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An automatic device for in vivo absorption spectra acquisition and chlorophyll estimation in phytoplankton cultures

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Abstract

In order to aid the study of photoacclimation, a new programmable deviceis described which provides automatic on-line acquisition of in vivo cellabsorption in phytoplankton cultures. The system was used for a long-termstudy of Rhodomonas salina grown at constant photon flux density ina nitrate-limited continuous culture with different dilution rates. Particulate absorption measured at the red chlorophyll a (Chl a)maximum was not a good proxy of biomass, because of the large variabilityof cellular chlorophyll induced by nitrogen limitation. However, thedevice is well suited to automatic assessment of Chl a andphycoerythrin (PE) concentrations in phytoplankton cultures, if algal cellsize and concentration are measured in parallel to correct the packagingeffect. The effects of nitrogen limitation on Chl a and PE contentsand particle absorbance are discussed.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Laboratoire d'Océanographie de Villefranche, Université Pierre et Marie Curie and CNRS, UMR 7093, BP 28, 06234, Villefranche sur Mer CEDEX, France

    Emilie Le Floc'h, Gilbert Malara & Antoine Sciandra

Authors
  1. Emilie Le Floc'h
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  2. Gilbert Malara
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  3. Antoine Sciandra
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Le Floc'h, E., Malara, G. & Sciandra, A. An automatic device for in vivo absorption spectra acquisition and chlorophyll estimation in phytoplankton cultures. Journal of Applied Phycology 14, 435–444 (2002). https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1022338930747

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