This is a test site. The production site with full data is available at GBIF.org
{{nav.loginGreeting}}
  • Get data
      • Occurrences
      • GBIF API
      • Species
      • Datasets
      • Occurrence snapshots
      • Hosted portals
      • Trends
  • How-to
    • Share data

      • Quick-start guide
      • Dataset classes
      • Data hosting
      • Standards
      • Become a publisher
      • Data quality
      • Data papers
    • Use data

      • Featured data use
      • Citation guidelines
      • GBIF citations
      • Citation widget
      • Guides and documentation
  • Tools
    • Publishing

      • IPT
      • Data validator
      • GeoPick
      • New data model
      • GRSciColl
      • Suggest a dataset
      • Metabarcoding data toolkit
    • Data access and use

      • Hosted portals
      • Scientific collections
      • Data processing
      • Derived datasets
      • rgbif
      • pygbif
      • MAXENT
      • Tools catalogue
    • GBIF labs

      • Species matching
      • Name parser
      • Sequence ID
      • Relative observation trends
      • GBIF data blog
  • Community
    • Network

      • Participant network
      • Nodes
      • Publishers
      • Network contacts
      • Community forum
      • alliance for biodiversity knowledge
    • Volunteers

      • Mentors
      • Ambassadors
      • Translators
      • Citizen scientists
    • Activities

      • Capacity development
      • Programmes & projects
      • Training and learning resources
      • Data Use Club
      • Living Atlases
  • About
    • Inside GBIF

      • What is GBIF?
      • Become a member
      • Governance
      • Strategic framework
      • Work Programme
      • Funders
      • Partnerships
      • Release notes
      • Contacts
    • News & outreach

      • News
      • Subscribe
      • Events
      • Awards
      • Science Review
      • Data use
      • Thematic communities
  • User profile

Harmful algal bloom monitoring data near Frenchman Bay from 2004-2022

Dataset homepage

Citation

The Community Environmental Health Laboratory at MDI Biological Laboratory: Harmful algal bloom monitoring data near Frenchman Bay from 2004-2022 https://doi.org/10.6073/pasta/11e3a827670392047a08155cb6128a76 accessed via GBIF.org on 2025-06-18.

Description

The Community Environmental Health Lab at the MDI Biological Laboratories has monitored phytoplankton and water quality in Frenchman Bay for the past few decades. Our goal was to understand how climate change and local changes in anthropogenic activity, including cruise ship activity, have altered the water quality and phytoplankton dynamics in the bay. This data provides information on target harmful algae bloom species as well as a few measures of phytoplankton biodiversity. Our data were collected by a variety of field technicians and citizen scientists who perform weekly sampling throughout the year at Bar Harbor town pier and during the summer months at the MDIBL pier and cruise ship anchorages.

Sampling Description

Study Extent

Sampling occurs weekly at the MDBIL Dock and Bar Harbor Town Pier throughout the summer and at the Bar Harbor Town Pier year-round.

Sampling

Sampling includes environmental quality measurements, nutrient measurements, and target species counts.

Method steps

  1. Air Temperature. Press the big button to turn the thermometer on. Hold the electric thermometer by the plastic body in the shade (you can use your body for shade). Wait for the numbers to stabilize. If they're the numbers are jumping between two numbers, just pick one.
  2. D.O. and Water Temperature. Put the black cage on the YSI probe. Turn on the meter using the green button a couple minutes before you put it in the water. There are four readings on the screen. We use the top and bottom ones. Top: water temperature; Bottom: dissolved oxygen in ppm. Submerge the probe fully beneath the water surface while holding the meter in your hand. Wait a minute or so until the numbers stabilize. Write down each variable down on the data sheet. Troubleshooting: If the DO is above 13, try moving the probe around in the water or move it to a different spot. If it's still above 13, let Anna know. When it's time to change the probe, the DO readings skew high (as high as 16!).
  3. Macronutrients. Rinse the syringe: Fill syringe with sea water and squeeze it out. Repeat two more times (The filter should not be on). Screw the filter casing on to the bottom of the syringe and slowly squeeze out a couple drops to ensure the casing is seated correctly. Rinse the vial: Open nutrient vial and fill ¼ of the way with filtered water. Hold the cap in your hand. You can pick up excess nutrients if it's placed on the dock/ground. Cap, shake, and dump water. Repeat two more times. Fill the sample bottle 2/3^rds^ full of filtered water from the syringe. Cap the bottle and immediately put it in the ice bath in the cooler.
  4. Phytoplankton Sample. Spray bottle should be filled with filtered seawater (hold the sieve at an angle over the mouth of the spray bottle for ease of filling). You can use the same filtered water for multiple sites. Clean any remained particles from the sieve. Take your bucket and fill it up to the 5 L line. Pour 5L bucket sample through the 20 μm sieve. DO NOT OVERFLOW OR SPILL. Repeat with another 5L so you have filtered a total of 10 liters. When all water has drained, invert sieve over the funnel attached to the 50 mL centrifuge tube. Backwash using the spray bottle until you have 15ml in the centrifuge tube. If sample is over/under 15 mL, note this on the field sheet. Put sample in cooler, away from ice, and transport back to the lab.
  5. Transparency. This is measured in meters. One volunteer slowly lowers the secchi disk into the water while another volunteer lays on his/her belly with the aquascope in the water watching the secchi disk descend. The volunteer with the aquascope tells the volunteer with the secchi disk when the disk disappears from view and measures the depth (descending depth). The secchi disk is then slowly raised and the volunteer with the aquascope reads where the secchi disk reappears (ascending depth). Write down both depths on the data sheet. If the disk hits bottom and you can still see it, mark that on the data sheet as an observation and note the depth at which the disk hit bottom.
  6. Domoic acid whole-water samples. Take the two 500 mL brown Nalgenes and the 1000mL Nalgene. Fill and rinse each one three times. Fill to shoulder with seawater and cap.

Taxonomic Coverages

  1. Chromista
    rank: kingdom
  2. Pseudo-nitzchia
    rank: genus

Geographic Coverages

Frenchman Bay, Maine

Bibliographic Citations

Contacts

Alexis Garretson
originator
position: Community Environmental Health Laboratory Manager
MDI Biological Laboratory
159 Old Bar Harbor Rd.
Bar Harbor
04609
ME
US
email: agarretson@mdibl.org
homepage: https://alexis-catherine.github.io/
userId: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7260-0131
Jane Disney
originator
position: Associate Professor of Environmental Health
MDI Biological Laboratory
159 Old Bar Harbor Rd.
Bar Harbor
04609
ME
US
email: jdisney@mdibl.org
homepage: https://mdibl.org/faculty/jane-e-disney-ph-d/
userId: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5489-8579
Michael A. Maniscalco
originator
position: Environmental Data Initiative Fellow
University of California Santa Barbara
email: m.maniscalco534@gmail.com
Anna Farrell
originator
position: Former Community Lab Manager
MDI Biological Laboratory
159 Old Bar Harbor Rd.
Bar Harbor
04609
ME
US
email: afarrell@mdibl.org
Cait Bailey
originator
position: Systems Developer
MDI Biological Laboratory
159 Old Bar Harbor Rd.
Bar Harbor
04609
ME
US
email: cait@mdibl.org
Jonathan Matt
originator
position: Volunteer
MDI Biological Laboratory
159 Old Bar Harbor Rd.
Bar Harbor
04609
ME
US
Uma P. Arora
originator
position: Volunteer
MDI Biological Laboratory
159 Old Bar Harbor Rd.
Bar Harbor
04609
ME
US
userId: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3598-5386
Madison Armstrong
originator
position: Volunteer
MDI Biological Laboratory
159 Old Bar Harbor Rd.
Bar Harbor
04609
ME
US
userId: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1805-2752
Samia L. Pratt
originator
position: Volunteer
MDI Biological Laboratory
159 Old Bar Harbor Rd.
Bar Harbor
04609
ME
US
userId: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2555-5120
Nathan Dorn
originator
position: AmeriCorps Fellow
MDI Biological Laboratory
159 Old Bar Harbor Rd.
Bar Harbor
04609
ME
US
email: ndorn@mdibl.org
Faye Durand
originator
position: Volunteer
MDI Biological Laboratory
159 Old Bar Harbor Rd.
Bar Harbor
04609
ME
US
Alexis Garretson
metadata author
position: Community Environmental Health Laboratory Manager
MDI Biological Laboratory
159 Old Bar Harbor Rd.
Bar Harbor
04609
ME
US
email: agarretson@mdibl.org
homepage: https://alexis-catherine.github.io/
userId: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7260-0131
Alexis Garretson
administrative point of contact
position: Community Environmental Health Laboratory Manager
MDI Biological Laboratory
159 Old Bar Harbor Rd.
Bar Harbor
04609
ME
US
email: agarretson@mdibl.org
homepage: https://alexis-catherine.github.io/
userId: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7260-0131
Anecdata.org
administrative point of contact
MDI Biological Laboratory
159 Old Bar Harbor Rd.
Bar Harbor
04609
ME
US
email: anecdata@mdibl.org
homepage: https://www.anecdata.org/
Community Environmental Health Laboratory
administrative point of contact
MDI Biological Laboratory
159 Old Bar Harbor Rd.
Bar Harbor
04609
ME
US
email: CEHL@mdibl.org
homepage: https://mdibl.org/faculty/jane-e-disney-ph-d/
Jane Disney
administrative point of contact
position: Associate Professor of Environmental Health
MDI Biological Laboratory
159 Old Bar Harbor Rd.
Bar Harbor
04609
ME
US
email: jdisney@mdibl.org
homepage: https://mdibl.org/faculty/jane-e-disney-ph-d/
userId: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5489-8579
What is GBIF? API FAQ Newsletter Privacy Terms and agreements Citation Code of Conduct Acknowledgements
Contact GBIF Secretariat Universitetsparken 15 DK-2100 Copenhagen Ø Denmark
GBIF is a Global Core Biodata Resource