biology

Molly F. Mare

Molly F. Mare 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 Molly F. Mare rather than just read about it. In short: Mary Florence "Molly" Mare (10 July 1914 – 27 August 1997), married name Spooner, was a British marine biologist who introduced the term meiobenthos in 1942. She was also an internationally recognized expert on oil spills.

Key takeaways

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

Reference excerpt

Mary Florence "Molly" Mare (10 July 1914 – 27 August 1997), married name Spooner, was a British marine biologist who introduced the term meiobenthos in 1942. She was also an internationally recognized expert on oil spills.

Significant research Mare's study of marine food cycle in sea mud led her to introduce the new term meiobenthos to join the terminology of macrobenthos and microbenthos. This has to allow improved understanding of marine organisms involved in these cycles through clearer reference to groupings by size. The importance of this approach is shown by the continuous reference to her work by other marine biologists into the 21st century. Following the grounding of the oil tanker Torrey Canyon on the west of the Scilly Isles, Mare returned to her life as a researcher after taking a break during the 1950s. She studied the effects of the oil spill and contributed to the book on the disastrous oil spill called Torrey Canyon Pollution and Marine Life (1970). A tool called a dispersant was used to try to clean up this oil spill and Mare was one of the first people to recognize that these could be causing more damage than the oil spill itself. This research led her to be known as an oil spill expert to the rest of the world.

Early career and life Mare won a scholarship to Newnham College, Cambridge where she began her studies of marine biology. In 1936 she took part in the Easter class of the Marine Biological Association (MBA). Mare received a Bathurst Research Studentship in 1938, following her graduation from Newnham. In 1939 she received a Maitland Balfour Research Studentship. These Studentships allowed her to spend two years at the MBA in Plymouth where she primarily started her career.

Personal life Molly F. Mare married Malcolm Spooner, a zoologist at the Marine Biological Association Laboratory on 14 May 1943. Until 1945 she lived away from her husband while she conducted research on antifouling of ships at the Millport Marine Laboratory located near Glasgow. They had two children, including Heather. In 1948 the family of four moved to Crapstone. Her husband, Malcolm Spooner, worked on a long-term study of dwarf oak trees in Wistman's Wood and she helped him significantly with this work. They also undertook recording work for the Atlas of the Devon Flora (1984).

Awards and recognition In 1973 Mare was appointed the Department of the Environment's advisor on oil pollution precautions and procedures. After she retired from active research in 1976, she was appointed a Member of the Order of the British Empire in 1977 for her work on the effect of oil pollution on marine life. She was a founding member of the Devon Wildlife Trust and was its vice president in 1987. Her bequest to the Marine Biological Association of the United Kingdom was to encourage undergraduate students to experience marine biological research every year.

References

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with Molly F. Mare

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what Molly F. Mare 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 Molly F. Mare 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 Molly F. Mare 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 Molly F. Mare

In research: Molly F. Mare 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 Molly F. Mare 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: Molly F. Mare is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics 1914 births, 1997 deaths, 20th-century British women biologists, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for Molly F. Mare 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 Molly F. Mare in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what Molly F. Mare 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 Molly F. Mare out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is Molly F. Mare in simple terms?

Why does Molly F. Mare 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 Molly F. Mare?

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 Molly F. Mare.