Biomass accumulation of epiphytic algae on eelgrass leaves with leaf age was measured during three periods in Roskilde Fjord, Denmark. Epiphyte biomass increased exponentially with leaf age during the first 10–14 d of colonization. On older leaves epiphyton gradually approached a phase with only small changes in biomass. Algal doubling times, calculated from biomass accrual, were between 3.6 and 4.6 d on young leaf segments and increased to more than 14 d on old leaves. When corrected for biomass losses due to invertebrate grazing, algal doubling time was only 5.8 d on old leaves in August 1983. In this period grazing accounted for the bulk of epiphyte biomass losses and was a more important factor than eelgrass leaf renewal in reducing epiphytic load. As a conservative estimate, the epiphyte community contributed 4–5 times more to total aboveground production in the eelgrass bed than was indicated by its biomass contribution.
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Jens Borum (1987) studied this question.