The physiology of suspension feeding by bivalve molluscs: an introduction to the Plymouth "TROPHEE" workshop

Suspension-feeding behaviour in bivalve molluscs is rich and varied, responsive in a variety of traits to changes in both the quantity and quality of available food. Recent research on a number of species documents this complexity with respect to both pre-ingestive and post-ingestive processing of food particles. An hypothesis of feeding as "automatized" with no capacity for compensation to changes in the food environment, is not supported. In studies to understand the responsiveness of feeding behaviour to the environment, and its consequences for growth, an energy balance approach has proved useful. Similarly, formal statements of energy gains and losses are used to good effect in models of growth which may then be interfaced to ecological measures of carrying capacity. This interface between physiology and ecology was the main focus of a workshop held in September 1996, which provided a forum for discussion between physiologists, ecologists and modellers. This introduction to the workshop sketches some of the recent developments in our understanding of suspension feeding, argues for an approach that recognises the diversity of behaviours that are evident, and suggests some possibilities for future advances based on the application of novel technologies. (C) 1998 Elsevier Science B.V.