A comparison between two methods of extracting chlorophyll-a from different phytoplankton samples

Summary A comparison has been made between chlorophyll-a estimations based on the cold acetone extraction procedure and on the hot ethanol extraction method. When comparing the results obtained with both methods a standard deviation of 20% must be taken into account. A correlation between extraction efficiency and phytoplankton species composition could not be found. Although the chlorophyll-a yield in ethanol extracts is not better than that in acetone extracts, there are several advantages in using the ethanol method, particularly the short extraction period and the cheaper procedure.