An in Situ Method for the Measurement of Zooplankton Grazing Rates

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Abstract
A radioisotope method is described with which one can measure the rate of ingestion of small particles by zooplankton under natural conditions. Zooplankton is captured and permitted to feed for a short time on trace amounts of 32P‐labeled yeast (Rhodotorula) automatically released within the specially constructed sampler or grazing chamber; an appropriate experimental time is 5 min, less than the time required for the isotope‐labeled food to pass through the gut of the dominant cladoceran grazers. From the uptake of labeled food by the zooplankton retained on a 75‐µ net, the filtering rate of the zooplankton community and of individual species can be calculated. High sensitivity, simplicity of measurement, and naturalness of conditions during the experiment are achieved with this experimental technique.

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