Finnish Phytoplankton Database

Samples of phytoplankton are collected mainly by regional environment centres for monitoring purposes from certain Finnish lakes, rivers and coastal areas, but occasionally samples are also collected as a part of other studies with different sampling intervals or sampling times. Samples are analysed quantitatively and qualitatively with an inverted microscope.

Phytoplankton sampling of monitored lakes was initiated in 1963 and in the early 1970s in coastal areas. In addition, phytoplankton data may be received from researchers outside of the environmental administration. Data on phytoplankton going back to 1921 have also been added to the database. Annually, about 300 analyses are entered into the database. In August 2004 the database contained 13 350 records of phytoplankton analyses.

From the year 2000, sampling under the Eurowaternet monitoring system will take place every three years in July (annually at about 100 sites). A total of 253 lakes are included in the monitoring network. Furthermore, 15 lakes are monitored intensively five times per year from May to August. Six sampling sites in coastal areas are monitored intensively for phytoplankton from March to December. Samples for physico-chemical analyses are taken simultaneously.

Phytoplankton is known to react quickly to changes in water quality, so experience in analysing phytoplankton samples is necessary to produce high quality data. Thus, it is important that only phytoplankton records based on qualified sampling and analyses are included in the database, as only high quality data will give clear information on phytoplankton and long-term trends of phytoplankton assemblages. Environmental authorities are the main users of the database, but universities occasionally use it as well.
About one third of the data is coastal, the rest inland.

该数据集主要收录了芬兰特定湖泊、河流及沿海地区的浮游植物样本，这些样本主要是由区域环境中心为监测目的所收集。偶尔，样本也会作为其他研究的一部分，采用不同的采样间隔或时间进行收集。样本采用倒置显微镜进行定性和定量分析。

自1963年起，对监测湖泊的浮游植物采样工作开始实施，并在20世纪70年代初扩展至沿海地区。此外，来自环境行政部门以外的研究人员的浮游植物数据也可能被纳入数据库。数据库中已收录自1921年以来的浮游植物数据。每年约有300份分析结果被录入数据库。截至2004年8月，数据库中包含有13,350条浮游植物分析记录。

自2000年起，在Eurowaternet监测系统下，每年7月（约100个地点）进行每三年一次的采样。监测网络共包括253个湖泊。此外，从5月至8月，每年对15个湖泊进行五次密集监测。沿海地区的六个采样点从3月至12月对浮游植物进行密集监测。同时采集物理化学分析的样本。

由于浮游植物对水质变化反应迅速，因此分析浮游植物样本的经验对于产生高质量数据至关重要。因此，确保仅将基于合格采样和分析的浮游植物记录纳入数据库至关重要，因为只有高质量的数据才能提供关于浮游植物及其群落长期趋势的清晰信息。环境当局是该数据库的主要使用者，但大学偶尔也会使用它。

约三分之一的资料来自沿海地区，其余则来自内陆地区。