Phytoplankton Monitoring Network

About Us

History

In 2001, the South Carolina Phytoplankton Monitoring Network (SCPMN) was established by NOAA's Marine Biotoxins Program, located at the Center for Coastal Environmental Health and Biomolecular Research (CCEHBR) and the Hollings Marine Lab (HML) in Charleston, SC, as an outreach program to unite volunteers and scientists in monitoring the marine phytoplankton community and harmful algal blooms. SCPMN recruited 10 volunteer groups to sample marine and coastal waters for phytoplankton in order to learn what types of phytoplankton exist. The program was so successful that it expanded throughout the coastal regions of the state. In October 2003, a collaboration with SC Sea Grant's Center for Ocean Sciences Education Excellence - SouthEast (COSEE-SE) led to a partnership with educators in North Carolina, South Carolina, and Georgia to form the Phytoplankton Monitoring Network (PMN). To date, there are 68 volunteer groups monitoring 78 sites along the southeast Atlantic coast from the northern Outer Banks in North Carolina to Jacksonville, Florida.

Volunteers are instructed on algae identification and sample on a weekly or biweekly basis, reporting their data to researchers at the Marine Biotoxins Program. Each volunteer group is supplied with a plankton net, thermometer, salt refractometer, and an Olympus MIC-D digital microscope. Groups are instructed on the identification of 26 species. However, if a species is observed in high abundance which is not on this list, species are preserved and sent to the Marine Biotoxins Program for positive identification. Results from volunteer groups enable researchers to identify problem areas to isolate for further study.

The majority of PMN volunteer groups include teachers and students in grades 5 through 12, however, universities, aquariums, parks and recreational facilities, and environmental and citizen groups participate as well. Students and volunteers receive training in sampling methods, plankton taxonomy and ecology, microscopy, and phytoplankton identification, and then participate in sampling on a weekly or biweekly basis, reporting their data to researchers at the Marine Biotoxins Program. During 2005, approximately 3000 participants were actively involved in PMN programs and monitoring activities. Since its inception in 2001, PMN volunteers have submitted over 4000 data sets. In this process they have identified 48 algal blooms and generated valuable data on species composition and distribution in southeastern coastal waters.