Using Dirichlet tessellation to help estimate microbial biomass concentrations
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Updated: Aug 17, 2026

Quantifying Microorganisms at Low Concentrations Using Digital Holographic Microscopy (DHM)
Published on: November 1, 2017
1United States Environmental Protection Agency, Water Supply and Water Resources Division, 26 West Martin Luther King Drive, Cincinnati, OH 45268, USA. dugan.nicholas@epa.gov
Abstract:
Dirichlet tessellation was applied to estimate microbial concentrations from microscope well slides. The use of microscopy/Dirichlet tessellation to quantify biomass was illustrated with two species of morphologically distinct cyanobacteria (Microcystis aeruginosa and Anabaena flos aquae), and validated empirically by comparison with chlorophyll a and Coulter count analyses. Biomass estimates obtained by microscopy/Dirichlet tessellation were significantly correlated with the results obtained from chlorophyll a and Coulter analyses.
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