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ABSTRACT
The growth and reproduction of phytoplankton are controlled by macronutrients. Phytoplankton communities are important indicators of marine responses to environmental changes. Thus, it is important to study the relationships between phytoplankton composition and macronutrient concentrations. High performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) coupled with electrospray ionization/triple quadrupole mass spectrometry (MS) was used for the determination of 13 pigments of phytoplankton taxa. Based on the pigments and optimized formulas for algae biomass conversion, the contributions of diatoms, dinoflagellates, chrysophytes, haptophytes, cyanobacteria, chlorophytes, prasinophytes, and cryptophytes to the total phytoplankton biomass were evaluated. The highest concentrations of pigments were found in the phytoplankton community treated with nitrogen/phosphorus/silicon for 9 days. By monitoring cholorophyll a in eight taxa, the phytoplankton biomass was found to increase in the following order: control>silicon>nitrogen/phosphorus/silicon. Diatoms/fucoxanthin and chlorophytes/lutein were the major phytoplankton present in the community.