Loïc Pellissier's Biodiversity cluster uses the Planktoscope to identify morphogroups of plankton. (https://www.planktoscope.org/). Loïc Pellissier is a Professor of Ecosystems and Landscape Evolution at the Institute of Terrestrial Ecosystems at ETH Zurich and at WSL
The Planktoscope is a “low-tech” device for characterizing plankton. It is a modular, open-source hardware and software platform for high-throughput quantitative imaging of plankton samples in aquatic biology and ecology.
“ At the same time, we use peristaltic pumps on board FOREL to filter the water through capsules that retain the environmental DNA contained in the seawater. Genetic analysis enables us to identify the plankton composition. So we have two methods, one more traditional and the other more modern.” Loïc Pellissier.
“ eDNA is very good for describing biodiversity and quantifying which species are the most abundant. In the case of plankton, the Planktoscope offers an effective quantitative approach, enabling us to quickly compare biodiversity between two different Greenland fjords”. Virgnie Marquez, Loïc Pellissier's postdoc, on board FOREL.
@julien.girardot.photography
21.07.2024
Planktoscope versus eDNA
The Planktoscope is a “low-tech” device for characterizing plankton. At the same time, scientists aboard FOREL use peristaltic pumps to filter the water through capsules that retain the environmental DNA contained in the seawater.