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Nordic Microalgae

Nordic Microalgae is an online platform providing high-quality images, illustrations, and detailed information about aquatic microalgae and related organisms in the Nordic region, including phytoplankton, microzooplankton, and benthic microalgae. It features a comprehensive species checklist, up-to-date taxonomic data linked to WoRMS and AlgaeBase, and supplementary resources such as biovolume lists and occurrence maps. Established in 1996 and supported by long-term funding from the Swedish Research Council through the Swedish Biodiversity Data Infrastructure (SBDI).

All data on Nordic Microalgae is accessible through our API. Below are examples demonstrating how to extract data using the SHARK4R package.

Getting Started

Installation

You can install the package from GitHub using the remotes package:

# install.packages("remotes")
remotes::install_github("sharksmhi/SHARK4R",
                        dependencies = TRUE)

Load the SHARK4R and tibble libraries:

Retrieve Complete Nordic Microalgae Taxon Table

A complete Nordic Microalgae taxa list can be retrieved through the API.

# Get taxa information
taxa <- get_nua_taxa(unparsed = FALSE)

# Print data
tibble(taxa)
## # A tibble: 6,852 × 5
##    scientific_name           authority                       rank  slug  nua_url
##    <chr>                     <chr>                           <chr> <chr> <chr>  
##  1 Abollifer                 Vørs, 1992                      Genus abol… https:…
##  2 Abollifer prolabens       Vørs, 1992                      Spec… abol… https:…
##  3 Acanthoceras              Honigm., 1910                   Genus acan… https:…
##  4 Acanthoceras zachariasii  (Brun) Simonsen, 1979           Spec… acan… https:…
##  5 Acanthocerataceae         Round, Crawford & Mann, 1990    Fami… acan… https:…
##  6 Acanthocorbis             S.Hara & E.Takahashi, 1984      Genus acan… https:…
##  7 Acanthocorbis apoda       (Leadbeater) Hara & Takahashi,… Spec… acan… https:…
##  8 Acanthocorbis asymmetrica (Thomsen) Hara & Takahashi, 19… Spec… acan… https:…
##  9 Acanthocorbis campanula   (Espeland) Thomsen, 1991        Spec… acan… https:…
## 10 Acanthocorbis haurakiana  Thomsen, 1991                   Spec… acan… https:…
## # ℹ 6,842 more rows

The full taxonomic information can be accessed as an unparsed list by enabling the unparsed parameter.

Each taxon sheet on Nordic Microalgae contains facts, such as links to external webpages (e.g. AlgaeBase, WoRMS and Dyntaxa). These links can be retrieved through the API.

# Randomly select 10 taxa from shark_taxon$scientific_name
slugs <- sample(taxa$slug, size = 10)

# Get external links
external_links <- get_nua_external_links(slugs, 
                                         verbose = FALSE, 
                                         unparsed = FALSE)

# Print list
tibble(external_links)
## # A tibble: 56 × 6
##    slug               provider  label        external_id external_url collection
##    <chr>              <chr>     <chr>        <chr>       <chr>        <chr>     
##  1 ptychocylis-minor  AlgaeBase AlgaeBase    141096      https://www… External …
##  2 ptychocylis-minor  Dyntaxa   Dyntaxa      238510      https://nam… External …
##  3 ptychocylis-minor  ENA       ENA          1925337     https://www… External …
##  4 ptychocylis-minor  GBIF      GBIF         7865442     https://www… External …
##  5 ptychocylis-minor  NCBI      NCBI         1925337     https://www… External …
##  6 ptychocylis-minor  WoRMS     WoRMS        427510      https://www… External …
##  7 ptychocylis-minor  PR2       PR2: Ptycho… Ptychocyli… https://app… External …
##  8 rusalka-fusiformis AlgaeBase AlgaeBase    133790      https://www… External …
##  9 rusalka-fusiformis Dyntaxa   Dyntaxa      257549      https://nam… External …
## 10 rusalka-fusiformis ENA       ENA          71744       https://www… External …
## # ℹ 46 more rows

The full list of facts can be accessed as an unparsed list by setting the unparsed parameter to TRUE.

Get Nordic Microalgae Harmfulness Information

Taxa listed in the IOC-UNESCO Taxonomic Reference List of Harmful Micro Algae contain information about harmfulness. This information can be retrieved through the API.

# Get external links
harmfulness <- get_nua_harmfulness(c("dinophysis-acuta", 
                                     "alexandrium-ostenfeldii"), 
                                   verbose = FALSE)

# Print list
tibble(harmfulness)
## # A tibble: 11 × 6
##    slug                    provider   label  external_id external_url collection
##    <chr>                   <chr>      <chr>  <chr>       <chr>        <chr>     
##  1 dinophysis-acuta        IOC        IOC H… 109604      https://www… Harmful a…
##  2 dinophysis-acuta        IOC-UNESCO IOC-U… 6           https://tox… Harmful a…
##  3 dinophysis-acuta        IOC-UNESCO IOC-U… 1           https://tox… Harmful a…
##  4 dinophysis-acuta        IOC-UNESCO IOC-U… 5           https://tox… Harmful a…
##  5 alexandrium-ostenfeldii IOC        IOC H… 109712      https://www… Harmful a…
##  6 alexandrium-ostenfeldii IOC-UNESCO IOC-U… 464         https://tox… Harmful a…
##  7 alexandrium-ostenfeldii IOC-UNESCO IOC-U… 463         https://tox… Harmful a…
##  8 alexandrium-ostenfeldii IOC-UNESCO IOC-U… 462         https://tox… Harmful a…
##  9 alexandrium-ostenfeldii IOC-UNESCO IOC-U… 12          https://tox… Harmful a…
## 10 alexandrium-ostenfeldii IOC-UNESCO IOC-U… 15          https://tox… Harmful a…
## 11 alexandrium-ostenfeldii IOC-UNESCO IOC-U… 17          https://tox… Harmful a…

Links to all images present on Nordic Microalgae can be retrieved through the API. The images are available in four sizes: original (o), small (s), medium (m), and large (l).

# Get all media links
media <- get_nua_media_links(unparsed = FALSE)

# Print list
tibble(media)
## # A tibble: 2,413 × 10
##    slug              image_l_url image_o_url image_s_url image_m_url contributor
##    <chr>             <chr>       <chr>       <chr>       <chr>       <chr>      
##  1 NA                https://no… https://no… https://no… https://no… Per Wilhel…
##  2 NA                https://no… https://no… https://no… https://no… Per Wilhel…
##  3 NA                https://no… https://no… https://no… https://no… Per Wilhel…
##  4 dinophysis-odiosa https://no… https://no… https://no… https://no… Susanne Bu…
##  5 ebria-tripartita  https://no… https://no… https://no… https://no… Susanne Bu…
##  6 ebria-tripartita  https://no… https://no… https://no… https://no… Susanne Bu…
##  7 ebria-tripartita  https://no… https://no… https://no… https://no… Susanne Bu…
##  8 ebria-tripartita  https://no… https://no… https://no… https://no… Susanne Bu…
##  9 dicroerisma-psil… https://no… https://no… https://no… https://no… Susanne Bu…
## 10 volvox            https://no… https://no… https://no… https://no… Per Wilhel…
## # ℹ 2,403 more rows
## # ℹ 4 more variables: photographer_artist <chr>, copyright_holder <chr>,
## #   license <chr>, galleries <chr>

Complete media information can be retrieved as an unparsed list by setting the unparsed parameter to TRUE.

Citation

## To cite package 'SHARK4R' in publications use:
## 
##   Markus Lindh, Anders Torstensson (2025). SHARK4R: Retrieving,
##   Analyzing, and Validating Marine Data from SHARK and Nordic
##   Microalgae. R package version 0.1.7.9000.
##   https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.14169399
## 
## A BibTeX entry for LaTeX users is
## 
##   @Manual{,
##     title = {SHARK4R: Retrieving, Analyzing, and Validating Marine Data from SHARK and Nordic Microalgae},
##     author = {Markus Lindh and Anders Torstensson},
##     year = {2025},
##     note = {R package version 0.1.7.9000},
##     url = {https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.14169399},
##   }