Algae. 2011; 26(1): 1-1.

Note from the editor

Kwang Young Kim

Department of Oceanography, Chonnam National University

This issue of Algae brings two papers on the ecology of the life history of Chondrus crispus in Nova Scotia, Canada. The juxtaposition of these papers is highly unusual in that one is the final publication of the eminent Canadian phycologist, Jack L. McLachlan FRSC, whereas the senior author of the companion paper, David Garbary, was McLachlan’s first graduate student, and David has dedicated this paper to his mentor. Unfortunately, Jack died in December 2010 (a biography will appear in Phycologia). His paper was completed by the corresponding author, Nancy Lewis.McLachlan’s paper has an interesting history. While the data were collected in the late 1980s and the manuscript initially drafted in the late 1990s, circumstances prevented publication at that time. Despite the time interval bringing this paper to fruition, the theoretical issues underlying this work are contemporary. These papers are of particular interest in that they use different approaches to sampling the Chondrus populations. In the McLachlan et al. study, all of the fronds from unit areas were sampled at two different elevations in the intertidal zone across a number of sites. In the Garbary et al. study, single fronds were sampled from different thalli representing both temporal and spatial sampling at a variety of scales. Regardless of the different sampling methods with their inherent assumptions, both studies come to a similar conclusion. Thus each paper provides a fundamental reinforcement of the other.