The ultimate opportunists: consumers of seston

Abstract

MEPS Marine Ecology Progress Series Contact the journal Facebook Twitter RSS Mailing List Subscribe to our mailing list via Mailchimp HomeLatest VolumeAbout the JournalEditorsTheme Sections MEPS 219:305-308 (2001) - doi:10.3354/meps219305 The ultimate opportunists: consumers of seston Rafel Coma1,*, Marta Ribes2, Josep-Maria Gili3, Roger N. Hughes4 1Centre d¹Estudis Avançats de Blanes (CEAB-CSIC), Camí de Sta. Bàrbara s/n, 17300 Blanes, Girona, Spain 2Hawaii Institute of Marine Biology, University of Hawaii, PO Box 1346, Coconut Island, Kaneohe 96744, Hawaii, USA 3Institut de Ciències del Mar, CNIMA-CSIC, Ps. Marítim 37-49, 08003 Barcelona, Spain 4School of Biological Sciences, University of Wales, Bangor, Gwynedd LL57 2UW, Wales, United Kingdom *E-mail: coma@icm.csic.es ABSTRACT: The seston represents a highly dilute food source to potential consumers. Consequently, 3 general properties may be expected of sessile filter feeders: (1) high retention efficiency; (2) possession of a low-energy pump system in active filter feeders; and (3) consumption of seston fractions in proportion to availability (i.e. opportunistic feeding). Whereas the first 2 properties have been well documented, until recently little evidence had been adduced for the third. We assessed whether a pattern across particular studies exists that could provide evidence of opportunistic feeding. Recent studies of the seasonal variation of seston composition and of natural feeding of species representing 3 contrasting feeding modes were reviewed. For the first time, it was possible to demonstrate in the field that sessile filter feeders consume a broad spectrum of seston fractions in proportion to their availability. We conclude that such opportunistic feeding, within phylogenetically determined broad limits, is a general property of sessile filter feeders, appropriate for exploiting the ubiquitous but dilute and dynamic seston. KEY WORDS: Filter feeders · Feeding · Natural diet · Seston · Benthic communities Full text in pdf format PreviousExport citation RSS - Facebook - Tweet - linkedIn Cited by Published in MEPS Vol. 219. Online publication date: September 10, 2001 Print ISSN: 0171-8630; Online ISSN: 1616-1599 Copyright © 2001 Inter-Research.