The phytoplankton chip: Developement and assessment of a DNA microarray as a reliable tool for monitoring of phytoplankton

One microarray, the Phytoplankton Chip was developed . Phytoplankton field samples were taken at the island of Helgoland in the North Sea from 2004 to 2006 at regular intervals. For the phytoplankton community, only the > 20 mikrometer size fraction is identified on a daily basis. For picoplanktonic groups, light microscopy can not differentiate taxa or species. The phyto- and especially picoplanktonic dynamics were successfully analyzed with the Phytoplankton Chip in these three annual cycles. In general, the data showed highly abundant taxa present through all three years and some taxa that were rare. The first group of taxa seemed to be very stable and unaffected by environmental changes.