Switching Between Suspension and Deposit Feeding: Importancefor Energetics of Benthic Infauna and Particle Dynamics in the Benthic Boundary Layer

许多生活在软沉积物中的海洋动物会根据接近底部的水流速度改变它们的行为。在低流量时，以沉积的颗粒物为食是很常见的，而在高流量时，动物往往转向以悬浮物为食。这种“转换”被认为是有益于使用更好的食物或最大限度地减少由于食物资源有限而产生的相互竞争。然而，几乎没有直接证据表明，动物通过改变它们的觅食行为获得了净收益。实验室将对三种具有不同转换能力的海底物种进行实验。海水水槽将被用来创造不同的流动速度和悬浮和沉积颗粒物的可用性的环境。将测量单个动物的摄食率和生长率，以检验关于在这些不同条件下获得的好处的假设。选定的实验将在流动状况和悬浮颗粒物供应不同的现场重复进行。

Many marine animals living in soft sediments alter their behavior depending on near-bottom flow speeds. At low flow, feeding on deposited particulate matter is common, while at higher flow animals often switch to feeding on suspended matter. This "switching" is thought to be beneficial in terms of using better food items or minimizing competitive interactions due to limited food resources. However, little direct evidence exists that animals obtain a net benefit by switching their feeding behavior. Laboratory experiments will be conducted on three bottom-dwelling species with different capacities for switching. A seawater flume will be used to create environments differing in flow speeds and availability of suspended and deposited particulate matter. Feeding and growth rates of individual animals will be measured to test hypotheses about the benefits obtained under these differing conditions. Selected experiments will be replicated at sites in the field where flow regime and supply of suspended particulate matter vary.