Dirichlet tessellation was applied to estimate microbial concentrations from microscope well slides. The use of microscopy/Dirichlet tessellation to quantify biomass was illustrated with two species of morphologically distinct cyanobacteria, and validated empirically by comparison with chlorophyll a analyses during pilot-scale water treatment studies.
A statistically significant correlation between the two methods was observed. This sampling and estimation procedure can be applied whenever biomass concentrations are measured with the aid of a microscope.