Phytoplankton and the Lakes Around Us Stephanie Coglitore Alexis Krukovsky Jamie Nelson

Purpose To observe and quantify the relationships between phytoplankton concentration, diversity and chlorophyll concentration. Hypothesize how the relationship between these parameters contributes to the overall trophic state of the lakes

Data Collection Kimmerer bottles Samples taken from different depths of epi, hypo and metalimnion preserved in ethyl alcohol

Why are Phytoplankton and Chlorophyll Important? The density and specific species of phytoplanton present will directly affect chlorophyll concentration Phytoplankton biomass is directly correlated with productivity and photosynthetic ability within a system Means of estimating the energy pathways in an aquatic system

Why Chlorophyll a? Chlorophyll a is the best measurement since all phytoplankton contain chlorophyll a but differ in composition of other pigments

Analysis of Phytoplankton Resuspend sample by mixing and filter 250ml onto filter paper Remove filter, fold in half and put in aluminum foil Place foil in bottle filled with desiccant and place bottle in freezer for storage Rinse filter head between samples

Phytoplankton cont. Samples should be resuspended in ethyl alcohol and allowed to concentrate over several days Refilter the samples Identification by genus and division under dissecting microscope

Analysis of Chlorophyll a Samples treated with ethanol to separate out chlorophyll Separated samples were filtered and measured using a flourometer Conversion: Chlorophyll a conc..= (F 0 * V E )/V S

Fluorometer Method Fluorometer was used to measure chlorophyll a concentration in the samples from different depths Determination of chlorophyll is more efficient, if not quite as accurate as microscope way Add ethanol to filtered sample to extract the photosynthetic pigments Prepare a blank filter-acts as a control

Fluorometer Method Invert each tube to mix thoroughly Leave sample in meter for no longer than 10 seconds  could cause more production Fluorometer was used to measure chlorophyll a concentration Chlorophyll a can be used as an indicator of primary production

Counting Phytoplankton To count cells, both the Palmer-Maloney slides and the sorting trays were used Counting 100 individuals/10 taxon is enough for statistical accuracy Subsample of community, can extrapolate data and apply it to the whole lake Phytoplankton can be used as an indicator of primary production

Lakes By Division and Total

What Dominated in Each Lake? LakeDominated ByCategory OneidaChrysophyta (Bacillariophyceae)Diatoms ArbutusChlorophyta and Chrysophta (Bacillariophyceae)Green algae; Diatoms RichChlorophytaGreen algae CatlinChlorophyta and Chrysophta (Chry)Green; Golden algae GreenChlorophytaGreen algae OnondagaChlorphytaGreen

Oneida Lake

Oneida Lake Analysis What does it all mean? Lots of Chrysophyta Bacillariophyceae  diatoms, lots of silica present here Fairly shallow because they would sink to the bottom, must be constantly mixing Nitrogen is not an issue here

Rich Lake

Rich Lake Analysis Dominated by Chlorophyta, indicating a high level of phosphorous Cyanophyta also represented probably due to lack of nitrogen Must mix regularly to have a sizable population of diatoms

Catlin Lake

Catlin Lake Analysis Green and golden algae were the only two present Even split, so it has a good amount of phosphorous and silica Not enough silica to support Chrysophyta (Bacillariophyceae), perhaps due to lack of it in sediments

Arbutus Lake

Arbutus Lake Analysis Little bit of everything, perhaps because it has a lot of drainage No one division dominates, Greens at 26%, Diatoms at 21%, and Blue-greens at 16% make up the top three divisions Must have a good amount of diatoms and phosphorous Probably limited in nitrogen considering the blue-green algae

Onondaga Lake

Onondaga Lake Analysis Such a surprise, dominated by Chlorophyta 64% of algae represented green algae, with 16 out of 25 genera Lots of phosphorous input from sewage Lack of nitrogen evident because of the presence of Cyanophyta, which makes up 24% of the genera present

Green Lakes

Green Lakes Analysis Chlorophyta was the only division present Phosphorous must be abundant, and that’s about the only thing in Green Lakes

Catlin Lake Chlorophyll Data

Rich Lake

Arbutus Lake

Oneida Lake

Onondaga Lake

Green Lake

Sources of Error??? Chlorophyll analysis only accounts for Chlorophyll a Flourometer does not separate phaeophytin from chlorophyll sample Many phytoplankton are too small and may pass through nets Not all of the phytoplankton in the samples were counted only the first 100 specimens

Sources of Error continued Our inexperience at counting and identifying phytoplankton Sample sizes for phytoplankton were often very small- Green Lakes had 1 algae counted