COUNT PLANKTON APP: USER MANUAL

COUNT PLANKTON: APP PRESENTATION AND USER

GUIDE

By: Dagoberto E. Venera-Pontón, Laura A. Ortega, and Luis Trochez

Developers and business partners of Sci-Nimations

Content

Downloading and installing the App........................................................................................................ 2

Home screen and user interface features................................................................................................. 3
Counting plankton with the interface ...................................................................................................... 7
Revising data and density estimations ..................................................................................................... 8
Reporting bugs ........................................................................................................................................ 10
Other versions of the App....................................................................................................................... 10
New special features of the Count Plankton Pro................................................................................... 12
Launch schedule of the Count Plankton Apps in 2021 ......................................................................... 12
 COUNT PLANKTON APP: USER MANUAL
Downloading and installing the App

Fig. 1. The left image shows the Count Plankton’s home screen which appears upon starting the App and
remains visible until the user activates the plankton counter interface by tapping the screen. The right image
shows the menu deployed when the user presses the three-dots-icon of the browser’s top-right on an
Android device; to install the App select: add to home screen.
 COUNT PLANKTON APP: USER MANUAL
Three versions of the Count Plankton App were launched on March 22, 2021,
as Progressive Web Apps (PWAs). This format allows users to directly access and
use the App from any web browser, regardless of the operative system (Android or
iOS). Moreover, PWAs can be added to a mobile device’s home screen where they
can be accessed offline after the first online access.
The English version of Count Plankton is available at https://count-
plankton.glitch.me while the Spanish and Portuguese versions are available at
https://el-conde-plankton.glitch.me and https://o-conde-plankton.glitch.me
respectively. To add the App to an Android device’s home screen: 1) open the App
from a web browser, 2) press the three-dots-icon of the browser’s top-right (Fig. 1),
3) select add to home screen, 4) confirm selection. To add the App to an iOS device’s
home screen: 1) open the App from a web browser, 2) press the share button on the
center of the browser’s bottom-edge, 3) select add to home screen, 4) confirm
selection (if required). Once added, App will be accessible from its home screen icon
and will start working offline after the first online access.

Home screen and user interface features

Upon successfully starting, the App will show a blue home screen presenting
Count Plankton as a product of Sci-Nimations (Fig. 1), a Limited Liability
Company (LLC) dedicated to the creation of scientific and educational software for
researching, teaching, learning, communicating, and promoting a sustainable world
for future generations.
To leave the home screen and move-on to the plankton counter interface,
press anywhere on the blue-screen. The plankton counter interface encompasses
the following features (Figs. 2 y 3) which may appear/disappear from the screen
based on the user’s needs:
Count button: circular green button to count individuals for each taxon at
each microscopy field. This button is the interface’s largest element; its size allows
users to locate it and press it, without moving their eyesight from the microscope,
every time an individual of the target/counted taxon is seen. This button confirms
 COUNT PLANKTON APP: USER MANUAL
each count with a popping sound so that the user knows that the observed
individual was indeed counted.

Fig. 2. Plankton counter interface during two user interactions. In the left image, the interface asks the
name of the taxon being counted as the user enters an answer. In the right image, the interface asks
whether the user wants to finalize counting that taxon and move-on to the next one.
 COUNT PLANKTON APP: USER MANUAL
Subtracting X: red X located on the left side of the counting button.
Corrects counting errors by removing the last individual counted. The subtracting
X plays a bass sound to confirm that one individual was removed from the count
indeed.
Checkmark: green and located on the right side of the counting button.
Finalizes the count of a taxon so that the user can move to another taxon or
microscopy field. To prevent inadvertent uses of this feature, each time the
checkmark is initiated the interface prompts users to confirms their intent by
pressing the checkmark once more. To confirm the successful finalization of a
taxon, the checkmark plays a minor ukulele sound and the interface displays a
“new taxon: message.
Arrow: fuchsia and located to the right side of the estimate button. Finalizes
data entry for the present counting field and starts the data entry on the next field.
To prevent inadvertent uses of this feature, each time the arrow is initiated the
interface prompts users to confirms their intent by pressing the arrow once more.
To confirm the successful finalization of a counting field, the arrow plays a cymbal
sound and the interface displays a “new field” message.
Estimate button: orange, horizontally elongated oval, located below the
counting button. Finalizes all data entry and moves the user to the revision interface
which displays a revision button and a Count Plankton image that restarts the App.
To prevent inadvertent uses of this feature, each time this button is initiated the
interface prompts users to confirms their intent by pressing it once more. To confirm
the successful finalization of all data entry, this button plays a unique sound too and
the interface displays a “densities estimated” message.
Revise button: rectangular red button located on the top side of the revision
interface. Upon pressing this button, the interface prompts the user to enter a
keyword (e.g. taxa, density, count, field#, etc.) to revise the count data or the
densities (individuals/volume) estimated for each taxon on their natural
environment.
 COUNT PLANKTON APP: USER MANUAL

Fig. 3. Plankton counter interface during two user interactions. In the left image, the interface is showing
the user’s current activity: count. In the right image, the interface asks whether the user wants to finalize
counting for all the fields and taxa and move-on to estimate densities.
 COUNT PLANKTON APP: USER MANUAL
Status variables: variables shown on the plankton counter interface. #INDS,
located on the counting button, shows the number of individuals counted for the
present taxon, whose name is shown too on the TAXON variable. FIELD shows the
ordinal number of the present counting field.
Estimated variables: variables shown on the revision interface. TOTAL
DENSITY shows the estimated number of cells, per volume unit of the surveyed
sample, regardless of taxa. FIELD shows the number of surveyed counting fields,
COUNT shows the number of counted individuals, including all taxa,
INDIVIDUALS shows the number of counted individuals that applies to the revised
keyword, which is displayed too on the CHECKING variable.
Zone of user-interface communication: bottom zone of the revision- and
plankton counter interface where the App displays messages or prompts questions
that control the user’s experience.

Counting plankton with the interface

Count Plankton was designed to assist the counting of plankton in settling chambers
such as the Utermöhl chamber and alikes. Before opening the App, the user must
settle a known sample volume (Vo) in the chamber, wait a specific time, focus the
sample on the microscope, select the ocular objective that will be used for the
plankton counts, and set it on the first counting field (field1).
Upon seeing field1, the user must open the App and go to the plankton counter
interface. If field1 is empty (zero individuals) the user can move to field2 with the
fuchsia arrow. On the other hand, if field1 is not empty, the user must press the green
button to count the first seen individual and enter its taxon name on the interface
prompt. To avoid mistakes, the count button disappears until the taxon name entry
is completed. Then, it reappears, and the user must press it each time an individual
of the target taxon is seen. If the count button is pressed by mistake, the resulting
error must be corrected with the red subtracting X.
Once all the individuals of a taxon are counted for the present microscopy
field the user must press the checkmark to move-on to another taxon. If the taxon
was successfully finalized the App must show the message: New Taxón. The count
 COUNT PLANKTON APP: USER MANUAL
button will temporarily disappear, always, when the first individual of a new taxon
is counted and will reappear only after the user has entered the new taxon’s name.
Then, the course of action will be the same as for the first taxon: the user must press
the count button each time an individual of the new taxon is seen and then move-on
to another taxon with the checkmark.
Once all the taxa are counted for a microscopy field the user will bring another
zone of the counting chamber to the same ocular objective. To initiate the counts for
this new field on the Count Plankton App the user must press the fuchsia arrow twice
so that the interface displays the message: New Field. The current field number is
permanently displayed on the top-right side of the plankton counter interface so that
the user can easily retrieve it after being interrupted, confused, or losing track for
any reason.

Revising data and density estimations

Once all the taxa are counted for all the microscopy fields intended the user
can go to the revision interface by pressing the estimate button, twice, and answering
the three questions prompted by the interface (Fig. 4):
What is the area of the counting chamber? What is the microscopy field area?
These two questions must be answered with numeric data only; the units must not
be entered but the areas must be given on the same units. Decimal numbers are
accepted if they use only one dot and no commas. Entering a comma, more than one
dot, or any non-numeric character will produce errors on the subsequent density
estimations.
What is the total volume of the observed sample? This question too must be
answered with numeric data only, including a single-dotted decimal but never a
comma, units, or any non-numeric character. This volume will be vital for estimating
the environmental plankton densities. Warning: even though volume units were not
entered, they affect how the resulting density data must be interpreted. For example,
if the volume unit was cm3 then the density must be read as individuals per cm3.
Note: the area of the counting chamber is the area occupied by its bottom; the
microscopy field area is the area occupied by the bottom of such field; the volume
of the observed sample is the volume of sample settled on the chamber.
 COUNT PLANKTON APP: USER MANUAL

Fig. 4. Revision interface. The left image shows a user-interface interaction: the interface is requesting for
information needed to estimate plankton densities and the user is entering an answer. The right image shows
the red revise button and the Count Plankton image that reboots the App.

Once these prompts are answered, the App will display the estimated total
density [TOTAL DENSITY (individuals/volume)] of the full plankton (i.e. pooling
 COUNT PLANKTON APP: USER MANUAL
all taxa) on the screen’s top-left side. The total/pooled number of individuals
(COUNT or INDIVIDUALS) as well as the number of counted fields (FIELD) will
be shown too. To revise additional information the user must press the red revise
button (Fig. 4) which triggers the following prompt: enter the taxon name,
microscopy field code (field#), or variable (taxa, density, count) that you want to
review.
If a taxon name is entered, the interface will show the number of individuals
counted for that taxon at each field and the full survey. If a counting field is entered,
following the field# format (for instance: field3), the interface will show the number
of individuals counted for each taxon at that field and the total/pooled field count. If
the keyword taxa is entered, the interface will display the full list of taxa found in
the surveyed sample. If the user enters the keyword density, the interface will show
each taxon’s estimated density (Fig. 5). If the user enters the keyword count, the
interface will show the number of individuals counted for each taxon in the full
survey.
To clear the revision interface, press the red revision button again. The
revision interface includes a Count Plankton image that works as a reboot button.
Pressing this image twice will restart the App and take the user to the plankton
counter interface (Fig. 5).

Reporting bugs
To report bugs on any of the Count Plankton versions or languages please
write to sci.nimations@gmail.com describing the problem with as much details as
you can. If possible, please send screenshots illustrating the issue and indicate
whether you agree to be contacted about your bug-report.

Other versions of the App

Count Plankton has three Progressive Web Apps (PWA) online: one in
English, one in Spanish, and another in Portuguese. Access to these PWAs will
remain free but they will start showing ads on May 1, 2021, to cover the costs/fees
of staying online. Android users will have the option to download an ad-free version
for less than $10 dollars per year ($5 dollars from our website and $8 from the
 COUNT PLANKTON APP: USER MANUAL
Amazon store and Google Play). We are in the process of creating a purchase options
for iOS users that we expect to announce soon.

Fig. 5. Revision interface. In the left image the App is presenting each taxon’s density in response to the
Density keyword, entered on the prompt after pressing the revision button. Note: the species shown on
this example do not coexist in real life and are presented as an example only. In the right image, Count
Plankton interacts with the user, requesting for a confirmation their intent to reboot the App.
 COUNT PLANKTON APP: USER MANUAL

Sci-Nimations already offers personalized institutional versions of Count

Plankton that displays the client institution’s logo and can be installed on 99 mobile
devices, without ads, for $50 dollars per month. Once installed on ≥100 devices, ads
will be activated, and the client institution will have the option to get an unlimited
installs plan for $100 monthly.
On July 2021 (perhaps before) Sci-Nimations will release the Count Plankton
Pro for $15 dollars annually on our website and $24 dollars annually on the Amazon
store and Google Play. The Count Plankton Pro will be available too on personalized
institutional versions for $100 dollars annually with a limit of 99 ad-free installs, or
$200 for unlimited ad-free installs. The Count Plankton Pro will provide new
features with valuable tools and functions, described in the following section.

New special features of the Count Plankton Pro

The Count Plankton Pro will allow users to save the count data and continue
counting later or send the count data to an e-mail address. Moreover, the Pro counter
interface will offer options to select previously entered species so that users do not
need to enter each name multiple times. Moreover, the Count Plankton Pro will
estimate several indices of species diversity/richness and generate species
accumulation/rarefaction curves to: determine the percentage of species present in
the sample that have not been counted/observed; determine whether the number of
counted fields is enough to detect 80% (or another selected percentage) of the species
present in the sample, or whether the user must survey more microscopy fields.
Finally, the Count Plankton Pro will allow users to collect data on shapes and
dimensions to estimate biovolumes.

Launch schedule of the Count Plankton Apps in 2021

La table below shows the launch schedule for each Count Plankton App. Each
square represents a week of their corresponding month. Periods of free access
without ads are indicated with light-gray; periods of free access with ads are
indicated with yellow; periods of paid access are indicated with dark-gray. After July
 COUNT PLANKTON APP: USER MANUAL
2021 all the Count Plankton Apps will have paid access, except the Web Progressive
versions with ads.
Product March April May June July
Progressive Web App
Institutional App
Ad-Free Prog. Web App
Pro Version
Institutional Pro Version