Ethanol outperforms multiple solvents in the extraction of chlorophyll-a from biological soil crusts

In order to estimate the biomass of photoautotrophic organisms in biological soil crusts (BSCs), based on the extraction and determination of phytoplanktonic chlorophyll-a (Chl-a) in aquatic ecosystems, this paper comparatively studied the Chl-a extraction efficiencies in ethanol, acetone, N, N -dimethyl -formamide (DMF) and dimethyl sulphoxide (DMSO) from algae, lichen, and moss crusts, analyzed the effects of dominant organisms or development degree of BSCs, mass of sample, and soil characteristics on the extraction efficiency. The results showed that the extraction efficiencies of different organic solvents were significantly different, and such efficiencies declined with the increase of mass of sample. DMSO resulted in the greatest extraction efficiency, but was not suitable for lichen crusts; DMF strongly underestimated the Chl-a content of man-made crusts relative to the other extractants, and was particularly affected by interfering pigments from the well-developed crusts. Generally, the extraction efficiency of ethanol was greater than that of acetone, and ethanol method showed the greatest stability compared with other 3 solvents. In addition, Chl-a content showed an increasing trend with the succession of BSCs when it was expressed on an areal basis. On the basis of this and related experiments we suggest Chl-a content of BSCs be extracted by ethanol and expressed on an areal basis.

Research highlights
► Chl-a extracted efficiencies of different organic solvents exist significantly difference.
► Chl-a content is different in BSCs when it is expressed on different basis (areal and mass basis).
► We suggest Chl-a content of BSCs be expressed on an areal basis and extracted by ethanol.