The Use of Absolute Activity for Eliminating Serious Errors in the Measurement of Primary Productivity with C14

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Abstract
The use of barium carbonate for calibrating the Geiger Müller counting equipment routinely used in primary productivity studies in marine and fresh waters has resulted in serious errors. Because the radioactivity of algae rather than barium carbonate is being measured, algae are the best radioactive source for determining the efficiency of GM counting. The absolute activity of any particular thickness of filtered algae as well as that of a C14 label can be accurately determined in gas phase. This direct procedure eliminates tacit assumptions of self-absorption and backscattering effects in calibration. The GM counting efficiencies of algae varied with species to species and with sample weight. The marine diatom Skeletonema was found to have a particularly low counting efficiency.

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