The measurement of primary productivity in a high-rate oxidation pond (HROP)

A high-rate oxidation pond is studied as a model system for comparing ¹⁴C and oxygen evolution methods as tools for measuring primary productivity in hypertrophic aquatic systems. Our results indicate that at very dense algal populations (up to 5 mg chl. a l^-1) and high photosynthetic rates, ¹⁴C based results may severely underestimate primary productivity, unless a way is found to keep incubation times very short. Results obtained with our oxygen electrode were almost an order of magnitude higher than those obtained by all ¹⁴C procedures. These higher values correspond fairly well with a field-tested computer-simulation model, as well as with direct harvest data obtained at the same pond when operated under similar conditions. The examination of the size-fractionation of the photosynthetic activity underscored the important contribution of nannoplanktonic algae to the total production of the system.