Tools

PlanktonToolbox

The Plankton Toolbox is a free tool for aquatic scientists, and others, working with environmental monitoring related to phyto- and zooplankton. It is available for MacOS and Windows.

Features include:

  • Plankton counter - use the PlanktonToolbox as a counting tool by the microscope
  • Consistent use of names and taxonomic hierachy based on World Register of Marine Species
  • Work with data on abundance, biovolume and carbon content
  • Cell abundance, cells L-1
  • Automatically calculate biomass based on cell volumes from HELCOM-PEG and NOMP. Biomass in µg C L-1 or biovolume mm3 L-1
  • Imports phyto- or zooplankton data in .txt and .xlsx files in different formats (configurable)
  • Data screening - quality control of data
  • Aggregate data, e.g. from species level to class level
  • Filter data based on metadata, species etc.
  • Plotting tools
  • Statistics (still in early development)
  • Export data in .txt or .xlsx for further analyses or plotting

The software is available as version 1.4.1 for Windows and MacOS (Intel and Apple Silicon versions). The new release includes bug fixes and the NOMP 2023 biovolume list, which includes information from the HELCOM-PEG 2023 biovolume list and additional taxa from the Skagerrak and the North Sea. The list of potentially harmful taxa is based on the IOC-UNESCO Taxonomic Reference List of Harmful Micro Algae.

Notes for Windows 10 users:
You will need to allow the software to run on your PC When starting the software the first time you will get a warning.

Notes for Mac users:
Place the software in your App folder. The folders "toolbox_data" and "toolbox_counter" can be placed in your home folder, e.g. in "Mike". You will need to allow the software to run on your Mac. When starting the software the first time you will get a warning. To avoid this ctrl-click on the software icon the first time you run it and click on open. You need to do this only once. Alternatively: go to Settings -> Security and allow Plankton Toolbox to start. Version 1.4.1 of Plankton Toolbox runs well on 14.1.2. See manual for advice regarding running Plankton Toolbox on newer Macs with Apple Silicon processor. Contact nordicmicroalgae@smhi.se if you have problems starting Plankton Toolbox.

Reference

Current version

Karlson, B., Andreasson, A., Johansen, M., Karlberg, M., Skjevik, A.-T., A. Torstensson, 2023. Plankton Toolbox – open source software making it easier to work with plankton data, version 1.4.1, accessed at http://nordicmicroalgae.org/tools

Publication in 2015

Karlson, B., Andreasson, A., Johansen, M., Mohlin, M., Skjevik, A.-T., Strömberg, P., 2015. Plankton Toolbox – open source software making it easier to work with plankton data, In: MacKenzie, A.L. (Ed.), 16th International Conference on Harmful Algae. Cawthron Institute, Nelson, New Zealand and the International Society for the Study of Harmful Algae (ISSHA), Wellington, New Zealand, pp. 194-197.

Downloads

List of taxa with biovolumes, carbon content and trophic type
(A Microsoft Excel file compressed in a zip-archive. The file is also part of the download of Plankton Toolbox)

Current version
nomp_taxa_biovolumes and_carbon_2023

Previous version
nomp_taxa_biovolumes and_carbon_2022

Plankton Toolbox version 1.4.1
Updated 25 January 2024 (the previous release was 19 Dec. 2023)

Mac Apple Silicon version - download
Mac Intel version - download
Windows - download
Users guide - download the pdf

Plankton Toolbox version 1.4.0
Updated 31 January 2023 (the previous release was 22 Dec. 2022)

Mac - download
Windows - download
Users guide - download the pdf

Plankton Toolbox version 1.3.4
Mac - download
Windows - download
Users guide - download the pdf-file

Plankton Toolbox version 1.3.3
Mac - download
Windows - download
Users guide - download the pdf file 

Plankton Toolbox version 1.3.2
Mac -download
Windows - download
Users guide - download the pdf-file

Plankton Toolbox version 1.3.1
Mac - download
Windows - download
Users guide - download the pdf-file

Plankton Toolbox version 1.3.0
Windows - download
Users guide - download the pdf-file

Plankton Toolbox version 1.2.1
Mac - download
Windows - download
Users guide - download the pdf-file

For developers

Visit project website »