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The Bigger The Fewer: Size, Taxonomic Diversity and The Range of Chlorophyll(Ide) Pigments in Oxygen-Evolving Marine Photolithotrophs

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  11 May 2009

John A. Raven
Affiliation:
Department of Biological Sciences, University of Dundee, Dundee, DD1 4HN

Extract

There is a greater diversity of spectrally distinct chlorophyll(ide) pigments in individuals of many of the large number of higher taxa of marine oxygen-evolvers which contain only small organisms than in those few higher taxa which also (or only) have large-sized organisms. The occurrence of more types of pigment in smaller organisms can be mechanistically related to the lesser degree of self-shading in smaller organisms, thus allowing spectral diversity to be reflected in enhanced photon absorption from a given light field as a result of multiple spectral forms of chlorophyll(ide)s. This provides a mechanistic basis with ecological significance for the greater chlorophyll(ide) diversity in small marine O2-evolvers which show greater biodiversity at the level of higher taxa than do classes or divisions which are comprised only, or predominantly, of macrophytes (Ulvophyceae, Rhodophyta, Phaetophyta, seagrasses).

Type
Research Article
Copyright
Copyright © Marine Biological Association of the United Kingdom 1996

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