An idea which has emerged in biological oceanography is that pigment fingerprints, that is, the types and quantities of carotenoids and chlorophylls, can sometimes be used to determine the types of organisms present in a water sample. This method has been proposed for the ultraphytoplankton, where the organisms are too small to be identified by light microscope techniques. Dr. Fawley proposes to determine if pigment fingerprints correlate with a biochemical character, the light-harvesting complex type, for the coccoid green ultraphytoplankton. Preliminary evidence indicates that some coccoid green ultraphytoplankton have a light-harvesting complex similar to that found in some green algae while others do not. Results should provide evidence whether or not pigment fingerprints indicate valid taxonomic units. In addition, these results may suggest that some organisms should be included in existing taxonomic groups in the green algae, potentially resulting in taxonomic revisions.
