Light‐Productivity Model for Onondaga Lake, N.Y.

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Abstract
Two models were calibrated to the 1978 primary productivity conditions of nutrient‐rich hypereutrophic Onondaga Lake, N.Y.; one was based on the approach of Bannister, the other on a more conventional format. The data base, necessary for model development, included continuously monitored incident photosynthetically active radiation (PAR), and 115 parallel measurements of water column temperature, PAR attenuation, chlorophyll a, primary productivity, and key nutrients. Values of key parameters for the Bannister model, obtained by evaluation of the data set, differed from those recommended in the literature. Both models effectively predicted seasonal and shortterm trends in primary productivity for most of the study, though the Bannister model was slightly better. The Bannister model predictions were particularly sensitive to estimates of the maximum quantum yield of photosynthesis. The Bannister model is preferred on theoretical grounds, since it incorporates more fundamental and more constant parameters, and more properly accounts for temperature influences.