The Palao Tropical Biological Station

Abstract

THE history of the investigation of coral reefs reveals the fascination these unique marine communities have exercised over the imaginations of zoologists. One thinks of Darwin at Cocos Keeling, of Dana on the United States Exploring Expedition, of Murray on the Challenger, of Alexander Agassiz who sailed over all tropical oceans, of Gardiner and Sewell in the Indian Ocean, of Mayor at the Tortugas and at Murray Island and Samoa, of Crossland in the Red Sea and in Tahiti. In more recent years exploration and description have given place to studies of a more physiological nature, and research has been localized around permanent or temporary marine laboratories. Mayor led the way at the Tortugas and was followed by the Dutch at Batavia, by the Great Barrier Reef Expedition at its temporary laboratory at Low Isles and by the University of Egypt on behalf of which Crossland established the marine laboratory at Ghardaqa in the Red Sea.