Bivalve Filter Feeders in Estuarine and Coastal Ecosystem Processes [Paperback]

Bivalve filter-feeding mollusks are important components of coastal ecosystems because they remove large quantities of suspended material from the water and excrete abundant amounts of reactive nutrients. These animals are also major prey for numerous predators including birds, fish, mammals, and invertebrates; furthermore, they are significant food resources for humans. While studies on the organismic and population level have dominated bivalve ecology, the recent focus on the ecosystem roles of filter feeding systems has led to larger-scale investigations. With this approach the specific topics of physiology, grazing, predation, nutrient cycling, physical environment, computer simulation modeling, and environmental management are combined into a meaningful whole.Proceedings of the NATO Advanced Research Workshop on The Role of Bivalve Filter Feeders in Marine Ecosystem Processes, held at Renesse, The Netherlands, November 30 to December 4, 1992Bivalve filter-feeding mollusks are important components of coastal ecosystems because they remove large quantities of suspended material from the water and excrete abundant amounts of reactive nutrients. These animals are also major prey for numerous predators including birds, fish, mammals, and invertebrates; furthermore, they are significant food resources for humans. While studies on the organismic and population level have dominated bivalve ecology, the recent focus on the ecosystem roles of filter feeding systems has led to larger-scale investigations. With this approach the specific topics of physiology, grazing, predation, nutrient cycling, physical environment, computer simulation modeling, and environmental management are combined into a meaningful whole.Feeding Physiology of Bivalves: Time Dependence and Compensation for Changes in Food Availability.- Infaunal Filter-Feeding Bivalves and the Physiological Response to Short-Term Fluctuations in Food Availability and Composition.- Phytoplankton-Mussel Bed Interactioló[