Assets

Micro-entrepreneur Satu Zwerver

The main asset of the plankton micro-enterprise consists of microscopes, literature and knowledge of species accumulated over the years. In the sub-pages, you can find a more detailed description of the asset to which the professional service is based on.

I have an environmental engineering degree from university of applied sciences (Ing. / BSc). I got my vocational training in the Netherlands, van Hall Institutes (now Van Hall Larenstein University), where I studied between years 1989 and 1993. I did my internship partly in my home country, in Kuopio, for Savo-Karelia Water Conservation Association 1992. My final work concentrated on phyto and zooplankton in a Dutch lake (Paterswoldse meer).

After graduation, I was given a job at the ecological research and consulting company Koeman en Bijkerk, where I made phyto and zooplankton analysis for surface waters of Dutch freshwaters for three years (1993-1997) reporting the results and completing species list of the program used for calculations and formulas used for calculating the volumes of organisms. This is the very basis of my knowledge concerning plankton in a little over three years I got a fairly strong base for identifying plankton as one of my closest colleagues was the renowned taxonomist Anton Joosten.

In 2006, I started doing plankton analysis in Finland with an own company. Over the past few years I have trained myself constantly in the field of plankton by visiting experts and by participating in national and international symposia, workshops and intercalibration, as well as staying in contact with my colleagues both in my home country and across Europe.

I have purchased the necessary tools to work, most importantly the Leitz Diavert inverted microscopes. The high-quality lenses and condenser ensure accurate magnification of up to 1250x. With my analysis, I follow the current method recommendations (SFS-EN-15204, Järvinen (toim.) et al. 2011, HELCOM, Lehtinen 2014).

At the moment, I work as a full-time plankton analyst. I make analysis mainly of phytoplankton in fresh waters and zooplankton in Baltic Sea.