Jw. Hofstraat et al., SIMPLE DETERMINATION OF PHOTOSYNTHETIC EFFICIENCY AND PHOTOINHIBITIONOF DUNALIELLA-TERTIOLECTA BY SATURATING PULSE FLUORESCENCE MEASUREMENTS, Marine ecology. Progress series, 103(1-2), 1994, pp. 187-196
Saturating pulse fluorescence measurements, well known from studies of
higher plants, were applied to cultures of the chlorophyte Dunaliella
tertiolecta. Photochemical and non-photochemical quenching, and the p
hotochemical yield and photochemical efficiency of photosystem II, wer
e determined for cultures of D. tertiolecta growing under varying ligh
t intensities. Photosynthetic efficiencies appeared to correlate well
with growth rates determined for the D. tertiolecta cultures. The phot
ochemical yield provides a measure of photoinhibition effects. The res
ults indicate that the saturating pulse fluorescence method may be suc
cessfully used to determine photosynthetic characteristics of phytopla
nkton. The technique is simple to apply and can be adapted for photosy
nthetic measurements in situ, i.e. on phytoplankton in their natural h
abitat.