Title:
Estimating the contribution of microalgal taxa to chlorophyll a in the field-variations of pigment ratios under nutrient- and light-limited growth

dc.contributor.author Goericke, Ralf en_US
dc.contributor.author Montoya, Joseph P. en_US
dc.contributor.corporatename Scripps Institution of Oceanography en_US
dc.contributor.corporatename Harvard University en_US
dc.date.accessioned 2012-03-22T20:30:10Z
dc.date.available 2012-03-22T20:30:10Z
dc.date.issued 1998-08-06
dc.description DOI:10.3354/meps169097 en_US
dc.description.abstract Cellular concentrations of chlorophylls and carotenoids were measured in nutrient- and light-limited cultures of marine microalgae to determine the utility of accessory pigments as proxies for the biomass of specific groups of microalgae in the ocean. In most species, concentrations of chlorophyll a (chl a) and photosynthetically active pigments varied linearly with growth rate in nitrate-limited continuous cultures or with the logarithm of the irradiance in light-limited and light-sufficient batch cultures, as has been observed before. Rates of pigment-concentration change as a function of irradiance or growth rate did not covary with rates of maximum growth. Concentrations of carotenoids covaried with chl a in most species analyzed; intraspecies variations of chl a-carotenoid ratios were usually smaller than variations of chl a:b or chl a:c ratios. These results were used to critically evaluate the assumptions underlying iterative methods used to determine the contribution of different algal taxa to chl a from ratios of chl a and accessory pigments. Estimates based on chl a:b or chl a:c ratios are prone to error because these ratios can vary by up to an order of magnitude among species and within species as a function of irradiance, thus violating an assumption of the iterative methods. Instead, such methods should rely on ratios of chl a and photosynthetically active carotenoids. Using simple models and field data from the Chesapeake Bay, USA, we showed that iterative methods are either prone to error when different populations of microalgae co-vary or do not give discrete solutions. As an alternative we suggest methods that rely more strongly on empirically determined pigment ratios. en_US
dc.identifier.citation Goericke, R. and J.P. Montoya. 1998. Estimating the contribution of microalgal taxa to total chl a in the field - variations of pigment ratios under nutrient- and light-limited growth. Mar. Ecol. Prog. Ser. 169: 97-112. en_US
dc.identifier.doi 10.3354/meps169097
dc.identifier.issn 0171-8630
dc.identifier.uri http://hdl.handle.net/1853/43086
dc.language.iso en_US en
dc.publisher Georgia Institute of Technology en_US
dc.publisher.original Inter-Research en_US
dc.subject Phytoplankton en_US
dc.subject Chlorophyll a en_US
dc.subject Carotenoids en_US
dc.subject HPLC en_US
dc.subject Regression analysis en_US
dc.title Estimating the contribution of microalgal taxa to chlorophyll a in the field-variations of pigment ratios under nutrient- and light-limited growth en_US
dc.type Text
dc.type.genre Article
dspace.entity.type Publication
local.contributor.author Montoya, Joseph P.
local.contributor.corporatename College of Sciences
local.contributor.corporatename School of Biological Sciences
relation.isAuthorOfPublication 0000b67d-bef5-4edf-b2d6-3577c297f4c3
relation.isOrgUnitOfPublication 85042be6-2d68-4e07-b384-e1f908fae48a
relation.isOrgUnitOfPublication c8b3bd08-9989-40d3-afe3-e0ad8d5c72b5
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