ECOPOT_1: Phytoplankton in Flemish Waterbodies

Study Extent

Sampling

Method steps

1. Each sampling event, an integrated sample was made based on 16 locations in each water body, where 1l water was taken from the surface (upper 30cm) and filtered over 240µm. If colonial or large algae were present, than one sub sample was not filtered.
2. Phytoplankton in 250ml sub sampled were fixed using formaldehyde, with a final concentration of 4%, and samples were kept dark and cool until analysis. Microscopic analysis was executed according to the European CEN-standard (EN 15204, 2006). According to this method, a known volume of the sample was concentrated in a cuvet, after which different phytoplankton taxa were identified along a transect using an inverted microscope (Wild M40). When to much detritus was present, samples were coloured using Bengal red, to enable recognizing cells. For each sample, at least 250 individuals were counted, which was used to calculated to number of individuals per ml. Colonies were counted as one individual.

1. Eukarya
   common name: eukaryotes rank: domain
2. Cyanobacteria
   common name: cyanobacteria rank: phylum