On the shores of the Oslofjord, at the charming Tollboden Centre in Drøbak, Thibaut Pollina and Jérémy Szymczak from the FairScope team were honored to take part in the Kick-Off meeting of the #MACROCOP project, initiated by Jan Heuschele from the Department of Biosciences at the University of Oslo (UiO).
Understanding the Role of Phytal Copepods
Jan’s expertise in behavioral and ecological processes in coastal copepods will enable him to quantify the diversity and abundance of the copepod community in macroalgae. Indeed, the quantity and function of phytal copepods, which are closely associated with macroalgae, are poorly understood.
FairScope’s Involvement With the PlanktoScope
In this context, the PlanktoScope will be used to determine the diversity and abundance of phytal copepods found in samples of macroalgae. FairScope is bringing expertise in adjusting the PlanktoScope, alongside Jan’s engineering and tinkering skills, to enable imaging of the 200–800 µm size fraction, which is larger than the current PlanktoScope standard of 20–200 µm. Imaging this size fraction will, in the future, open up many new applications related to zooplankton quantification.
Inspiring Exchanges
We also had the chance to interact with Daniel Vaulot, Research Director Emeritus and guest investigator at UiO, who was involved in the early career of Thibaut ten years ago, and who will now assist and advise this project on barcoding and metabarcoding analyses.
It was an enriching few days, interacting with such a talented and complementary team brought together to explore these fascinating questions. We are grateful to have shared this experience with Josefin Titelman, Tom Andersen, and Ida Nielsen from the University of Oslo; Kristina Kvile from the Norwegian Institute for Water Research ; Marit F. Markussen Bjorbækmo; Gritta Veit-Köhler from Senckenberg am Meer; and Michael Burrows from Scottish Association For Marine Science and Tone Falkenhaug from Institute of Marine Research. The diversity of perspectives, backgrounds, and institutions made this exchange all the more inspiring and nourishing.
