Information
- Type
- Project
- Name
- Reference material for the analysis of plankton
- Description @en
- The analyses of phyto- and zooplankton are important to investigate the transfer of toxic elements along the trophic chain and the kinetics of uptake of these elements to define the role of these organisms in the biogeochemical pathways and to compare the levels of contamination of different aquatic environments. An intercomparison on trace elements in plankton between 18 laboratories (AIOL) has revealed the presence of systematic sources of errors in the determinations. The difficulties of analysis of plankton material are not matched using other marine RMs such as sediments. Consequently, the certification of some trace elements in plankton was proposed to complete the list of CRMs already existing for marine and freswhater monitoring (see projects nr. 250 and 264).