The study of copepod feeding under natural conditions is often difficult (tidal flows, amount of suspended particulate matter, high copepod diversity). Thus, the influence of parameters such as temperature, light or food concentration, on copepod feeding behaviour are easier to test under laboratory conditions. However, artifacts are introduced during these experiments, due to the size of the incubators, to the nutritional quality of algae, or to the adaptation of copepods to experimental conditions. These main causes of artifacts have been pointed out using four copepod species and different common algal species existing in neritic coastal areas. |
