Benthic Feeders in a Refugium • full of surprises

Benthic suspension feeders

Because of their abundance, certain benthic suspension feeders have been shown to have a major impact in marine ecosystems. They capture large quantities of particles and might directly regulate primary production and indirectly regulate secondary production in littoral food chains.

Assemblages of benthic marine invertebrates are usually dominated by a diverse set of creatures that can be termed suspension feeders , despite quite a wide variety of morphologies, prey types,...

Benthic suspension feeders

Because of their abundance, certain benthic suspension feeders have been shown to have a major impact in marine ecosystems. They capture large quantities of particles and might directly regulate primary production and indirectly regulate secondary production in littoral food chains.

Beyond their role in the food web, benthic suspension feeders contribute to biogeochemical cycles, notably carbon sequestration in long-lived skeletal or tissue structures. They enhance habitat...

Energetics, Particle Capture, and Growth Dynamics of Benthic ...

Marine benthic communities are dominated by suspension feeders , including those actively pumping water, passively encountering particles, or some combination of the two.

Its purpose is to review what is known about the biology of suspension feeders in relation to their flow environment. The book includes the larval biology, physiology, ethology and ecology of suspension feeders interacting with water flow.

Suspension feeders

Suspension feeders (SFs) evolved a high diversity of mechanisms, sometimes with remarkably convergent morphologies, to retain plankton, detritus and man-made particles with particle sizes ranging from less than 1 µm to several centimetres.

Using the aquatic eddy covariance technique, we observed the lowest and highest benthic gross primary productivity, respectively, at sites closest to and furthest from the Wairoa River mouth.

Benthic zone

The benthic region of the ocean begins at the shore line (intertidal or littoral zone) and extends downward along the surface of the continental shelf out to sea. Thus, the region incorporates a great variety of physical conditions differing in depth, light penetration and pressure. [5] The benthic zone includes all areas of bottom that are below the water. The continental shelf is a benthic ...

To better understand how macrofauna affects mass and energy fluxes within the seabed and between the bed and the pelagic, it is fundamental to characterise their structural and dynamic response to the quantity, quality and timing of food supply.