Comparative analysis of Lake Periphyton communities using high performanceliquid chromatography (HPLC) and light microscope counts

High performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) and light microscope counts w ere used to characterize the taxonomic composition of epiphyton and epipelo n at seven locations in a subtropical lake. Both methods indicated that alg ae were dominated by diatoms and cyanobacteria. However, the methods often gave dramatically different estimates of relative biomass among algal divis ions, and there was no consistent pattern of co-variation. Large difference s in underwater irradiance may have caused variation in accessory pigment t o chlorophyll a ratios, invalidating application of the generic HPLC-based model. In large heterogeneous lakes, it may be necessary to use a suite of models, tailored to site-specific environmental conditions, if HPLC is to b e used for evaluation of algal community structure.