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LifeWatch observatory data: phytoplankton observations by FlowCam imaging in the Belgian Part of the North Sea
Citable as data publication
Flanders Marine Institute (VLIZ), Belgium (2026): LifeWatch observatory data: phytoplankton observations by FlowCam imaging in the Belgian Part of the North Sea. https://doi.org/10.14284/774
Previous versions (8) view
Flanders Marine Institute (VLIZ), Belgium (2025): LifeWatch observatory data: phytoplankton observations by FlowCam imaging in the Belgian Part of the North Sea. https://doi.org/10.14284/760
Flanders Marine Institute (VLIZ), Belgium (2025): LifeWatch observatory data: phytoplankton observations by FlowCam imaging in the Belgian Part of the North Sea. https://doi.org/10.14284/710
Flanders Marine Institute (VLIZ), Belgium (2024): LifeWatch observatory data: phytoplankton observations by FlowCam imaging in the Belgian Part of the North Sea . https://doi.org/10.14284/650
Flanders Marine Institute (VLIZ), Belgium (2022): LifeWatch observatory data: phytoplankton observations by imaging flow cytometry (FlowCam) in the Belgian Part of the North Sea . https://doi.org/10.14284/544
Flanders Marine Institute (VLIZ), Belgium (2021): LifeWatch observatory data: phytoplankton observations by imaging flow cytometry (FlowCam) in the Belgian Part of the North Sea . https://doi.org/10.14284/527
Flanders Marine Institute (VLIZ), Belgium (2020): LifeWatch observatory data: phytoplankton observations by imaging flow cytometry (FlowCam) in the Belgian Part of the North Sea . https://doi.org/10.14284/424
Flanders Marine Institute (VLIZ), Belgium (2020): LifeWatch observatory data: phytoplankton observations by imaging flow cytometry (FlowCam) in the Belgian Part of the North Sea . https://doi.org/10.14284/416
Flanders Marine Institute (VLIZ), Belgium (2019): LifeWatch observatory data: phytoplankton observations by imaging flow cytometry (FlowCam) in the Belgian Part of the North Sea . https://doi.org/10.14284/330
Contact:
Mortelmans, Jonas
Availability: 
This dataset is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
This dataset is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.Description
In the framework of the Lifewatch marine observatory a number of fixed stations in the Belgian Part of the North Sea (BPNS) are visited on a monthly or seasonal basis using RV Simon Stevin. A grid of nine stations covers the coastal zone and are sampled monthly. Eight additional stations, located further at sea, are sampled on a seasonal basis. Samples are taken using a 55µm mesh size Apstein net and fixed in Lugol's iodine solution. In the lab, the samples are processed using a VS-4 FlowCAM model at 4X magnification, size range imaged is 55-300µm. The identification of the image data is done with the use of a classifier and followed by a manual validation step. Since May 2017, this dataset provides micro- and phytoplankton observations, mainly covering diatoms, dinoflagellates and cilliates, for the Belgian Part of the North Sea (BPNS). more
Taxonomic disclaimer: The blooms of Rhizosolenia and Bellerochea were flagged due to their extreme nature, which can lead to biased density estimates during these bloom periods. These taxa, when blooming outside their typical seasons, can skew results, although abundances remain unaffected. Additionally, the sampling methods, such as net sampling and prefilters, inherently under-sample taxa near the 300µm threshold, further contributing to the need for flagging these extreme events. It especially relates to samples 2021 07 120 (Rhizosolenia, Long (chained) diatom) and 2022 08 130 (Bellerochea en Rhizosolenia)
Taxonomic disclaimer: The blooms of Rhizosolenia and Bellerochea were flagged due to their extreme nature, which can lead to biased density estimates during these bloom periods. These taxa, when blooming outside their typical seasons, can skew results, although abundances remain unaffected. Additionally, the sampling methods, such as net sampling and prefilters, inherently under-sample taxa near the 300µm threshold, further contributing to the need for flagging these extreme events. It especially relates to samples 2021 07 120 (Rhizosolenia, Long (chained) diatom) and 2022 08 130 (Bellerochea en Rhizosolenia)
Lineage
Prior to publication data undergo quality control checked which are described in https://github.com/EMODnet/EMODnetBiocheck?tab=readme-ov-file#understanding-the-output
Scope
Themes:
Biology > Plankton > Phytoplankton
Keywords:
Marine/Coastal · Biodiversity · Bio-geographical regions · Biological monitoring · Biota · Data · Environment · EurOBIS calculated BBOX · Geoscientific Information · Habitats and biotopes · Metadata non conformant · Metadata not evaluated · No limitations to public access · Oceans · Phytoplankton · research vessel · Sea regions · Simon Stevin [EurOBIS harvested data] · Simon Stevin · WGS84 (EPSG:4326) · XYZ ASCII · Belgian Continental Shelf (BCS) · Bacillariophyceae · Ciliophora · Dictyochophyceae · Dinophyceae · Prymnesiophyceae
Geographical coverage
Belgian Continental Shelf (BCS) [Marine Regions]
EurOBIS calculated BBOX Stations
Bounding Box
Coordinates: MinLong: 0,7482; MinLat: 50,1016 - MaxLong: 3,9686; MaxLat: 52,1195 [WGS84]
Coordinates: MinLong: 0,7482; MinLat: 50,1016 - MaxLong: 3,9686; MaxLat: 52,1195 [WGS84]
Temporal coverage
From May 2017 on [In Progress]
Monthly
Monthly
8 May 2017 - 21 August 2024 (EurOBIS harvested data)
Taxonomic coverage
Parameters
Abundance of biological entity specified elsewhere per unit volume of the water body [BODC]
Concentration of ammonium {NH4+ CAS 14798-03-9} per unit volume of the water body dissolved plus reactive particulate <0.2um phase by filtration and colorimetric autoanalysis [BODC]
Concentration of chlorophyll-a {chl-a CAS 479-61-8} per unit volume of the water body particulate >GF/F phase by filtration, acetone extraction and high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) [BODC]
Concentration of phosphate {PO43- CAS 14265-44-2} per unit volume of the water body dissolved plus reactive particulate <0.2um phase by filtration and colorimetric autoanalysis [BODC]
Count of phytoplankton
Development stage of biological entity specified elsewhere [BODC]
Electrical conductivity of the water body [BODC]
Phytoplankton density
Practical salinity of the water body by conductivity cell and computation using UNESCO 1983 algorithm [BODC]
Sub-sampling coefficient [BODC] (EurOBIS harvested data)
Temperature of the water body [BODC]
Volume of sample [BODC] (EurOBIS harvested data)
Volume of sample from the water body [BODC] (EurOBIS harvested data)
Abundance of biological entity specified elsewhere per unit volume of the water body [BODC]
Concentration of ammonium {NH4+ CAS 14798-03-9} per unit volume of the water body dissolved plus reactive particulate <0.2um phase by filtration and colorimetric autoanalysis [BODC]
Concentration of chlorophyll-a {chl-a CAS 479-61-8} per unit volume of the water body particulate >GF/F phase by filtration, acetone extraction and high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) [BODC]
Concentration of phosphate {PO43- CAS 14265-44-2} per unit volume of the water body dissolved plus reactive particulate <0.2um phase by filtration and colorimetric autoanalysis [BODC]
Count of phytoplankton
Development stage of biological entity specified elsewhere [BODC]
Electrical conductivity of the water body [BODC]
Phytoplankton density
Practical salinity of the water body by conductivity cell and computation using UNESCO 1983 algorithm [BODC]
Sub-sampling coefficient [BODC] (EurOBIS harvested data)
Temperature of the water body [BODC]
Volume of sample [BODC] (EurOBIS harvested data)
Volume of sample from the water body [BODC] (EurOBIS harvested data)
Contributors
Vlaams Instituut voor de Zee (VLIZ), more, data creator, data provider, data producer
Mortelmans, Jonas
Amadei Martinez, Luz
Muyle, Julie
Lagaisse, Rune
Deneudt, Klaas
Fernandez Muñiz, Carlota
Amadei Martinez, Luz
Muyle, Julie
Lagaisse, Rune
Deneudt, Klaas
Fernandez Muñiz, Carlota
Related datasets
Child datasets:
LifeWatch observatory data: phytoplankton annotated image library by FlowCam imaging for the Belgian part of the North Sea.
LifeWatch observatory data: phytoplankton annotated trainingset by FlowCam imaging in the Belgian Part of the North Sea
Published in:
EurOBIS: European Ocean Biodiversity Information System, more
(Partly) included in:
Presence/Absence maps of phytoplankton in the Greater North Sea
Project
iMagine: Imaging data and services for aquatic science
LifeWatch: Flemish contribution to LifeWatch.eu
Publication
Based on this dataset
Lagaisse, R. (2024). LifeWatch Belgium: FlowCam sampling and lab protocol for imaging microphytoplankton in the Belgian part of the North Sea. Flanders Marine Institute: Oostende. 10 pp. https://dx.doi.org/10.17504/protocols.io.6qpvr8e6zlmk/v1
Perneel, M. et al. (2024). Seasonal metabolic dynamics of microeukaryotic plankton: A year-long metatranscriptomic study in a temperate sea. mBio Online first(8): 1-17. https://dx.doi.org/10.1128/mbio.00383-24
Amadei Martínez, L. et al. (2022). Corrigendum to "LifeWatch observatory data: phytoplankton observations in the Belgian Part of the North Sea". Biodiversity Data Journal 10: e81208
Hablützel, P.I. et al. (2021). Exploring new technologies for plankton observations and monitoring of ocean health, in: Kappel, E.S. et al. Frontiers in ocean observing: Documenting ecosystems, understanding environmental changes, forecasting hazards. Oceanography, Suppl. 34(4): pp. 20-25. https://dx.doi.org/10.5670/oceanog.2021.supplement.02-09
Amadei Martínez, L. et al. (2020). LifeWatch observatory data: phytoplankton observations in the Belgian Part of the North Sea. Biodiversity Data Journal 8: e57236. https://dx.doi.org/10.3897/bdj.8.e57236
URLs
Dataset information:
Other:
Other:
Dataset status: In Progress
Data type: Data
Data origin: Monitoring: field survey
Release date: 2019-12-23
Metadatarecord created: 2015-01-20
Information last updated: 2026-02-05
