Helen Blackler
(Margaret (Margret) Constance) Helen Blackler | |
|---|---|
| Born | 29 August 1902 Arnside,Cumbria, England |
| Died | 5 November 1981(aged 79) St Andrews,Scotland |
| Alma mater | University of Liverpool |
| Scientific career | |
| Fields | Phycology;Taxonomy |
| Institutions | Liverpool Museum University of St Andrews |
| Thesis | A morphological and cytological study of certain species of Asperococcus(1928) |
| Doctoral advisor | Margery Knight |
Margaret Constance Helen Blackler(1902–1981) was a British phycologist, botanical collector and museum curator.
Career
[edit]Blackler was Assistant Keeper of Botany atLiverpool Museumbetween 1933 and 1945. She also had some temporary teaching posts at colleges and the universities of Liverpool and Sheffield.[1]In 1947 she moved to an academic post atUniversity of St Andrews.She was a lecturer in botany until 1961 and then promoted to senior lecturer until her retirement in 1968. She continued active laboratory research at the university'sGatty Marine Laboratoryuntil the day before her death.[2]
At Liverpool Museum she curated historic plant specimens that had been added to the herbarium. These included ones fromLiverpool Botanical Gardenand ferns from India and Ceylon. She was also able to work on some collections of marine algae.[2]
Her research at St Andrews was about marine algae, especiallybrown algae(Phaeophyceae). She focused on taxonomy and ecology, especially in the generaColpomenia,PylaiellaandDesmarestia.
She spent 1959 in the United States visiting marine biology laboratories and the University of California, Berkeley, with funding from theAmerican Association of University Women.[1]
She was a member of the founding committee of theBritish Phycological Societyand was made an Honorary Life Member in 1977.[2][1]
Publications and specimens identified
[edit]Blackler's over 39 scientific publications and books include:
- Edited by Michael Stuart Laverack and Margaret Blackler (1974)Fauna and flora of St. Andrews Bay,Scottish Academic Press, distributed by Chatto & Windus
- Knight, M., Blackler, M. C. H. and Parke, M. W. (1935) Notes on the life-cycle of species ofAsperococcus.Proc. Trans. Lpool biol. Soc.,4879–97.
- Blackler, H. (1938) The Herbarium of Thomas Velley (1748–1806).North West Naturalist1372–78.
- Blackler, M. C. H. (1939) The Occurrence ofColpomenia sinuosa(Mert.) Derb. Et Sol. in Ireland.Irish Naturalist Journal7215.
- Blackler, H. (1940) Mounting Seaweeds for Display Purposes.Museums Journal40203.
- Blackler, H. (1945) An Addition to the Algal Flora of Wales,Colpomenia sinuosa.North West Naturalist17112.
- Blackler, H. (1945) Winter Heliotrope (Petasites fragransPresl) in Westmorland.North West Naturalist17112.
- Blackler, H. (1948)Colpomenia sinuosa(Mert.) Derb. Et Sol. in Scotland.”Nature1621001.
- Blackler, H. (1949) The rediscovery of the type specimen ofMicrodictyon umbilicatum(Velley) Zan.Kew Bull4127–128.
- Blackler, H. (1951) An algal survey of Lough Foyle, North Ireland.Proc. R. Ir. Acad.54B97 – 139
- Burrows, E. M., P. S. Dixon, H. Blackler, K. M. Drew-Baker, H. T. Powell, and H. G. Powell. (1957) List of Marine Algae Collected in the District around Dale Fort, Pembrokeshire, September 19–26, 1956.British Phycological Bulletin521–31.
- Blackler, H., and G. Russell (1959) The Autecology and Life-History ofPylaiella littoralis(L.) Kjellm.Proceedings IX International Botanical Congress
- Blackler, H. (1961)Desmarestia dudresnayiLamouroux in Britain.British Phycological Bulletin287.
- Blackler, H. (1963). Phaeophyta.British Phycological Bulletin2239–241.
- Blackler, H. (1977) Harvey's Australian Algae in the Herbarium of Mrs Margaret Gatty in the Department of Botany of the University of St. Andrew's (STA), Scotland.Taxon26495–496
- Blackler, H. (1981) Some algal problems with special reference toColpomenia peregrinaand other members of the Scytosiphonaceae.Br. phycol. J16133.
She identified at least 38 specimens of marine algae, particularly of theScytosiphonaceaespeciesColpomenia peregrinaSauv. that are now held in the Natural History Museum, United Kingdom.
Personal life
[edit]Margaret Constance Helen Blackler (usually known as Helen Blackler) was born in Arnside, Lake District, United Kingdom, on 29 August 1902. She attendedMerchant Taylors' Girls' SchoolinCrosby,Liverpool, and then theUniversity of Liverpool,graduating in 1926 with a B.Sc. degree. She carried out her doctoral research under the supervision ofMargery Knight,thus becoming involved with marine algae, and her Ph.D. was awarded in 1928 for her thesis "A Morphological and Cytological Study of Certain Species of Asperococcus". The following year she took a diploma in education.[2]
She died unexpectedly of a heart-attack at St Andrews on 5 November 1981.[2][1]
References
[edit]- ^abcdIrvine, David E G; Russell, George (1982)."Margaret Constance Helen Blackler (1902–81)".British Phycological Journal.17(3): 343–346.doi:10.1080/00071618200650351.Retrieved30 July2020.
- ^abcdeReid, Geraldine (2018). "From the Shore to the Sublittoral: Liverpool's Algal Women".Collections.14(4): 455–475.doi:10.1177/155019061801400405.S2CID198412630.
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