FOOD AVAILABILITY AS A POTENTIAL SOURCE OF BIAS IN THE EGG-PRODUCTIONMETHOD FOR COPEPODS

The measurement of copepod adult female fecundity as an estimate of ad ult growth (production) rates has been an approach widely used in both laboratory and field studies. Here we demonstrate that the basic assu mption of this approach, i.e. that estimated egg production during the incubation reflects the 'in situ' conditions, is not always legitimat e and that it is temperature dependent. The enhancement of metabolic r ates induced by high temperatures induces a more accented bias of the method. We also provide guidelines on how to conduct the incubations i n order to obtain more reliable estimates.