Collected during the MSc Biology of Water Resource Management's April 2002 field trip to the Marine Station

Millport Reservoir was the water supply (now disused) for the island of Cumbrae. I collected some algal samples there while helping with a field course at the island's Marine Biology station. The picture shows Millport's famous Crocodile Rock.

The class remit was to perform a microbiological examination of the tourist beaches, then come up with (theoretical) design recommendations for sewage treatment, and for drinking water purification based on an old reservoir. We sampled the algae as a guide to the quality of the fresh water supply.

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(most algae are illustrated elsewhere in the pages: see INDEX, and are not reproduced on this page: see some other years, however.)

Millport Reservoir Plankton

	Chrysophyta
Dinobryon	dominant
	Diatoms:
Asterionella
Melosira (Aulacoseira)
Gyrosigma
	Chlorophyta
Botryococcus
Chlorococcum (?)
Closterium sp.
Closteriopsis
Mougeotia
Pediastrum boryanum
Scenedesmus quadricaudum
Sphaerocystis
	Dinoflagellates:
Ceratium
	Blue-greens:
Anabaena
Microcystis
Oscillatoria

Millport Reservoir Periphyton

	1:growing on dam walls:
	Chlorophyta:
Cladophora	dominant
Mougeotia
Oedogonium
Pediastrum boryanum
Spirogyra
?Tetraspora
	Diatoms:
Cymbella
Synedra ?acus
	Blue-greens:
Chamaesiphon
Oscillatoria
	2: growing on spillway:
	Rhodophyta:
Asterocystis	dominant
	Asterocystis has globular or oval cells arranged in a linear series within a gelatinous sheath, forming a false filament. The sheath may be branched. The bluish colour might lead one to suspect a cyanobacterium ("blue-green alga"), but the cells clearly have chloroplasts, more easily seen in some of the cells from the distal portion of the filament. The chloroplasts are stellate, but this is not very clear: look at the large cell in the fourth image.
	Chlorophyta:
Chaetophora
Cladophora
Geminella
Mougeotia 20µm
Oedogonium 20µm
Pediastrum
Stigeoclonium
Ulothrix
	Diatoms:
Asterionella
Cymbella
Gomphonema truncatum
	Blue-greens:
Oscillatoria 3µm

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John Kinross