Feeding Studies on Selected Zooplankton in a Temperate Estuary, South Africa

Total chlorophyll- a (chla), primary production and grazing impact of selected zooplankton were estimated at six stations in the Kariega Estuary in summer 1999. Total surface chla and production ranged from 1·13 to 2·12mg chla m−3and from 18·1 to 37·7mg C m−3d−1, respectively. At all stations both chla and production were dominated by small picophytoplankton (200μm) were dominated by the copepods Acartia longipatella and Pseudodiaptomus hessei which comprised >75% of total biomass. Also well represented in the zooplankton assemblages were representatives of the genus Halicyclops and the mysid, Mesopodopsis wooldridgei which generally comprised