GUT CLEARANCE RATE AS PREDICTOR OF FOOD LIMITATION SITUATIONS - APPLICATION TO 2 ESTUARINE COPEPODS - ACARTIA BIFILOSA AND EURYTEMORA-AFFINIS

Gut clearance rate-temperature relationships were determined in labora tory conditions, with food in excess, and in the field to assess possi ble food limitation situations for 2 estuarine copepods, Eurytemora af finis and Acartia bifilosa. From the comparison of these relationships , it appeared that A, bifilosa was food limited whereas E. affinis was not. The gut clearance rate-temperature regressions obtained with non saturating food were not significantly different from the one obtained by Dam & Peterson (J exp mar Biol Ecol 123:1-14, 1988) for several co pepod species. Consequently, we conclude that this regression can be e mployed as reference.