Although grazing estimates derived from laboratory feeding experiments must be interpreted with caution, our results suggest low exploitation of phytoplankton production by zooplankton in this system. Zooplankton densities were higher at the CHLa maximum, but community ingestion rates were low at all sites corresponding to less than 5% day−1 of the standing stock of CHLa. By comparison, a compilation of literature values yielded an average grazing rate of 31% CHLa day−1 among diverse estuaries (Murrell et al. 2002). As grazing estimates are the product of laboratory-derived per capita ingestion rates and in situ zooplankton densities, either factor could account for low values. Our estimates of zooplankton abundances were comparable to those previously reported for this system though methodological differences in sample collection complicate direct comparisons. The Chesapeake Bay Program
(CBP) monitored macrozooplankton abundance at JMS75 during 2000–2002. Their results show good agreement with our values for large-bodied animals such as Cladocerans (CBP=14.2 ind L−1; this study=11.1 ind L−1) and calanoids (CBP=1.13 ind L−1; this study=1.68 ind L−1). Differences in mesh size between these two studies (CBP=200 μm; this study=63 μm) preclude comparisons for small-bodied animals but an earlier study reported rotifer densities for this site during 1994–1995 (Park and Marshall 2000). Their
average rotifer densities (675±157 ind L−1) were greater than ours (333±67 ind L−1); however, their collection method was based on settling of whole water samples and would therefore include rotifers too small to be captured by our 63 μm net. Overall, densities reported in prior studies suggest that low grazing rates during the study period were not a result of unusually low densities.