Though it is the foundation of the aquatic food web, the very densely populated ‘micro-algae’ lead to low oxygen ‘dead zones’, killing fish and many species too risk human health.
Thus, for protecting their communities, coastal managers need to monitor and characterize algal populations that change quickly over space and time.
The present fluorescence-based optical monitors — that ‘see’ chlorophyll a, a plant pigment present in all algal species — are not only less effective in turbid coastal waters, but also cannot identify alternative pigments. Hence, it cannot distinguish between different types of algal species.
So, as a better solution, scientists at the Alabama’s Dauphin Island Sea Lab are developing a field stage prototype of a laser fluorometer capable of detecting multiple target pigments, on a previous Cooperative Institute for Coastal and Estuarine Environmental Technology project. It will be able to differentiate between different types of algae.
