Sources of variability in zooplankton feeding experiments: The importance of accurate determination of algal growth rates | Fuentes de variabilidad en experimentos de alimentación con zooplancton: Importancia de una corretca estimación de las tasas intrínsecas de crecimineto del fitoplancton

7 páginas, 4 figuras, 2 tablas.

[EN] The multiplicative models used to determine zooplankton feeding rates lead to increased uncertainty of the estimated grazing rate through the propagation of experimental error. The quantification of algal growth rates in control jars constitutes one of the main sources of error, which can account for most of the observed residual variability in zooplankton experimental data. This effect increases with increasing growth rate. Increasing the number of control jars and improving other methodological procedures should help to reduce this effect

[ES] Los modelos multiplicativos usados en la determinación de las tasas de alimentación del plancton, comportan una propagación de errores experimentales. En este artículo sc demuestra que una de las principales fuentes de error radica en la determinación de las tasas de crecimiento intrínseco del alimento ofrecido mediante el uso de frascos control. Un análisis del tamaño muestra óptimo determina el número adecuado de replicados control a usar en función de la mencionada variabilidad

This study was conducted during a postdoctoral stay of the author at the Skidaway Institute of Oceanography (Savannah, USA). Funding was provided by a postdoctoral fellowship to the author by the Spanish Ministry of Education and Science, and by NSF grant OCE90-00144 to Dr. G.-A. Paffenhöfer

Peer reviewed