Periphyton Net Primary Productivity and Respiration Rates from the Taylor Slough, just outside Everglades National Park, South Florida (FCE) from December 1998 to August 2002

Once per year, at TS/Ph-4 and TS/Ph-5 we incubate periphyton from each site in water from each site in a complete factorial design. We quantify metabolic rates of periphyton assemblages using standard oxygen change techniques in 300mL light and dark BOD bottles in triplicate. Using YSI dissolved oxygen probes and meters, we measure dissolved oxygen change as the difference of initial and final oxygen concentrations over a two hour incubation. We calculate net primary productivity and respiration rates in units of oxygen and carbon, then normalize to the organic content (ash free dry weight) of the incubated periphyton.