Science Buddies: "Ask an Expert"

Hi, I am doing a project called "Bioluminescence: Investigating Glow-in-the-Dark Dinoflagellates. For this project, you are supposed to measure the bioluminescence of the Pyrocystis lunula or the Pyrocystis fusiformis. In the procedure, it says to measure the bioluminescence using a scale from 1-4 with 4 being the brightest. I need more quantitative results for my project so I purchased a lux meter. This meter ended up not being able to pick up any of the light coming off of the algae. Is there any solution or other methods to measure the bioluminescence of the algae.

Try using a smart phone or digital camera on a tripod or stand to photograph the dinoflagellates' light. You will need to experiment with different settings on the camera to find the best shutter timing. Use the voice-activated shutter trip so that you don't move the camera.

You can do a search for photographing bioluminescence, but I did not find a good site. It's probably best to just work with your own camera and figure out how to take time exposures. Try various times until you get an image that clearly shows the glow. You want the light to be visible but not so bright that it washes out.

The light intensity can be measured using a free app called ImageJ: https://imagej.nih.gov/ij/index.html

Sybee