FlowCam - Flow Imaging Microscopy Blog

We are happy to announce the winner of the 2022 FlowCam Aquatic Research Grant, Kelsey Meyer, a Ph.D. candidate studying marine biology at the University of New Hampshire (UNH) College of Life Sciences and Agriculture in Dr. Bonnie Brown's research group. Kelsey is pictured here holding a European Green Crab (also referred to as the green crab).

Kelsey oversees Dr. Brown's lab field sampling efforts which include taking samples from Great Bay Estuary (GBE) in southeastern New Hampshire. Specifically, Kelsey's Ph.D. research aims to determine the extent to which green crabs are a predator of oysters, and if so, at what specific life stage for each species.

This past summer in June, The Gaffney Board of Public Works (GBPW), in South Carolina, issued a water quality advisement and posted signs around Lake Welchel in Cherokee County. An algal bloom on a portion of the lake exceeded the state’s water quality standards for Microcystis, a type of toxic cyanobacteria.

Pictured above, Microcystis (left) and Lyngbya (right) as imaged by FlowCam.

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:

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.

The City of Worcester, MA has purchased a FlowCam Cyano to help expand a volunteer water quality monitoring program. The effort is led by Jacquelyn Burmeister, a senior environmental analyst with the City's Lakes & Ponds Program. Together with several other local watershed associations, she helped organize a regional cyanobacteria monitoring collaborative that has recruited dozens of volunteers to help expand cyanobacteria monitoring in the area's recreational waters.

Yesterday Heather Anne Wright and I were invited to join the Friends of Casco Bay on a mission to track down and capture samples of the algae bloom taking place in Casco Bay.  Mike Doan skippered the Baykeeper, while Will Everitt and Ivy Fignoca accompanied the group this afternoon on a ride out to Chebeague Island.

Big Bear Municipal Water District (BBMWD) is a small water utility located in Big Bear California. The MWD is responsible for the overall management of Big Bear Lake, one of Southern California’s premier recreational lakes. BBMWD’s recent purchase of a FlowCam allows them to quickly monitor for harmful algal blooms (HABs) and invasive quagga and zebra mussels.

Maintaining healthy algae populations and preventing HABs are a priority for BBMWD. Foul odors, toxin releases, and wildlife deaths drive visitors away, as well as restrict the use of the lake.