Evaluation of Laser In Situ Scattering Instrument for Measuring Concentration of Phytoplankton, Purple Sulfur Bacteria, and Suspended Inorganic Sediments in Lakes

Abstract

A laser in situ scattering and transmissometry (Lisst-100) probe has been used for estimating the particle-size distribution of phytopankton, purple photosynthetic sulphur bacteria (Chromatiaceae), and suspended inorganic sediments in different lakes. Results from Lisst-100 have been compared to laboratory measurements, such as those obtained by using a Galai laser size analyzer (GL), an optical microscope (OM), and a flow cytometer (FC). Although all of these instruments were shown to provide reliable values of the particle number concentration for the given populations, the Lisst-100 was the fastest and most reliable instrument because it did not require manipulation of the samples—which is not the case of GL, OM and FC instruments—and avoided the tedious procedure of microscopic counts. The total particle volume concentration results obtained with Lisst-100 differed from those obtained with GL for populations with large and porous aggregates, such as phytoplankton cells. The difference was attributed to the breakage of fragile algal aggregates resulting from the measuring procedure used by GL. Although for suspended sediment particles both instruments gave the same results for the total particle volume concentration, the particle-size distribution obtained with GL was found always shifted to smaller diameters than with Lisst-100, probably because inorganic sediment particles present compact aggregates. When these aggregates break, they split into a high number of small particles that contribute the same to the total volume concentration as the previous aggregates. Finally, results of the total particle volume concentration with Lisst-100 were in accordance with those obtained with GL for the Chromatiaceae population, because cells remained in a dispersed phase. A good correlation was found between the total particle volume concentration of Chromatiaceae measured with Lisst-100 and the concentration of bacteriochlorophyll a (BChl a), which is the parameter habitually used to estimate the concentration of Chromatiaceae. Therefore, Lisst-100 was found to be a reliable instrument to estimate the Chromatiaceae concentration in aquatic ecosystems.