At CIMA (Atlantic Center for Environmental Research, S.L.), we want to show you what we do—both in our offices and beyond.

On this page, you’ll find a series of short videos called "Things We Do at CIMA", which will help explain what we do and how we do it. All to bring you closer to the world of Marine Biology and Oceanography.

– «Things We Do At CIMA» #3: Plankton Analysis: Today we want to talk about microscopicsamples, which float in all waters of our planet, from oceans to high mountain streams, being most abundant up to 200 meters depth. Although we commonly hear about Zooplankton (animal plankton) and Phytoplankton (plant plankton), there are many other classifications based on size, location, or depth.

To capture it, we select an area and conduct a trawl with a boat, dragging a plankton net on the water’s surface. This trawl can also be performed at different depths—from bottom to top—and with nets of varying sizes, depending on the plankton fraction we aim to study. Once the net is retrieved, it is rinsed with water to wash all its contents into a container at the end.

The contents are analyzed with a magnifying glass and/or microscope, depending on their size.

Why observe plankton?

These organisms are the first to change when the water’s physicochemical parameters (such as temperature) vary, making them a strong biological indicator of water quality.