Snejana MONCHEVA, Maria PANTAZİ, Larisa PAUTOVA, Laura BOİCENCO, Dan VASİLİU5, Luydmila MANTZOSH

Black Sea Phytoplankton Data Quality - Problems and Progress

The quality of biological data has gained recognition as an essential part of international monitoring programmes, in response to the demand for strategic environmental evaluations such as the EU WFD, the MSFD and informed decisions for environmental sound management. The paper presents the results of an intercalibration exercise among four Black Sea phytoplankton laboratories (NIMRD-RO, IBSS-UKR, IO-RAS - RUS and IO-BAS - BLG) conducted under SESAME FP6 Project with the objectives: 1) to assess the degree of comparability of phytoplankton and chlorophyll a data produced by routine in-house methods; 2) to formulate recommendations for progress towards harmonization of the research methodology in the Black Sea. The statistical treatment of the results reveal that at the level of total phytoplankton abundance and biomass as well as chlorophyll a the data were in a good agreement, while for some taxonomic classes (Prymnesiophyceae and small flagellates) the differences were significant. The counted sample volume proves essential for detection of species diversity and the methods of species specific biovolume measurements - for the total biomass. As a follow up Guidelines for QC/QA of phytoplankton data and check-list with suggested shapes for biovolume calculation were produced under UP-Grade Black Sea SCENE FP7 Project that offer key options for progress.

Snejana Moncheva1,*, Maria Pantazi2, Larisa Pautova3, Laura Boicenco4, Dan Vasiliu5

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