Journal
MARINE POLLUTION BULLETIN
Volume 62, Issue 7, Pages 1484-1497Publisher
PERGAMON-ELSEVIER SCIENCE LTD
DOI: 10.1016/j.marpolbul.2011.04.010
Keywords
Eutrophication; Water Framework Directive; Phytoplankton; HPLC-CHEMTAX; Epifluorescence microscopy
Funding
- Department of Education, Universities and Investigation of the Basque Government
- Basque Water Agency (Uragentzia) of the Basque Government
- European Regional Development Fund (FEDER) [CTM2006-09583, CTM2006-04570/Mar]
- Spanish Ministry of Education and Science (MEC)
- project Etortek [07/36]
Ask authors/readers for more resources
Inverted microscopy is widespread employed for the analysis of phytoplankton composition within water quality monitoring networks. However, the analysis at the lowest taxonomical level is not always required for ecological status assessment. In addition, inverted microscopy can underestimate the small phytoplankton, and not always distinguish photoautotrophic from heterotrophic cells. In this study, as alternative tools, epifluorescence microscopy and High Performance Liquid Chromatography (HPLC) were employed to characterize phytoplankton communities within waters of different trophic condition. Epifluorescence microscopy confirmed its effectiveness to count the small phytoplankton. Furthermore, significant correlations between nutrients of anthropogenic origin and nanoplankton abundances were found. However, this technique resulted very time-consuming. HPLC together with the CHEMTAX program was more appropriate than inverted microscopy, in terms of cost-effectiveness. Also, the main variability patterns observed in the phytoplankton community structure by HPLC coincided with previous findings in the study area. Nevertheless, a rapid screening at the inverted microscope is recommended. (C) 2011 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
Authors
I am an author on this paper
Click your name to claim this paper and add it to your profile.
Reviews
Recommended
No Data Available