Image

Non-random Sampling

Researchers aboard the R/V Oceanus affix a hose to the CTD rosette (frame) to collect large-volume water samples with a pump system during a May 2008 expedition in New England waters. Researchers from WHOI, University of Massachusetts–Dartmouth (UMD), and the University of Maine were observing hydrography and sampling for signs of Alexandrium fundyense, a harmful species of algae that can cause paralytic shellfish poisoning in humans who consume tainted shellfish. Oceanographer Jefferson Turner of UMD (background with blue hat and black hose) uses the large samples to measure the accumulation of paralytic shellfish poisoning toxins in the planktonic food web. Clockwise from the foreground: Bibiana Crespo, Alex Dorsk, Clindor Cacho, Turner, and Dennis McGillicuddy.
(Photo by Luciano Fernandes, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution)