Comparative analysis of lake plankton structure vs. function

Four modeling approaches were used to describe variations in the plankton o f a large lake. The objective was to determine whether information about ec ological transfer efficiency could be predicted from metrics related to par ticle size, taxonomic composition, and food web structure. No relationships were found between the structural metrics and ratios of zooplankton to alg al carbon uptake (one index of transfer efficiency). Ratios of zooplankton to algal biomass (another often-used index) increased significantly with fo od web complexity, zooplankton size, and percent dominance by Daphnia. Biom ass ratios decreased with increasing algal cell size. The results provide i nsight into how structural properties of plankton may relate to community f unction.