Louis LEGEND RE^, Narasimmalu RAJENDRAN'

• Main Authors: O F Saroma, Ko Lagoon
• Other Authors: The Pennsylvania State University CiteSeerX Archives
• Format: Text
• Language: English
• Subjects: ice algae
• Online Access: http://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/viewdoc/summary?doi=10.1.1.540.7759; http://polaris.nipr.ac.jp/~penguin/polarbiosci/issues/pdf/1995-Sakoh.pdf

Abstract: Composition of photosynthetic pigments (chlorophyll a and its derivatives) under the ice of Saroma KO lagoon was quantified by high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC). In ice algae, the relative percent-age of chlorophyll a, early degradation products of chlorophyll a (chlorophyll a'- l, 2, 3 and chlorophyllide a) and pheopigments (pheophytin a and pheophor-bide a) was found to be 74.4, 8.0 and 17.6%, respectively. In suspended and sinking particles, the percentage of chlorophyll a was lower than that of ice algae. Vertical profile of chlorophyll a in suspended particles showed high percentage at the surface and low percentage at the bottom, while chlorophyll a derivatives showed a reverse pattern to that of chlorophyll a. These results suggest that the degradation of chlorophyll a in suspended particles proceeded with increasing depth. The percentage composition of chlorophyll a in sinking particles did not show marked variation with depth, and closely resembled that of suspended particles in the bottom water. The absence of significant difference in the photosynthetic pigments composition of sinking particles between upper and lower layers indicated that the time spent for sinking was too short for more degradation to proceed with depth, because of the shallowness of the lagoon. From the results of the present study, it is suggested that the main component of sinking particles could be feces of herbivores and/or the senescent algal cells. 1.