12 pages, 5 figures, 1 table The dark respiration of a natural plankton community from an eutrophic lake was studied in a laboratory scale enclosure (LSE), exposed to illumination which simulated natural light conditions in the water column. The dark respiration was measured continuously for 2 hours in samples obtained from the LSE each hour for 26 hours. The relationships between dark respiration rates, carbohydrate concentrations and other parameters were investigated. The dark respiration rate showed an exponential decrease with time in the dark in all light period incubations with a time coefficient of 0.3 h-1. The decrease in respiration rate in the dark period was much slower, reaching an approximately constant level at the end of the night. The overall dark period decline in respiration rate also exhibited an exponential pattern, but with a much lower time coefficient (0.04 h -1) than for the light period incubations. A linear relationship was found between dark respiration rate and carbohydrate concentration at night time but no relationship was apparent during the day. A comparison between these data and data from the literature show that this pattern of dark respiration rate decrease with time in the dark may have some general applications for dense phytoplankton communities. © 1992 Kluwer Academic Publishers