“…This allows (close to real-time) prediction of the composition of the phytoplankton community before it becomes problematic (AlTebrineh et al, 2012;Anderson et al, 2012;Bertozzini et al, 2005). Some of the molecular methods include: fluorescent in situ hybridisation (FISH) (Touzet et al, 2010), fluorescent in situ hybridisation-flow cytometry (FISH-FC) (Eckford-Soper et al, 2013), enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA), microarray for the detection of toxic algae (MIDTAL) (Medlin, 2013) and realtime qPCR (Penna and Galluzzi, 2013) The invention of PCR and qPCR technologies has vastly improved the analysis of nucleic acids from both quantitative and throughput perspectives. qPCR is commonly preferred over traditional microscopic cell counts as it reduces person to person variation, time and ultimately cost.…”