Seward Park needs volunteers to monitor the plankton of Lake Washington in King County, Washington, over time to assess the health of the lake.

The research is based on the premise that plankton exhibit the effects of environmental change better than chemical or other physical data. Also, long-term monitoring of changes in species composition have signaled the beginning of a decline in European lakes and in Lake Washington in the past.

Volunteers take water samples from a few sites around the lake and count the different types of plankton under the microscope in a Seward Park laboratory. The project needs contributions in a variety of areas, including collecting, counting, and recording plankton.