Phytoplankton dynamics by autonomous highfrequency flow cytometry from a floating buoy in the Gulf of Naples |
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| Mark.A. van Dijk, Augusto Passarelli, Fabio Conversano, Raffaella Casotti |
- Abstract:
- A CytoSub (Cytobuoy bv) scanning flow cytometer has been operating for 2 months on a floating buoy at a coastal site in the Gulf of Naples, measuring phytoplankton concentrations every 2 hours. The system was connected to an elastic beacon which provided power and data transmission to the onshore station by wifi. A userinterface was build using R software to automate the data analyses and identify significant cell clusters. Several clusters of autofluorescing phytoplankton were identified, based on different distributions of optical parameters such as scatter and fluorescence. All clusters showed both rapid (in term of days) and gradual (weeks to months) changes in concentrations during the deployment period. Each cluster showed peak of more than twice and up to ten cell numbers within one or few days, rapidly disappearing. This can be due to the internal dynamics of the population, including vertical migrations, and also to advection of water masses passing by the buoy site. These data highlight the importance of high-frequency measurements of cell abundances, due to the intrinsic rapid reactions of phytoplankton to environmental variability and represents a useful tool to detect sudden blooms of species that may represent a hazard for the ecosystem or even human health.
- Download:
- IMEKO-TC19-METROSEA-2017-11.pdf
- DOI:
- -
- Event details
- IMEKO TC:
- TC19
- Event name:
- 1st IMEKO TC19 Workshop on Metrology for the Sea
- Title:
"Learning to measure sea health parameters", Special session “Metrology traceability for oceanic parameters” together with TC8 and TC12
- Place:
- Naples, ITALY
- Time:
- 11 October 2017 - 13 October 2017