Phytoplankton have thousands of classifications.
Identifying the different types is a tedious, but necessary part of aquatic biology, much like fingerprint identification in a criminal investigation. The proposed CD-ROM will contain images of all identified Lake George phytoplankton. A computer picture of a phytoplankton viewed under a microscope can be rapidly compared to the thousands of images stored in the CD's data base. This technology will be of aid to other researchers, the community, and will be used as a teaching tool. It can also be expanded to include other freshwater phytoplankton beyond Lake George.