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An in situ method for measuring the primary productivity and standing crop of the epilithic periphyton community in lentic systems 1
Author(s) -
Loeb Stanford L.
Publication year - 1981
Publication title -
limnology and oceanography
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.7
H-Index - 197
eISSN - 1939-5590
pISSN - 0024-3590
DOI - 10.4319/lo.1981.26.2.0394
Subject(s) - periphyton , standing crop , productivity , substrate (aquarium) , environmental science , ecology , lake ecosystem , primary productivity , ecosystem , algae , biology , biomass (ecology) , economics , macroeconomics
An incubation chamber and a quantitative sampler were developed to measure the primary productivity and standing crop of the epilithic periphyton community in Lake Tahoe. The method allows in situ measurements with minimal disturbance to the natural community. In an experiment comparing the substrate colonization method with the natural epilithic periphyton community, artificial substrate methods underestimated productivity by as much as 95%. The species composition of the periphyton on the colonized substrates was quite different from that of the natural sublittoral epilithic community.