Deposit-Feeders, Their Resources, and the Study of Resource Limitation

摘要: Deposit-feeding invertebrates consume particles, digest and assimilate a fraction of the microbial community living on those particlesand often defecate particles as compact fecal pellets. The niche deposit-feeders may therefore be defined as: (1) particle size spectrum ingested(2) depth feeding position below sediment-water interface(3) range sediments over which deposit-feeder occurs, (4) possible differences in utilization microorganisms. Because variation occurrence simply related to at least first 3 parameters by simple morphological features such inhalent siphonal opening buccal apparatus, one can imagine character evolution ecologically significant resource parameters.