A Novel Thin-Film Technique to Improve Accuracy of Fluorescence-Based Estimates for Periphytic Biofilms.

ABSTRACT: Recent studies suggest that photophysiological parameters for intact substrates with depth (e.g., periphytic biofilms, microphytobenthos) are overestimated by pulse-amplitude modulated (PAM) fluorometry. This overestimation results from depth-integration effects, following the activation of deeper photosynthesizing layers by an attenuated light signal. To mitigate this error, we propose a novel slide-based thin-film technique in which fluorescence is measured on a vertically representative subsample of the biofilm, spread evenly on a microscope slide. We compared bias and precision for photosynthetic parameters estimated through conventional PAM fluorometry on intact biofilms and through our novel slide-based technique, both theoretically and empirically. Numerical simulations confirmed th

SUBMITTER: Katona L 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC8262624 | biostudies-literature | 2021 May

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature