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The trophic status of various oceanic provinces as revealed by phytoplankton pigment signatures
Author(s) -
Claustre Hervé
Publication year - 1994
Publication title -
limnology and oceanography
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.7
H-Index - 197
eISSN - 1939-5590
pISSN - 0024-3590
DOI - 10.4319/lo.1994.39.5.1206
Subject(s) - phytoplankton , peridinin , dinoflagellate , chlorophyll a , biomass (ecology) , fucoxanthin , autotroph , trophic level , diatom , chlorophyll , biology , oceanography , photosynthetic pigment , botany , environmental science , algae , ecology , geology , nutrient , genetics , bacteria
For various oceanic regimes, a pigment biomarker approach is used to investigate the relationship between the biomass and taxonomic composition of autotrophic communities. It is demonstrated that chlorophyll standing stocks are linearly related to the diatom (fucoxanthin) and dinoflagellate (peridinin) contents; other phytoplankton diagnostic pigments do not present any significant correlation with chlorophyll standing stocks. A pigment ratio, F p , is proposed as an estimator of the proportion of new producers’ biomass in a phytoplankton community. The variation of the F p ‐ratio with chlorophyll a biomass and (modeled) primary production rates suggests strong similarities between F p and the f ‐ratio (new production: total production).