Gut clearance rate constant, temperature and initial gut contents: a review

The influence of temperature (T) and initial gut contents on estimates of copepod gut clearance rate constant (GCRC) is reviewed from literature data. Previous results on the relationship between temperature and GCRC are confirmed, and the inclusion of initial gut contents did not increase the significance of the model. Nevertheless, a significant difference was found between the experiments performed with pre-fed animals and animals from the environment. A high percentage of variability remains unexplained, but part of this is likely to be due to experimental error and differences in the methods used.