Algae. 2004; 19(2): 149-151.
Short Note on Freshwater Algal Biomass Measurements and Significance in Ecological Community Studies
Sang Ok Chung*
Inland Fisheries Ecological Research Institute, NFRDI, Gapyong-Gun, Gyeonggi 477-815, Korea
ABSTRACT
Freshwater algae make up a very important portion of the autotrophic component of the aquatic food web. Therefore, the study of freshwater algal structure and biomass is central to aquatic ecosystem studies. Due to variations in cell shape and size for each species (or taxon) and survey site, cell abundance (or cell numbers per chosen volume) often leads to misrepresentation of the true importance of some species because of the great differences in size of various algae. Thus, it is necessary to investigate the freshwater algal species of a site in order to calculate the cell volume. Although direct cell counting, species volume measurement, as well as biomass calculation are time-consuming and requiring specialists in taxonomy.
Keywords :
abundance, biomass, cell volume, count, freshwater
