Intra-class variability in the carbon, pigment and biomineral content of prymnesiophytes and diatoms

Chlorophyll (chl) and carotenoid pigment data has significantly advanced our understanding of the distribution and class composition of phytoplankton biomass. However, the conversion of this data into quantitative and reliable estimates of biomass necessitates empirical carbon and pigment measuremen...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Marine ecology. Progress series (Halstenbek) 2000-02, Vol.193, p.33-44
Main Authors: Llewellyn, C. A., Gibb, S. W.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Animal and plant ecology
Animal, plant and microbial ecology
Bacillariophyceae
Biological and medical sciences
Calcite
Carbon
Carotenoids
Cell growth
Chlorophylls
Density
Diatoms
Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology
Marine
Phytoplankton
Pigments
Prymnesiaceae
Prymnesiophyceae
Sea water ecosystems
Silicates
Synecology
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Summary:Chlorophyll (chl) and carotenoid pigment data has significantly advanced our understanding of the distribution and class composition of phytoplankton biomass. However, the conversion of this data into quantitative and reliable estimates of biomass necessitates empirical carbon and pigment measurements on individual species. We have studied the carbon, pigment (chl and carotenoid) and biomineral (silicate and calcite) content of 20 prymnesiophytes and diatoms as key representatives of ecologically important phytoplankton in marine temperate waters. Batch cultures were sampled for each analysis in triplicate during early and late growth periods. To enable intra-class comparisons, pigment/chl a ratios are presented as are cellular constituent densities derived by normalising concentrations with cellular counts and volumes. For both prymnesiophytes and diatoms in early growth, chl a and carbon density were found to decrease from 8 to
ISSN:0171-8630
1616-1599
DOI:10.3354/meps193033