Philippine E-Journals

Variation in Chlorophyll a and b in the Seagrass Halodule in Central Visayas, Philippines

Billy T. Wagey

Discipline: Ecology

 

Abstract:

Chlorophyll content of seagrass leaves varies among species and habitats by at least a factor of five, and shows plastic responses to seasonal variations in light availability as well as direct experimental manipulation. This study generally attempted to observe the relative amount of chlorophyll a, b content of Halodule uninervis and Halodule pinifolia in Central Visayas, Philippines in relation to these environmental factors which are: exposure, density, temperature, and light intensity. Chlorophyll was determined using the equation of Jeffrey and Humprey (1975) whereas data gathered went through one way ANOVA followed by Tukey’s Test. Significant variations were found in most photosynthetic parameters measured in this study. Overall, H. uninervis and H. pinifolia seems to obtain optimal photosynthetic performances over a broad range of irradiances. Mainly, genus Halodule can be seen as a highlight species, which has also the ability to acclimate to low irradiances. in general, the result indicated that seagrasses tend to decrease the ratio of chlorophyll a:b by increasing the amount of chlorophyll b to compensate for the decline in light intensity in subtidal areas. Therefore, H. uninervis and H. pinifolia seem to have the ability of adjusting their chlorophyll content in performing optimal photosynthetic activity over a broad range of irradiance regimes.