Lia Heifetz
Univ of Oregon
Analyzed phytoplankton in preserved sea water samples from the North Pacific.

This past summer, I had the opportunity to work with Kristin Cieciel from the AFSC's Auke Bay Lab on a research project which focused on understanding how conditions caused by climate change affect productivity. Sea water samples collected during the Bering Aleutian International Salmon Survey (BASIS) were analyzed for this purpose. Preserved samples of sea water from the years 2003 and 2004 were processed to enumerate, identify, and measure phytoplankton to look for trends in depth variation, haul site, and size distribution. This analysis is a small part of a large amount of data being analyzed to increase our understanding of the affects of climate change.

Samples of water were settled in chambers overnight to make histological slides. The slides were viewed with an inverted light microscope and photos were taken with a digital camera. About 3.7% of each slide was viewed at a 20X magnification. The photos taken were imported into Image-Pro Plus and the specimens were measured using the calibrated computer program, counted, and identified using reference pictures. Samples were taken from depths ranging from 0-30 meters, which were compared for group composition analysis. This analysis was very difficult because many of the samples, which were preserved in a formalin solution, had a large amount of debris present. This could be due to the material in the water deteriorating over time.

The 2003 processed samples had diatoms as the most abundant group, followed by microflagellates, and dinoflagellates. About 29% of the specimens viewed were unidentifiable.