It is another season and Anthony at CEVA is again on the Lédano mud flat with “DJI Mavic” the faithful drone to collect photos of the distribution and scale of algal mat coverage.  Pictures from March and May captures and shows the difference in algal mat coverage between winter and spring. This is the second consecutive year on one of the two French sites closely studied as part of the project RanTrans.

When CEVA team carried out the monthly drone (DJI Mavic) flights above the Ledano mudflat to capture the algal mat coverage, there was grey and desert looking mudflat in winter (March) that later gives way to a light green bloom in May. This bloom mainly consisted of filamentous green macroalgae (Ulva sp.) that is typically observed in the warmer seasons.

Picture of desert looking Lédano mudflat in winter (CEVA, Fr)

Picture of light green algal mat bloom in May on Lédano mudflat (CEVA, Fr)

This year, 2022 the algal mat cover was early in the season perhaps due to a warmer winter. Climate change and global warming is really making a difference! The heatwave type of temperate in England (34oC) and France (40oC) this June speaks for itself!

But the monthly and seasonal sampling must go on, so we are safely out on site using our steel frame quadrat, continuing the process where seasonal algal mat samples are collected and recorded for further analysis. Both broadleaf-like and threadlike (filamentous) green algal mat is commonly observed during these seasons of active growing. It is all about gathering accurate information and evidence!

Algal mat sampling quadrat (CEVA, Fr)

Algal mat coverage, Lédano mud flat (CEVA, Fr)

Also, there is an increasing interest in algal mat uses (such as BioEnergy, Food and Feed ingredients) so keep on reading to see how the research at CEVA and RaNTrans project is contributing evidence to this industry.

⏰Save the Date! ⏰RaNTrans is hosting a workshop at @portsmouthuni on November 3rd and 4th 2022. Register your interest here – https://rantransproject.com/rantrans-workshop/

Also check out our latest tweets https://twitter.com/ProjectRaNTrans/status/1512395527828213769