To begin, select phytoplankton microscopic images taken from the Narragansett Bay Long-Term Plankton Time Series as either JPEG, PNG, or PDF files. Place JPEG or PNG microscopic image into the Illustrator workspace. Go to View, then click Show Transparency Grid to reveal the checkerboard background indicating transparent areas.
Next, click on Window, followed by Image Trace in the dropdown menu to open the Image Trace window. Under the Image Trace options, click Preset, then Black and White Logo, followed by Mode and Black and White. Then under Properties, select Expand to vectorize it.
Choose the direct selection tool and click on the white space. Delete it, and then click File and Save As, and select EPS To save as a vector graphic. To create phytoplankton patterns, first, create a new artboard in a new workspace by clicking the square Artboard tool in the toolbar.
Make three identical artboards of the same size by adjusting the size within Properties. Drag and drop the EPS files of the different phytoplankton taxa onto the artboard. Use the direct selection tool to draw a box around an individual phytoplankton.
Under Properties, select Embed, then Fill, and color the phytoplankton with the desired color from the color palette, which is representative of the decade. Then use the black arrow selection tool to highlight a particular phytoplankton. Select Edit, then Copy, followed by Edit, and click on Paste.
Paste each phytoplankton vector qualitatively based on the relative proportions of each taxa in the dataset for each of the three decades. Select Object, then Pattern, and Make to create a color swatch phytoplankton pattern for each of the three decades.
