Scientists may refer to chlorophyll a, which is one type of chlorophyll, as are chlorophyll b and chlorophyll c. Measurements of total chlorophyll include all types. Chlorophyll can be abbreviated CHL, and total chlorophyll can be abbreviated TCHL.

Waterbodies in the Florida LAKEWATCH database have average chlorophyll concentrations ranging from less than 1 to over 400 micrograms/liter.

In Florida, characteristics of a lake's geographic region can provide insight into how much chlorophyll may be expected for lakes in that area. For example, water entering the waterbodies by stream flow or underground flowage through fertile soils can pick up nutrients that can then fertilize the growth of algae and aquatic plants. In this way, the geology and physiography of a watershed can significantly influence a waterbody's biological productivity.
See Lake regions and Geology

Health Concerns:
Chlorophyll poses no known direct threat to human health. There are some rare cases where algae can become high enough in abundance to cause concern. However, toxic algae are generally not a problem.
See Algae

The Role of Chlorophyll in Waterbodies:
Measurements of chlorophyll concentrations in water samples are very useful to scientists. For example, they are often used to estimate algal biomass in a waterbody and to assess a waterbody's biological productivity, and its trophic state. Using average chlorophyll concentrations from this same database, Florida lakes were found to be distributed into the four trophic states.
See the Trophic states page of this web site.
See also Algae, Biological productivity , and Phytoplantkon.