Imaging Marine Life: Macrophotography and Microscopy Approaches for Marine Biology

The oceans cover 70% of our planet and are abundant with microscopic, invisible life forms, which have been capturing our imagination since the green algae Spirogyra was first observed by Antony van Leeuwenhoek in 1674. This vast biodiversity was further unraveled by Ernst Haeckel following the HMS Challenger expedition at the end of the 19th century. But much remained unseen and, thus, unknown.

Recent advances in microscopy and imaging methods now offer us new possibilities to further investigate, describe, and understand the largest biotope on Earth. Written by an international team of experts, this is the first and only compendium to focus specifically on the imaging needs of marine biologists. As such, it presents well–known methods ranging from macrophotography right down to nanometric diatom frustules analysis, but also such novel techniques as light sheet and optical projection microscopy, as well as promising applications, including X–ray tomography.

The definitive resource for every marine biologist, whether a student or an established researcher.

A companion website with additional video material is available on:

From the contents:

 Underwater imaging

 Macrophotography

 Electron Microscopy

 Confocal Microscopy

 Holographic Microscopy

 Light Sheet Fluorescence Microscopy

 Optical Projection Tomography

 X–ray and related tomographic approaches

Preface
Under the Eye of Neptune: an Historical Perspective of Marine Creature Imagery (Emmanuel G. Reynaud)
New Solutions in Underwater Imaging and Vision Systems (Gabriel Oliver, Francisco Bonin–Font, Antoni Burguera)
Holographic Microscopy of Marine Organisms (M.H. Jericho, S.K. Jericho, H.J. Kreuzer)
Confocal Laser Scanning Microscopy –
Detailed Three–Dimensional Morphological Imaging of Marine Organism (Jan Michels)
Optical Projection Tomography (Emmanuel G. Reynaud, Karl Gaff, Luke McCormac Parker, Dee Lawlor)
Electron Microscopy Techniques for Imaging Marine Phytoplankton (Gustaaf Hallegraeff)
Looking Inside Marine Organisms With MRI and X–ray Tomography (Renaud Boistel, Irene Zanette, Gheylen Daghfous, Timm Weitkamp, Brigitte Gillet, Dominique Adriaens, Max Langer, Peter Cloetens, Lukas Helfen, Alberto Bravin, Francoise Preyrin, Tilo Baumbach, Jean–Michel Dischler, Denis Van Loo, Thomas Braet, Marie Poirier–Quinot)
Imaging Marine Life With a Thin Light–Sheet (Jérémie Capoulade, Malte Wachsmuth, Emmanuel G. Reynaud)
Imaging Marine Life: Modern Imaging Techniques in Marine Biology (Eric Röttinger, Matthias Ormestad, Aldine Amiel)
Automated Image Processing in Marine Biology (Emmanuel G. Reynaud, Robert T. Kelly, Maureen A.Williams, Brian Duffy)
Index


Emmanuel G. Reynaud is heading the Tara Oceans Marine biology Imaging platform (TAOMI). Having obtained his PhD in Life Sciences from the University of Paris XI/Orsay, he spent most of his career working the European Molecular Biology Laboratory in Heidelberg Germany where he developed new optical method applied to biology including laser nanosurgery approaches. He was also involved in the development of the Light Sheet based Fluorescence Microscopy as a member of the Light Microscopy Group headed by Ernst H.K. Stelzer at EMBL. The TAOMI platform is on board the schooner Tara for a three years circumnavigation of the world ocean to collect and image the largest collection of marine species spanning from viruses to corals. This unique platform is duplicated on land to perform high throughput confocal analysis of plankton, X–ray tomography as well as cryo–electron microscopy. TAOMI combines underwater imaging with cytometry, stereomicroscopy, fluorescence microscopy and 3D microscopy.