Science & Research

Ocean Studies Faculty Receive Funding to Monitor Plankton in Penobscot Bay

THIS SPRING, MMA Ocean Studies students and faculty launched a new project to monitor plankton, the base of the marine food web, in Penobscot Bay. Their work is funded by the Maine Coastal and Marine Climate Fund, which supports projects that advance Maine’s Climate Action Plan in marine systems and coastal communities.

The project is led by a team from the Corning School of Ocean Studies at MMA: Dr. Kerry Whittaker, Dr. LeAnn Whitney, and Dr. Steven Baer. The project will develop a baseline understanding of plankton diversity in Penobscot Bay. This work will deepen our understanding of microscopic marine organisms that play a crucial role in ocean health, sustainable aquaculture, and how ecosystems respond to climate change.

Over the next two years, plankton monitoring will align with two new ocean monitoring buoys being deployed by collaborators at the Hurricane Island Center for Science and Leadership (HISCL). An additional monitoring station will also be established by MMA to support this collaborative research.

Plankton will be analyzed using an instrument known as the FlowCam that Ocean Studies owns and operates with the purpose of research, education, and community science. As part of this funded project, Whittaker, Whitney, and Baer will hire MMA students as technicians who will spend the summer collecting plankton, becoming FlowCam experts, analyzing the data, and spending time sharing their knowledge with HICSL educational programs.

The team plans to share the Penobscot Bay plankton diversity data freely on MMA’s website.

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