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PhycoKey Instructions

Navigate through the key from the “Home” page by selecting images that appear to you to be the closest match to your unknown microscopic object – generally an organism, or a common “artifact” such as pollen, crystals, bubbles, or other items.

As you pass the pointer over an image on the home page (“mouse over”) you will see a montage of items in that “class” or “group”. Click on the image to go to the next page. Continue selecting images on successive pages until you arrive at a genus. Finally, click on representative thumbnails to see larger images. Species are provided where known.

On any page of the key you can return to previous pages, either with the browser “back” button, or with the navigation links at the top of the page. With the latter you can return to various intermediate levels of the key, or all the way back to the “Home” page.

Alternatively, if you know the genus name and want to see its image, click on the home page "Genera" button, and then on the genus (listed alphabetically).  Similarly, class-level lists for Cyanobacteria, Greens, Charophyceae, Diatoms, Reds, Browns and Euglenoids can be found by clicking on the 'Genera' button within each class.

 

Update: 29 July 2013