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

Abstract

Chlorophyll content of seagrass leaves varies among species and habitats byat 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 Haloduleuninervis and Halodule pinifolia in Central Visayas, Philippines in relation tothese environmental factors which are: exposure, density, temperature, and lightintensity. Chlorophyll was determined using the equation of Jeffrey and Humprey(1975) whereas data gathered went through one way ANOVA followed byTukey’s Test. Significant variations were found in most photosynthetic parametersmeasured in this study. Overall, H. uninervis and H. pinifolia seems to obtainoptimal 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 chlorophyllb 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 chlorophyllcontent in performing optimal photosynthetic activity over a broad range of irradiance regimes.Keywords: Marine Ecology, chlorophyll content, seagrass, Halodule, experimental design,Philippines