Overview
How do we know what kind of phytoplankton are in the water? The Imaging FlowCytobot (IFCB) is a robot that scientists use to image phytoplankton in the water. One IFCB can take up to 30,000 pictures per hour! The IFCB can be used in the field to detect plankton blooms in real time. In this activity, students will practice identifying phytoplankton in IFCB datasets and will compare summer and fall communities from several locations in the Alaskan Arctic.
Objectives
- Students will use a guide to identify different kinds of plankton present in the data.
- Students will compare the plankton present in summer and fall to determine how changing conditions alter the composition and diversity of the plankton community
- Students will identify harmful algal species and determine what time of year blooms are more likely to occur in the study region.
Lesson Preparation
This lesson will be most effective if students have some background knowledge on photosynthesis, plankton, and the role of plankton in the ocean.
Provide copies of the IFCB data for each student or group. One possibility is to make each student or group responsible for one location at one time of year, and then they can compare results with student(s) or group(s) who analyzed data from the same location at a different time of year. Another possibility is to give each student or group both sets of data from a given location so that they can compare on their own.
Provide each student or group with a calculator to calculate the HAB cells per liter.
One copy of the questions for each student.
One copy of the Kachemak Bay National Estuarine Research Reserve phytoplankton guide for each student or group.
Procedure
Engage
Introduce the topic of harmful algal blooms (HABs), either with local headlines or headlines from the Alaskan Arctic such as these, which refer to the summer IFCB data analyzed in this activity:
Authorities warn subsistence users about potentially harmful algal blooms (Article 1)
Researchers find high concentrations of harmful algae in regional waters (Article 2)
Researchers find even higher algal levels in regional waters (Article 3)
** These articles are also accessible in PDF form in Attachments.
Ask students how they think scientists could detect a HAB event.
Context
Show some examples of IFCB images and explain how the IFCB works, and show students the IFCB images of HAB species (see accompanying slide deck).
For more context, read the blog post Robots
Data analysis
Introduce students to the three datasets (Bering Sea North, Bering Strait, and Chukchi Shelf).
Demonstrate how to use the phytoplankton guide (it helps to emphasize to the students that they should look at the shape of the plankton in their data and see if they can find a matching shape in the guide) Students should use the guide to identify the plankton species in their data. Students can also record how many of each species are present.
Students record the species they find, along with the quantity of each species, on their data table. Students only need to identify and record the 3-5 most abundant species in each dataset; there is no need to try to identify all the species in each dataset.
Discussion
Students will answer the analysis questions. If they only analyzed one dataset, they can share and compare data with other groups that had the same location as them but a different time of year. Students can also compare results with groups or students that analyzed data from other locations.
In what season did HABs occur?
Why do you think the HABs happened in the summer? (factors to consider include amount of sunlight and water temperature).
How were the plankton communities in the summer and fall similar? How were they different?
How did the plankton communities vary across the different locations?
Extension
- Saxitoxin game (Upcoming Lesson Plan)
- HAB identification activity
- Collect and identify plankton samples from local waters
Transferability
This activity could be done in a virtual setting by providing students with digital copies of the data, field guide, and worksheet.
This activity could transfer to an informal setting, where it could be paired with collecting and identifying local plankton samples.
Resources
Middleton, Jane and Bursch, Katie. Marine Phytoplankton of Kachemak Bay. Kachemak Bay Research Reserve, 2015. https://accscatalog.uaa.alaska.edu/sites/default/files/Phytoplankton%20Guide_May_11_2015_sm.pdf
Assessment
Completed lab worksheet, class participation
Author/Credits
Rebecca Siegel, PolarTREC teacher 2022
Brevig Mission School
Brevig Mission, AK
rebecassiegel [at] gmail.com
Evie Fachon
PhD Candidate, MIT-WHOI Joint Program
efachon [at] whoi.edu
Standards Other
NGSS
MS-LS2-4 Construct an argument supported by empirical evidence that changes to physical or biological components of an ecosystem affect populations.
HS-LS2-2 Use mathematical representations to support and revise explanations based on evidence about factors affecting biodiversity and populations in ecosystems of different scales.
Polar Literacy
4) The Polar Regions have productive food webs (4A - Productivity is tied to seasonal changes in sea ice cover, water, and air temperature, 4B - Sea ice cover, water, and air temperature change with the seasons)
7) New technologies, sensors and tools - as well as applications of existing technologies - are expanding scientists’ abilities to study the land, ice, ocean and atmosphere and living creatures of the Polar Regions
State/local Standards
Alaska Science Standard: MS-LS2-4 Construct an argument supported by empirical evidence that changes to physical or biological components of an ecosystem affect populations.
HS-LS2-2 Use mathematical representations to support and revise explanations based on evidence about factors affecting biodiversity and populations in ecosystems of different scales.
Attachment | Size |
---|---|
Bloom Detectives_Full Lesson9.04 MB | 9.04 MB |
Lesson Materials & Worksheet7.31 MB | 7.31 MB |
Article 1: Authorities Warn Subsistence Users...854.5 KB | 854.5 KB |
Article 2: Researchers Find High Concentrations...706.49 KB | 706.49 KB |
Article 3: Researchers Find Even Higher Algal Levels...798.23 KB | 798.23 KB |
This program is supported by the National Science Foundation. Any opinions, findings, and conclusions or recommendations expressed by this program are those of the PIs and coordinating team, and do not necessarily reflect the views of the National Science Foundation.