Phytoplankton With Coastal Rivers Conservation Trust

Steve here. We're members of the Coastal Rivers Conservation Trust in Damariscotta, ME. I attended their volunteer fair today and learned about their phytoplankton monitoring program, among other things.

They had a digital microscope setup with a display showing a wet slide of some locally sampled phytoplankton. They also had materials from Great Bay Coast Watch, which you can find here:

• Great Bay Coast Watch: A Citizen Water Monitoring Program Volunteer Water Quality Monitoring Manual, 2004 (download page)
  
• The Great Bay Coast Watch guide to common Gulf of Maine phytoplankton (download page)
• Common Gulf of Maine Phytoplankton (photo pages from above guide; yellow shading indicates potential to produce harmful toxins)
  

The reason for the monitoring program is that some phytoplankton can produce toxins that are harmful to humans. Shellfish, which are filter-feeders, ingest these and concentrate the toxins in their bodies. When the shellfish are eaten by humans, they can cause serious illness or death.

The monitoring program tracks the toxic phytoplankton to determine when there is a risk of toxins in the marine food supply.

It was fascinating to see the phytoplankton in the microscope. The photos in the guide above show 400x magnification. I have a Tomlov Digital Microscope that's capable of 1200x magnification, so I'll be trying this at home. Shipbuilder's Park on the Damariscotta River with boat and kayak ramps is just across the street from our house.