海洋浮游性植物各族群體內獨特的色素組成可成為分析其族群結構的重要訊息。本研究利用高效能液相層析儀(HPLC)分析北南海及西菲律賓海中單細胞藻類體內色素之組成，並利用化學分類運算程式(CHEMTAX)進行藻類族群分布之運算。由於藻種體內各別色素濃度與葉綠素甲濃度比值(pigment ratio)為CHEMTAX推算族群結構之關鍵訊息，本研究以循環收斂運算方式(Latasa, 2007)應用於CHEMTAX的計算，以獲取較可信賴的色素比及族群分布結果。
本研究發現南海北部表水以Cyanobacteria和Prochlorococcus為主要優勢藻種，在浮游植物族群總量上分別占有36+15%和30+12%；SEATS測站則以Prochlorococcus (51%)為優勢藻種；東沙環礁內測站，以Prochlorococcus與diatom為優勢藻種，各別為35+17%和23+3%；綠島西北及西南測站，以Prymnesiophytes (25+2%)及Prochlorococcus (23+4%)為優勢藻種；西菲律賓海以Prymnesiophytes (49+3%)為主要優勢藻種。此結果對於海洋暖化、海水酸化或是人為活動由河川大氣輸出物等環境變遷對於南海北部及西菲律賓海之浮游植物族群分布之影響提供了基礎的背景訊息。

Unique pigment compositions in various marine phytoplankton phyla provide us useful information to study the community structure of marine phytoplankton in the ocean. This study applied high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) to analyze the pigment composition in the phytoplankton assemblages collected in the surface waters of the northern South China Sea and western Philippines Sea. The CHEMTAX calculation was based on the recycling calculation method suggested by Latasa (2007) in order to obtain more reliable pigment ratios.
This study found that Cyanobacteria (36+15%) and Prchlorococcus (30+12%) were dominant phytoplankton in the surface waters of the northern South China Sea; Prochlorococcus (51%) were the major
microalgae in the euphotic zone of the SEATS station; Prochlorococcus (35+17%) and diatom (23+3%) were the dominant species in the Dongsha Atoll; Prymnesiophytes (25+2%) and Prochlorococcus (23+4%) dominated in the north-west and south-west waters near the Green Island; and Prymnesiophytes (49+3%) were the major species in the western Philippines Sea. These results provide us the fundamental information about phytoplankton community structure in the regions, which would be useful to understand how phytoplankton community structure in the study sites are responded to environmental changes, such as global warming, ocean acidification, and anthropogenic pollution through riverine and aeolian inputs.

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