The estimation of DEB parameters for various Northeast Atlantic bivalve species Henk W. van der Veer ⁎ , Joana F.M.F. Cardoso, Jaap van der Meer Royal Netherlands Institute for Sea Research (NIOZ), P.O. Box 59, 1790 AB Den Burg Texel, The Netherlands Received 8 November 2005; accepted 14 March 2006 Available online 6 April 2006 Abstract Dynamic energy budgets are used for the description of the energy flow through individual organisms from the assimilation of food to the utilisation for maintenance, growth, development and reproduction. In this paper, a procedure for estimation of the parameters of Kooijman's Dynamic Energy Budget (DEB) model is introduced and subsequently parameters are estimated for the following Northeast Atlantic bivalve species: the Baltic clam Macoma balthica (L.), the sandgaper Mya arenaria L., the cockle Cerastoderma edule (L.), the blue mussel Mytilus edulis L. and the Pacifc oyster Crassostrea gigas (Thunberg, 1793). For none of the species, a complete set of parameters could be compiled. A special protocol was developed to account for missing values and to achieve consistency between parameters. Species were similar in their optimal temperature range, as reflected in a common Arrhenius temperature of 5800 K, which corresponds with a Q 10 of 2. Differences between species were observed in width of the optimal temperature range. The taxonomic relatedness between species was reflected in similar volume-specific maintenance costs, costs for growth and almost similar maximum storage density of energy. Species differed in their maximum surface area-specific assimilation rate by a factor of 6 and in the fraction of energy allocated to reproduction (ranging from 0.15 to 0.50). These differences are reflected in the maximum theoretical total shell length of the species, which varied from about 3 cm in M. balthica, 6 cm in C. edule, 15 cm in M. arenaria and M. edulis and 45 cm in C. gigas. © 2006 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved. Keywords: Dynamic energy budget; Parameter estimation; Cerastoderma edule; Crassostrea gigas; Macoma balthica; Mya arenaria; Mytilus edulis 1. Introduction Dynamic energy budgets (DEB) are used for the description of the energy flow through individual organisms from the assimilation of food to the utilisation for maintenance, growth, development and reproduc- tion. In the late 1980's Kooijman (1986a) published the so-called κ rule DEB theory and over the years this model has been successfully applied in describing the energy allocation to growth and reproduction in a variety of species (for an overview, see Kooijman, 2000). Powerful aspect of Kooijman's DEB theory is that differences between species can be captured in the same model using a different set of parameter values only (for a recent overview, see Kooijman, 2001). However, estimation of these parameters is complicated and can often not be done in a direct way (Van der Meer, 2006-this issue). An efficient approach to estimate the various DEB parameters would be an experiment in which growth, reproduction and respiration are determined simulta- neously, preferably under varying feeding conditions and food intake (Kooijman, 1993, 2000). Especially Journal of Sea Research 56 (2006) 107 – 124 www.elsevier.com/locate/seares ⁎ Corresponding author. E-mail address: veer@nioz.nl (H.W. van der Veer). 1385-1101/$ - see front matter © 2006 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved. doi:10.1016/j.seares.2006.03.005