Estimates of copepod secondary production, derived from field estimates of egg production by incubated females and sampled population biomasses, are presented for a range of common North Sea species. Results obtained from a number of cruises, at a variety of times of year and mainly in the northern North Sea, are considered in relation to measured environmental conditions. The large variations in egg production rates found in these field studies frequently do not correlate with temperatures or with chlorophyll as a measure of available food. It is evident that the relations between primary and secondary production are not simple, but rather are complicated by factors such as copepod omnivory and selective feeding.
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S Hay (1995) studied this question.