INTERREG IV A « 2 Mers Sea Zeeën »

The DYMAPHY project is part of the European cross-border cooperation programme INTERREG IV A « 2 Seas ». The project began in 2010, and will be completed in 2013. DYMAPHY operates on a budget of €2,460,974: up to 50% is contributed by FEDER, with the remaining 50% supplied by the partner institutes.

For more information

www.dymaphy.eu

communication.dymaphy@univ-littoral.fr

Development of a DYnamic observation system for determining the quality of

MArine waters based on PHYtoplankton community analysis

Aims and Activities of DYMAPHY:

Activity 2

Automation and establishment of a

fingerprinting library and database

Activity 1

Equipment calibration and standardisation

of analysis techniques

Activity 3

Validation of the analysis

techniques during common research cruises and current

monitoring work

What is DYMAPHY ?

The project is interested in different approaches and techniques for the study of phytoplankton. It is for scientists to improve the assessment of marine waters through the study of phytoplankton as indicators of water quality, at high resolution.

For this they need to compare and calibrate these different techniques. Techniques as microscopy and extraction of pigments in laboratory are compared with innovative techniques.

At the same time, the project seeks to automate some steps, demanding in time and expertise, in the processing of the data.

What are phytoplankton ?

Phytoplankton, also called microalgae, are photosynthetic microorganisms floating in the water column. They produce large quantities of organic matter used in the marine food web. They are responsible for much of the oxygen released into the atmosphere.

Phytoplankton are represented by a diverse range of species, with many different shapes, sizes, and structure. They form communities which alter according to the season, the location and other events.

Different species of phytoplankton

What are the curent monitoring tools?

PHYSAT Method

Pocket Ferry Box®

Fluoroprobe®

CytoSense®

What are the innovative techniques tested?

Flow cytometry is used to count and characterize each cell present in a phytoplankton water sample.

Spectral fluorescence can detect and monitor in vivo phytoplankton pigment groups, in real time.

These instruments (among others) are used in a laboratory, or onboard a ship equipped to pump water continuously. They are tested in connection with a onboard measurement system (the Pocket ferry box), which can also make measurements of physico-chemical properties.

Finally, the PHYSAT method, applied to satellite imagery, can be used to discriminate certain groups of phytoplankton at a synoptic, “two Seas“ scale.

Why do we study phytoplankton communities?

The observation of the succession of phytoplankton groups is some of the means used to characterise the evolution of marine waters’ quality. However, a lack of automation in sampling and analysis procedures reduces the use of phytoplankton data in monitoring programmes.

To increase efficiency and utility, these procedures should be fast, easy, reproducible, cost-effective and adapted to special events such as blooms of harmful algae.

Observation and monitoring take place primarily by regular collection of samples at sea for laboratory analysis. Microscopes or other measuring instruments are used to identify and count the microalgae collected.More recently, instruments placed on board ships or buoys make continuous recordings of the marineenvironment. These data collected allow an in real time estimate of the amount and diversity of microalgae.