Skip Navigation

This Article
Right arrow Full Text (PDF)
Right arrow Alert me when this article is cited
Right arrow Alert me if a correction is posted
Services
Right arrow Email this article to a friend
Right arrow Similar articles in this journal
Right arrow Alert me to new issues of the journal
Right arrow Add to My Personal Archive
Right arrow Download to citation manager
Right arrowRequest Permissions
Google Scholar
Right arrow Articles by Vernet, M.
Right arrow Articles by Lorenzen, C. J.
Right arrow Search for Related Content
PubMed
Right arrow Articles by Vernet, M.
Right arrow Articles by Lorenzen, C. J.
Social Bookmarking
Add to CiteULike   Add to Connotea   Add to Del.icio.us  
What's this?

JOURNAL OF PLANKTON RESEARCH | VOLUME 9 | NUMBER 2 | PAGES 255-265 | 1987
© Oxford University Press

research-article

The presence of chlorophyll b and the estimation of phaeopigments in marine phytoplankton

Maria Vernet1 and Carl J. Lorenzen

School of Oceanography, University of Washington Seattle, WA 98195, USA

Received on February 1, 1985; accepted on December 1, 1986

A reverse-phase h.p.l.c. technique was used to estimate the concentration of chlorophyll b in phytoplankton cultures, fecal pellets of Calanus pacificus, and suspended paniculate matter from the Central North Pacific, Oregon coastal waters, and Dabob Bay (a temperate fjord in Puget Sound, WA, USA). The purpose was to assess the distribution of this pigment in the euphotic zone and its effect on the fluorometnc estimation of phaeopigments. Analyses of natural waters confirm high chlorophyll b concentrations (median mass ratio of b:a > 0.3) at the depth of the chlorophyll a maximum in tropical waters while values for temperate plankton are relatively low (median mass ratio of chl b:a = 0.05) and patchy. Zooplankton fecal pellets showed a significant enrichment in chlorophyll b, suggesting grazing as a mechanism to explain high concentrations of this pigment at the bottom of the euphotic zone. It is estimated that the presence of chlorophyll b could cause an average overestimation of phaeopigment concentration by the fluorometnc technique of 38% between 0 and 200 m in the Central North Pacific. This effect is more pronounced at the layer of chlorophyll b maximum (120–140 m).

1Present address: Marine Biology Research Division, A-002, Scripps Institution of Oceanography, La Jolla, CA 92093, USA


Add to CiteULike CiteULike   Add to Connotea Connotea   Add to Del.icio.us Del.icio.us    What's this?


This article has been cited by other articles:


Home page
 J PLANKTON RESHome page
W. M. Balch, D. T. Drapeau, B. C. Bowler, E. S. Booth, L. A. Windecker, and A. Ashe
Space-time variability of carbon standing stocks and fixation rates in the Gulf of Maine, along the GNATS transect between Portland, ME, USA, and Yarmouth, Nova Scotia, Canada
J. Plankton Res., February 1, 2008; 30(2): 119 - 139.
[Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]


Disclaimer:
Please note that abstracts for content published before 1996 were created through digital scanning and may therefore not exactly replicate the text of the original print issues. All efforts have been made to ensure accuracy, but the Publisher will not be held responsible for any remaining inaccuracies. If you require any further clarification, please contact our Customer Services Department.