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JPR Advance Access originally published online on January 27, 2008
Journal of Plankton Research 2008 30(3):333-343; doi:10.1093/plankt/fbn005
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© The Author 2008. Published by Oxford University Press. All rights reserved. For permissions, please email: journals.permissions@oxfordjournals.org

The emergence of automated high-frequency flow cytometry: revealing temporal and spatial phytoplankton variability

Melilotus Thyssen1,*, Glen A. Tarran2, Mikhail V. Zubkov3, Ross J. Holland3, Gérald Grégori1, Peter H. Burkill4 and Michel Denis1

1 Laboratoire de Microbiologie, GÉochimie et Ecologie Marines, Centre d’Océanologie de Marseille, Case 901, 163 Avenue de Luminy, 13288 Marseille cedex 09, France 2 Plymouth Marine Laboratory, Prospect Place, The Hoe, Plymouth, Devon PL1 3DH, UK 3 National Oceanography Centre, University of Southampton Waterfront Campus, European Way, Southampton SO14 3ZH, UK 4 The Sir Alister Hardy Foundation for Ocean Science, The Laboratory, Citadel Hill, Plymouth PL1 2PB, UK

* CORRESPONDING AUTHOR: melilotus.thyssen{at}univmed.fr

Received on October 29, 2007; accepted on January 10, 2008


  Abstract

Phytoplankton observation is the product of a number of trade-offs related to sampling processes, required level of diversity and size spectrum analysis capabilities of the techniques involved. Instruments combining the morphological and high-frequency analysis for phytoplankton cells are now available. This paper presents an application of the automated high-resolution flow cytometer Cytosub as a tool for analysing phytoplanktonic cells in their natural environment. High resolution data from a temporal study in the Bay of Marseille (analysis every 30 min over 1 month) and a spatial study in the Southern Indian Ocean (analysis every 5 min at 10 knots over 5 days) are presented to illustrate the capabilities and limitations of the instrument. Automated high-frequency flow cytometry revealed the spatial and temporal variability of phytoplankton in the size range 1–~50 µm that could not be resolved otherwise. Due to some limitations (instrumental memory, volume analysed per sample), recorded counts could be statistically too low. By combining high-frequency consecutive samples, it is possible to decrease the counting error, following Poisson’s law, and to retain the main features of phytoplankton variability. With this technique, the analysis of phytoplankton variability combines adequate sampling frequency and effective monitoring of community changes.

Corresponding editor: Roger Harris


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