_________________________________________________________________________________________________________ Kölner Forum Geol. P<strong>al</strong>äont., 19 (2011) M. ARETZ, S. DELCULÉE, J. DENAYER & E. POTY (Eds.) Abstracts, 11th Symposium on Fossil Cnidaria and Sponges, <strong>Liège</strong>, August 19-29, 2011 _________________________________________________________________________________________________________ For his scientific achievements and soci<strong>et</strong><strong>al</strong> activity, Dr James ALLOITEAU was awar<strong>de</strong>d the titles Officier d’Académie, Officier <strong>de</strong> l’Instruction publique, Chev<strong>al</strong>ier <strong>de</strong> la Légion d’honneur and Comman<strong>de</strong>ur <strong>de</strong>s P<strong>al</strong>mes académiques. ALLOITEAU, J. (1952): Madréporaires post-p<strong>al</strong>éozoiques. - In : PIVETEAU, J. (Ed.), Traité <strong>de</strong> P<strong>al</strong>éontologie, 1, 599-684. ALLOITEAU, J. (1957): Contribution à la systématique <strong>de</strong>s Madréporaires fossiles. 462 p., 286 figs, 26 pls. Paris. CHEVALIER, J.P. (1970): James Alloiteau. - Bull<strong>et</strong>in <strong>de</strong> la Société Géologique <strong>de</strong> France (7), 12 (2): 161-168. 150
_________________________________________________________________________________________________________ Kölner Forum Geol. P<strong>al</strong>äont., 19 (2011) M. ARETZ, S. DELCULÉE, J. DENAYER & E. POTY (Eds.) Abstracts, 11th Symposium on Fossil Cnidaria and Sponges, <strong>Liège</strong>, August 19-29, 2011 _________________________________________________________________________________________________________ Darwin, pioneer of reef transects, reef ecology and ancient reef mo<strong>de</strong>lling: significance of his specimens in the Natur<strong>al</strong> History Museum, London. Brian R. ROSEN 1 & Jill DARRELL 2 1 Department of Zoology, Natur<strong>al</strong> History Museum, Cromwell Road, London SW7 5BD, United Kingdom; B.Rosen@nhm.ac.uk 2 Department of P<strong>al</strong>aeontology, Natur<strong>al</strong> History Museum, Cromwell Road, London SW7 5BD, United Kingdom; J.Darrell@nhm.ac.uk Most ecologic<strong>al</strong> studies of ancient and mo<strong>de</strong>rn reefs make use of the concept of ecologic<strong>al</strong> zonation, and data are gener<strong>al</strong>ly collected and presented in relation to some kind of transect. Where orientation and aspect of the reef are <strong>al</strong>so known (or self-evi<strong>de</strong>nt) the usu<strong>al</strong> convention is to collect and present at least some of the data <strong>al</strong>ong transects perpendicular to the strike of the perceived reef front, not least because of the wi<strong>de</strong>ly perceived ecologic<strong>al</strong> importance of hydrodynamic energy and water <strong>de</strong>pth. Here we make the case that Charles Darwin was probably the first person to adopt this approach, and in this respect could be said to have ‘invented’ studies of reef ecology, reef zonation and their dynamic implications for reef growth, ancient and mo<strong>de</strong>rn. Even after many years of ev<strong>al</strong>uation of Darwin’s biologic<strong>al</strong> and geologic<strong>al</strong> work, his particular contribution in this area has received little historic<strong>al</strong> attention (but see SPONSEL 2009), and in any case, without reference to the actu<strong>al</strong> reef specimens he collected. The NHM holds 29 reef specimens of Darwin’s, of which 13 are mo<strong>de</strong>rn organisms, and 16 are geologic<strong>al</strong> specimens of fossils and rocks (Holocene-Recent). All but one he collected from the atoll of Cocos (Keeling) in the eastern Indian Ocean, which he visited during April 1-11, 1836. By that stage in the Beagle voyage, he had <strong>al</strong>ready worked out his famous subsi<strong>de</strong>nce theory of oceanic atolls (DARWIN 1835, 1842), somewhere b<strong>et</strong>ween Tahiti and New Ze<strong>al</strong>and (DARWIN 1835 in STODDART 1962, SPONSEL 2009), so it was critic<strong>al</strong> for him that the only opportunity he had to ‘ground-truth’ his i<strong>de</strong>as with surveys and specimens, came late in the voyage at Cocos (Keeling). A key part of his subsi<strong>de</strong>nce theory was that reef-buil<strong>de</strong>rs (cor<strong>al</strong>s, cor<strong>al</strong>line <strong>al</strong>gae, <strong>et</strong>c.) grew most vigorously <strong>al</strong>ong reef fronts and edges since this, for him, was the main reason for the characteristic rimand-saucer-like surface morphology of atolls. He therefore concentrated his efforts in making numerous reef transects b<strong>et</strong>ween shore and reef-edge, even tackling the heavy surf and rocky structure of the outer edges on his “leaping pole”, to ascertain the ecologic<strong>al</strong> and geologic<strong>al</strong> nature of this relatively inaccessible part of the reef. At the same time, assisted by Captain FitzRoy and numerous members of the Beagle’s crew, he gathered information about the <strong>de</strong>eper reef front through strenuous and m<strong>et</strong>hodic<strong>al</strong> use of waxarmoured soundings, itself a pioneering exercise in oceanography (SPONSEL 2009). Results were synthesized on to a gener<strong>al</strong>ized reef transect. His i<strong>de</strong>a of zonation drew on work in other contexts by Alexan<strong>de</strong>r von Humboldt (SPONSEL 2009) The specimens Darwin collected inclu<strong>de</strong>d both biologic<strong>al</strong> and geologic<strong>al</strong> materi<strong>al</strong> and served his purpose in showing both the zon<strong>al</strong> distribution of reef-buil<strong>de</strong>rs and their zone-related transformation into reef-rock (“… and I collected a very interesting series [of specimens] beginning with fragments of un<strong>al</strong>tered cor<strong>al</strong>, and ending with others, where it was impossible to discover … any trace of organic matter.” – DARWIN 1842, p.12). He subsequently donated most if not <strong>al</strong>l of these same specimens to the NHM (ROSEN & DARRELL 2011). Of particular interest is that these specimens are <strong>al</strong>so accompanied by a little explanatory s<strong>et</strong> of captions in Darwin’s handwriting, which he probably prepared for his presentation of his atoll subsi<strong>de</strong>nce theory on May 31st 1837 (DARWIN 1837) to the Geologic<strong>al</strong> Soci<strong>et</strong>y of London (ROSEN & DARRELL 2011). The same exhibit and captions subsequently went on display in the g<strong>al</strong>leries of the NHM. Unfortunately, when the specimens were removed to storage around 1973, they became separated from their captions, so their relation to Darwin’s transects is no longer directly clear. We have therefore tried to reconstruct his exhibit, which in most cases can be done without too much uncertainty. We will be presenting our results here, an example of which is shown in Fig. 1. 151
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