, but -the . I have one question . I am sure we all ap- immediate shock at the epicenter of the earth- : - preciate the shearing effect which water has o n quake might. - protoplasm. I wonder if you can give us any DR. CHELDELIN : Our schedule calls for a ten- ideas about what might have happened to biologi- minute intermission at this point . Dr. Ralph cal life during the recent seismic disturbance in Macy of Reed College will be chairman-of this - the western Pacific . next session for the rest of the morning, and in DR. MILLER : Anything that I might say on the afternoon Professors -J. A. Macnab Of Lin, that would be a guess. I doubt whether the ef- field College and Cecil Monk of Willamette Uni - fect_would be very important except right at the - . versity will preside . -

.. in SOME PHYSICAL AND CHEMICAL CHARACTERISTIC S OF NATURAL WATER BODIES OF TH E PACIFIC NORTHWES T CLINTON L. UTTERBACK

DR. MACY : After the splendid opening by First, it may be noted that our idea of water Dr. Miller, it is very fitting that we now hea r has been altered by the small amounts of heav y from a physicist about the characteristics o f hydrogen which exist in natural water bodies. A water which relate to the environment of livin g number of observers have found that water dis- organisms. The next talk will be by Dr. Utter- tilled from sea water has a density slightly greater back, representing the University of Washing- than water distilled from tap water. Each of ton. Dr. Utterback was born in Indiana, took these observers collected sea water from a par- his first degree at Purdue and then did graduate ticular locality. In 1939 Wirth, Thompson, and work at the University of Washington and the Utterback analyzed water from various depth s University of Wisconsin. He has been head o f from the Mediterranean Ocean, the Red Sea , the Physics Department since 1941 at the Uni- and the Indian Ocean . With the exception o f versity of Washington . He is a member of the one sample taken at 4,000 meters in the Indian American Association for the Advancement o f Ocean, all the waters showed a density differin g Science, of the American Physical Society, and o f from tap water by the order of 1.38 X 10-e gms the American Geophysical Union . We will now per milliliter. Also a number of samples taken hear from Dr . Utterback on some physical and from the Pacific from the surface to 2,000 me- chemical characteristics of water bodies of th e ters showed density differences which averaged Pacific Northwest. 1 .47 X 10-6. Samples from a region in the San DR. UTTERBACK : Dr. Macy, Dean Gilfillan. Juan Archipelago, noted for its abundant flor a I was very glad a moment ago to hear some mem- and fauna, yielded very low density differences ber protest a statement that Dr . Miller made, be- which were of the order of 0.8 X 10-6. cause last night when Dr. Miller told me what he It has been found that many of the physica l was going to discuss, I said to him, "If yo u properties of natural waters depend on three cover all those things, what shall I talk about ? " variables, namely temperature, pressure, and He said, "I am going to talk first, so you may chlorinity. Also experience shows that many take up what I forget to mention ." I felt that I marine processes may be modified considerably by the presence and distribution of suspended had the rather bad position of a newspaper re- i porter who had to follow another reporter in the matter and by the conditions of motion of th e proceedings . of a very famous murder trial. His water. Vapor pressure, osmotic pressure, re- assignment covered the very end of the trial, and fractivity, and electrical conductivity are exam- in an effort to put some glamor into it, he wrote ples of those properties which are determined by a note to the editor : "I shall try to make th e the temperature and the soluble salt content. hanging as pleasant as possible ." The coefficient. of viscosity, the coefficient of The physical character of water and its ability heat conduction and diffusion are not the same i n to supply a high multiplicity of needs of marine the turbulent motion in the sea as are found i n organisms were pointed out in the introductor y the laboratory. Values of these coefficients de- paper by Dr. Miller. pend on a particular state of motion and hence It has long been recognized that marine lif e are not quantities that can be determined with and the distribution of marine life are determine d the same certainty as vapor pressure, refractive by the physico-chemical character of the environ- index, eta . Each of these coefficients is a meas- ment. Of the many properties of water, tempera- ure of a specific transport phenomenon in the ture, absorption of radiant energy, salt content , sea. Since turbulence is a state of` random mo- and electrical properties which determine the dis- tion of various masses of sea water-, usually su- sociation of inorganic salts are among the mos t perimposed upon some directed flow, it is obvi- important. Since these were but briefly men- ous that the transport of momentum, mass, an d tioned by Dr. Miller, this paper will discuss the m energy is greater than that which would exist i n in a little more detail. a simple type of directed motion . U

Morning Session UTTERBACK-NATURAL WATER BODIES OF THE PACIFIC NORTHWES T

The most noticeable and probably the• most 25° C L'= 3.3524 X•10-~Cl- OM, ,`7 1i important effect of suspended matter is the scat- '-I-2.371x 10 Cl'-4049' 4_ ` tering of radiation of all wave lengths . This The low chlorinities wereobtairned by dili+ixd g causes differences in the length of, light path s various samples of ocean water with :=distilled through layers of equal thickness and hence a water. Hence the density, at low .chkiiinities, _-= difference in the rate of absorption of sola r will not correspond .exactly to direct-determina- energy. - tion of densities of natural water of the sane , Of the many properties of water, which de- chlorinity. temperature and salinity, details o f pend on : Refractive index two, electrical conductivity and refractivity, will be discussed. The same samples described abov. .weo used - to determine the relation between dies r f?tactiVe Conductivity index and chlorinity. The refractive= ind0t:-was In addition to its application to the study o f measured at five-degree intervals from. .0.° .C to the physical chemistry of the oceans, electrical 25° C inclusive by means of a Bausch and Lom b conductivity has important practical applications . refractometer. The accuracy of this instrument It has been used for the determination of salin- is three in the fifth decimal and as a di4fference•of- ity, and suitable apparatus has been employe d three in the fifth decimal between two samples ca n by the United .States Coast Guard on the las t be measured, comparison of . the , index of on e cruises of the Carnegie. When used with ade- sample of sea• water with that of another can be quate. temperature control, conductivity measure- made with considerable precision . .The results ments furnish a method of high accuracy fo r of the measurements are- given in the followin g the indirect determination of the total salt con - equations of the type no = n t + b Cl tent of natural water bodies . n° = 1 .33402 + 3.54 X 10' Cl While several measurements of conductivity n 5 =1.33391+3 .46X 10-Cl have been made on a limited number of water YLio = 1.33370 + 3.41 X 10-' Cl samples over limited temperature ranges, Thomas, n,5 = 1 .333m + 3.35 X 10' Cl n2o = 1 .33301 +3.30X 10-Cl Thompson, and Utterback determined the con- n. = 1 .33250 + 3.28 X 10-' Cl duetivity at five-degree intervals from 0° C to The values of nt were chosen from the result s 25° C inclusive over the entire range of concen- n trations of sea water found in nature . Chlorinity of various observers for the index of refractio was measured by the Volhard method . Conduc- of pure water for the sodium line• 5893 . tivity was measured by means of a bridge- usin g Absorption of solar radiation _ a vacuum tube oscillator as a source of alternat- Of •the properties of water which depend ing potential. Samples of water;-were obtained upon suspended matter, absorption of solar -radia- from various depths and various sections of th e tion will be discussed . Pacific Ocean, the Indian Ocean, the Mediter- When a parallel beam of radiatidn .oif wade ranean Sea, the Gulf of Alaska, and various in - length ,\ travels through water, the intensity o f shore waters of the Pacific-Northwest . Each of the beam decreases along the beam accordingto k the chlorinity values used in the results was th e Ix =li e mean of three determinations which checked t o where Ix is the intensity after the beam tits trav- within 2 parts per million. Deviations of th e eled a distance x, 10 is the initial intens_ .it and' individual values of chlorinities were not greate r k, which is a function of the wave length, is than 0.01 per cent. From a great many deter- called the absorption coefficient. • When solar minations, the data were analyzed and the fol- radiation enters the surface of the ocean,_ how- lowing a.nttrpolation formulas derived : ever, it is scattered by suspended matter and th e 0°. C L = 1.7875 X 10~ Cl - 2.9596 X 10-' Cl beam does not retain its incident character. Since + 1.127 X 10-8 Cl - 1.902 X 10 ' Cl considerable interest is manifested in the rate . Of 5° C L = 2 .0818 X 104 Cl - 3.6859 X 10-4 CP decrease of the downward traveling radiation, + 1.449 X 10-8 CP - 2.520 X 10 ' Cl this rate of decrease can be defined by an equa- 10° C L = 2 .3749 X 1O-'Cl-4.1334X 10-° Cl k .554 X 10-8 Cl - 2.643 X 10-' Cl tion exactly like that above . In this equation + 1 is called an extinction coefficient. The name in- 15° C L = 2 .7009 X 10-' Cl-5.1390X 10' Cl' + 2.097 X 10- 8 Cl - 3.829 X 10-' Cl dicates that the decrease in intlrrsity is due to 20° C L 3.0191 X 10-' Cl - 5.6253 X 10 -' Cl many causes, the principal ones of which are ab- +2.181 X 10-° Cl - 3.804 X 10' Cl sorption by ocean water, selective and general

1'4

absorption by micro-organisms and suspended ters, where the maximum transparency is is thq, matter, and selective and general scattering which green range . results in a longer light path for a layer of give n The following table shows 'the percentage o f depth. radiation of different parts of the spectrum trans- To oceanographers, the study of submarin e mitted by a meter of sea water. The values and illumination affords a means of computing the averages of a great many observations. rate' at which solar and sky radiation is absorbe d and converted into heat in the uppermost layers . The extinction coefficients give information as t o 5 .153 the optical purity of the water and therefore th e 4,800 5,30 0 amount of suspended matter . Per To biologists, the main interest afforded b y cent such studies is in relation to the photosynthesis 71.70 75.92 76.40 . of plants, that is, the potential food supply, going on in the sea . Also the vertical migration of 92 .65 92 .42 91.50 1 zooplankton, and indirectly of fishes preyin g upon this for food, appears to be largely influ- Observations in the open ocean have yielded enced by light conditions . an experimental equation which represents with Quantitative measurements of submarine considerable accuracy the dependence of the ex- light have been made possible through the de- tinction coefficient on wave length of light . The velopment of the photoelectric cells and the bar- equation i s rier layer cells . Those of the latter type are more k = 2.463 - 2.930A-' + 1.373,-2 - 0.3597A-3 ' satisfactory as accelerating potentials are no t + 0.05355,-4 needed for their operation. These cells have a This equation was determined from observation s relative sensitivity _response similar to that of th e at eight stations in the Pacific which were - oc- eye. This response can be made nearly to coin- cupied for three consecutive years . These ex- cide with the eye by means of suitable filters . tended from 47° 26' N-126° 26' W to 49° 22' N Narrow spectral bands of solar and sky ra- -129° 29' W: diation cart be'selected by means of a series of The following table illustrates the difference s color filters which can be made to cover the cel l in the transparency of natural water bodies . Hul- in any predetermined order . In this manner the bert's data on distUlled water are given for ref- intensity of light in the various parts of th e erence. spectrum is measured at various depths in th e ocean with the cell submerged . The resultin g cell current is read on suitable instruments on Total vertical extinction coefficient per mete r board the ship. Extensive measurements of sub - marine illumination have been made in this man- Observer 4.600 4,800 5.150 5,300 5,650 6,000 6,60d. jittIftert ner by Atkins and Poole of the Plymouth Labor- meter s atories in England, Petterson in Goteborg, Swe- rr ~... .0166 .0154 .018 .024 .042 .16 6 den, and the present author. and Ariftmsen Several hundred stations in the Pacific and th e of sea sta- inshore waters of the Northwest have been oc- .- _ .085 .073 .069 .079 .100 .243 .50 S Vttrrlsack and cupied for observation of the annual variations , Jorgense n Statio n seasonal variations, diurnal variations, variations 49 25 - with tidal conditions, and many other variation 127° 09 .... .104 .093 .106 .093 .122 .279 .57 4 s Atkins an d of submarine illumination. As is to be expected, Poole Internationa l the transparency of inshore waters is determine d Hydragraphic Station E-1 .- 143 .146 .154 .167 .163 .224 ... s by such local conditions as plankton growth, lan d !heraok an d prge rBerl drainage, etc . In general the inshore waters are cChhe not very transparent. There is a definite and s .336 .316 .258 .256 .288 .441 .59 3 marked increase in the transparency as one goe s Ericson from inshore waters to coastal waters and finally Gunflint Lake, to the open ocean. In the open ocean the maxi- Minnesota .... .820 .610 .437 .390 .321 .330 e. T7tterback mum transparency is in the blue portion of th e Crater Lake, spectrum . This is in contrast to the inshore wa- Oregon .033 ------060 ...... 311

5

Morning Session MOORE-USE OF MARINE ,ORGANISMS

Radioactive elements in the se a is quite transparent as a body of water antll:sw k The amount of some of the radioactive- ele- particularly green mosses have been uncovered ments, particularly radium, in marine sediments from depths of about four hundred feet . This is has been determined by a few observers . These quite unusual, and I wonder if you are acquainted are of interest because of the high radium con- with it. tent of pelagic sediments and because of the pos- DR. UTTERBACK : We made a biological stud y .sible speculations of the mechanism of the con- of it, but I do not recall the details at this time . centration of radium in sediments taken from I should be very pleased to forward you a re- the floor of the ocean. While insufficient data print of the published report . are available to determine such mechanism, it ha s BIBLIOGRAPHY been determined that Pacific Ocean sediment s B, D . Thomas, T . G. Thompson, and C . L . Utterback vary from 2 X 10-12 grams of radium per gram J. du Conseil International IX, 1, 28 (1934) . of sample to 14 X 10-12 g/g, while inshore sedi- C. L. Utterback, T . G. Thompson, and B . D. • Thomas ments average about 0.3 X 10-12 g/g with the Ibid . IX, 1, 35 (1934) . exception that all sediments taken from glacier - C. L . Utterback and Wilhelm Jorgensen fed bays average about 1 X 10-12 g/g. Interest- Ibid . IX, 2, 197 (1934) . ing and valuable information will result from fur- W. R. G. Atkins, G. L. Clarke, H . Petterson; H. H . Poole, C. L. Utterback, and A . Angstro m ther studies of the- content of radioactive ele- Ibid. XIII, 1, 37 (1938) . ments in ocean water and sediments . C. L . Utterback. A Symposium on Hydrobiology DR. MACY : Thank you, Dr . Utterback. This University of Wisconsin Press 45 (1941) . paper deserves lengthy discussion, but I do not H. E. Wirth, T. G. Thompson, and C. L .- Utterback , believe there is sufficient time. Perhaps, how- J. Am . Chem . Soc. 57, 400 (1935) . ever, someone has a question. L . A. Sanderman and C. L . Utterback, J. Marine Research IV, 2, 132 (1941) . QUESTION : Dr. Utterback, I was quite inter- C. L. Utterback, L . D . Phifer, and R. J . Robinson, ested in the data about Crater Lake.. Crater Lake Ecology 23, 1, 97 (1942) .

ti THE• USE OF MARINE ORGANISMS - IN THE STUDY . OF PHYSIOLOGICAL THEOR Y

ARTHUR R. MooRE

DR. MACY : We are to be favored now with sists largely 'of pictures, with a few ..explanatory an address' by Dr . Arthur Moore. He has done remarks. extensive work in the physiology of organisms . [Dr. Moore's presentation consisted princi- He took his first college degree at the Universit y pally of projected slides and a cinema- record o f of Nebraska, his Ph.D. at California, and then the locomotion and righting_ of starfishes, bot h served successively with the staffs of California normal and after cutting the circumoral nerve and Rutgers universities. He was head of the ring. ] Department of Physiology at Rutgers when h e DR. WULZEN : I should like to point out the came to the University of Oregon in 1926 . He real artistic quality, the beauty, and the high sci- has since seen intermittent service at Oregon Stat e entific value of the work with these lower ani- and at Stanford University. mal forms which live in the ocean and in the Dr. Moore will now address us on the us e fresh water . The approach is a most vial one. of marine organisms in the study of physiologi- Dr. Moore has spent his life at it. He is. fol- cal theory . lowing in the footsteps of many before him, an d DR. MooRE : Dr. Macy, ladies and gentlemen : we congratulate him on the intrinsic value fin d The material which I am about to present con - high quality of his scientific achievements .

4 2 A HALF CENTURY OF BIOLOGICAL SCIENC E

TREVOR KINCAI D

DR. H. P . HANSEN : Think back to what you ton occupied a small frame building in what i s were doing in 1894-fifty-two years ago. That now the central business district of the city o f is when Dr. Kincaid came to the University of Seattle. All of the science work of the institu- Washington, and since_ then he has been ex- tion was conducted in two rooms on the second tremely active in all phases of biology . I have floor of the building. The larger room was pro- heard it said at various times that if you wis h vided at one end with several tables which wer e information about a plant or an animal, yo u used for laboratory exercises, while at the other would ask a botanist or a zoologist ; but if yo u end were a blackboard and seats for ordinary have one about both, yolk ask Dr. Kincaid. Cer- classroom work . The smaller room, which was tainly I think that he can tell us more about bi- little larger than an ordinary kitchen, was de - ology in the Pacific Northwest than any other voted to chemical experiments . A few cases person in this region. along the wall in the larger room contained mea- - DR. 'KINCAID : When I was called on by the ger equipment for the demonstration of experi- sponsors of the present , colloquium to present a ments in physics. A case of stuffed birds orna- history of the biological sciences in the Pacific mented the hallway . The staff consisted of a Northwest, with emphasis on aquatic phases, I single person, the professor of Natural Science, was at first inclined to hesitate for several rea- Charles Hill, who had been trained under Jacob sons. For one, I felt that I was perhaps not Reighard of Michigan. He was truly a one historically minded . Many of us are carried man army to spearhead what was to come in th e along by the stream of passing events without years ahead . He had been brought in to replace attempting to maintain any sort of record o f Professor Orson Bennett Johnson, who was what is transpiring, and with the passage of time nominally in charge but who had become cripple d we find it increasingly difficult to reconstruct in by a disabling disease and was confined to his a logical manner the march of events presenting home. Hill had to teach not only his own sub- themselves like a complicated sequence in a vas t jects in the biological sciences, but also chemistry kaleidoscope. Also, I - was reminded that we and physics, all of which, strange to say, he did have in our department of the university a man surprisingly well. who has a gift for organizing historical material, At this period the library of the University and I was inclined to delegate to him the tas k was housed in a small room at the rear, of the that confronted me . I refer to Dr. Melville H. assembly hall, little larger than a closet. The Hatch. He has organized out of what seemed a collection consisted mainly of government docu- hopeless mass of material a fairly consistent ments together with a miscellaneous lot of books story of the sequence of events over the years. which apparently had been donated in a casual In view of the fact, however, that I am perhap s manner by friendly citizens. the only living witness of many of the event s Professor Hill was not interested in field taking place fifty years ago, I thought I would work, nor in the collection and identification o f attempt to set down what seem to me to be th e animals. He was primarily a morphologist, and more salient events of the half century interven- eventually published some very creditable papers ing between my arrival on the campus of th e on the development of embryonic structures in University of Washington in 1894 and the time the lower vertebrates. He had, however, whil e of my retirement in 1944 . a student at Michigan, done some work on the In the time allotted to me this afternoon , fresh-water group of Crustacea, the Cladocera, only the broadest outline can be presented and he turned over to me a set of excellent draw- . As :. suggested by the committee, I shall confine my at - trigs he had made of these animals . He also tention to the major fields of aquatic biology, th e taught me to use a small plankton net which he marine and fresh-water aspects of our science . had brought with him, and trained me in the To orient ourselves into the main current o f technique of staining and mounting these small events, let us take a glance at the situation at th e animals. The interest developed through this period when my story begins, in the summer o f contact with fresh-water life was in time des - 1894. At that time the University of Washing- tined to develop - into a rather extensive program

Luncheon Session KINCAID -A HALF CENTURY F BIOLOGICAL SCIENC E

in limnological research . Hill was also a skilled terested in the Crustacea, and assembled a fin e technician, and he gave me my first training i n series of identified species handsomely mounte d sectioning and staining tissues. which now forms part of the collection in the Previous to this time the activity in natura l State Museum on the present campus . He may history was centered in an organization known as well be regarded as having laid the foundation the "Young Naturalists ' Society," originally for marine zoology in this region. founded in 1879 by a group of young men wit h Among the members of the Young Natural- a mutual interest in the various branches of ists' Society who had maintained an interest i n natural history in vogue at that time . This or- their original program was a man named P. ganization was given new life through the arrival Brooks Randolph, who was an enthusiastic con- in the city of Professor Johnson, who had bee n chologist. He had inherited an ancient and de- brought from his home in Oregon to take charge crepit tugboat, bearing the name of Maud, which of the science work in the small struggling state burned driftwood in her ancient boilers. In this university, and who shaped the policy of the in- strange craft I was inducted into the mysterie s stitution along these lines for many years . Pro- of dredging in offshore waters . The two of us fessor Johnson spent a number of years in For- would cast off our moorings on Friday after- est Grove and in Salem before coming to Seattle . noons, steam out into the Sound at a rate o f A full account of his career has been assembled three or four miles per hour, and cruise at will by Dr. M. H. Hatch, but up to this time the ma- until we were forced to return to terra firma on terial has not been published . Sunday afternoon . A boat dredge, worked fro m Johnson, although he was not a technicall y a winch attached to the rear of the vessel, brought trained biologist, was a man of abounding energy on board masses of material, the sorting of which with a potent personality . Although he had provided an endless and altogether delightfu l worked in an isolation that was almost a vacuu m task for the embryo zoologist . he had built up an extraordinary fund of infor- By his own efforts and through exchange with mation, and had developed skill in collecting an d collectors in other parts of the world, Randolph preparing natural history specimens that was o f built up a very extensive and interesting serie s the first order . Through his efforts money wa s of marine Mollusca. He also included in his raised to construct a three story frame building studies both fresh-water and terrestrial forms. on what was then the campus of the university ; Several species of molluscs, including the Pecten it was located about where the Cobb Building randolphi, were named in his honor . now stands. On the ground floor of this build- To return to the scene in 1894 : that scholas- ing was located the meeting room and library tic year represented a turning point in the histor y of the organization with a work room in the rear . of the University of Washington and in the de- The collection of books included a range o f velopment of the scientific branches of the insti- well selected material including some quite ex- tution. Denny Hall, the first of the buildings t o tensive sets. The second floor was used for a be constructed on the present campus, was bein g museum, and included the usual assemblage o f prepared for occupancy, and in the fall of 1895 stuffed birds, birds eggs, shells and marine speci- the old campus down town which had seen the mens, with a sprinkling of archaeological ma- embryonic stages of the institution, was deserted . terial as well as a valuable collection of presse d The hammers of the carpenters still resounded plants prepared by C. V. Piper, who at that time through the new structure as we moved in. Three had in hand the organization of the biologica l departments of science were organized under sep- departments of the State College at Pullman . In arate heads so that at this time the biological sci- the third story was an auditorium designed fo r ences received their baptism and became a dis- use in giving public lectures, which the society tinct entity. In this shift Johnson was soon re - sponsored from time to time in an effort t o tired with the title of emeritus, and Hill becam e stimulate interest in science and build up thei r the titular head of the new department. My foot organization. was placed upon the first rung of a ladder, whic h Although Johnson was primarily an ento- was destined to be a long one, since I was ap- mologist, he was vitally interested in the marine pointed as a laboratory assistant to aid Hill in life of the region, and before his health faile d his greatly enlarged program. he was accustomed to organize summer camps The year 1895 was also noteworthy in that i t on the shores of Puget Sound, usually at Rocky marked a considerable advance in the organiza- Point in Kitsap County . He was particularly in- tion of biological work along marine lines . The

18 AQUATIC BIOLOGY Luncheon Session

Young Naturalists' Society, aided by a gran t ginning in 1904 under the joint auspices of the from the university, promoted an expedition for two biological departments, Dr. T. C. Frye and the study of the local marine fauna . Stanford I undertook the organization of classes in tem- University was induced to enter into the program , porary quarters at Friday Harbor, and with th e and Mr. E. C. Starks was appointed to serve as passing years the laboratory expanded in scop e the ichthyologist of the expedition. A camp was and magnitude until it was amalgamated wit h established at Rocky Point and a small steamer the Oceanographic Laboratories of the University was employed to facilitate dredging operations . under the direction of Dr . T. G. Thompson in A large amount of material was assembled, which 1931. The history of this phase of our biologica l was eventually distributed to specialists for study. sciences would in itself require as much time as The collection of fishes was of especial interes t I have at my command today. It has been well and led to the publication of a paper by Stark s set forth in an article published in the Biologist, in collaboration with Dr . David Starr Jordan en- by Lyman Pfifer, who served for a number o f titled, "The Fishes of Puget Sound," in which years as the local vice-director of the laboratory . a number of new species were described, together Very early in the development of our bio- with much supplementary data . This part of the logical program some attention was paid to prob- program aroused my own interests along ichthyo- lems arising in connection with the fisheries, an d logical lines, and led eventually to the publication as a result certain courses were initiated for train- of a paper on the fish fauna of the region . ing students in this field. As an outgrowth o f A similar expedition was conducted in th e this procedure an increasing number of students summer of 1896, when headquarters were estab- enrolled for the work, and the time seemed rip e lished at Mats Mats Bay, a reefy area to the to establish a separate School of Fisheries, which south of Port Townsend. was done in 1919, with John N. Cobb in charge. The summer of 1897 I spent as a member o f Relations between the school and the department a group of young scientists taken to Bering Se a of zoology have always remained very close. by Dr. Jordan to participate in the work of the With the consolidation of the Puget Sound Fur Seal Commission, at that time engaged in th e Biological Station with the Oceanographic Labor- study of the fur seal herd inhabiting the Pribilo f atories, the program of marine research was Islands. greatly amplified . With the sea-going vessel, th e In 1899 the well known railroad magnate, Catalyst, in commission, the study of marine E. H. Harriman, with the cooperation of Dr . C. plankton was greatly accentuated under the di- Hart Merriam of the U. S. Biological Survey, rection of Dr. Robert C . Miller, and extensiv e organized an expedition to be known as the Har- collections were assembled from a wide area . riman Alaska Expedition to explore little known As a result of this work, several papers have areas of the North Pacific region . This expedi- been published and others are in manuscrip t tion traversed portions of southeastern Alask a awaiting publication. and finally penetrated through the Strait to the During the first decade of the century, certain Bering Sea. This experience made it possible to difficulties arose in the shellfish branch of the observe something of the northward extensio n fishing industries, and I was asked to cooperat e of the Puget Sound fauna and gain a background with the persons engaged in the business in for an understanding of the geographic distribu- seeking a solution . This led to a relation with tion- of marine organisms in the Pacific Area . the oyster industry and other related lines o f At the turn of the century, plans for the es- activity that has been continued over the inter- tablishment of a marine laboratory were fer- vening years, during which time a great many menting. This had been a dominant idea in the changes have been brought about in the practic e mind of Professor Johnson. Some questions of oyster culture. The introduction of the large arose as to the proper location for the institu- Pacific oyster, native to Japan, and the develop- tion, and as a result I was commissioned to ex - ment of an extensive industry yielding many mil - amine the available sites and to recommend one lions of dollars at the present time, called fo r of these. The decision was in favor of Friday considerable scientific guidance . Among othe r Harbor in the San Juan Islands, and althoug h problems that presented themselves was that of this area is relatively difficult of access on ac- producing the young oyster in a hatchery under count of its insular position, and at a considerable controlled conditions, rather than trusting to th e distance from Seattle, no question has ever been vagaries of the weather, which in three out o f raised as to the wisdom of this decision. Be- four seasons renders the natural production of

Luncheon Session KINCAID-A HALF CENTURY F BIOLOGICAL SCIENCE 19

the species very precarious. Many other prob- services of the greatest value in the conservatio n lems have arisen from time to time, including and development of the oyster. the control of native and imported enemies, th e It would be interesting and profitable as well danger of pollution from various sources, an d to cross the Canadian border and trace the de- the technique of cultivation. The history of thi s velopment of the biological sciences in Britis h branch of our biological program has never been Columbia, where many workers have contributed written, and indeed it might well occupy the en - to an understanding of the biological resource s tire time at my disposal. of the Province. The leading spirit in this re- Regarding fresh water biology, only a brief spect, over a long period of years, has been Dr . statement can be made . C. McLean Fraser, of the University of Britis h Columbia . The splendid and well-equipped bi- The main impetus to its development cam e ological laboratory at Nanaimo has an outstand- with the establishment of the College of Fisheries , ing record as a center for marine research . An- which called for the training of men in limno- other hour might well be spent in covering thi s logical technique. Owing to the immense num- phase of my sphere . Likewise, I have not ber of lakes and streams in Washington, this has crossed the border into Oregon, and the histor y proved to be a very fertile field of investigation , of biology in this state still remains to be written . not only in an economic sense, but also in pur e In conclusion, it may be said that only th e science. Limnological studies have been made surface has been scratched in preparing a histor y of some of our lakes, and a beginning has been of the biological sciences on the Pacific Coast . made in assembling data regarding our fresh - The makers of history rarely write it, and thi s water flora and fauna. We have extended ou r field awaits the appearance of persons with the program into Oregon at times, for we have co- leisure available to assemble the information an d operated with the U . S. Forest Service in work- work it up into a correlated whole . ing out a report on the plankton of the numerou s DR. HANSEN : I am assuming that if ther e lakes in the National Forests of Oregon . At the are any questions Dr. Kincaid will be glad to present time Mr. Raymond Coopey is preparin g answer them. I want to express my thanks to a paper dealing with the limnology of Uppe r him for his very interesting, pleasant, and in- Klamath Lake, based on work done while teach- formative talk. We should make more use o f ing at Klamath Falls . our history than we do. In presenting this summary, which deal s QUESTION : Many of us would like to kno w largely with the development of biological science the present situation at Friday Harbor. within the scope of the University of Washing- ANSWER : The station was taken over by th e ton, there is no desire to minimize the progres s Coast Guard and everything was taken out. made by other agencies . The U. S. Bureau of Buildings were used by them and bunks were pu t Fisheries, now known as the Fish and Wildlif e in. Everything was moved, tagged, and stored , Service, has been active over the years, particu- so it is all in fine condition . However, the vessel larly in the investigation of practical problem s was sold by the University to the Government , relating to the industries based on aquatic life . and nothing has been done about reobtaining it , From very simple beginnings there have devel- mainly because there was a lot of red tape in oped in recent years such well organized units a s getting the station back into the control of th e the Montlake Laboratory in Seattle, where a University. Dr. Thompson has been in th e large corps of skilled technicians are employed army, and has only recently returned . He is a t on the investigation of various phases of the Friday Harbor this week-end overseeing the job fisheries. The same is true for our State De- of putting everything back into shape. The State partment of Fisheries and Game, which has fos- is thinking of securing a mine sweeper and re - tered many projects involving the aquatic re - building it for biological purposes, and while I sources of the region . The state shellfish labora- am doubtful about getting anything done thi s tory at Gig Harbor, for instance, has rendered summer, we should be in full swing by 1947 . THE SALMON OF THE UPPER COLUMBIA RIVER , AND THE EFFECT O F ENVIRONMENTA L CHANGES ON THE RESOURCE S

FREDERIC F. FISH

DR. MACNAB : We started out with a Cali- area will compare with those to the upper Colum- , fornia .Current this morning. It then shifted t o bia River. These runs offer the cream of the an Oregon, and later to a Washington current. crop and why this should be so is easily ex- Now we are going to have more news from the plained. Oregon side, in the person of a newcomer t o As most of you know, the adult salmon re- the state. He has come from across the conti- turns to spawn in the tributary from whence i t 8ent to be with us. He has probably heard to o departed to the ocean as a fingerling fish. Like- many wisecracks in connection with his name an d wise, the adult salmon takes no food after enter- the salmon industry, so perhaps he has developed ing fresh water en route to the spawning grounds . a tough epidermis, perhaps scaly . (I am re- The energy required for the spawning migratio n minded at the moment of a dentist in my home through fresh water is locked in the body as fa t town whose name is DeKay . ) at the time the fish leaves the ocean . The salmon Dr. Fish is a native of New York State. He with the longest spawning migration inherentl y graduated from Cornell and received his doctor 's stores the greatest quantity of fat during resi- degree at Johns Hopkins . He has been an aquatic dence in the sea . The "quality" of a salmon, as biologist with the United States Bureau of Fish- the human evaluates this factor, is directly cor- eries and is in charge of the Parasitology Com- related with the quantity of body fat . In short, mission. He comes to us in charge of the investi- few salmon travel so far from the ocean on gations of the United States Fish and Wildlif e their spawning migrations as do the upper. Col- Service. He should be taking over some of the umbia River fish, hence few are so highly prize d work in which Dr. Henry B. Ward was inter- by man. ested in connection with our fishes of Oregon . What are these salmon of which I am speak- . I am glad to introduce at this time Dr . Fish. ing-and how large are the runs ? We now have DR . FISH : In -reply, I am eager to bring up an excellent source of data to answer these ques- the point that I am beginning to get webs between tions in the fish counts maintained at Bonnevill e my toes. I was here 10 years ago, and feel there Dam. Every fish ascending the fish ladders a t is some hope for me . Bonneville is identified as to species and a con- The salmon constitute one of the most valu- tinuing record of the numbers maintained . able natural resources of the Pacific Northwest . Bonneville Dam intercepts all fish runs to the In common with most natural resources, the sal- upper Columbia -tributaries . In case you are not mon are profoundly affected by many of the en- familiar with the fish ladders at Bonneville, le t vironmental changes brought about by that whic h us take a quick look at their general nature an d collectively may be called "civilization." When location. Bonneville Dam is, in effect, two dams . the balanced ecology of the wilderness is upse t One, constituting a power house section, extends through the changes wrought by a rapidly ex- from the Oregon shore to Bradford Island ; the- panding civilization, the wild animals find them - other, a spillway section, connects Bradford Is - selves in a losing battle of conflicting interests . land with the Washington shore. A collectin g In, this, the salmon is no exception . race, essentially a large flume, was built acros s I wish to confine my remarks today to a the face of the power house . The fish enter the somewhat unique group of salmon-those that collecting race by a one-foot jump into any on e frequent the upper portions of the Columbia of the 38 entrances uniformly spaced across the River watershed during the fresh-water phases 600-foot length of the power house. The col- of their life cycle. This group, generally, ha s lecting race leads to a conventional gravity typ e been most profoundly affected by the encroach- of fish ladder consisting of a series of pools 4 0 ments of civilization . Although salmon are foun d feet wide, 16 feet long, and 6 feet deep, place d around the borders of the North Pacific Ocean , one foot above the other, thus , leading the fish from Mexico to China, no runs over this entire over the 65-foot maximum climb from the tail- ze

Afternoon Session FISH-SALMON OF THE UPPER COLUMBIA 2 1

water to the forebay by one-foot steps. Two fall chinook passing Bonneville is but slightl y similar fish ladders discharge at either end of th e smaller in size and of a somewhat lower, albeit 1,200-foot spillway section. The water flowing still a very desirable, quality. ■ The fall chinook down the fish ladders, and the auxiliary wate r spawns during September and early October at 2, entering at various levels, utilize approximately 3, 4, or 5 years of age, the 4-year fish comprisin g $,000 cubic feet per second to attract the migrat- the dominant spawning age-class . The spawn- ing fish to the ladder entrances and to provide a ing grounds of many of the fall chinook migrat- deep, easy, and safe channel for their climb ove r ing above Bonneville are not known, but all evi- the dam. About half-way up each ladder, the dence indicates that few migrate above the con- fish must pass through a one-foot counting gate fluence of the Snake River . So much for the where they are identified by trained personnel . Columbia River chinook runs. Now, to describe the salmon that pass over During mid-June, another representative o f Bonneville Dam : about April first of each year the upper Columbia salmon runs appears at Bon- a run of chinook salmon appears . Known as neville-the blueback.- - She Columbia River blue- "spring chinooks" on the Columbia, they are th e back is the same species as the Puget Sound long-running fish which formerly migrated t o sockeye and the Alaskan red salmon, the latte r the very headwaters with the spring run-off . The name being quite familiar to the average houses spring chinook arrives in the vicinity of its wife. The Columbia River blueback, however, spawning grounds during midsummer and rest s has developed a much longer spawning migration in deep pools awaiting the spawning urge tha t than its cousins of Alaska and the Puget Soun d will develop during August and early September. country, hence it is of a definitely higher quality. In common with all Pacific salmon, the parent The original spawning grounds of the Columbia fish invariably die soon after spawning is com- River blueback were located above the lakes o f pleted. The spring. chinook of the Columbia the upper basin-principally the Redfish an d average between 15 and 20 pounds in weight Payette Lakes of Idaho, Wallowa Lake in east- and spawn at 4, 5, or 6 years of age, the 5-year ern Oregon, and Okanogan and Wenatchee Lake fish being the dominant spawning age-class so of central Washington. The blueback differs far as is known. These spring chinooks of the from, all other species of salmon in that it invar- upper Columbia, together with their cousins o f iably selects a stream tributary to a lake as it s the Cowlitz. and Willamette rivers, constitute the natural spawning habitat . In short, no lakes, no best that salmon flesh has to offer . bluebacks ; hence this fish is no longer found i n Shortly after the spring chinook run subsides the now inaccessible Payette and Wallowa drain- in mid-June, a second group of chinook salmon , ages. The Columbia River blueback is a smal l known as the "summer" chinook, appears at Bon- fish, ranging in weight between 2 and 6 pound s neville Dam. These are large fish, averaging be- and spawning at 3, 4, or 5 years of age. tween 25 and 30 pounds in weight with occasional The third, and last, run to the upper Columbia individuals weighing up to 75, pounds . Offsetting appears at Bonneville concurrently with the fall - their slightly lower fat content, in comparison chinook. This fish, the silver salmon or "medi- with the spring chinook, is their greater size. um-red," ranges geographically from northern The summer chinook probably never were as California to Alaska, and gastronomically is fa r numerous as the spring chinook, certainly they superior to the silver salmon of the lo+ er :C lwm- are not at the present time. Little is known of bia and the coastal streams. The -silver ssh n the spawning habitat of the summer chinook ; spawns , at 3 years of age and is a fair-siaedlish, presumably they frequent the main stem and the averaging about 8 pounds in weight . Once- the_ larger tributaries of the upper Columbia area . dominant run of the Upper Co bia, scarc3ely a The summer chinook spawns during late Augus t remnant of the formerly ab undant runs mow re, - - and September at 3, 4, 5, and occasionally 6 o r mains. 7 years of age. The spring and the summer chi - Two other species of salmon, namely--the nook combined comprise the chinook runs of chum salmon and the pink salmon, seldom range the upper Columbia River. up the Columbia River as far as BQnnevible-.Pam_ About the third week in July, .the first of the The sixth species of Pacific salmon, .the-=Japanese dominant salmon run at Bonneville appears, over - salmon, is .not found in the eastern Pacific. - lapping the dwindling numbers of the summe r Having been introduced to the salmoj 4f the chinooks. These fish are known as the fall chi- upper Columbia, you may be interested in know- nook. Compared with the summer chinook, the ing what is happening to them, and may. We :

22 AQUATIC BIOLOGY Afternoon Session

have no source of quantitative data prior to the nook spawns in the lower reaches of the river , completion of Bonneville Dam in 1938 . Some possibly in the main stem itself, and its progen y indication of the earlier abundance of the chinook depart for the ocean with the freshets of the fol- salmon may be gleaned from records of the com- lowing spring. The spring 'chinook spawns in mercial pack. Starting with an initial catch o f the upper tributaries and, like the fall chinook , 272,000 pounds in 1866 when the first salmo n most of its progeny also go to the sea with the cannery was operated on the Columbia, the chi - high water of the following spring. Neither the nook fishery developed rapidly and by 1885 fall chinook nor the spring chinook is losing reached the peak-yield of 42,000,000 pounds . Af- ground as rapidly as are the blueback and the sil- ter the high point was passed, the annual harves t ver. The blueback and -the silver possess the of chinook salmon from the Columbia River de- common characteristic of spawning in the uppe r clined and finally stabilized in the neighborhoo d river (as does the spring chinook) ; but, unlike of= 25,000,000 pounds until shortly after the close both the spring and the fall chinook, their prog- of World War I. Since that time, the chinoo k eny elect to remain one year in fresh water. It pack has slowly but steadily declined . Actually , would appear, therefore, that the salmon runs: the decline has been more pronounced than thes e exhibiting the most rapid rate of decline at Bon- data indicate, for a shift in the emphasis of th e neville are. those that spawn in the upper river fishery has taken place . In the early days, scant and particularly those in which the young fish attention was paid to the less desirable fall chi - remain in fresh water for a year. In other nook and virtually all fishing effort was directe d words, one could reasonably suspect that som e toward the spring and summer chinook . During environmental factor has changed during corn-. the past two decades, the fishing effort has com- paratively recent years and that the effect of thi s pletely reversed itself for now many fishermen factor is more pronounced on those fish remain- do not bother to wet their nets until the more ing in contact with it for a longer period . Actu- abundant fall chinook runs appear . The fall run, ally, we find ample evidence - of recent environ- once virtually untapped, now carries the brunt o f mental changes in the uppe r. Columbia Basin. the Columbia River commercial fishery. Dams, constructed for hydroelectric power , Since Bonneville Dam was completed in 1938 , logging operations, and similar purposes, have we have a sensitive index of the fish runs pas t been constructed across many of the importan t that point. Insofar as eight scattered points wil l migration routes of the upper Columbia salmon . determine a trend, it appears quite certain that all In certain instances, no fish ladders were pro- of the upper Columbia salmon runs are losing vided at barrier dams, in other instances the lad- ground. ders were improperly designed and failed to serve The rate of decline varies markedly with the their intended purpose . various runs. It is interesting to speculate as to The diversion of water required for irrigat- why the upper Columbia runs should be declining ing vast areas of arid land east of the Cascad e rapidly whereas the fall chinook passing Bonne- Mountains has constituted another extremely im- ville appear to be holding their number fairly portant hazard to the salmon. In many instances, well. virtually . the entire flow of important salmon- One immediately thinks of overfishing as th e producing streams has been diverted into irriga- probable cause . There is little doubt that over= tion ditches, leaving a "dry stretch" below th e exploitation of the fishery resources is, and ha s point of diversion through , which the adult 'fish been, a very important factor contributing to the cannot pass to reach their spawning' grounds i n decline. As Craig has pointed out, however, the the headwaters. Similarly, enormous number s annual Indian catch of Columbia River salmo n of fingerling salmon have been swept 'into the in the days of Lewis and Clark must have been irrigation ditches to meet a premature death i n in the neighboorhood of 18,000,000 pounds-es- the fields and orchards. It is only during the past sentially the- same poundage as the Indian an d fifteen years that any concerted effort has been the white man are catching today. The question made properly to screen the irrigation ditches an d arises, why did the resource stand up under th e thus prevent the unnecessary and high' losses o f aboriginal exploitation whereas it is declining salmon fingerlings . rapidly under essentially the same degree of ex- High storage dams, hydraulic mining and ploitation today ? dredging, accelerated soil erosion resulting fro m The migration habits of the various runs o f deforestation and improper agricultural practice s salmon offer a clue to the answer. The fall chi- likewise have contributed to the extensive en -

Afternoon Session FISH-SALMON OF THE UPPER COLUMBI A

vironmental alteration of the -upper Columbi a considerable knowledge concerning the re j irer ., Basin. Each of these factors exerts an indirect , ments of the salmon during recent years . 'Mtetli- but nevertheless adverse, effect on the salmo n er we have accumulated sufficient to adapt tl e. en- resources. croachments of civilization to the needs of th e The activities of the white man have affecte d salmon, particularly the tremendous development practically every stream that produced salmon i n that can be anticipated within the very near fu- the days of the Indian . Only a very few in th e ture, can be revealed only with the passing o f more inaccessible regions have remained unmo- time. lested. A study of the accompanying map o f DR. MACNAB : Have any questions arisen? ' the Columbia drainage will yield some concept o f QUESTION : How sticcessfi l ,was divemits;' where, and to what extent, the interests of th e the salmon from above Grand. Coulee, Au.; the white man have conflicted with those of the sal- Columbia in the summer time ? mon. The extensive competition for water and ANSWER : Quantitatively it was very' poor. the failure adequately to safeguard the require- Qualitatively it was very beneficial. -Y,au. ,inay, ments of the salmon offer full explanation why know the decision was made not to take,-.adult we can no longer withdraw 18,000,000 pounds o f fish over the Grand Coulee dam. You can al- salmon annually without further depletion of th e ways depend on the adult salmon returning to his resource. By analogy to agriculture, we now spawning stream, but it was hoped that th e have less seed and less acreage to plant ; the in- progeny would return to their particular stream s evitable consequence is a smaller annual harvest. rather than to ancestral breeding grounds . In So much for the past-now what of the fu- that respect the experiment has been successfjjl . ture? If the status quo could be maintained in - In 1943 or 1944, after five years of trjns a'iliig definitely in the Columbia Basin, the future o f adult fish, during which time virtually one en - the salmon • would appear quite bright in spite o f tire cycle had been completed, we felt that if i t the rather dismal record of the past . We now was 'ever going to work, it should then . Rubbe r know enough about effectively managing the sal- tires were hard to get and gasoline harder, so we mon resources to correct many mistakes of the turned the fish loose and let them, go where they past. It is very reasonable to assume that - we would. Only two fish appeared at Grand Coule e could arrest the downward trend and stabiliz e dam that summer, both of which were very larg e the annual yield perhaps in the approximate mag- chinooks and could have come past the site o f nitude of the early 1920 's. There appears little Grand Coulee dam . So far, as relocating th e point in dwelling on what might be done, how- runs is concerned, I think the experiment has ever, for it is certain that the status quo of the been successful . However, adult fish are very Columbia Basin will not be maintained. difficult to handle, and we took some tremendous ' Perhaps the most profound development o f losses in our attempts to haul them . It may be many that would affect the future of the Colum- generations before we ever recover this loss . bia River salmon lies in the proposed series o f main-stem dams . Plans 'are in process for a series of eight or nine new dams across the Col- umbia between Bonneville and Grand Coulee . In add;tion, a series of four to six dams is proposed across the Snake below the confluence of the Salmon River, the most important undevelope d tributary now remaining in the entire Columbia Basin. These dams, each to be -approximately twice th? height of Bonneville, would be located as shown on the accompanying map. Whether or not the salmon runs of the upper Columbi a can be maintained in the face of this unprece- dented development is a question that no one can answer at this time . To date, salmon and "civilization" have proved quite incompatible, a result due in large part t o the environmental changes that I have attempted to sketch very briefly . We have accumulated

24 AQUATIC BIOLOGY Afternoon Session

QUESTION : Do these runs establish them- tags to them very successfully. The usual metho d selves in the tributaries ? is to amputate the fins . ANSWER : I think they will . Actually your QUESTION : How do the fish negotiate th e question is a little closer to Mr. Suomela's field, dams on their way down ? who was in charge of field operations . ANSWER : This is a hard question to answer . QUESTION : I have a question about the land- Apparently at Bonneville the passage through locked red salmon which are found in the Uppe r the wheels does not cause quite so much troubl e Columbia Lakes . Do they ever go to the ocean ? as does the release of pressure below the surface ANSWER : Every year about April we get a of the water. Of course, I think it is quite true definite migration of land-locked forms from in certain small, high-speed installations tha t above the Grand Coulee, apparently toward th e they are actually chopped up, but this is not th e ocean, The question is, does the resident popu- case at Bonneville Dam . lation ever contribute to the sea run resources ? QUESTION : Can you give an explanation o f What happens to those who are headed toward the apparent worthlessness of some west side Wil- the ocean? There is some evidence that they do lamette streams as spawning grounds, accordin g contribute each year. to your map ? QUESTION : Have you ever tagged any o f ANSWER : Of these streams, there are a few these ? that both Silver and Chinook use. Why they do ANSWER : They have been tagged, but re- not go into Mary's River and other rivers, no on e sults have been confused . We can't attach metal knows.

BIO .OGICAL RESEARCH CONNECTED WIT .H TH E ~1' t~i1I+ OF -OREGO N

ARNIE J . SUOMEL A

DR. MACNAB : Mr. Suomela grew up in the ment, have affected the various habitats an d state to the north with the fish of the Northwest . stocks of fish in different ways. Those fisherie s He has had graduate work at the University o f on inland waters and close to the shores have Washington, and at George Washington Uni- been exploited' first and their environment ha s versity in the east. He has been warden of th e been affected the most . Those fisheries on off- United States Bureau of Fisheries in Alaska , shore waters have only recently been heavil y and he is here as Master Fish Warden of the exploited and the environment has been changed Oregon State Fish Commission. He has worke d little, if any. - with transplanting and restocking salmon in some The commercial salmon industry of Oregon, of- the lower tributaries along the Grand Coulee the state's most important commercial fisheries dam. resource, has produced, until the past few years, MR. SUOMELA : Dr. Fish painted a dark pic- over 20,000,000 pounds of all species of salmon ture of the conditions of the fisheries, and I shal l annually. These anadromous fish, which latch make the picture a little bleaker. in fresh water, migrate to sea when only a few To the average citizen and even to a signifi- inches long and return - to their parent strea m after one to four years in the ocean . These fish cant portion of the fishermen, the fisheries re- are dependent on our rivers, streams, and lake s sources of the rivers and ocean are inexhaustible. for their very existence. - It is inconceivable to many people that the Evidence is now accumulated to show that amount of fish life of any species inhabiting wide the salmon resources of our states are declining. expanses of water can be affected directly or in- directly by man At first glance one might be inclined to pointn a . The fallacy of the hypothesi s accusing finger at the salmon industry and' place of an unlimited supply of any and all of our the entire blame on its shoulders for profiteerin g fisheries has been too well established durin g the past few years and overfishing the stocks to a point of depletion . . The practices of destroying But before we can attribute the cause directly to and misusing, not only the fisheries themselve s overfishing, it is proper that we examine some o f but the specialized environment necessary fo r the other factors which might be contributing to the perpetuation and maintenance of the re - the decline of our salmon populations . sources, have led to the rapid diminution and de- Salmon, in order to spawn and reproduc e pletion of many of our most valuable species and successfully, must be able to proceed with a min- the possible commercial and recreational extinc- imum. of effort to clean, gravelly areas high in tion of certain of the species most widely sought . the upper reaches of our rivers, and to areas - The fisheries industry of the State of Oregon , free from pollution and silt where in cool riffles from its modest beginning near the middle of the the eggs are laid. These hatch in 45 to 90 days past century, has grown into one of the most im- into young salmon, which are ready , in a few portant basic industries of the state, yielding months to migrate back downstream and out over 60,000,000 pounds of fish annually . in& the ocean . Many natural hazards have- The commercial fisheries' of the State of Ore- ways been present to 'lower the rate of survival gon may be classified by their environment int o disease, predatory-animals and birds, unfavorable three main groups : the anadromous fish, includ- climatological conditions which decreased the suc- - ing salmon, shad, river smelt and sturgeon ; the cess of spawning, have all played a part in. hold- ocean fishes including the tuna, pilchard, bottom ing natural production of any given stream t o fishes, sharks ; and the shellfish, crabs, clams, an d a balanced ratio . Many aspects of civiliza€ioi oysters. have hampered the normal migratiom of both The environments of at least a portion of th e the upstream migration of the adult and th e life history of these three groups are not simi- downstream migration of the young . These, to- lar, and changes in the ecological condition s gether with the increased demand by the fisher- brought about by man, either by direct exploita- ies, have upset the natural balance, resulting in _ tion of the resource or by changes in the environ - the decline of the populations of Pacific salmon.

26 AQUATIC BIOLOGY Afternoon Session

There are many factors influencing the sur- of completely maintaining, or in many cases in- vival rate of the adult and young of the various creasing, the total runs of salmon in the stream s species of salmon . Let us examine the man - below these proposed high dams . made obstacles and barriers which exist on our The advisability of constructing high impas- rivers and streams and which appear incompatible sable barriers for further utilization of our river with the maintenance of our salmon resources . waters without careful and advised consideration Logging, with its elimination of the cover of th e of the salmon is a problem which should be wisel y water sheds, the erection of impassable barriers , studied. Monetary values alone are insufficient log jams which prevent both upstream and down- and incomplete in assessing the value of a fish- stream migration, have all taken a large toll on eries resource. We have a natural resource i n the available and suitable spawning areas . When our salmon, which was provided for and belongs the forest covers are taken from the banks o f to all of the citizens of this state for all time . If rivers and streams two things occur ; first, the any group of us is so unwise as to destroy thi s summer temperature of that watershed increase s resource, which is capable of perpetually pro- and the flow of the stream is materially affected ; ducing, with a minimum of care, millions o f and second, so-called flash floods occur whic h pounds of fish and fisheries products annually, scour out the gravel bars and erode the bank s then we are guilty of gross neglect and selfish- of the stream, sometimes leaving a heavy coatin g ness which may seriously affect the welfare of of silt over the riffles and gravel, smothering and the future generations of our citizens . killing the developing eggs and young. Splash In the case of salmon it is obvious that we dams used to transport logs by water out of the must study methods of circumventing the inroad s mountains are by their very nature extremely on this resource . First, we must minimize the destructive to the salmon runs . In most instances , logging damage by prohibiting or limiting the type when splash dams have been used, entire salmo n and use of splash dams, and transfer runs fro m runs have been eliminated. Miles of potential a watershed barren of trees and subject to ex- spawning areas are made unavailable to spawn- cessive temperature and flash floods to stream s ing fishes by these barriers . upon which the second growth has begun t o Pollution, both industrial and sewage, is mak- grow and where environmental conditions are ing many of our rivers impassable to salmon . within the tolerance limits of salmon. We should Some industrial pollutants, especially waste fro m encourage selective logging, where the cover will certain pulp mills, may be very toxic to both never be completely stripped from the hill . We adult and young salmon . Studies are now under must find methods and devices for preventing way to determine the effects and amounts o f the young from being swept down canals and these dangerous pollutants to our salmon re - other diversions of the rivers where they ar e sources. Flax plants and berry and fruit can- completely lost. More efficient fishways must be neries dump offal into our rivers which reduces provided to pass fish around and over natura l the available oxygen supply to a point where it i s and artificial barriers . Careful consideration insufficient to meet the minimum needs of ou r should be given before additional barriers are anadromous fishes. erected across the natural migratory paths of our Unscreened power and irrigation diversions salmon. High dams across the main tributaries and canals trap and exterminate many thousand s of our rivers may have the effect of destroying of young salmon migrating back down to th e all of the salmon inhabiting the upper reaches ocean. Multipurpose dams, several hundred feet of these watersheds. high, are being built and contemplated on almos t Artificial propagation must be studied and im- every major river in Oregon . These large dams proved and scientific ,methods must be applied to form the most serious menace to the salmon . hatchery management practice which will pro- The problems of getting all the fish over th e vide the basis for the eventual increase in effic- dams into the water above and of trapping an d iency of hatcheries so as to insure a greater re- by-passing the young downstream provide prob- turn of adult fish, and decrease the cost of pro- lems which to this date have not been successfully ducing fish to a practical economic level . Finally, solved. we must study the habits and migration of th e Artificial propagation, which has accomplishe d various stocks of salmon so . thoroughly that the wonders in restocking streams low in adult popu- catch of the commercial and sports fish can b e lation, has not yet provided evidence of being regulated to allow an adequate escapement of th e far enough advanced in method to carry the task salmon to their spawning grounds. The escape-

Afternoon Session SUOMELA-FISHERIES OF OREGON 2 7

ment of adults must be large enough to provid e Only a fraction of the runs of -sturgeon re- a progeny run' of -the . same abundance if the main in the Columbia . The fishery at the present fishery is to be stabilized, at its optimum level , time is not separate and distinct, and for the and larger numbe ;s must be allowed to escap.e most part the fish are taken only incidentally to if a greater increase in population is necessary. salmon fishing. Sewage disposal plants in cities and, towns mus t Very little is known of the life history of the be provided in order that organic matter requirin g sturgeon . All the available scientific work ha s a high b.o.d. will not be released directly into th e been done in Russia on similar species . Without stream: Industrial disposal methods which do not specific biological knowledge of our species, involve the dumping of waste materials into th e proper regulations will be difficult. It seems cer- waters must be discovered . Only then can w e tain that both the commercial and sports . fishery be sure that the anadromous fish runs of ou r are exploiting the fish before they are mature ; state will continue to produce millions of pounds that is, the smaller sturgeon, 2 and 3 feet ' i n of valuable meat protein annually . length and under, have not spawned . There are several othe'r commercially import - The Columbia River smelt, Thaleichthys pa- ant anadromous fishes in Oregon waters . The cificus, has provided the basis for an important shad, a herring-like fish introduced from the At- fishery on the Columbia River since about 1895 . lantic coast in 1871, became a very important food The production of smelt has fluctuated 'widely, fish on the Pacific Coast.' These fish migrate into around an annual yield of 500,000 pounds during the lower areas of most of our coastal rivers to the past few years. The greatest catch in the spawn. The shad was not sought after for food history of the fishery was recorded in 1945 when to any great extent during the early years of th e over 1,500,000 'pounds were landed by the com- fishery. Only the roe or eggs were utilized at mercial fishery alone in Oregon. There is also a that time and these were canned. During years very intensive sports fishery on the species . Al- of economic depression, fishing effort to the cap- though little biological data are available on th e ture of shad was reduced, and even in normal stocks in our rivers, there is no evidence that the times shad has not been intensively sought for b y intensive fisheries have caused the violent fluctua- fishermen . During the past few years, the ac- tions in abundance . - ceptance of shad by the market on this coast has A program of research designed to study the been. widespread. As a result of the previously life history and to discover the factors influenc- 'limited and economically controlled fishery, th e ing the fluctuations in abundance is indicate d abundance of shad has remained at a relativel y for this species. high level. - The striped bass, Roccus lineatus, is rapidly This species should be studied and a manage- becoming of considerable commercial importance ment program_ instituted which will . provide for in Oregon. This species, introduced from the a sustained yield. Signs of increasing fishery ef- Atlantic to the Pacific Coast in the vicinity of fort during the past few years indicate that' thi s . San Francisco Bay, has slowly distributed itsel f is needed soon. along the coast of California and Oregon, and i s - The sturgeon fishery of Oregon was once sec- now found in considerable abundance in the ond only to the salmon in economic value . Of waters at and near many of our coastal streams. the two species of sturgeon, the white has alway s Probably the first commercial fishing for been in greater demand . In the early years o f striped bass occurred in Coos Bay in 1931 when the salmon fishery the value of the sturgeon as about 18,000 pounds were landed . A few were a food fish was not realized, and .as they were a landed at the mouth of the Umpqua River as earl y nuisance to the salmon fishermen they were de- as 1934, but no greater quantities were caught stroyed by the thousands . In 1889 a commercia l until 1941 . The catch is now significantly larger ; fishery for this species began on the Columbia over 250,000 pounds were landed from Oregon River. As early as 1900 a serious decline i n waters in 1945 . These fish spawn in the lowe r yield and abundance was noted . The peak of tributaries and estuaries of the rivers . They are production of sturgeon on the Columbia River oc- also excellent sports fish. An intensive sport s curred in 1892 when 5,500,000 pounds wer e ' fishery is developing in the southern Oregon landed. Fish up to 1,000 .pounds were not rare ; Coastal areas . now the landings fluctuate between 100,000-and The effect ' of this carnivorous and predatory 200,000 pounds per year. Very few sturgeon fish on the downstream salmon migrants is" as are taken in the coastal rivers of Oregon . yet unknown. It is not found in the estuaries,

ti

AQUATIC BIOLOGY Afternoon Session

the year around ; from preliminary observations 1944 approximately 23 million pounds of tun a it appears to enter the bays in Oregon aroun d were landed in Oregon ports . Because of the ' May and feeds upon smaller fishes in the bays nature and habits of this species, it is not pos- at that time and throughout a portion of the sible to state whether the Oregon fishery wil l summer. support a permanent industry . Although some Of the ocean fisheries, the otter trawl fishery , data are available to indicate extensive movement s which lands many types of flounders and rock of this fish, the life history and complete migra- fishes; together with ling cod, black cod, and dog- tion paths are not thoroughly understood. There fish sharks, has been they most important. While is reason to believe that this pelagic . fish migrates not new, it has expanded within the past ten throughout the tropical and temperate waters o f years into one of the most important fisheries of the Pacific, appearing off our Oregon Coast i n the state. The otter trawl fishery landed over 3 1 July, August, September, and part of October millions of pounds of fish in 1943 and 26 mil- before disappearing completely for another year . lions in 1945. This is in contrast to less than An extensive albacore fishery existed off th e 50,000 pounds landed in 1933 . southern coast of California about 30 years ago . For a time the increase in production of bot- The abundance of albacore in California was tom fish was the direct result of an accumulation . suddenly reduced and for many years few were of unfished stocks, but now, although very littl e caught by the- California tuna fishery. The sud- direct . evidence has been obtained, there are som e den appearance off the northern coast, coupled statistical data available to indicate that certai n with the sudden disappearance of the Californi a species are being overfished and are declining i n albacore years ago, leads to the belief that the al- abundance. Until recently most of the trawling bacore fishery in Oregon may not be permanently took place off the coast inside the 60-fathom established and the northern occurence of dai s mark, thereby offering protection to that portio n fish is due to some unknown conditions subject of the population in the deeper waters and i n to change at any time . turn provided a reserse of spawning stock . How- A research program is contemplated by all ever, as the numbers of bottom fish began to de - three Pacific Coast states which will encompas s cline the demand increased, and as larger, better all phases of this problem . Through this pro - equipped boats entered the fishery, fishing bega n gram we will endeavor to determine the life his- in deeper waters until now, with the use o f tory and habits of the albacore in order to deter- _ fathometers, it reaches to the very edge of the mine the stability of the present northern fishery . continental shelf. The relatively shallow stri p A beginning already has been made, and we hope off our coast is narrow compared with the shel f that it may be carried out in full, cooperation with on the Atlantic Coast, and it seems likely tha t other fisheries agencies along the coast. the population densities of bottom fishes have .The crab fishery of Oregon has produced reached the maximum limit of their productivity . over 4,000,000 pounds of crabs annually during Probably the high level of yield of the otter the past few years . The exploitation of the trawl fishery is being maintained at the expense stocks of crabs has been so heavy during th e of the spawning stocks ; this will in a few years past ten years that there is grave danger of de- deplete the stocks and lower the commercia l pletion. The fishery operates out Qf several ports yield. on the Oregon coast, using traps of various type s The problem of the proper biological man- to capture the crabs . It locates in bays, just in- agement of this fishery is extremely complex . side the open ocean, and outside off the coast to a With so many species involved, it appears difficult distance of several miles . For the most part the to apply directly our now known methods of de- traps are placed in waters of from ten to thirt y creasing the fishing effort on any particular fathoms in depth. group or species . It is possible that indirect There are two species of clams of commercial methods of regulation on the size of the mesh o r importance dug in Oregon, the razor and the some similar action allowing a greater proportion soft shelled variety. The razor clam, which in of small fish to escape will have a beneficial effect former years supported a large fishery in thi s on the stocks and species of fish. state, has been badly overfished and now oper- The tuna fishery in Oregon is relatively new. ates only on a small part-time basis. Until prope r The first catch of these fish in northern waters , and uniform regulations are imposed upon th e which amounted to 40,000 pounds of albacore, razor clam resources, there is little chance o f was landed in Oregon in the fall of 1936. In creasing the annual yield . With proper manage Afternoon Session 29' ment and regulations, the annual yield of razor should be made to determine the cause of thi s clams in Oregon might be increased from ten t o sudden diminution of catch . There is a definite twenty times its present average yield of abou t possibility, based on observations all along th e 100,000 pounds . Pacific Coast,- that this lowered catch indicate s The eastern soft-shelled clam, Mya arenaria, a state of depletion. The low rate of reproduction was first introduced into California waters and coupled with a slow rate of growth may hav e later into more northern waters of the Pacific been unable to keep pace with the intensive . ex- Coast with shipments of eastern oysters. This ploitation by the fishery . clam thrived in its new habitat and for many years Some halibut are taken off the Oregon coast, has been the basis for a fishery in California . It but the coast is near the southern limits of th e has been exploited intermittently in Oregon an d range of this species . The stocks-are not exten- Washington, but commercial utilization has no t sive, and very little expansion can be foresee n been extensive . It is likely that this species coul d in spite of the excellent management program of support a more intensive fishery in Oregon. A the International Fisheries Commission. survey of 'the bays along the coast should revea l Although at the present time the outlook for whether there now exist any . of these clams many of the fisheries of Oregon is not particu- which are not being utilized. larly favorable, there is every reason to believe Oysters from Oregon once constituted an that, by a vigorous and active program of - re- important export product . Improper utilization search, practical fisheries management program s and methods of. culture have reduced the yield may be evolved for each fishery which will re - of native oysters to a fraction of their forme r habilitate and conserve the fisheries resources . yield. In recent years Professor R. E. Dimick The potential economic development which of Oregon State College has carried on researches may be derived from the fisheries resources o f on the native oystrs, and the information which Oregon is very great. The present investments he has gathered will undoubtedly contribute t o of this basic industry, together with the invest- the rehabilitation of the native oyster industry . ments of those men who harvest the;crops, amoun t In recent years the Japanese or Pacific oyste r to many millions of dollars. The fisheries re- has been introduced into several bays along th e source furnishes a livelihood directly to thou - coast of Oregon. This industry is dependen t sands of people, and indirectly to as many more . upon outside sources for young oysters or "seed" Activities of shipyards, machine shops, linen an d to replenish those harvested. cotton mills, and other industries, for a goo d The Japanese oyster requires water tempera- part, are based upon the requirements of the .fish- tures of at least 18° C . before extensive spawn- ing industry. Rarely is an industry so insepar- ing occurs. As the. eggs and larvae develo p ably bound to other industries and with the eco- freely in the water, these relatively warm tem- nomic welfare of the state and nation . Its per- peratures must prevail for from three to four petuation and preservation are of paramount im- weeks for the successful "setting " of the young portance. On sound conservation depends its oysters. Because of the proximity of relatively future. Wise planning will greatly aid in truly small bays to the ocean, and the interchange o f conserving our fisheries resource . True con- the colder ocean waters with those of the bays , servation entails the wise utilization of the re - it is unlikely that large scale successful reproduc- source, exploiting no phase to the detriment o f tion of Japanese oysters will occur regularly i n any other. It is our objective to protect and Oregon waters. The industry will probably be manage the fisheries resources of this state i n dependent upon Japan for seed as was the case order that the maximum benefits may be derived before the war. Even with this handicap there for the people of Oregon. are many reasons to believe that the Japanes e QUESTION : I should like to ask a question oyster industry of Oregon can be expanded fa r about sturgeon . Did they not spawn up the beyond its present limits . Snake River at one time ? Several other smaller fisheries in Oregon con- ANSWER : Yes. There are still large num- tribute to the magnitude of the fisheries resource s bers of sturgeon in the upper Columbia and of this state. Soupfin, sharks are fished exten- Snake rivers . sively off the coast, the fish being tangled and QUESTION : Do they go over fish ladders ? gilled in large-meshed gill nets . The fishery, ANSWER : Very few have been counted a t which expanded rapidly_ during the war, has de- Bonneville. Very few sturgeon can ascend th e clined alarmingly in the past two years . Studies gravity ladder. Apparently they stock the fish in

r

30 AQUATIC BIOLOG Y

the upper rivers . I do not know whether they slowly, and reproduces only once every two migrate to the ocean ; that is something we will years. have to find out. DR . CHELDELIN : Mr. Chairman, I think there DR. MACNAB : I was hoping that you would is some indication that, perhaps unhappily, th e say something about the dogfish shark . It seems shortage of the sharks may be transitory. Their to me they are smaller than they used to be . demand was occasioned by the great need for Ma. SUOMELA : Mr. McKernan, our chief bi- high-vitamin oils (A and D), during the war ologist, came to the meeting today. He probably years when Norwegian cod liver oils were un- could answer something about the dogfish shark . available. The latter oils are more desirable t o Ma. MCKERNAN : I will do my best. In all the trade, and when they can again be bought i n likelihood, the average size of the dogfish shark prewar quantities the dogfish will be needed more is decreasing and it may be caused by over-fish- for classes in anatomy than for the vitamin s ing. It is not well understood . We do know which they contain . An even more serious com- that the abundance of dogfish sharks off th e petitor is synthetic vitamin A, which has recently coast is diminishing and the fishermen are having been produced in Dr. Milas' laboratory at M . I. a more difficult job of finding sufficient stocks o f T. This material may likely appear upon the these fishes. The dogfish shark grows very market in 1947. PUBLIC HEALTH PROBLEMS RELATED T O AQUATIC BIOLOG Y

IVAN PRATT

DR . MONK : I hold in my hand a little car- ment, and navigation facilities in a workabl e toon. It is a picture of two hippos in the water . fashion. One of .them is washing himself with soap . The Before the reservoir is allowed to fill for th e other one says, - "Hey, no soap ; this is drinkin g first time, the area to be inundated is freed o f water." stumps and lesser vegetation. Drainage is pro- Our speaker is Dr . Pratt, assistant professor vided for pools that will be above water line dur- at Oregon State College. He received his Ph.D. ing any part of the year, but submerged durin g at the University of Wisconsin, and taught at the the high water period . This prevents trapping o f University of Idaho before the war. During fish and other aquatic animals, the war he was a Lieutenant (j .g.) in the Health During the winter and early spring the reser- Service and was connected with the headquarters voir is allowed to become overfull . This spring of the Tennessee Valley Authority. He came to surcharge brings the water up around trees an d Oregon State College last December. This af- vegetation. The high water accomplishes two ternoon he will speak to us on certain problem s functions. First, it controls floods, and it brings of public health aspects of aquatic biology . debris up into the vegetation area so as to strand DR . PRATT : Public health problems related it there. However, the high water can remai n to aquatic biology are numerous, but I shall re- only as long as the trees remain dormant, so strict my discussion to two of these : first; certain that the trees will not be killed . Also, it must promising advances an malarial mosquito control , not stay up around vegetation after mosquito and second, the biological aspects of filariasis an d breeding starts, for that would provide an excel- its control : lent habitat for them . Malaria is a mosquito borne disease . By vir- About Apr? nfst the water is lowered to th e tue of that single fact, the mosquito becomes the upper line of clearing and held there until abou t most important aquatic insect in the, world. To May 15 . This has been named the constant pool effect adequate mosquito control is to wipe ou t level. During this time plants eventually develo p malaria. Efforts to do so have been exerted fo r in the shallow water and begin to provide a suit- many years, but with only local and limited suc- able habitat for mosquito breeding . However, cess. Because only certain species of anophelin e the period of constant pool level is maintained a s mosquitoes transmit the disease, the work ha s long as possible to discourage the growth of mar- been limited to studying the ecology and biology ginal vegetation, so that the shoreline will be of a few forms . The malaria-bearing anopheline s clean when the water is drawn down later . Also, live during their aquatic stages among the weeds the constant pool decreases the cost of an annual growing in the margins of clean and fairly large shoreline conditioning program by postponing bodies of water, although not in currents . These the beginning of the growing season of willow animals are not found breeding in rain pools and and other shoreline woody plants that do not artificial containers. start to grow until their buds are exposed to air . The major problem has been to eliminate or Finally, it provides ideal spawning grounds for make unsuitable their aquatic habitat. Methods bass and other centrarchid fishes long enough fo r include draining swamps, ditching certain low their eggs to hatch, and until they can follow th e areas, introducing top feeding minnows that pre y water down. Near the end of the period airplan e upon the larvae, spraying with oil, and dustin g dwetlgz with Paris green or DDT may be em- with Paris green . ployed to 'hold back the mosquito breeding . In view of the plans to impound the water s Between May 15 and July 1 a cyclical fluc- of the Willamette drainage, I want particularly tuation of the reservoirs is effected . The water to discuss the water level management plan as is lowered a foot and raised a foot within each developed by Hess and Kiker (1944) for the successive week to bring the water below the reservoirs of the Tennessee Valley Authority . band of marginal vegetation once a week to pro - This plan combines malaria control, wildlife con- vide a clean shoreline inimical tormosquito breed- servation measures, flood control, power develop - ing. There are three, perhaps four, effects : (1 ) 31

32 AQUATIC BIOLOGY Afternoon Session

Unfavorable conditions are created for oviposi- to discuss briefly is filariasis . Before this war, tion by mosquitoes. (2)'The production of food this problem was of interest only to a few para- organisms for the larvae is interrupted . - (3) The sitologists, but filariasis became one of the fjrst larvae are brought- out into open water where allies of Japan and remains a problem, still, out their predators are. (4) Some larvae and eggs in the Pacific and in Asia . In addition there ar e may be stranded. many returned service men in the- States' who Starting about July first it becomes . necessary have filariasis or who are apparently over th e to combine the fluctuation of water levels wit h disease. Recovering from the primary acut e a seasonal recession . The combined schedule stage of the disease, however, and being cure d keeps the water below the marginal vegetation are unfortunately two different things . The in- growth, to combat the increased mosquito breed- fective stage usually comes some months afte r ing. Too, by this time of year it is necessary t o the symptoms have disappeared. draw on the reservoirs for maintenance of powe r The life history of the filaria worm, Wucher- development and to supply water for navigation . eria bancro f ti, is briefly as follows : The adul t The schedule of fluctuation is to draw the wate r worms inhabit the lymph nodes of man and th e down a foot each week and bring it back 0.9 foot females give forth motile larvae which find their until about the first of October . This latter date way to the peripheral blood stream . When cer- marks the end of mosquito breeding . - Recession tain species of mosquitoes ingest the larvae wit h without fluctuation may continue after October a blood meal, the microfilariae, as the larvae are first to maintain power and navigation until the called, undergo a development in the thoracic mus - winter rains start refilling the reservoirs . Shore- cles of the mosquito and after about 2 week s line clearance programs can be carried out with reach the infective stage . These infective larvae greatest convenience during this low water period. may enter the proboscis of the mosquito and Shoreline control includes introduction o f reach a new human host when the mosquit o the water shield (Brasenia scheberi) and the takes another blood meal. squarestem spikerush (Eleocharis quadrangu- There are what appear to be two strains of lata) . These are probably good plants to use in this species of worm in the world. The difference wildlife conservation, and they discourage ano- between the two lies in a physiological variation . pheline mosquito breeding . The commoner form produces microfilaria e Reservoir managers attempt, on .the other which are found in the peripheral blood stream hand, to control the plants that are likely to en- only at night. The usual intermediate host o f courage anopheline breeding. These plants are this form is_the southern house mosquito, Culex also considered undesirable as water-fowl foo d quinquefasciatus, which feeds at night when the plants. This group includes alligator weed human host is asleep. The other strain produce s (Achyranthes philoxeroides), lotus (Nelumbo microfilariae which can be found under the ski n lutes), cattail (Typha latifolia), giant cutgrass during the daytime and its usual host is a day- (Zizaniopsis miliacea), water chestnut (Trapa feeding Aedes. This strain occurs in the South natans), and water hyacinth (Eichornia orras- Pacific from Samoa to Guadalcanal . sipes) . When the men in endemic areas contracte d Two good waterfowl food plants, the wil d the disease, they were sent home promptly . As millet (Echinochloa crus-galli) and rice cutgrass you probably know, the hospital at Klamath Fall s (Leersia oryzoides), thrive particularly well o n was one of the recuperation centers for filariasis areas flooded early in the spring and summer, but patients. The important question arose as to which are exposed later. The flooding and sub- whether we had native mosquitoes that could sequent exposure on the cleared shoreline i s transmit the disease. The southern house mos- therefore beneficial to the waterfowl and accom- quito is found in the southern part of the United plishes a useful conservation effect in additio n States from California to the Atlantic Ocean . It to mosquito control. was not known whether this mosquito could trans- To sum up, the controlled water levels o f mit the day-periodic type of filaria, but tests by impounded reservoirs can be so managed as to a group of workers in Asheville, N . C., quickly in- accomplish an important part of anopheline mos- dicated that it could . It is probable that any mos- quito control, reduce annual shoreline clearance quito which can transmit one strain can transmit work, and promote conservation of fish an d the other one also. waterfowl. Exhaustive tests of North American mos- The other public health problem that I wish quitoes have established several points . No im-

Afternoon Session PRATT-PUBLIC HEALTH PROBLEMS 33

portant anopheline mosquito in the United States while I was on Saipan with the Health Corps, I can be a vector of filariasis . None of the North experimented on the native population and found American Aedes mosquitoes so far tested are that even though they had no outward symptoms good hosts for the parasite, but many specie s of filariasis, they were nevertheless infected with remain to be tested including all the Pacific Slope a certain strain of it. Evidently the strain on ones. Because an Aedes does act as the usual hand there did not produce any ill effects on the vector in the South Pacific Area, there is a possi- body. bility that some species of this genus will b e DR. PRATT : About ten per cent of the people found a good host here. think that they will develop elephantiasis usuall y The two species of Psorophora mosquitoe s as a result of repeated attacks of filariasis. Ele- of the Southeastern States that most commonly phantiasis probably will not follow filariasis, but bite man have been shown to be good hosts o f it is difficult to make the patient believe this. the filaria. - DR. MOTE : I should like to emphasize the All the species of Culex that commonly bite need for making a thorough study of the life man are potential vectors of filariasis. A few of habits of the mosquito in its control. I do not the less common species have not been tested. believe that is fully realized here in the Pacific We are prepared to track down the vector s Northwest. I want to call your attention to an- of filariasis that might produce an endemic focu s other phase of control which you have all heard and apply control measures at fairly short notice . of-DDT. It occurs in several insecticidal prep- What the chances are of a focus becoming estab- arations-dust sprays and oil solutions . The Bu- lished remains to be seen-slight I hope . The reau of Entomology and other investigators hav e control measures to be employed are quite differ- carried on a series of investigations in the use o f ent from those employed in malaria control. The this material in the control of mosquito larvae . I mosquitoes that can act as vectors breed in small should like to read briefly a report that I have re- pools, preferably polluted ones. Local control ceived from the United States Department of could be instituted where necessary . Control of Agriculture Bureau of Entomolo on the effect the breeding would require that the pools wher e of DDT spray on fish and wildli breeding was taking place be discovered an d The Bureau of Entomology and lant Quarantine, eliminated or subjected to larvicides . realizing the possible danger that DDT applications ove r d extensive forested areas might have on fish and wildlife, • The patient harboring the filaria worms shoul requested the assistance and cooperation of specialists i n be tested regularly for the presence of micro- this- field to aid in obtaining facts . In the spring o f filariae in the blood. If microfilariae are found, 1944 a cooperative agreement was entered into with th e .the patient should be isolated from mosquitoes by Illinois Natural History Survey, and late that fall thei r means of screens, by staying indoors at night , report indicated high toxicity of DDT to fish when ap- plied at rates of one pound or more per acre . and by treatment of the walls with insecticida l In the spring of 1945 a cooperative agreement wa s paint. Control of this disease requires trained made with the Fish and Wildlife Service, after whic h mosquito students first of all. a program of work was arranged for that season by The foundations of control of the two publi c A. L . Nelson, E. W. Surber, and C . H. Hoffmann . c Three large areas, many ponds, and three streams were health problems I have discussed lie in aquati treated during the summer . The principal facts obtained biology. Many of the factors in malaria control from this study were briefly stated in a press release of by water level management were discovered by the Fish and Wildlife Service dated August 22, 1945 , _research work in aquatic ecology that was rea- and will be fully reported in a forthcoming publicatio n sonably "pure" when taken alone . The only ef- of the Department of the Interior. In general, fish in ponds and streams can be seriously affected at rates of forts to solve the filariasis problem that hav e I to 1 pound of DDT per acre . However, these amounts given any results so far have been through th e on certain occasions produced little effect on fish life. application of biological principles based on a Much more information is necessary. knowledge of the life history of the worm an d Birds and mammals are affected less than fish, a t the ecology of the mosquito hosts . least directly, by applications of DDT sufficient for the control of forest insects . In the 1,200-acre study area DR. MONK : The chamber is open for dis- in Pennsylvania several dead and affected birds wer e cussion. I wonder if there are any questions found and there was a significant reduction in the num- that you may have ? ber of insectivorous birds left on the sprayed area thre e QUESTION : I should like 'to add to the discus- days after the application. It was several weeks before sion of filariasis. Most people are under the de- it was repopulated. This reduction was due in, past_ to the death of the birds, but the exact proportion "ant- lusion that if they have filariasis they will usually able to this cause was not determined . Sonae.af the re- . contract elephantiasis . Working on a hunch duction-was due to birds leaving Age area •bt 1ie ofr lack

34 AQUATIC .BIOLOG Y

.of food .. Parts of this area appeared to receive much deposited in the water. The stream was practically de- more than five pounds of DDT per acre because of th e pleted of insect life, but relatively little direct harm was drift of the insecticide . There was a heavy population done to trout . The fish population was determined- by of cankerworms and leaf rollers on oak, and numerous E. W. Surber, and further study in the spring of 194 4 caterpillars on other trees at the time of spraying, an d should show whether or not starvation resulted from th e insectivorous birds were freely feeding on them . N o reduction of food supply . Much• more research work i s effects on birds were reported in the 100- and 300 acre necessary, but present information indicates that as littl e acres in Pennsylvania. It is reasonable to conclude, there - as i pound of DDT per acre actually going into th e fore, that dosages which are quite satisfactory for th e streams should be avoided if possible. control of forest insect pests-i .e., f to 1 pound per acre-will not disturb the bird or mammal populations t o DR . MONK : Are there further questions ,or any appreciable extent. However, it is not yet full y comments? As chairman of the last session, this understood how these birds were affected, and until mor e afternoon, I thank Dr . Pratt for his very inter- is learned about the use of DDT, caution is necessary i n esting presentation of these matters, and I think applying it on large acreages . I may also express the appreciation of all of us I should like to read another paragraph from to all. who have so far spoken to us. I remind this report with regard to aquatic life : you of the dinner at the Benton Hotel at 6 :15 Aquatic life was, in general, much more seriousl y this evening when Dr. Miller again will address affected than arboreal or terrestrial forms . One-hal f us. pound of DDT per acre can destroy tremendous number s BIBLIOGRAPH Y of aquatic insects, crustaceans, and other forms . Thi s depletion of food for fish might have some effect on th e Hess, A . D., and C. C. Kiker, J. Natl. Malaria Soc . 3, stocking of the streams. One area, through which a 181 (1944) . stream flowed, was treated at the rate of one pound pe r Newton, W . L ., W. H. Wright, and I . Pratt, Am. J. acre, but actually only about i of a pound per acre was Trop Med. 25, 253 (1945) . WATER AS AN INTERNAL ENVIRONMEN T

ROBERT C. MILLER

MRS. WINSTON : On behalf of Phi Kappa manity . The environment born of our intelligence and Phi I welcome all of you who are here to attend our inventions is adjusted neither for our stature no r our shape . Since natural conditions of existence have the Seventh Biology Colloquium at Oregon Stat e been destroyed by modern civilization, the science of ma n College. I extend a welcome particularly to th e has become the most necessary of all sciences . out-of-town people who come from other cam- The importance of the animate over the in - puses and towns to hear our distinguishe d animate problems in the biological aspects o f speakers. marine-borne problems has been pointed out b y Phi Kappa Phi is an example of democrac y Dr. Kofoid and Dr. Miller in one of their join t in the academic world since it embraces recogni- papers in these words, "The physical obstacles tion of scholarship in all fields of study, the lib- which loomed large in the early history of marin e eral arts as well as the pure and applied sciences . transportation-the dangers of storm and ship - The chapter is very proud of the opportunity thi s wreck, delays due to adverse winds and currents , year to present the Biology Colloquium for th e and the hazards of navigating uncharted seas- seventh time on the O. S. C. campus. We hav e have been more nearly eliminated. The biological been most fortunate indeed to have as the leade r problems involved, however, have not been so Dr. Robert C . Miller, Director of the California successfully coped with." Academy of Sciences . I have been intrigued with the many phases Phi Kappa Phi has been assisted by othe r of biological science that have become sufficiently groups on the campus, Phi Sigma, biology hon- important children to be named in the unabridge d orary, Omicron Nu, home economics honorary, Webster's dictionary. I counted one list of 27 and Sigma Xi . Without their help we could not different sciences with the prefix "Bio." Some of possibly have achieved the things that have bee n them are very stimulating to the imagination o f done today . the layman : "hio-mathematics, " "biometry," "bio- I do think that there was never a time whe n dynamics," "biochemistry," "biogeography," "bio- we who are not scientists were looking to th e linguistics, " "biostratigraphy," "biogeochemis- scientists to solve so many problems for us as try" to mention a few ; and I particularly lik e today. We are looking with almost bated breath what seem to be the implications of the adjectiv e for them to bring forth these truths. "biologicohumanistic ." It would seem that Phi There are a number of ways in which we ar e Kappa Phi could continue to hold biology col- reminded of the importance of the field of Bi- loquia almost indefinitely without repeating any ology, a study of the life history of plants and one theme . animals. Many of us think of the study of ma n Dr. Edmund W . Sinnott, writing for th e as the major field, but of course that is only on e Yale Quarterly Review, suggests in his theme th e phase. It seems to be true, however, that any "Biological Basis of Democracy" that we may study of life in even its most primitive form can well add to the list "biopolitical science ." His teach us some things about man. The importance theme is a very compelling one, comparing th e of the biological sciences as they relate to ma n individual in society with the primitive forms o f has been expressed in Alexis Carrel in his book living substance . Dr. Sinnott says, "Persons are Man the Unknown, wherein he says : of greater worth than any systems which they Many of the questions put to themselves by thos e may compose ; we may be assured and comforted who study human beings remain without answer . Im- by the great fact that protoplasm comes not a t mense regions of our inner world are still unknown. It wholesale but in individual packages . . . the is quite evident that the accomplishments of all the sci- infinite variety of man is not expressed in popu- ences having man as an object remain insufficient an d that our knowledge of ourselves is still most rudimentary . lations but in personalities and the roots of per- Man should be the measure of all ; on the contrary h e sonality lie deep in that mysterious, fecund, in- is a stranger in the world that he has created . He has tegrative stuff which is the common basis of th e been incapable of organizing this world for himself, be - life we share with even the humblest creatures ." cause he did not possess a practical knowledge of hi s He further points out that liberty, progress, an own nature. There, the enormous advance gained by the d sciences of inanimate matter over those of living things individualism are common characteristics of a is one of the greatest catastrophes ever suffered by hu - salutary environment for both the primitive livin g 35

36 AQUATIC BIOLOGY Dinner Session

substance and the human individual. I detect I earnestly hope it was the second meaning some correlation in this same area, if I can in- your committee had in mind, and not the first . terpret it correctly, in the study Dr. Moore made While on the subject of etymology, I had bes t wherein he was able to reveal the ability of earth- make some defense of the title of these remarks , worms and salamanders to make some associa- as well as that of my remarks this morning . En- tions in the nervous systems that we can cal l vironment is defined in the dictionary as the sum learning, learning being usually thought of as an total of conditions surrounding an organism . In attribute of the higher forms of animal life only , speaking of an external environment I am ac- and particularly of man . This seems to give us cordingly open to the accusation of tautology , hope ; if an earthworm and a salamander can b e and in referring to an internal environment I ma y taught perhaps there is still hope for man . likewise be criticized for placing in juxtapositio n Today we have been hearing outstanding two antithetical terms. In feeble self-defense I scholars in that division of biological science can only offer the statement that I considered all which deals with forms of life in a water environ- other possible titles without finding any that ex - ment. The committee in charge has organized pressed even as well as these the line of thought what seems to me to be a very complete, finishe d I have wished to develop. product in this seventh Colloquium . I thank The discussions of today have been partly them sincerely on behalf of Phi Kappa Phi . biological, partly physicochemical, and partly his- It now gives me great pleasure to reintroduce torical. Professor Kincaid gave us a very in- to you the main speaker of today's program, Dr. teresting account of some biological events be- Miller, who will extend and summarize today 's tween 1894 and the present. To complete the activities for us . picture, I wish to cover the period between 189 4 DR . MILLER : Among the researches preced- and the beginning of Archaean time-roughly a ing my appearance on this program has been an span of two thousand million years . Unhappily I investigation of the merits of "colloquium" ver- shall not be able, like Professor Kincaid, to illu- sus "symposium" as the proper designation for a minate my story with personal recollections . gathering of this character. While there are, as This morning we discussed the properties o f will speedily become apparent to any ingenious water which make it particularly available as an mind, certain possible experimental approaches to environment for living organisms . We mentioned the problem, I limited myself to consulting th e its fluidity, specific gravity, specific heat, and sol- literature-to be specific, the Century Dictionary : vent action as significant properties in this re- spect, and in conclusion pointed out that the par- SYMPOSIUM (Gr., a drinking party, drinking afte r a dinner) . The symposium usually followed a din- ticular salts dissolved in sea water, together with ner. . . . the properties of the water itself, render that So far so good. What could be more fitting substance a practically ideal biological medium. than a symposium on the physical and chemical This evening I wish to discuss some of the par- properties and biological uses of water . One ticular ways in which organisms have made us e could even pass around samples, to alleviate th e of this medium . desiccation of the after dinner speech. But I The lower invertebrates-and lower plants a s read further : well-have their cells and tissues in direct con- tact with the fluid environment. Unicellular Its enjoyment was heightened by intellectual or agreeable conversation (italics mine), by the introductio n forms have the protoplast separated from the of music and dancers, and by other amusements . water only by the cell membrane or by such cutic- In the absence of music and dancers, I as- ular structures as they may develop for adde d sume that my contribution to the program of th e stability and protection. Even at this primitive evening would fall into the category of "other level, mechanisms are found for the handling o f amusements ." I think your committee was well water, whether by vacuoles or merely by alterin g advised to abandon the word "symposium ." the permeability of the cell membrane . It would be hard to estimate the number of wrinkles i n But when I turned to the word "colloquium" the brows of physiologists that have been mad e I was hardly reassured : by finding osmosis through a cell wall proceedin g COLLOQUIUM (L ., a conversation) . 1 . In law, that in the wrong direction . part of the complaint or declaration in an action for defa- Some years ago Tashiro, in a little book en- mation which shows that the words complained of were spoken concerning the plaintiff .-2. A colloquoy ; a meet- titled A Chemical Sign of Life, maintained that ing for discussion. respiration is the clue to the diagnosis of living

Dinner Session MILLER-WATER AS AN INTERNAL ENVIRONMENT 37

protoplasm. What we might term "a physical But to get back to the subject of water. The sign of life" i"s the ability to regulate water con - point of all this is that water is indispensable to tent. • The regulatory mechanism may sometimes life. The lower organisms are surrounded by th e be impaired without complete disaster ; but when fluid necessary to their existence ; the higher or- an organism finally loses control of the ingress o r ganisms have the vital fluid inside . Flagellates, egress of water, all else is lost. sponges, coelenterates, are bound to the aquatic Sponges., which are hardly more than colonie s environment ; reptiles, birds, and mammals carry of cells, are nevertheless organized around chan- their sea water with them. nels through which the life-giving water is ac- It is probably not too much to say that the tively circulated. Coelenterates, with a distinc- greatest single step in evolution was this enclos- tively higher type of organization, have thei r ing of the vital fluid within the body, and of regu- combined digestive tract and body cavity open lating its composition . It meant emancipation to the sea. from, the disasters formerly attendant on fluctua- In Platyhelminthes we find a greater tendency tions of the aquatic environment . The organism to personal privacy, with a digestive tract more with a closed circulatory system was able t o specifically limited to that purpose, and with provide its own internal environment, to regulat e water (lymph) enclosed within the body wall and the concentration of salts and other substances in irrigating the loosely organized mesenchyme . that environment, and in the higher vertebrates Here also we first find a definitely organized ex- to regulate even its temperature . cretory system. The regulation of water pro- I should be pleased to claim this masterpiec e ceeds apace with incleasing complexity of organi- of deduction as a product of my own cerebration . zation. It was, however, proposed by a German name d In annelids we first find a well-developed cir- Bunge in 1889 and by a Frenchman named Quin - culatory system and, significantly enough, this i ton in 1897, both of whom pointed out the sim- s ilarity in the salts of sea water and those of th the first group (if we may except soil Protozo a e and a few flatworms) in blood of higher organisms and offered in explana- . which we find any im- tion the hypothesis I have just suggested portant tendency to adopt a terrestrial life. . The idea was developed in considerable de- Earthworms, however, with all their admir- tail by Macallum in 1926, who in fact went a able traits, are still subject to desiccation, and are great deal farther than the present speaker i s restricted accordingly to a limited-one might willing to follow. even say a dull-environment . It is first in th e Now, although the same ions occur in se a insects, with their chitinous exoskeleton whic h water and in vertebrate blood, the proportion s simultaneously gives protection and support an d are somewhat different. The cations listed in resists desiccation, that we find a -group of organ - order of their abundance in sea water are sodium, isms equipped for terrestrial life. While many, magnesium, , calcium, and potassium. In verte- as I remarked this. morning, still undergo their brate blood the order is sodium, potassium, cal- larval stages in the water, at least the adults hav e cium, and magnesium . Macallum- explained this a new freedom. They may dance for a day lik e by the theory that the Archaean ocean contained. the May-fly, be industrious like the ant, or cheer- more potassium and less magnesium than the fully disreputable like the grasshopper, or like ocean today. the moth burn both ends at the candle . They The concentration of salts in the ' blood- get around. and hence its osmotic pressure-are about one The only other great terrestrial group is th e third that of sea water . This, Macaliuu i rea- vertebrates, who have met the problem in a dif- sons, represents the concentration of sea water ferent way. With an endoskeleton for support , at the time the higher vertebrates moved out of such protective surfaces as skin, scales, feathers , it-or at least the time when the ancestors- of or hair, a four-chambered heart, arteries, veins, higher vertebrates developed closed circulatory capillaries, lymph vessels, _several miles of renal systems. tubules, and a semblance of- a brain, the highe r The bloods of modern invertebrates are ranch vertebrates challenge the insects in •a struggle fo r closer to sea water than the blood of vertebrates. the domination of the world . By a curious train This Macallum interprets as evidence that-"theiii of circumstances, if a few atomic bombs, fo r circulatory systems have become closed in more . which they are in no degree responsible, go off recent geologic time . Postulating continuous at the right time and place, the insects win . increase in the saltness of the sea 'since Archaean

38 AQUATIC BIOLOGY Dinner Session

time, he deduces that the salt content of the bloo d 1. The assumption that the concentration of of any organism will indicate the .period at which salt in protoplasm represents the salt concentra- the circulatory system in its ancestors became tion of the ocean in Archeozoic or early Protero- closed off. zoic time seems to me physiologically unsound . I Macallum also investigated the salt content o f see no reason to postulate a primitive organic protoplasm, taking herring eggs as a convenien t system in precise osmotic balance with the sur- source. - He found the concentration of salts in rounding medium. This does not accord wit h herring eggs to be 0.5905 per cent compared with life as we know it, and is, indeed, just the situa- sea water at 3.5 per cent. He further remarks : tion in which we should expect nothing to hap- As the sodium in the ova amounts to 0 .08179 pe r pen-a kind of Proterozoic Nirvana . Proto- cent, and that in the ocean is 1 .0 per cent, it may then be plasm, if I may so speak, is essentially lazy . inferred that one-twelfth of all geological time had in- What the organism needs if it is to do anything tervened between the beginning of oceanic history an d is not an isotonic medium, but a medium of dif- the fixation of the inorganic concentration and ratios i n the cytoplasm . Further, as the amount of sodium in ferent osmotic pressure, so that it has to get to the blood plasma of the higher Vertebrates range s work. around 0.3 per cent, it may be estimated that inorganic 2. The assumption of a progressive increas e concentrations in the cytoplasm of undifferentiated ani- in the salt content of the ocean, at a determinabl e mal cells became fixed after about one-fourth of the and steady rate, appears definitely doubtful, not- time passed which intervened between the formation o f the oceans and the appearance of Eovertebrates . withstanding that most of us have been taught this theory somewhere along the line. Many Macullum's views have been criticized by Pan - e years ago Joly, after repeated calculations base d tin, Dakin, and others, and they do seem a trifl on this assumption, arrived at a figure of 97, - over-theoretical. But another physiologist ha s f 600,000 years for the age of the ocean, an age gone even farther. C. G. Rogers in speaking o so far short of probability as immediately to cast the development of thermoregulatory mechanism s r . doubt on the validity of the premises . Moreove in higher vertebrates says (Textbook of Comp the salt content of igneous rocks is negligible , Physiol., McGraw-Hill, 1927) : and the only considerable amounts of salt in the It may be assumed that in the development of thes e world today, outside of the ocean itself, are relict mechanisms an attempt has been made to maintain i n the animal bodies about that temperature to which th e deposits of ancient seas . ancestral forms had become accustomed, or which they Charles H . White has lately (Amer. Jour. Sci. had found most advantageous in their original marin e 240 :714. 1942.) . advanced the interesting and environment. It appears possible that there is in the bod y plausible hypothesis that in the cooling of the temperature of birds and mammals an indication of th e temperature of the sea at the time when the ancestra l earth, the sffica.tes, which have a higher melting forms left the sea . point than the chlorides, would solidify first, leav- All we can say of this' is that, if man's ances- ing the salt to accumulate as a surface layer to b e tors were swimming about in water of a tempera- taken into solution as further .cooling permitted ture of 98 . or thereabouts, it was high tim e condensation of water. On this assumption, the .6° F .primeval ocean would' have had a salt concentra- they moved out and took up life on land . tion hardly different from the ocean today, a n Rogers says further : hypothesis which merits serious consideration and Another fact of peculiar interest is the diurnal a possible revaluation of some long establishe d change of temperature in warm blooded animals and i n the sea. The body of the warm blooded animal reache s concepts. its highest temperature normally between 2 and 6 p .m., Biologists in general, I think, will accept th e and then slowly cools, reaching its minimum between 2 thesis that the circulatory systems of higher ani- and 6 a .m. The difference is not great, being about 1° C . mals represent an enclosure within the body o f A similar daily variation is known to occur in the sea . the organism of the medium in which it was Unfortunately for this interesting comparison , originally bathed . The correspondence bf th e owls have their highest temperature at night. As salts in the blood to the salts in sea water, to- Adam Sedgwick emphasized a long time ago, it gether with the similarity in hydrogen-ion con- is unnecessary .to urge an evolutionary explana- centration and buffer, effect as related to the car- tion of a phenomenon if a functional one will bonate-bicarbonate equilibrium, while not perfect suffice. in detail, is nevertheless too impressive to be dis- Before leaving this subject I should like t o missed as mere coincidence . Yet we have the make two further observations by way of a problem of accounting for the difference in con- critique of Macallum's conclusions. centration. Most vertebrates (with the exception

Dinner Session MILLER-WATER AS AN INTERNAL ENVIRONMENT 39

of elasmobranchs in which the osmotic pressur e There is no deeper instinct-and this may hav e of the blood is raised by a large urea content ) political implications-there is no deeper in- have blood with art osmotic pressure about one- stinct than the desire for comfort and the statu s third that of sea water : If we abandon the con- , quo. Reformers have two strikes on them at th e cept of an ocean that has grown progressively start, because nobody likes change . I realize I more saline through geologic time, how shall we may be challenged on this, but I am willing to ad - account for this discrepancy ? duce evidence that mammals, birds, and even fis h It has been customary for biologists to think prefer the familiar to the new. of the early course of evolution as having take n This does not at all mean that I consider the place in the sea, and of the major phyletic group s status quo desirable . No one has demonstrated as having had their origin in . that environment. that what the organism wants is what it needs. In 1900 T. C. Chamberlin advanced the hypothe- That is only a fiction of progressive education . sis that the early vertebrates had their origin in As I see it, the basis of evolution is the constant continental fresh waters, and in that medium ha d struggle of the organism to maintain a degree o f undergone their evolution in Silurian and De- comfort in an environment that is continuall y vonian time. This stirred up considerable con- prodding it and pushing it around . Evolution, troversy, and there is a large literature' on the like revolution, occurs only when organisms ar e subject. uncomfortable. We are not compelled, however, to choos e Physiologists have a word for the effort o f between the salt- and fresh-water . hypotheses. the -organism to maintain the status quo . They . With- There is another alternative to which, curiously call it "homeostasis, " the constant state enough, only a small amount of attention has out being too specific as to detail, I can conceive been given. I refer to a complex of conditions of the residents of some ancient estuary, buffete d which the aquatic biglogist.finds in many respects by the continual interchange of fresh and sal t h water brought about by .fluctuating rainfall and more interesting than any other : the brackis m water environment . the ebb and flow of the-tide, meeting the proble by enclosing a portion . of the fluid environment If we can think back to the earliest period at within themselves, where they could keep it un- which land and sea were segregated, wherever der control. Indeed I can think of no reason for rain ran off the land to join the ocean there ex- the development of a closed circulatory system isted an intermediate zone of brackish water. The except the need of maintaining a constant stat e extent of this environment would vary with cli- amid troublesome surioundings . mate and physiography, as it does today-rang- In reflective moments I have sometimes ing, let us say, from conditions at the mouth o f pressed this line of thought further, and consid- the nearly dry Salinas River to conditions at th e ered the idea that philosophy and theology migh t mouth of the Amazon. In an epoch of wide shal- be regarded as the efforts of one organism, Homo low seas and heavy rainfall the brackish wate r sapiens-the thinking man, the worrying man - environment must have been vast indeed. Schu- to achieve a homeostasis of the mind . But this chert has stated : "Since the close of the Protero- is getting away from the subject of water, to zoic, North America, and especially the United which in closing I wish to return . States, has been widely flooded by warm and No one has yet discovered the fountain o f shallow marine waters at least twelve times, an d youth ; but we are well advised to speak of it as a probably not less than seventeen times." fountain. Sixty-five per cent of the human body We have to consider the possibility that these consists of water. There is increasing evidenc e seas were at some times concentrated throug h that old age is literally a matter of drying up. evaporation, as well as being at other times di- The four major causes of death, statistics show , luted by rainfall . But still they measure up t o are heart disease, cancer, intracranial lesions o f at least one primary specification for the cradle vascular origin, and nephritis . Three of these of evolution . They fluctuated. They subjected at least have to do with the mechanism for hand - the organism to stress . ling water. We survive only as long as we ca n I have already expressed the opinion that successfully maintain a satisfactory interna l protoplasm is essentially lazy. Organisms like aquatic environment. to loaf. If we had a theme song for the animal Man has been given various definitions, flat- kingdom.it would probably be the Negro spiritual, tering or unflattering, from "thinker " to "feather- "When I Get to Heaven, I 'se Gwine to Sit Down." less biped." From my remarks this evening you

AQUATIC BIOLOGY Dinner Session

are probably regarding him at this moment as an Macullum, A . B., 1926. The paleochemistry of the bod y animated waterspout-a comparison that I fea r fluids and tissues. Physiol. Rev., 6 :316-357. is all too apt, because a waterspout involves a Pantin, C . F., 1931. The origin of the compgsition o f great deal of wind. the body fluids in animals. Biol. Rev.; 6 :459-482. Rogers, C. G., 1927. Textbook of comparative physiol- SELECTED REFERENCE S ogy. (New York, McGraw-Hill), 635 pp. . . On the habitat of the early Sverdrup, H. U., M. W. Johnson, and R. H. Fleming, , t Chamberlin, T. C., 1900 Vertebrates. Jour. Geol., 8 :400-412 . 1942. The oceans. (New York, Prentice-Hall) , 1087 pp. Dakin, W. J., 1935. The aquatic animal apd its environ- 1' ment. Prot. Linn. Soc. New South Wales, 50 :vii- White, C. H., 1942. Why the sea is salt. Amer. Jour. xxxii. Sci., 240 :714-724.

12.

,r ;

I. r

i

L

L :r

.4