Quantitative Plankton

Quantitative Plankton

Overview

Identify and quantify plankton with the use of microscopes to explore the diversity in Long Island Sound.

Highlights

Program Duration: 2.5 Hours

Trip Season: Sept-June

Student Limit: Up to 25

Science Standard: LS1-5, LS2-2, LS2-6

Trip Description

Students will use microscopes to examine and identify planktonic organisms from Long Island Sound. We’ll compare different types of plankton, and discuss the role of plankton in food webs. Students will use our plankton splitter and Bogarov trays to do quantitative plankton counts, compiling a dataset that can be used to examine the relative abundances of different members of the plankton, or to compare different locations.