Quality Assurance of Phytoplankton Monitoring in the Baltic Sea in 2005-2007

Background:

Phytoplankton species form the basis of the open sea food web, and are themselves dependent on the nutrients in the water. They are important indicators of the state of the marine environment, and in excessive numbers can form harmful blooms. In connection with the COMBINE project, data on phytoplankton species and biomass is regularly submitted to a special database run by ICES.

Aims:

The main target of the project is to insure and maintain high quality standard of the international Baltic regional phytoplankton monitoring within the HELCOM COMBINE Programme. This should be achieved by arranging annual PEG workshops.

Actions:

The main activities within the project will be:

• Training courses to maintain continuity in phytoplankton identification and counting as a new generation of phytoplankton researchers joins the PEG and to follow recent changes in taxonomy of problematic and important phytoplankton groups;

• Intercalibrations to insure high standard of phytoplankton monitoring in the Baltic Sea;

• Harmonization of the sampling, treatment and reporting procedures in order to unify sampling and treatment methods and to update the phytoplankton monitoring manual within COMBINE

Contacts:

Project Managers:

2005:
Irina Olenina
Centre of Marine Research of Lithuanian Ministry of Environment
Taikos 26
LT-91149 Klaipeda
Lithuania
Tel: +370 (46) 410459
E-mail: irina.olenina@balticum-tv.lt

2006-2007:
Norbert Wasmund
Baltic Sea Research Institute
Seestrasse 15
D-18119 Warnemünde
Germany
Tel: +49 (381) 5197 212
E-mail: norbert.wasmund@io-warnemuende.de