Preface
Individual cell and particle analysis in aquatic sciences is involved in many aspects of
oceanography and limnology, including optical physics of particles, phytoplankton physiology
and ecology, marine and aquatic microbiology and food web interactions. This book
concentrates on the optimal utilization of flow cytometry and image analysis and the ways in
which oceanographic and limnological problems can be uniquely or better addressed using
these techniques.
The book stresses the need to work on merging scales in order to increase our understanding
of the productivity of aquatic systems and emphasized the use of flow cytometry as a powerful
tool for rapidly integrating large amounts of information over a wide range of particle scales.
This new approach should help in finding adequate mechanistic solutions to problems of
measurement of primary production at small (individual cells). as well as at global scales.
Advancement in understanding of the aquatic system appears to be linked to such
development. For example, fluorescent oligonucleotide probes recognize specific sequences
of ribosomal RNA. Depending of their base composition they can differentiate cells at the
kingdom (e.g. eukaryotes vs prokaryotes), group (e.g. sulfate reducing bacteria) or even finer
taxonomic levels. This approach appears extremely powerful since probes can be devised to
be as specific or as general as needed. Its coupling with flow cytometry will allow to assess
in very fine detail the structure of microbial food webs in aquatic environments. These new
probes also open up the possibility to better understand how oceanic communities adapt to a
changing and unpredictable environment at the genetic level.
In the future, it is recommended that some members of the international community of ocean
scientists continue the transfer of techniques and methodologies developed in other fields,
taking into account the challenges of analyzing marine samples. These techniques include for
example, immunological probes, oligonucleotide probes, fluorescent probes to stain specific
components or activities of the cell and multivariate numerical analysis. However, we should
Individual cell and particle analysis in aquatic sciences is involved in many aspects of
oceanography and limnology, including optical physics of particles, phytoplankton physiology
and ecology, marine and aquatic microbiology and food web interactions. This book
concentrates on the optimal utilization of flow cytometry and image analysis and the ways in
which oceanographic and limnological problems can be uniquely or better addressed using
these techniques.
The book stresses the need to work on merging scales in order to increase our understanding
of the productivity of aquatic systems and emphasized the use of flow cytometry as a powerful
tool for rapidly integrating large amounts of information over a wide range of particle scales.
This new approach should help in finding adequate mechanistic solutions to problems of
measurement of primary production at small (individual cells). as well as at global scales.
Advancement in understanding of the aquatic system appears to be linked to such
development. For example, fluorescent oligonucleotide probes recognize specific sequences
of ribosomal RNA. Depending of their base composition they can differentiate cells at the
kingdom (e.g. eukaryotes vs prokaryotes), group (e.g. sulfate reducing bacteria) or even finer
taxonomic levels. This approach appears extremely powerful since probes can be devised to
be as specific or as general as needed. Its coupling with flow cytometry will allow to assess
in very fine detail the structure of microbial food webs in aquatic environments. These new
probes also open up the possibility to better understand how oceanic communities adapt to a
changing and unpredictable environment at the genetic level.
In the future, it is recommended that some members of the international community of ocean
scientists continue the transfer of techniques and methodologies developed in other fields,
taking into account the challenges of analyzing marine samples. These techniques include for
example, immunological probes, oligonucleotide probes, fluorescent probes to stain specific
components or activities of the cell and multivariate numerical analysis. However, we should