Automation of measuring primary production and destruction: possibilities and disadvantages

Abstract

The device for the automated determination of the primary production and destruction of organic matter in a water body by the oxygen method gives wide opportunities for study of functional characteristic changes under variation of environmental factors of small time scale. But severe weather conditions (high wind speed), long exposition without cleaning may effect on quality of measurements due to overgrowing of bottles. Set of short expositions during the day may show larger values of production and destruction than standard diurnal or semidiurnal exposition.