Planctonema lauterbornii Schmidle 1903

seems to be a species that occurs when the ecosystem is in stress (Leitão et al 2003, Song et la 2009).

The Dutch TWN-list has 3 "preferred names" for Planctonema: 2 lauterbornii's and Planctonema subtilissimum.

There is Planctonema lauterbornii Schmidle 1903, but then also Pl. lauterbornii sensu M. Watanabe, T. Hori et M. Akiyama 1986. I looked up the article of Watanabe & Co , but - I must say - some of the information did not exactly reach my brain. Maybe it was the Japanese language. So it remains a mystery to me, why Watanabe et al's lauterbornii should be recorded apart.

Hällfors writes about Planktonema subtilissimum in Finnish archipelago (Hällfors 1984). But this species is not mentioned in the Checklist of Baltic Sea Phytoplankton Species. Not on the Helcom species list either. Nor on the Finnish freshwater algae list... I do have to get that article to find out what Hällfors is writing about.

Planctonema lauterbornii one can find on the Finnish freshwater algae list. But on the updated internet version of Tikkanens Plankton guide one can read that this species is in Finland only seen in the brackish water. This is not true. Planctonema lauterbornii Schmidle is also in the Finnish lakes.

The TWN-list gives us two synonyms for Pl. lauterbornii
1: Binuclearia lauterbornii Author: (W. Schmidle 1903) A.I. Proshkina-Lavrenko 1966
2: Geminellopsis fragilis Author: O.A. Korshikov 1939

Also remember that Bourrelly's (1962) Pl. lauterbornii is actually Planctonema subtilissimum (N.G. Von Lagerheim 1900) G. Hällfors 1984.
And to write the genus nam with a "c", not with "k" anymore.

Photo's: Planctonema lauterbornii cells ca. 3x10 µm.

Literature
Hällfors, G. 1984. Filamentous rock-pool algae in the Tvärminne archipelago, S. coast of Finland. – Acta Botanica Fennica 126:1-111
Leitão M., Morata S.M., Rodriguez S., Vergon J.P. 2003. The Effect of perturbations on phytoplankton assemblages in a deep reservoir (Vouglans, France)Hydrobiologia 502: 73–83.
Song X., Liu Z., Yang G., Chen Y. 2009. Effects of resuspension and eutrophication level on summer phytoplankton dynamics in two hypertrophic areas of Lake Taihu, China. Aquat Ecol (2010) 44:41–54
Watanabe, M., Hori, T. & Akiyama, M. (1986): Planctonema lauterbornii Schmidle. Studies on the development of filament organization in Planctonema lauterbornii Schmidle. – Bulletin of the National Science Museum, Tokyo, Ser. B (Botany), 12 (3): 107-115.

Tychonema

Hmm, it's true, then. They are here. Tychonema's. On the Cyanobactria course in Czech Rebublic last August I was quite surprised to hear Prof. Komárek say that Tychonema is quite common in the northern lakes...

As he, together with Anagnostidis, wrote in Süsswasserflora 19/2 (2005) they occur "in the plankton of northern, colder lakes, slightly eutrophicated". Found some in a northern lake.

Tychonema resembles a lot Planktothrix, and is very closely related too. Both belong to the family Phormidiacea and even to the subfamily Phormidioideae. What is different between these genera is that in Tychonema the cell content is pale and whit "holes" These holes are in fact widened thylakoids, a phenomenon called keritomy.

Tychonema bourrellyi (J.W.G.Lund) Anagnostidis & Komárek

Literature:
Komárek, J. & Anagnostidis, K. 2007. Cyanoprokaryota , 2. Teil: Oscillatoriales. Süßwasserflora von Mitteleuropa, Band. 19/2. Elsevier, München.

Pediastrum

Found this Pediastrum integrum C.W. Nägeli 1849 in a sample with almost nothing in it. And yes, Komárek and Jankovská (2001) tell that it's common in oligotrophic and dystrophic cold and clear large and small lakes as well as small peaty basins. Everything fine so far.

What puzzled me was there also was P. angulosum (C.G. Ehrenberg 1834) ex G.G.A. Meneghini 1840, which Komárek and Jankovská (2001) describe as "rather alkalifilic and does not occur in peaty waters an acidic swamps." But then again, I only saw two coenobia, one of each. In 25 ml. And of course they could occur simultaneusly. Water could be oligotrophic, but not so dystrophic and acidic, with some submersed waterplants too, so that they would both feel happy.

Wecktröm et al (2010) wrote a nice article about ecology of the Pediastrum in subarctic lakes. They mention both these species too. P. integrum was the only species in their study, for which they found similar distribution as the earlier studies. For P. angulosum they found that it was most abundant in lakes with the lowest pH and highest DOC concentration. But, then again, their most acidic was 6,4. So not that acidic anyway. Komárek and Jankovská (2001) write, that P. angulosum is known probably more in warm areas. But it's here too, I can tell!

These species were easy ones to identify. More difficult it gets with the many variaties of P. boryanum. According to Komárek and Jankovská (2001) var. breviscorne and var. forcipatum have been seen in tropical countries and they think that data from these varieties from the northern countries very probably are other species. Well, well. Weckström & co write anyway that they have trust in their identification. I would - for my part - be very careful with these varieties.

Catalogue of the desmids of Ireland

Wonderful! To be found at AlgaeBase: http://www.algaebase.org/search/bibliography/detail/?biblio_id=47220

The big one

This big (68x80 µm) Cosmarium botrytis lightened up my day just before lunch break.

It was cathed in a lake Kurtinjärvi in Kuusamo, in the north of Finland. West & West (1912) already mention, that it has been seen in Finland. A quite a common species, found all over. West & West describe 7 varieties of this species with "considerable amount of variability": paxillosporum, subtumidum, tumidum, gemmiferum, emarginatum, mediolaeve and depressum. They only mention var. gemmiferum as seen in Finland at that time. Skuja mentions the species in some northern lakes in Sweden in 1948, with 3 varieties: subtumidum, tumidum and depressum. In his Abisko-book from 1963 he mentions only the two first ones.

Lenzenweger lists 5 varieties and one forma, of which var. latum and f. minus he states as taxonomically questionable. He also mentions var. emarginatum. Coesel en Meesters mention 3 varieties above var. botrytis itself: paxillosporum, tumidum and mediolave. And finally, AlgaeBase counts totally 14 varieties, all of them taxonomically accepted names.

The Finnish Algae guide by Tikkanen (1986) does not mention any varieties, while the official Phyto-list includes also var. depressum.

To the species level Cosmarium botrytis Meneghini 1840 ex Ralfs 1848 is easy to identify: just look at the big size, the pyramidal outline, two pyrenoids in each cell half the "pearly" granules, as Ralfs (1848) puts it, which can be - according to him - "sometimes very evident, sometimes obscure".

Literature
Coesel, Peter F.M. & Meesters, Koos (J.) 2007. Desmids of the Lowlands. Mesotaeniaceae and Desmidiaceae of the European Lowlands. KNNV, Zeist.
Lenzenweger R. 1999. Desmidiaceenflora von Österreich. Teil 3. 1999 (Bibliotheca Phycologica 104) J. Cramer, Stuttgart.
Ralfs, J. (1848). The British Desmidieae. pp. [i]-xxii, [i], [1]-226, pls I-XXXV. London: Reeve, Benham & Reeve Skuja H. (1948) Grundzüge der Algenflora und Algenvegetation der Fjeldgegenden um Abisko in Schwedisch-Lappland. Nova Acta Regiae. Soc. Sci. Upsal., Ser 4 18 (3).
Skuja H. (1964) Taxonomie de Phytoplanktons einiger Seen in Uppland, Schweden. Symb. Bot. Upsal. 9 (3).
Tikkanen, Toini 1986. Kasviplanktonopas. Suomen Luonnonsuojeluliiton tuki Oy. Helsinki.
W. & G.S. West 1912 A Monograph of the British Desmidiaceae, Vol. 4., Ray Society, London.

They still love Zooplankton!

In the newest Hydrobiologia (Volume 676, Number 1 / November 2011) there is a bunch of articles about zooplankton. Wonderful! "Cladocera crustaceans: sentinels of environmental change" Eggermont & Martens write in the preface. I do believe they are. Jeppesen et al plead for including zooplankton to the European Water Framework Directive. No objections heard from me. What makes me especially happy is the high number of Finnishs names as authors.

Public alien observations

Finland’s environmental administration asks people to inform the authorities about their observations on alien species. In the Baltic Sea, that is.

With more information on the species the authorities can plan the steps needed to be taken, if there are any. To make it as easy as possible, there is even a form on the net one can fill in in case of an alien observation. As far as I could find out, the form was only in Finnish. There are quite a few Swedish speaking citizens living on the coast, with a large knowlegde of the sea and it's life. I hope they find their way to the form too.

Further information about the alien species in the Baltic Sea one can find on the Baltic Sea Alien Species Database

Getting ready for the Baltic Sea

Visited Mrs. Terttu Finni in Helsinki yesterday. We had a fine day looking at the samples from the coastal waters of the brackish Baltic Sea with her the microscope. Went through the most common species and dicussed almost 50 taxa. I kind of like Chaetoceros-species. The first step towards counting Baltic Sea phytoplankton is taken.

The Finnish algae list

Last weeks Thursday and Friday we had the annual autumn meeting of the Finnish algologists. This time in Heureka, the Finnish Science Center in Vantaa, near Helsinki. Most of the time of the 15 or so algologists gathered went on checking the blue-greens on the national algae list: the names, volumes, taxonomy. A couple of totally new taxa was dealed with as well. We also discussed the exact meaning of the word coenobia.

I learned that checking the algae list here in Finland is very much done by the algae counters themselves, on a voluntary basis. This can be a very productive way of working. Let's just hope the taxonomy does not suffer under these circumstances.

Nordic Microalgae II

Started to contribute photo's on the fine site Nordic Microalgae. Do have a look.

The function of a heterocyst

Visited the university library in Turku and borrowed this book "Cyanophyta" from T.V. Desikachary, 1959. Still busy with the Cyanos after the Determination Course in Czech Republic...

It was very interesting to get some perspective in the study of Cyanos. Was reading the chapter Heterocysts and I realized that back in 1959 it was not yet clear what the function of heterocysts was. Different functions were suggested: store houses for food material, reproductive bodies, producing of gas vacuoles, secreting a growth stimulating substance.

The most surprising thing was that the germination of heterocysts was described by many researchers, even Geitler himself. I do wonder what they have really seen??

A bit earlier it was stated in the book that "certain blue-green algae have now been shown to be definitely able to fix atmospheric nitrogen". But in 1959 they had not yet combined these two thing, heterocysts and nitrogen fixation.

I wonder when and who actually did this?


Literature
Desikachary, T.V. (1959). Cyanophyta. pp. i-x, 1-686, 139 pls. New Delhi: Indian Council of Agricultural Research.

Nordic Microalgae

This sure looks good:
Nordic Microalgae

Blue-greens in České Budějovice

It's already a month ago, that I was on the Determination Course of Freshwater and Terrestrial Cyanobacteria in Czech Republic, in this beautiful city of České Budějovice, about 150 km south of the ever so wonderful city of Prague.

We had a very intensive and highly interesting week going through the newest developments in the taxonomy of Cyanobacteria, under the kind and inspiring guidance of Prof. Komárek the Great:




You could also get individual lessons: (Thank you for the photo, Oriana!)

Here is our wonderful Cyanobacteria group all together on the market place of České Budějovice:

(Sorry, don't know who's photo' the rest is. One of the dear participants. Or even so organisers. I hope it's fine that the photo's are here.)

The other way round

With an up-right microscope one puts the slide the other way round on the stage than when using an inverted microscope. I should know it by now...

But I was becoming a bit desperate while calibrating the 40x PlanApo Oil objective on my up-right Zeiss microscope and I did not get the stage micrometer sharp. The 10x objective showed the lines alright. So why not the 40x objective?? Did the micrometer move with the oil? Should I turn the objective just a little bit closer? Afraid of breaking either the micrometer or - even worse - the objective, I was becoming quite anxious.

And then it struck me. I checked how did I put the micrometer on the stage. Upside down, of course. I am an inverted microscope user indeed. So I turned the slide and calibrated the objective.

Home of Staurastrum sexcostatum

Was on my last sample trip last Sunday and took some water out of the ditch, near to my favorite lake. And this is what I found:










Size 38x48 µm.

Lots of them. Seems to be the home of Staurastrum sexcostatum Brébisson ex Ralfs 1848. According to Coesel & Meesters (2007) it particularly occurs in ephemeral pools. Might well be, that this ditch gets dry in the summer. In the Netherlands it's rare, Coesel and Meesters state. The same thing is told us by John and Williamson (2009) and they are referring to West of Ireland. Lenzenweger (1997) let's us know that this species has been but rarely found in the Alps of Austria. He seems to have seen slightly smaller cells than the others, by the way. Ralfs stated in his book The British Desmidieae in 1848, that this species was very rare, whereas West, West & Carter (1923) 75 years later do mention quite a few places, where it has been found. Finland was not mentioned here, though.

But it is here. Tikkanen (1986) does not mention it, but it's on the official phytoplankton list maintained by the Finnish Environmental Administration. It's not yet on the Finnish Phytoplankton net guide, but it probably will be, soon.


Literature
Coesel, Peter F.M. & Meesters, Koos (J.) 2007. Desmids of the Lowlands. Mesotaeniaceae and Desmidiaceae of the European Lowlands. KNNV, Zeist.

John, D.M. & Williamson D.B. 2009. A practical guide to the Desmids of the West of Ireland. MRI.

Lenzenweger R. (1997) Desmidiaceenflora von Österreich.
Teil 2. Bibliotheca Phycologica, Vol. 102.
J. Cramer, Berlin & Stuttgart.

Ralfs, J. (1848). The British Desmidieae. pp. [i]-xxii, [i], [1]-226, pls I-XXXV. London: Reeve, Benham & Reeve.


Tikkanen, Toini 1986. Kasviplanktonopas. Suomen Luonnonsuojeluliiton tuki Oy. Helsinki.

West, West & Carter (1923) A Monograph of the British Desmidiaceae, Vol. 5. Ray Society, London.

Immersion oil

My Zeiss immersion oil ran out. No worries, I had another one. This one was Olympus. And as it turned out, a bit thinner. And viscosity of immersion oil is quite a critical characteristic when using an inverted microscope.

On the bottles I can't find any kind of direct information about the viscosity, strange enough. The refractive index is mentioned, though. Also a very critical phenomenon. Zeiss had it 0,002 higher than Olympus. That shall not make the difference.

Again, while visiting the Netherlands, my dear colleague and a the Great Microscope Man René van Wezel told me a thing or two about the secret life of immersion oil. Here you can find some more information on the subject: Cargille and Olympus.

So it became clear that I will stick to Type B immersion oil with a higher viscosity, 1250 centistokes (cSt or mm2/s) as it is called. I might even try the NVH type with the viscosity of 21000 cSt.

Connected

I'm now connected to the EnvPhyto phytoplankton counting program that runs at the Finnish Environment Institute in Helsinki. :) EnvPhyto is again connected with the national environmental database, Hertta. This together makes it possible to combine the algae count results with the known environmental parameters of the lake, like depth, catchment area, pH, P, N etc etc. At once.

Navicula reinhardtii

While visiting my colleagues in the Netherlands we discussed this peculiar Navicula from the Dutch waters, that I was not able to give a name to. Geurt Verweij - a far more competent diatomist than I ever will be - gave his opinion on the subject: Navicula reinhardtii.



Size= 15 x 34 µm

I had seen this little fellow many times. The structure in the middle of the scale is quite special, with long an short striae. Geurt pointed out, that the end of the raphe is curved. Yes, I could see that. And, what's even more specific is that the other end is curved to the opposite direction. Seems to be exceptional for Navicula s. str., according to Lange-Bertalot (2001). With some difficulty I could see even this. I mean the raphe curving the other way, not the exceptionality in it.

So, there is a new diatom-buddy for me. Navicula reinhardtii (A. Grunow) A. Grunow in P.T. Cleve et J.D. Möller 1877. According to the Dutch TWN-list there are no synonyms, but in both the books, Süsswasserflora 2/1 (1997) and Diatoms of Europe (2001) Stauroneis reinhardtii is mentioned as a synonym. Hmm...
Here is some more information about this species: Common Freshwater Diatoms of Britain and Ireland A multiaccess key. Seems to be very sensitive to pollution, according to the France IPS, and alkalibiontic. No wonder I've not seen it in Finland. ;)

Literature:
Krammer, K. & H. Lange-Bertalot, 1997. Bacillariophyceae. 1.Teil: Naviculaceae. Julk.: Ettl, H.,
Gerloff, J., Heynig, H. & Mollenhauer D. (toim.). Süsswasserflora von Mitteleuropa,
Band 2. Stuttgart, Gustav Fischer Verlag, Jena. 876 s.

Lange-Bertalot, H. 2001. Diatoms of Europe, Volume 2: Navicula Sensu Stricto, 10 Genera Separated from Navicula Sensu Lato, Frustulia. A.R.G Gantner Verlag K.G., Ruggel. 526 s.

I love library

How fine is the possibility to borrow books from far away libraries!

Just got the Bibliography of Copepoda by W. Verwoort from the library of Helsinki university.


One can live and work on the countryside and still have access to fine literature.

Very, very interesting

Participated a course arranged by the Finnish Environment Institute on Thursday in Helsinki. Soon we will be able to send the results of our phytoplankton countings to the national database for phtyoplankton, which is again linked to the national database for all the information concerning the surface waters (place, physical and chemical information...). And be able to use this information. And combine the information. On line. Wow!

Inland Water Biology

Found this journal, Inland Water Biology. There are wonderfull photo's of diatoms by S.I. Genkal. And many articles about zooplankton too, this fascinating group that many times is forgotten. What makes it extra interesting on these lati- and longitudes is the fact that many articles deal with Karelian waters.



Take a look!

Speciesism

I often feel quite uncomfortable, when I see some strange green balls under the microscope. If these green algae are the kind that I don't know so well. And if I have difficulties identifying them. So that I don't know in which group they belong to. So that I don't now their background. So that I don't know how I should handle them. It does not feel good.

In these cases there is nothing else for me to do, than to leave them for what they are and call them with a group name, like Chlorophyceae, that covers all the possible green balls. And keep on hoping, that One Day I will find the information to be able to identify them as species and understand their taxonomically right place and their background. That would make me happy. But in the meanwhile I have to be able to stand out the stress of not knowing, not understanding.

In these times, that we are having elections here in Finland and even here the message of extreme right is more and more heard, the thought came into my mind, that people who suffer from a breeze of racism, probably go through same kind of feelings as I do with my little green balls. They must feel uncomfortable and unsecure. Not knowing or understanding.

I do hope that they will stand out the stress.

After all, we all belong to the same Family.

Smells like sh*t

Got this telephone call from a consulting company. There had been complaints that something smelled like cow dung at a lake, so they took a sample from the ice on this lake. The farmers are not yet busy... They could see something in the sample.

I had some difficulties trying to identify the species on the telephone... In the last sample of the year there had been a lot of the diatom Aulacoseira islandica. Perhaps it was that. I asked if they could send me a some of that sample. They could.

This is what I saw:
Aulacoseira indeed. And after a closer look I could be positive, that it is islandica.


Our beloved Astrid Cleve-Euler wrote in 1951 that this species is common and an important algae in the larger, meso- to eutrophic waters. And that it can form blooms in the winter!

Bijkerk et al 1996 write, that A. islandica has it's temperature optimum below 10 degrees and that it needs less light than it's sister A. granulata, for example. If the water is more eutroficated, then A. granulata will probably win.

The smell then. My nose did not detect any odour of dung. Some faint smell of... of... don't know.
Aulacoseira?

Literature:
Bijkerk, Ronald, Joosten, Ton & Koeman Reinoud 1996. Documentatie van centrale diatomeeën uit Nederlandse eutrofe binnenwateren. Koeman en Bijkerk bv, Haren. The Netherlands.
Cleve-Euler, Astrid 1951. Die Diatomeen von Schweden und Finnland. Kungl. Svenska vetenskapsakademiens handlingar. 4. ser. bd. 2, no. 1; 1-163.

The first sample of the year

Went on a ski-tour the other day and found some open water in the middle of the field:
No, that's not me on the photo. It's our beloved dog, Drosjna, 13 years old and still going strong. Here you have a shadow of me:

Was wondering what kind of algae would like to live there. Came back another day with an empty bottle and see here the result:
9-10,5 x 25-34 µm

Navicula's all over, gliding elegantly over the chamber bottom. Have to take a closer look to be able to give these busy fellows a better name. Any suggestions?

U.F.O.

This Unidentified Floating Object does not remain unidentified for a long time, not even for a beginner. At least, if there is some decent literature at hand.




Desmatractum indutum, 9x55 µm.

Looks like an alien space ship. But it is a green-algae: Desmatractum indutum. Belongs to the little family of Treubariaceae. According to Komárek & Fott (1983). And Algaebase. The wonderful Dutch species list - TWN – has another opinion and lifts the Trebouxiophyceae to an own class under the division Chlorophyta. Interesting…

There are more weird little things in this family. What they have in common is that there is a clear distance between the cell wall and the chloroplast. Most common is probably the genus Treubaria, where there are some cosmopolitan species.

According to Komárek & Fott Desmatractum indutum is mostly in small, eutrophic ponds. Hindák (1984) has found it in Slovakian fishponds and Schmidt & Fehér (1999) in some Hungarian waters every now and then. John and Co (2008) don’t mention it in their book about the Algal Flora of the British Isles. Neither does our own Grand Old Plankton Lady, late Toini Tikkanen mention it in her Kasviplanktonopas (1986).

Eyes open guys, it’s not that difficult to see!


Literature:
Hindák, František 1984.
Studies on the chlorococcal algae (Chlorophyceae). III. Biol. Práce., XXX/1, p. 308.

Komárek J., Fott B.1983
Chlorophyceae (Grünalgen), Ordnung Chlorococcales.. In: Huber-Pestalozzi G. (Ed.): Das Phytoplankton des Süsswassers, Die Binnengewässer 16, 7/1: 1-1044, Schweizerbart Verlag, Stuttgart.

Schmidt, Antal & Fehér Gizella 1998. A zöldalgák Chloroccales rendjének kishatározója 1. 2. (átdolgozott) kiadás. Vízi természet – és környezetvédelem 5. Budapest.

Tikkanen, Toini 1986.
Kasviplanktonopas. Suomen Luonnonsuojeluliiton tuki Oy. Helsinki.

I take this as a sign

All right, I will make an appointment. Next week. The first thing.

I have been thinking about going to the hairdresser a couple of weeks already. Maybe it has something to do with a new year beginning, that I want to have something new – if not in, then at least – on my head. Was thinking about a Siimes-look, about 5 mm long hair, but it’s a bit too cold for it at the moment.

Last time I visited a hairdresser is about… must be about four years ago. So, you do understand, that this is not that kind of a decision I make hastily.

And then, yesterday, I saw these with the scope:

and I thought if even the Dictyosphaerium get’s a new, interesting African-look, then – go for it!

A normal Dictyosphaerium looks like this: