Microscopic plankton are extremely diverse and play fundamental ecological roles in aquatic systems, yet relatively little is known about them. Help us gather important data and spread knowledge about microplankton by documenting them in a body of water near you! Check out C-MORE’s Plankton Kit (cmore.soest.hawaii.edu/kits) at any of our partner institutions for all of the materials needed to collect and document this “invisible” wildlife. Kits are available from C-MORE centers at Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute, University of California at Santa Cruz, Oregon State University and University of Hawaii at Manoa.
“Microplankton” is used loosely, as we have general interest in plankton smaller than 1 cm. This technically includes anything within the macroplankton (2 - 20 mm; e.g. krill) to femtoplankton (< 0.0002 mm; e.g. virus) size range. Check out C-MORE’s Plankton Kit (cmore.soest.hawaii.edu/kits) for help with microplankton observions. Submit your data, including a habitat description and any other environmental data. Be sure to note your magnification power and a size estimate of your specimen. Estimated abundances per volume of water sampled are especially useful.
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