| Summary: | The copepod model (see Dzierzbicka-Głowacka 2005b), reduced to a zero-dimensional population model (Fennel 2001, Stegert et al. 2007), is calibrated for Acartia spp. under the environmental conditions typical of the southern Baltic Sea. Most of the coefficients used in the model are taken from the literature, containing values from various published studies and parameters derived for similar species. The parameters for growth are presented in Part 1; those for population dynamics are given in Part 2. Ingestion rates, which are dependent on developmental stage, food supply, temperature and weight of the animals, are estimated for Acartia bifilosa at 15°C from the Gdańsk Deep after the experimental data of Ciszewski & Witek (1977). In Part 1 the model presents the change in mean individual mass in successive stages. Quantitative formulae are obtained describing the effects of temperature and food concentration on the development time of Acartia spp. for each of the model stage groups. The generation time during the seasons in the upper layer of the Gdańsk Deep is also determined. The simulations computed here are similar to the experimental results. Part 2 (Dzierzbicka-Głowacka et al. 2009 - this issue) will evaluate egg production as a function of the above-mentioned parameters, temperature and food availability.
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