In 1917, Arthur Tansley published a paper entitled “On competition between Galium saxatile L. (G. hercynicum Weig.) and Galium Sylvestre Poll. (G. asperum Schreb.) on different types of soil” in the Journal of Plant Ecology. In his paper, he argued that Galium Sylvestre germinates on calcareous sandy soil and acid peat while Galium saxatile grows on all the different types of soils employed in the study. He argued that calcareous soils had the lowest germination rate and those seedlings produced there ends up being chlorotic and many of them dies. Those that survive are usually green but are not able to survive competitive with Galium Sylvestre. The growth of both species is slow on acid peat and loam soil, the two species usually germinate freely. The growth of Galium Sylvestre is normal on calcareous soil and slow with Galium saxatile. Competition, therefore, works through direct suppression of one species and as a result, the other one ends up having a vigorous growth for as long as it is growing on its preferred soil. The paper is a description of two plant species that are found in diversity grasslands in Britain and on different soils and shows how biotic interactions and physiological tolerance limits these species.
The style of his paper is completely different from that of a modern scientific paper. For example, in the paper, he states that tragically, Captain A.S Marsh worked on the study up to the time when he joined the army and ended up being killed during World War I. This is completely different from the way in which modern scientific papers are written. The paper also lacks statistics as most of statistics had not been invented by the time he wrote this paper. However, he thinks about variance in the paper. The paper also does not have enough citations as it only has three, which are Schimper, Nageli and Drude. A scientific paper like what he wrote is expected to have a significant number of references to support the study and its findings. Based on my understanding, I think a large number of formal scientific ecology had not been discovered or invented during this period.
Reference:
Tansley, A. G. (1917). On competition between Galium saxatile L. (G. hercynicum Weig.) and Galium Sylvestre Poll. (G. asperum Schreb.) on different types of soil. The Journal of Ecology, 173-179.
Applied Plant Ecology Winter 2020 