CHEMTAX - A PROGRAM FOR ESTIMATING CLASS ABUNDANCES FROM CHEMICAL MARKERS - APPLICATION TO HPLC MEASUREMENTS OF PHYTOPLANKTON

We describe a new program for calculating algal class abundances from measurements of chlorophyll and carotenoid pigments determined by high -performance liquid chromatography (HPLC). The program uses factor ana lysis and a steepest descent algorithm to find the best fit to the dat a based on an initial guess of the pigment ratios for the classes to b e determined. The program was tested with a range of synthetic data-se ts that were constructed from known pigment ratios selected to be repr esentative of samples of phytoplankton collected from the Southern Oce an and the Equatorial Pacific. Random errors were added both to the pi gment ratios and to the calculated data-sets to simulate both uncertai nties in the initial guess as to the pigment concentrations of each cl ass and respectively experimental errors in the analysis of the pigmen ts by HPLC. Provided that the analytical data is of good quality, the program can successfully determine the class abundances, even when the initial estimates of the pigment ratios contain large errors. Of part icular interest is the observation that the program can provide good e stimates of prochlorophytes, even in the absence of experimental data on the concentrations of divinyl-chlorophylls a and b. The program is not restricted to the estimation of phytoplankton and can be used when ever specific biomarkers exist that can be used as indicators of biolo gical or chemical processes.