The Winter Succession of Phytoplankton in the Elizabeth River
Description/Abstract/Artist Statement
The Elizabeth River feeds into the lower Chesapeake Bay, the largest estuary in the United States, and is known as a site for the initiation of harmful algal blooms (HAB) caused by some phytoplankton species. Routine monitoring for HABs is conducted frequently in the summer and fall, but some HAB species are known to bloom in the winter when monitoring may be paused. In this study, we made observations of winter phytoplankton species succession from January 2020 to April 2020. The methods of this study included daily sampling located at the sailing dock of ODU’s Sailing Center. Samples were collected and processed through an Imaging Flow CytoBot (IFCB), which produces thousands of images of phytoplankton cells for each sample. From these images, we can identify individual phytoplankton species and estimate their cell size and biomass. We used an open online platform called EcoTaxa to host the images and facilitate taxonomic identification. We manually identified a subset of the images to produce an automated classification algorithm on EcoTaxa to identify the bulk of the images collected. At the same time as the IFCB water samples were collected, we sampled for chlorophyll a and used a CastAway CTD to measure water temperature and salinity. This study focuses on describing the succession of the whole phytoplankton community during the winter months linking this to both cell physiology (e.g. cell size) and environmental conditions and highlights ephemeral blooms missed by routine but infrequent winter monitoring.
Faculty Advisor/Mentor
Sophie Clayton
College Affiliation
College of Sciences
Presentation Type
Oral Presentation
Disciplines
Oceanography
Session Title
Coastal and Estuarine Science
Location
Zoom Room F
Start Date
3-20-2021 9:00 AM
End Date
3-20-2021 9:55 AM
The Winter Succession of Phytoplankton in the Elizabeth River
Zoom Room F
The Elizabeth River feeds into the lower Chesapeake Bay, the largest estuary in the United States, and is known as a site for the initiation of harmful algal blooms (HAB) caused by some phytoplankton species. Routine monitoring for HABs is conducted frequently in the summer and fall, but some HAB species are known to bloom in the winter when monitoring may be paused. In this study, we made observations of winter phytoplankton species succession from January 2020 to April 2020. The methods of this study included daily sampling located at the sailing dock of ODU’s Sailing Center. Samples were collected and processed through an Imaging Flow CytoBot (IFCB), which produces thousands of images of phytoplankton cells for each sample. From these images, we can identify individual phytoplankton species and estimate their cell size and biomass. We used an open online platform called EcoTaxa to host the images and facilitate taxonomic identification. We manually identified a subset of the images to produce an automated classification algorithm on EcoTaxa to identify the bulk of the images collected. At the same time as the IFCB water samples were collected, we sampled for chlorophyll a and used a CastAway CTD to measure water temperature and salinity. This study focuses on describing the succession of the whole phytoplankton community during the winter months linking this to both cell physiology (e.g. cell size) and environmental conditions and highlights ephemeral blooms missed by routine but infrequent winter monitoring.