Chlorophyll-Derived Pigments: Tracers for the Activities of Marine Protozoa

浮游植物色素已被广泛用于监测藻类群落中的现存量以及产量和损失率。在浮游动物放牧过程中形成的叶绿素衍生色素也被用作浮游植物命运的示踪剂。层析技术的最新进展揭示了浮游植物色素实际上由一系列相关的色素组成，其中一些化合物似乎与原生动物的捕食唯一相关。该项目将通过其简单、可控的实验来评估海洋原生动物对色素的转化和降解。据推测，色素的种类和数量与食草动物物种和浮游植物物种有关，而诸如碎屑摄入和光氧化等消除后过程是色素的重要修饰物。使用颜料作为生物标志物的一个关键问题是，颜料的转化反映有机碳的转化的程度。该项目的最终目标将是开发一种示踪剂，可用于解决上层食物网动态的几个重要的生态问题。

Phytoplankton pigments have been used extensively to monitor standing stocks and rates of production and loss within algal communities. Chlorophyll-derived pigments that are formed during zooplankton grazing have also been used as tracers for the fate of phytoplankton. Recent advances in chromatography technology have revealed that phytoplankton pigments actually comprise a suite of related pigments and that some of these compounds appear to be uniquely associated with grazing by protozoa. This project with its simple, well-controlled experiments will evaluate pigment transformation and degradation by marine protozoa. It's been hypothesized that kinds and amount of pigments produced are related to grazer species and phytoplankton species, and that post- elimination processes such as detrital ingestion and photo- oxidation are important modifiers of pigments. A critical issue in the use of pigments as biomarkers is the degree to which pigment transformations mirror transformation of organic carbon. The ultimate goal of the project will be to develop a tracer which can be used to address several important ecological questions of upper food web dynamics.