An automated platform for phytoplankton ecology and aquatic ecosystem monitoring

Environ Sci Technol. 2011 Nov 15;45(22):9658-65. doi: 10.1021/es201934n. Epub 2011 Oct 20.

Abstract

High quality monitoring data are vital for tracking and understanding the causes of ecosystem change. We present a potentially powerful approach for phytoplankton and aquatic ecosystem monitoring, based on integration of scanning flow-cytometry for the characterization and counting of algal cells with multiparametric vertical water profiling. This approach affords high-frequency data on phytoplankton abundance, functional traits and diversity, coupled with the characterization of environmental conditions for growth over the vertical structure of a deep water body. Data from a pilot study revealed effects of an environmental disturbance event on the phytoplankton community in Lake Lugano (Switzerland), characterized by a reduction in cytometry-based functional diversity and by a period of cyanobacterial dominance. These changes were missed by traditional limnological methods, employed in parallel to high-frequency monitoring. Modeling of phytoplankton functional diversity revealed the importance of integrated spatiotemporal data, including circadian time-lags and variability over the water column, to understand the drivers of diversity and dynamic processes. The approach described represents progress toward an automated and trait-based analysis of phytoplankton natural communities. Streamlining of high-frequency measurements may represent a resource for understanding, modeling and managing aquatic ecosystems under impact of environmental change, yielding insight into processes governing phytoplankton community resistance and resilience.

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Cyanobacteria / physiology
  • Ecosystem*
  • Environmental Monitoring / instrumentation*
  • Flow Cytometry / instrumentation
  • Lakes / chemistry
  • Phytoplankton / microbiology
  • Phytoplankton / physiology*
  • Switzerland
  • Water / chemistry

Substances

  • Water