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¹ Institute of Oceanology-BAS, Parvi Mai str., No 40, P.O. Box 152, 9000 Varna, Bulgaria
² HCMR P.O. Box 712, 19013Anavissos, Greece
³ P.P Shirshov IO-RAS, 36, Nahimovski prospect, 117997 Moscow, Russia
⁴ NIMRD “Grigore Antipa”, Mamaia Bd., No 300, RO-900581 Constanta, Romania
⁵ GeoEcoMar Institute, Mamaia Bd., No 304, RO-900581, Constanta, Romania
⁶ IBSS,2 Nakhimov Ave. 99011 Sevastopol, Ukraine DOI : 10.4194/1303-2712-v12_2_31 Viewed : 4015 - Downloaded : 3166 The quality of biological data has gained recognition as an essential part of international monitoring programmes, in response to the demand for strategic environmental evaluations such as the EU WFD, the MSFD and informed decisions for environmental sound management. The paper presents the results of an intercalibration exercise among four Black Sea phytoplankton laboratories (NIMRD-RO, IBSS-UKR, IO-RAS – RUS and IO-BAS - BLG) conducted under SESAME FP6 Project with the objectives: 1) to assess the degree of comparability of phytoplankton and chlorophyll a data produced by routine in-house methods; 2) to formulate recommendations for progress towards harmonization of the research methodology in the Black Sea. The statistical treatment of the results reveal that at the level of total phytoplankton abundance and biomass as well as chlorophyll a the data were in a good agreement, while for some taxonomic classes (Prymnesiophyceae and small flagellates) the differences were significant. The counted sample volume proves essential for detection of species diversity and the methods of species specific biovolume measurements - for the total biomass. As a follow up Guidelines for QC/QA of phytoplankton data and check-list with suggested shapes for biovolume calculation were produced under UP-Grade Black Sea SCENE FP7 Project that offer key options for progress. Keywords : phytoplankton data comparability, intercalibration, cell count, biovolume, manual