Soniat TMPowell EN2010-02-152010-02-151994 199http://hdl.handle.net/1969.3/23021-Environmental variables, seston composition and oyster population parameters were sampled from April 1992 to March 1993 at three sites in the Terrebonne Basin of Louisiana. Environmental measure included water temperature, salinity and transparency. The seston was characterized by dry weight (SDW), particulate organic matter (POM), particulate inorganic matter (PIM), and chlorophyll a concentration (CHL). Oyster population parameters were size-frequency distribution, condition index (CI), gonadal index (GI), and weighted incidence (WI) and percent infection (PI) of Perkinsus marinus. Environmental parameters and seston were measured weekly, whereas oysters were sampled monthly. Water temperature, salinity, SDW and food supply measures were input into an existing model (developed by ENP). The food measures were POM, CHL, and a value (LCP), which relates CHL to the energy content of the seston measured as the sum of the caloric content of particulate lipid, carbohydrate and protein (regression from data of TMS from Galveston Bay). Model simulations suggest that POM greatly overestimates food supply (oysters accrue biomass at unrealistic rates and grow to unobserved sizes), whereas CHL underestimates food supply (oysters do not accrue biomass fast enough nor grow to sizes observed in the field). With LCP as the food-supply input, the model closely tracked oyster production, size-frequency distribution, WI and GI. Best results were obtained using weekly food supply data as opposed to monthly meansASW,USA,Louisiana,Terrebonne BasinbiomassChlorophylldiseasesDistributionDODry weightEnvironmental effectsfood availabilityGalveston BaygrowthmodellingO 5060 Aquacultureorganic matterOyster cultureOystersParticulate organic matterPerkinsus marinusPredictionQ1 01583 Shellfish cultureQ3 01583 Shellfish cultureSalinitySestonseston compositionShellfishsimulationTemperatureUSAUSA,Louisianawaterwater temperatureCONF