Here are a couple of great resources for research going on at UCSC in the realm of phytoplankton other microorganisms:
http://oceandatacenter.ucsc.edu/home/oceandatacenter.html
http://oceandatacenter.ucsc.edu/home/spotlight%20home.html
http://oceandatacenter.ucsc.edu/home/spotlight_microscopy.html
http://oceandatacenter.ucsc.edu/home/research.html
And some weekly phytoplankton sampling in the Monterey Bay:
http://oceandatacenter.ucsc.edu/PhytoBlog/