Chlorophyll b Chlorophyll b Chlorophyll "b" is a form of chlorophyll. Chlorophyll "b" helps in photosynthesis by absorbing light energy. It is more soluble than chlorophyll "a" in polar solvents because of its carbonyl group. Its color is green, and it primarily absorbs blue light. In land plants, the light-harvesting antennae around photosystem II contain the majority of chlorophyll "b". Hence, in shade-adapted chloroplasts, which have an increased ratio of photosystem II to photosystem I, there is a higher ratio of chlorophyll "b" to chlorophyll "a". This is adaptive, as increasing chlorophyll "b" increases the range of wavelengths absorbed by the shade
Deep chlorophyll maximum of phytoplankton that have adapted to functioning in low light conditions. To adapt to low light conditions, some phytoplankton populations have been found to have increased amounts of chlorophyll counts per cell, which contributes to the formation of the DCM. Rather than an increase of overall cell numbers, seasonal light limitation or low irradiance levels can raise the individual cellular chlorophyll content. As depth increases within the mixing zone, phytoplankton must rely on having higher pigment counts (chlorophyll) to capture photic energy. Due to the higher concentration of chlorophyll in the phtoplankton present, the DCM does not predict the depth