Relationship between chlorophyll a pigment and algal geometric biovolume determination in a floodplain lake (Ciénaga Ayapel, Córdoba-Colombia)

Abstract

The estimation of biomass of planktonic algae can be done by two methods, the quantification of geometric biovolume and chlorophyll a. This work which considers as environmental scenario the Ayapel-Cordoba flood-plain lake, introduces (presents) the two protocols for geometric biovolume and chlorophyll a quantification, and shows that both variables actually represent differences in biomass in space and time, also recording a high degree correlation. The results show that by using an appropriate extraction method for chlorophyll a, it is possible to have a quick and effective method for determining the biomass of algae that can be used to apply a trophic classification, which can also be obtained by counting and estimation microscopic geometric dimensions.

Keywords

• phytoplankton
• biovolume
• chlorophyll a