
TY  - JOUR
A1  - Brookes, Justin D. 
A1  - Geary, Sean M. 
A1  - Ganf, George G. 
A1  - Burch, Michael D. 
T1  - Use of FDA and flow cytometry to assess metabolic activity as an indicator of nutrient status in phytoplankton
JF  - Marine and Freshwater Research
JO  - Mar. Freshwater Res.
Y1  - 2000
VL  - 51
IS  - 8
SP  - 817
EP  - 823
KW  - 
UR  - https://doi.org/10.1071/MF00048 
N2  - This study reports the use of a technique to determine nutrient limitation of cultured and natural phytoplankton. The technique, an FDA-activity assay, which is usually used to assess cell viability, was used to measure metabolic activity in response to nutrient addition; the metabolic activity of phytoplankton was determined as the rate of hydrolysis of fluorescein diacetate (FDA), by intracellular esterases, to fluorescein, which was detectedusing a flow cytometer. Replacement of the limiting nutrient to nitrogen- or phosphorus-limited cultures and field populations resulted in an increase in metabolic activity that was detectable 24 h after nutrient addition. By flow cytometry, the natural phytoplankton community can be divided into different taxonomic groups; the response of these to FDA could be determined individually to allow identification of the nutrients limiting each type of phytoplankton. This would be more specific than the assessment of a whole-community response, which may mask subtle differences among taxa. 
ER  -

