|
Heterotrophic flagellates of Botany Bay, Sydney, Australia
|
|
On 29 April 1770, James Cook made his first landing on Australian soil on the southern peninsula of Botany Bay. The bay is now within the Sydney metropolitan area - the largest of the Australian cities and located on the eastern coast of New South Wales, Australia. The bay is fed by two rivers, the Cooks River and the Georges River. The maximal tidal range in the bay is about 2 metres. The natural intertidal shoreline of Botany Bay consists of three main habitats: rocky areas, soft sediments (sandy beaches and mudflats) without macroalgae or other large plants, and vegetated soft sediments (mangrove swamps and seagrass beds). Each type occupies about thirty percent of the shore. The unnatural shoreline includes Port Botany docks and Kingsford Smith international airport. James Cook and the botanist Joseph Banks formed a very favourable opinion of the area. They spent a week exploring the region. The upper map derived from the visit by Cook, and was engraved from a manuscript chart drawn by James Cook and Isaac Smith (a cousin of the wife of Cook and expert draughtsman who accompanied Cook on the Endeavour). It is dated about 1773. The lower picture is a contemporary photograph, with the Bay viewed from the west from above George's River, and showing Cape Banks (to the left) and Pt Solander (to the right) in the distance. A more comprehensive description of many of the protozoa can be obtained in Lee, W.J. and Patterson, D.J. 2000. Heterotrophic flagellates (Protista) from marine sediments in Botany Bay, Australia. Journal of Natural History 34: 483-562. Upper image was produced following Cook's first voyage of exploration (1769 / 1770) to eastern Australia on the HMS Endeavour, lower image from New South Wales Department of Land and Water Conservation Upper image is in the public domain, lower image copyright New South Wales Department of Land and Water Conservation, used with permission.
|
|
|
