Development of a global model of growth and fecundity in marine planktonic copepods: accounting for food availability

Over the past 30 years much effort has been expended on measuring the
fecundity, growth and production of copepods. This has led to
attempts to predict these rates and to understand which factors are of
primary control in determining their variability. The over-riding
limitation of recent global models (eg. Hirst & Lampitt 1998; Huntley
& Lopez, 1992) is that these lack food quality and quantity
components. Prey resource probably explains much of the variation
that remains unaccounted for. Drawing on the wealth of published
material we will use allometric through to species-sensitive
approaches to examine the role of food in controlling growth and
fecundity. Through the synthesis we will also improve our ability to
predict these rates.