Science Buddies: "Ask an Expert"

hi
I'm conducting an investigation into plankton levels in locals bays close to where I live. I'm really struggling to identify what I am seeing under the microscope. I have looked at a lot of identification guides but I still have things that I don't know what are. most are irregular shaped, multicellular transparent organisms, and I am also seeing tiny single celled unclustered jelly type organisms, l(lots and lots across some slides)
I was wondering if you might know what they are? Also are all blue/green organisms algae?
if you could send me an identification chart that might help me I'd be very grateful as I'm unable to continue with my research fully.
many thanks
Joe McLoughlin
Kelston Boys High,Auckland, New Zealand

Hi,

i am sorry I am not an expoert in plankton and I don't have an identification guide to share, but I did find many identification resources through google search. Were you able to find these as well? It is possible that some of the plankton you see aren't listed in the identification guides because they are just not as common. You could try to classofy them as "something similar" by finding a plankton on the guide that has some characteristics in common.

The jelly-like ones are probably jellyfish - could you find a identification guide on there - make sure it is local to your species there in NZ, and see if you can find it in the ID guide.

Are all the blue-green organisms algae? yes, probably algae or plankton.

I hope that helps! Let me know if you have more questions.

Thanks,
Tonya

Hi there,

The previous expert had already given you some very great advice. I might add that if you still have some time before your project is due, I would try e-mailing local labs that happen to work on plankton/phytoplankton. They will likely have the expertise of looking at these organisms from samples and may be able to show you the criteria they use to identify certain organisms. It's definitely worth a shot!

Connie

Thanks for the help. I've done a lot of googling but there are still some organisms I can't classify. I think trying Auckland university is definitely worth a shot. I've also had the idea of classifying what I see into broader groups like single celled, muliticelled. I have till end July.

Hi Joe - that's a good idea to use a higher-level classification system for those you can't positively ID.

Good luck!