Using Dirichlet tessellation to help estimate microbial biomass concentrations

• Published in: Journal of microbiological methods Vol. 63; no. 2; pp. 205 - 210
• Main Author: Dugan, Nicholas R.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Shannon Elsevier B.V 01.11.2005; Elsevier Science
• Subjects: Algorithms; Anabaena; Anabaena flos-aquae - growth & development; Bacteriological methods and techniques used in bacteriology; Bacteriology; Biological and medical sciences; Biomass; Chlorophyll - metabolism; Chlorophyll a; Colony Count, Microbial - methods; Computer assisted microscopy; Coulter counting; Cyanobacteria; Dirichlet tessellation; Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology; Image Processing, Computer-Assisted; Microbiology; Microcystis - growth & development; Microcystis aeruginosa; Microscopy - instrumentation; Microscopy - methods; Optical biomass estimation; Statistics, Nonparametric; Computer assisted microscopy; Dirichlet tessellation; Optical biomass estimation; Coulter counting; Cyanobacteria; Chlorophyll a; Microcystis aeruginosa; Microscopy; Anabaena flosaquae; Bacteria; Microbial biomass
• ISSN: 0167-7012; 1872-8359
• DOI: 10.1016/j.mimet.2005.04.003

Dirichlet tessellation was applied to estimate microbial concentrations from microscope well slides. The use of microscopy/Dirichlet tessellation to quantify biomass was illustrated with two species of morphologically distinct cyanobacteria ( Microcystis aeruginosa and Anabaena flos aquae), and validated empirically by comparison with chlorophyll a and Coulter count analyses. Biomass estimates obtained by microscopy/Dirichlet tessellation were significantly correlated with the results obtained from chlorophyll a and Coulter analyses.