Fluorometric detection of tracer particles used to study animal‐particle dynamics

Abstract

I describe a fluorometric procedure to measure concentrations of fluorescent resin used as a tracer of particle dynamics. The technique has sufficient spectral resolution to estimate weights of very small volumes of marked sediment (equivalent to 15 µ g mass) and to distinguish concentrations of individual tracer colors from background fluorescence. Concentrations of tracer particles in available and egested sediment were used to estimate sediment weight of small fecal pellets (15–35 µ g) of deposit feeders and compared with volumetric measurements of the same pellets. Experiments with scintillation fluor indicated that the quantitative measurement of sediment weight can be performed in concert with radiolabeling techniques.