Over the past two weeks phytoplankton in Kachemak Bay have been abundant at all the sites sampled. There are many different species of phytoplankton present without a single group dominating the samples. Some of the species have auxospores present, see image on the right, which are special cells used to restore cell size after many cell divisions leave cells smaller, they also are usually associated with sexual reproduction.
Additional information, including qualitative analysis of phytoplankton data, is available in the Phytoplankton Update for Sep. 11th – Sep. 24th.