| one publication added to basket [6160] | Effects of suspended food availability on the feeding mode and burial depth of the Baltic clam, Macoma balthica
In: Oikos (København). Munksgaard: Copenhagen. ISSN 0030-1299; e-ISSN 1600-0706, more
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| Abstract |
Previous studies showed that siphon cropping by epibenthic predators reduces the size of inhalant siphon of the Baltic clam Macoma balthica (L.), causing the clams to reside at shallower burial depths in the sediment and making them more vulnerable to lethal predation. This indirect interaction is further complicated because M. balthica facultatively switches between suspension- and deposit-feeding in response to the availability of suspended food particles. Laboratory experiments showed that the proportion of clams deposit feeding with exposed siphons increased with decreasing food concentrations in the water column and this resulted in shallower burial depths in the sediment. The clams showed similar responses in feeding mode and burial depth to the concentrations of suspended food indirectly manipulated by the presence and/or density of either interspecific (suspension-feeding soft-shelled clam Mya arenaria L.) or intraspecific competitors. |
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