The Confederated Tribes of Coos, Lower Umpqua, and Siuslaw Indians (CTCLUSI) recently received long-awaited funding to purchase a FlowCam Cyano instrument, after first learning about FlowCam at an east coast workshop a few years ago. CTCLUSI makes up three tribes (4 bands) who all reside in close proximity to one another along the Coos River Tributaries in Oregon. According to the CTCLUSI website:
Read MoreTopics: Marine Research, Freshwater Research, Invasive Species, Harmful Algal Blooms, Municipal Water (Drinking/Wastewater), User Spotlight, Aquatic Research
Harmful algal blooms can have a detrimental effect on the environment and on human and animal health. As a result of climate change, water utilities are experiencing these events with increasing frequency. Historically, many water monitoring agencies have not had a plan in place to proactively monitor for cyanobacteria, but rather found themselves reacting to the effects of a bloom after the fact.
Last month, the US EPA released a report that addresses concerns within the agency about the lack of a cohesive, agency-wide plan to monitor freshwater bodies for harmful algal blooms (HABs):
Read MoreTopics: Freshwater Research, Harmful Algal Blooms, Municipal Water (Drinking/Wastewater), User Spotlight, Aquatic Research
Aquatic scientists often need to store natural samples for a period of time before processing them using FlowCam. There are multiple preservatives available for this purpose. Glutaraldehyde is a
popular choice of preservative because it will preserve pigment autofluorescence, and therefore allows the use of FlowCam's "Trigger Mode" to automatically distinguish cyanobacteria from other algae, and reduce images of detritus and other non fluorescing particles. Another preservative often used is Lugol's solution, which does not preserve fluorescence, but is less toxic and requires less stringent storage conditions.
Topics: Algae Technology, Marine Research, Freshwater Research, Harmful Algal Blooms, FlowCam Technology, Municipal Water (Drinking/Wastewater), Aquatic Research
This week FlowCam Applications Scientist, Kay Johnson, visited the Canary Islands to train a new team of FlowCam users at ITC (Instituto Tecnólogico de Canarias). ITC in Pozo Izquierdo is using a FlowCam 8400 with 488nm laser to monitor marine phytoplankton. The team was originally trained by Nicole Gill when they first purchased the FlowCam in 2019, but this year a new group of scientists from Italy and Serbia have joined their team.
Pictured here (left to right): Kay Johnson, Flavio Guidi, Tonia Principe, Marianna Venuleo, Maca Golezalaz, Zivan Gojkovic
Read MoreTopics: Industrial Applications, Algae Technology, Marine Research, User Spotlight, Aquaculture, Aquatic Research
Earlier this month, Harry Nelson and I transported a FlowCam by ferry to the Hurricane Island Center for Science & Leadership. This beautiful island is located off the rocky coast of Maine, east of Rockland and southwest of Acadia National Park.
The Center for Science & Leadership, founded in 2009, offers a variety of experiential learning opportunities for students. Hurricane Island itself is public and students will often see visitors moor their boats and explore the the island for a day of adventuring.
Read MoreTopics: Marine Research, User Spotlight, Aquatic Research
Earlier this month, Savannah Judge, one of our Aquatic Markets Experts, co-presented with Kerry Whittaker and LeAnn Whitney of The Corning School of Ocean Studies at Maine Maritime Academy in Castine, ME. The topic of the presentation was "Use of high-throughput fluid imaging technology in the field-based undergraduate ocean classroom with FlowCam".
Read MoreTopics: Marine Research, News and Events, User Spotlight, Aquatic Research
The FlowCam was recently used by a team led by Natasha Barteneva of Nazarbayev University to develop a method for the classification of Microcystis colonial morphospecies in samples obtained from a long-term mesocosm experiment (the AQUACOSM Lake Mesocosm Warming Experiment).
Read MoreTopics: Freshwater Research, Harmful Algal Blooms, FlowCam Technology, Municipal Water (Drinking/Wastewater), User Spotlight, Aquatic Research
Savannah Mapes, 2020 winner of the #FlowCam Aquatic Research Equipment & Travel Grant for Graduate Students, presented her research at the US Symposium on Harmful Algae this May. Her poster is titled "Using a FlowCam to Facilitate HAB Cell Counts: Comparing Cell Enumeration Methods", and can be viewed in greater detail by clicking on the image below.
Read MoreTopics: Freshwater Research, Invasive Species, Harmful Algal Blooms, Aquatic Research
The FlowCam's European partner and distributor, Anasysta, recently shared a story with Yokogawa about a local project that uses the FlowCam to monitor water quality in the River Stiemerbeek.
Read MoreTopics: Freshwater Research, User Spotlight, Aquatic Research
We are excited to announce that the first of two 2021 FlowCam student grant categories has been awarded to Zabdiel Roldan Ayala, a graduate student studying phytoplankton at Queens College's School of Earth and Environmental Sciences.
Read MoreTopics: Marine Research, News and Events, Harmful Algal Blooms, Aquatic Research
