Historical Phytoplankton Ecologists, Early Concepts and Debates

There has long been a fascination with plankton, how they differ, where and why they occur, and the processes that control them. There have been an abundance of questions, methods, debates, and arguments, some friendly, some less so, as to what plankton are, how they grow, how to best measure them, and how their production is balanced with other processes in the ocean. Some of the historical plankton ecologists and their debates are introduced here to underscore two important points. First, many of our current ideas and debates have had a long history, and second, it is the acquisition of new data, often with new approaches and methods, that allow us to resolve long standing disputes.