Particle Capture, Bioenergetics, and Ecological Role of Filter-Feeding Marine Invertebrates

This Special Issue focuses on several related topics: particle capture mechanisms and retention efficiency, bioenergetics and energy budgets, filter pumps and energy costs, grazing impact of mussels, ascidians, sponges, bryozoans, and other benthic filter-feeding invertebrates, predation impact of jellyfish and ctenophores, grazing impact of pelagic tunicates, and interactions between jellyfish and zooplankton.

Dear Colleagues,

Considering the dominant role of phytoplankton in primary production in the sea and oceans, it is understandable that filter feeding is widespread and filter feeders (or suspension feeders) are found in almost all marine and aquatic animal classes. Filter feeding animals are necessary links between suspended food particles (phytoplankton, free-living bacteria, and other members of the microbial loop) and higher trophic levels in marine food webs. In addition to many holo- and meroplanktonic organisms, such as copepods, pelagic tunicates, and invertebrate larvae that graze on phytoplankton and other food particles in the water column, many filter-feeding animals such as bivalves, polychaetes, ascidians, bryozoans, and sponges graze on phytoplankton in the near-bottom water. Particularly in shallow coastal waters and fjords, dense populations of filter feeders may exert a pronounced grazing impact, which may keep the water clear (but not clean) in eutrophicated areas. On the contrary, dense populations of filter-feeding jellyfish and ctenophores in such areas may exert a pronounced predation impact on grazing zooplankton, resulting in phytoplankton blooms and making the water green. In addition, blooms of open-ocean filter-feeding pelagic tunicates, such as pyrosomes and salps, can control the populations of primary and secondary producers.

We invite researchers to submit articles that advance our understanding of filter feeding in marine invertebrates.

Prof. Dr. Hans Ulrik Riisgård
Dr. Florian Lüskow
Guest Editors

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