biology

Mary Parke

Mary Parke is a biology topic covered in the lgStudy science library. This page brings together a partial reference excerpt, illustrations, worked examples, real-world applications and a short study plan, so you can understand Mary Parke rather than just read about it. In short: Mary Winifred Parke, FRS, (23 March 1908 – 17 July 1989) was a British marine botanist and Fellow of the Royal Society (1972) specialising in phycology, the study of algae. Scientific work Mary Parke contributed a great deal to the study of marine algae, publishing numerous articles on the subject.

Key takeaways

Mary Parke belongs to biology; place it in that map before memorising details.
Learn the definition first, then one example that makes the definition concrete.
Connect Mary Parke to a quantity you can measure, compute or draw — that is where exam questions come from.
Reproduce the core statement of Mary Parke from memory before moving on to harder problems.

Reference excerpt

Mary Winifred Parke, FRS, (23 March 1908 – 17 July 1989) was a British marine botanist and Fellow of the Royal Society (1972) specialising in phycology, the study of algae.

Scientific work Mary Parke contributed a great deal to the study of marine algae, publishing numerous articles on the subject. Her pioneering work on culturing algae in the laboratory may be considered her most significant contribution. She discovered that the flagellate Isochrysis galbana was ideal for feeding oyster larvae; cultures of this species are used for fish farming and in research laboratories throughout the world. Most researchers and fish farmers seeking food for feeding marine animals such as crab larvae or filter feeders such as muscles sought Parke for guidance on the most suitable algae and its subculture during her career. Parke was also known for her beautiful and accurate drawings of algae using the light microscope, and her renderings of algal structures using the electron microscope set a new standard in the field.

Biography and professional affiliations Parke was born in Bootle, Liverpool in England on 23 March 1908. She was awarded the Isaac Roberts Scholarship in Biology while reading Botany at Liverpool University. She graduated in 1929 and was awarded her PhD in 1932, followed by a DSc in 1950. Parke's first publication, Manx Algae (1931), was written with her PhD supervisor Margery Knight and became a standard reference work on algae. While at the Port Erin Marine Biological Station, Parke conducted research on the commercial rearing and feeding of oyster larvae. This research lead to the description of previously undescribed micro-organisms such as Isochrysis galbana. From the 1940s Parke led the development of the Plymouth Culture Collection of marine algae and first published the Check-List of Marine Algae in 1953. After the war Parke returned to her work on minute plankton and published seminal papers on flagellate systematics, many in collaboration with Professor Irene Manton of the University of Leeds. In 1952 Parke was a founding member of the British Phycological Society, edited The British Phycological Bulletin (1967–1967) and was President of the Society from 1959 to 1960. Parke was awarded international honours including Corresponding Membership of the Royal Botanical Society of the Netherlands (1970), Membership of the Norwegian Academy of Science and Letters (1971), and the Fellowship of the Royal Society (1972). In addition she was a Fellow of the Institute of Biology and the Linnean Society and was awarded an honorary Doctor of Science degree by the University of Liverpool in 1986. Parke retired in 1973 and died in Plymouth in 1989 after a short illness.

Archives Parke's archive of personal and scientific papers is held by the National Marine Biological Library at the Marine Biological Association in Plymouth.

Publications Parke, M. 1953. A preliminary check-list of British marine algae. J. mar. biol. Ass. U.K. 32: 497 – 520. Parke, M. 1956. A preliminary check-list of British marine algae. Corrections and additions 1953 – 1955. Phycol Bull. I: no.4 26–31. Parke, M. 1957. A preliminary check-list of British marine algae. Corrections and additions. II Phycol Bull. I: no.5, 36 – 37. Parke, M. 1959. A preliminary check-list of British marine algae. Corrections and additions. III Phycol Bull. I: no.7, 74 – 78. Parke, M. 1961a. Some remarks concerning the class Chrysophyceae. Br. phycol. Bull. II: 47 – 55. Parke, M.1961b. Electron microscope observations on scale-bearing Chrysophyceae. Recent Advances in Botany, Section 3, pp. 226–9. University of Toronto Press. Parke, M. 1961c. Stages in life-histories of coccolithophorids. Rep. Challenger Soc., 3, No. XIII, p. 30. Parke, M. 1966. The genus Pachyspharea (Prasinophyceae).In Some Studies in Marine Science, pp. 555–63. Ed. H. Barnes. London. Parke, M. & Adams, I., 1960. The motile (Crystallolithus hyalinus Gaarder & Markali) and non-motile phases in the life history of Coccolithus pelagicus (Wallich) Schiller. J. mar. biol.Ass. UK, Vol. 39, pp. 263–74. Parke, M. & Adams, I., 1961. The Pyramimonas-like motile stage Halosphaera viridis Schmitz. Bull. Res. Coun. Israel, Vol. 10D, pp. 94 – 100. Parke, M, & Ballantine, D., 1967. A new marine dinoflagellate: Exuviaella mariaelebouriae n.sp. J. mar. biol. Ass. U.K., Vol.36. pp. 643 – 50. Parke, M. & Dixon, P.S. 1964. A revised check-list of British, marine algae. J. mar. biol. Ass. UK., Vol.44, pp. 499–542. Parke, M. & Dixon, P.S. 1968. Check-list of British marine algae – second revision. Journal of Marine Biological Association United Kingdom 48: pp. 783 – 832. Parke, M. & Hartog-Adams, I. den, 1965. Three species of Halosphaera. J. mar. biol. Ass. U.K. Vol.45: 537–57. Parke, M., Lunde, J.W.G. & Manton, I., 1962. Observations on the biology and fine structure of the type species of Chrysochromulina (C. parva Lackey) in the English Lake District. Arch. Mikrobiol., Bd. 42, pp. 333–52.

References

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with Mary Parke

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what Mary Parke claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In biology, the smallest case is usually a single object, a single equation or a single measurement. Check that every symbol or term in your sentence has a meaning in that case.

Example 2 — changing one variable

Take the situation from Example 1 and change exactly one quantity: double it, halve it, or set it to zero. Predict what should happen to Mary Parke before you calculate. Comparing your prediction with the result is the fastest way to find out whether you understand the idea or only the words.

Example 3 — an exam-style question

Typical questions about Mary Parke ask you to (a) state it precisely, (b) apply it to given data, and (c) explain a limitation. Practise writing all three answers in under five minutes; the third part is what separates a full-mark answer from an average one.

Applications of Mary Parke

In research: Mary Parke appears in biology research whenever the underlying quantities have to be modelled precisely. Papers usually cite it as a starting assumption and then explore where it breaks down.
In technology and industry: Engineering practice reuses Mary Parke in design rules, simulations and safety margins. Knowing the idea lets you read a specification sheet and understand why the numbers look the way they do.
In the classroom: Mary Parke is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics 1908 births, 1989 deaths, 20th-century British botanists, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for Mary Parke outside the textbook — in sport, cooking, traffic, electronics or the sky above you. An example you found yourself is remembered far longer than one you were given.

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How to study Mary Parke in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what Mary Parke means in your own words.
Compare your version with the excerpt and mark what you missed.
Work through the three examples above with pen and paper.
Explain Mary Parke out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is Mary Parke in simple terms?

Mary Winifred Parke, FRS, (23 March 1908 – 17 July 1989) was a British marine botanist and Fellow of the Royal Society (1972) specialising in phycology, the study of algae. Scientific work Mary Parke contributed a great deal to the study of marine algae, publishing numerous articles on the subject.

Why does Mary Parke matter?

Because it connects several biology ideas at once: it gives you a definition you can apply, a quantity you can calculate, and a way to check whether a result is plausible.

How should I study Mary Parke?

Read the excerpt, restate it from memory, then work through the examples and applications listed on this page. The five-step study plan above takes about twenty minutes.

What does this page cover?

It gives you a compact reference excerpt plus original lgStudy explanations, examples, applications and study material on Mary Parke.