Assessment of a field incubation method estimating primary productivity in rockpool communities

An open incubation method has been used in many studies to directly estimate primary productivity and ecosystem functioning by measuring photosynthetic and respiratory rates in intertidal rockpool communities. The method measures changes in dissolved oxygen concentrations recorded in situ during an artificial dark period (respiration) and a natural light period (net primary productivity). Although this method has yielded interesting results, its advantages and limitations have yet to be thoroughly tested. The accuracy of the method was investigated in a controlled laboratory environment and compared with field incubations. Atmospheric oxygen diffusion across the air water interface did not affect incubation measurements under low wind speed (