Algal blooms and their guards
Posted: Sun Dec 20, 2020 6:31 pm
This fall I made a small contribution to a research project at Lunds University in Sweden. It was another member of this forum that introduced me to the project (Viktor J Nilsson). A big thank you for that Victor!
The project was about keeping track of harmful alga blooms. Residents around Vombjsön (Vomb Lake) helped researchers from Lund with daily water samples. The purpose was to study how the algal blooms in the lake are affected by the weather, not least the heat waves of recent years. One theory is that recent years' extreme weather is affecting the algal flora in the lake. During the extremely dry summer of 2018, the content of cyanobacteria decreased. In their place came a completely different group of algae, dinoflagellates. It seems knowledge about the dinoflagellates is limited, for example, it is unclear whether they can develop poison in an environment similar to that in Lake Vomb which was studied. The voluntary samplers followed the algae growth between July and September to see which of the two algae groups dominates in Vombsjön this year. The measurement results are published continuously and my contribution was to take a few photographs of what the samplers found. Below I selected a few photographs that I took in September/October using the samples I received. At this time of the year, the cyanobacteria had started to decline in favor of diatoms.
Staurastrum, Aulacoseira granulata, Stephanodiscus by Håkan Kvarnström, on Flickr
Diatom - Asterionella formosa by Håkan Kvarnström, on Flickr
Stephanodiscus and Closterium by Håkan Kvarnström, on Flickr
Woronichinia by Håkan Kvarnström, on Flickr
Naiadinium polonium by Håkan Kvarnström, on Flickr
Stephanodiscus, Aulacoseira granulata, Fragilaria crotonensis by Håkan Kvarnström, on Flickr
Stephanodiscus and Closterium by Håkan Kvarnström, on Flickr
Nassula sp. by Håkan Kvarnström, on Flickr
Dolichospermum sp. by Håkan Kvarnström, on Flickr
Dolichospermum sp. by Håkan Kvarnström, on Flickr
Fragilaria crotonensis by Håkan Kvarnström, on Flickr
Fragilaria crotonensis by Håkan Kvarnström, on Flickr
Woronichinia by Håkan Kvarnström, on Flickr
Pediastrum duplex by Håkan Kvarnström, on Flickr
Dolichospermum sp. by Håkan Kvarnström, on Flickr
The project was about keeping track of harmful alga blooms. Residents around Vombjsön (Vomb Lake) helped researchers from Lund with daily water samples. The purpose was to study how the algal blooms in the lake are affected by the weather, not least the heat waves of recent years. One theory is that recent years' extreme weather is affecting the algal flora in the lake. During the extremely dry summer of 2018, the content of cyanobacteria decreased. In their place came a completely different group of algae, dinoflagellates. It seems knowledge about the dinoflagellates is limited, for example, it is unclear whether they can develop poison in an environment similar to that in Lake Vomb which was studied. The voluntary samplers followed the algae growth between July and September to see which of the two algae groups dominates in Vombsjön this year. The measurement results are published continuously and my contribution was to take a few photographs of what the samplers found. Below I selected a few photographs that I took in September/October using the samples I received. At this time of the year, the cyanobacteria had started to decline in favor of diatoms.
Staurastrum, Aulacoseira granulata, Stephanodiscus by Håkan Kvarnström, on Flickr
Diatom - Asterionella formosa by Håkan Kvarnström, on Flickr
Stephanodiscus and Closterium by Håkan Kvarnström, on Flickr
Woronichinia by Håkan Kvarnström, on Flickr
Naiadinium polonium by Håkan Kvarnström, on Flickr
Stephanodiscus, Aulacoseira granulata, Fragilaria crotonensis by Håkan Kvarnström, on Flickr
Stephanodiscus and Closterium by Håkan Kvarnström, on Flickr
Nassula sp. by Håkan Kvarnström, on Flickr
Dolichospermum sp. by Håkan Kvarnström, on Flickr
Dolichospermum sp. by Håkan Kvarnström, on Flickr
Fragilaria crotonensis by Håkan Kvarnström, on Flickr
Fragilaria crotonensis by Håkan Kvarnström, on Flickr
Woronichinia by Håkan Kvarnström, on Flickr
Pediastrum duplex by Håkan Kvarnström, on Flickr
Dolichospermum sp. by Håkan Kvarnström, on Flickr