Kk. Cavenderbares et al., A DUAL SHEATH FLOW CYTOMETER FOR SHIPBOARD ANALYSES OF PHYTOPLANKTON COMMUNITIES FROM THE OLIGOTROPHIC OCEANS, Limnology and oceanography, 43(6), 1998, pp. 1383-1388
Flow cytometry has been used to study phytoplankton since the early 19
80s. Because of the wide range of cell sizes and concentrations that o
ccur in natural samples, multiple instrument configurations have been
required to characterize pico, ultra-, and nanophytoplankton. Lengthy
changeover times between configurations have made synoptic analyses of
phytoplankton communities extremely cumbersome and therefore rare. To
overcome this problem, we have added dual-sheath capability and adjus
table optics to a commercially available flow cytometer. These additio
ns expand the instrument's capabilities during routine operation. The
dual-sheath cytometer can characterize both the submicron picoplankter
Prochlorococcus at sample flow rates of 10 mu l min(-1) and, after a
1-min changeover, ultraphytoplankton and nanophytoplankton at sample f
low rates >1 ml min(-1). These capabilities make possible real-time an
alysis of phytoplankton size spectra at sea.