Marine Biology

Phytoplankton

The collected plankton should be preserved immediately for future analysis. This is especially critical in tropical seas owing to higher temperatures. Plankton collected for years in an area will help to know about its fertility. Though a number of preservatives are available for planktonic organisms, only a few are commonly used for fixing and preserving phytoplankton. The various methods of fixing and preserving the phytoplankton samples are discussed below.