REU: Evaluating the Validity of Pigment Fingerprints as Taxonomic Indicators in Coccoid Green Ultraphytoplankton

生物海洋学中出现的一种想法是，色素指纹，即类胡萝卜素和叶绿素的类型和数量，有时可以用来确定水样中存在的生物的类型。这种方法已经被提出用于超浮游植物，其中的生物太小，无法用光学显微镜技术识别。福利博士建议确定，对于球状绿色超浮游植物，色素指纹是否与一种生化特征相关，即捕光复合型。初步证据表明，一些球状绿色超浮游植物具有与一些绿藻相似的捕光复合体，而另一些则没有。结果应提供证据，无论颜料指纹是否表明有效的分类单位。此外，这些结果可能表明，一些生物应该被包括在绿藻的现有分类群中，这可能会导致分类的修订。

An idea which has emerged in biological oceanography is that pigment fingerprints, that is, the types and quantities of carotenoids and chlorophylls, can sometimes be used to determine the types of organisms present in a water sample. This method has been proposed for the ultraphytoplankton, where the organisms are too small to be identified by light microscope techniques. Dr. Fawley proposes to determine if pigment fingerprints correlate with a biochemical character, the light-harvesting complex type, for the coccoid green ultraphytoplankton. Preliminary evidence indicates that some coccoid green ultraphytoplankton have a light-harvesting complex similar to that found in some green algae while others do not. Results should provide evidence whether or not pigment fingerprints indicate valid taxonomic units. In addition, these results may suggest that some organisms should be included in existing taxonomic groups in the green algae, potentially resulting in taxonomic revisions.