Comparative analysis of lake plankton structure vs. function

Four modeling approaches were used to describe variations in the plankton of a large lake. The objective was to determine whether information about ecological transfer efficiency could be predicted from metrics related to particle size, taxonomic composition, and food web structure. No relationships were found between the structural metrics and ratios of zooplankton to algal carbon uptake (one index of transfer efficiency). Ratios of zooplankton to algal biomass (another often-used index) increased significantly with food web complexity, zooplankton size, and percent dominance by Daphnia. Biomass ratios decreased with increasing algal cell size. The results provide insight into how structural properties of plankton may relate to community function.