Collaborative Research: Separating the Grain from the Chaff: a Functional and Comparative Approach to Elucidate Particle Selection Mechanims in Suspension-Feeding Molluscs

双壳类软体动物(如蛤、牡蛎、扇贝)是底栖群落中最重要的成员之一，无论是对环境的影响还是商业价值都是如此。它们拥有高效而复杂的机制来过滤周围的水，并捕获和分类其中的颗粒。它们的摄食过程强烈地耦合了水柱和底层群落，因此它们可以影响其他生物的总体福祉以及整个环境。由于这些生物在生态系统中扮演着如此关键的角色，因此了解它们是如何处理颗粒物、将食物与非食物颗粒分开以及控制这一过程的因素是很重要的。在这项研究中，来自两所大学的科学家将利用他们之前开发的摄食生理和生物化学技术，首次在细胞和器官水平上解决选择的基础，以解决关于双壳类和其他悬浮喂食者完成粒子选择的机制(S)的长期存在的问题。这项研究的核心是两个基本问题：1)颗粒选择是主动过程，即基于化学中介行为，还是被动过程，即基于颗粒与粘液涂层摄食结构之间的相互作用？2)不同的悬浮摄食软体动物群体，使用相同或不同的颗粒识别机制？这项研究的结果将更好地了解不同种类的双壳类的摄食过程，双壳类对沿海环境的潜在影响，以及环境扰动(例如，污染)可能如何影响颗粒摄食。结果将与生态系统健康和贝类恢复有关。这项研究将政府和大学的科学家联系在一起，并加强了思想和技术的交流。这项工作的更广泛影响将包括培训研究生和本科生，他们将参与研究的各个方面，并将参加科学会议。结果将通过科学文献、会议和面向非专家的文章来传播。研究人员将与K-12教育工作者合作，开发适合年龄的教育资料包，以可理解的、真实世界的术语展示生态和经济上重要的海洋动物群体的基本生物学原理。

Bivalve molluscs (e.g., clams, oysters, scallops) are among the most important members of bottom-dwelling communities, both for their environmental impacts and commercial value. They possess highly efficient and complicated mechanisms for filtering the water around them, and capturing and sorting particles therein. Their feeding processes strongly couple water-column and bottom communities, and thus they can influence the general well-being of other organisms as well as the overall environment. Because these organisms play such a key role in ecosystems, it is important to understand how they process particulate matter, sorting food from non-food particles, and what factors control the process. In this research, scientists from two universities will use their previously developed techniques of feeding physiology and biochemistry to address, for the first time, the bases of selection at the cell and organ level to address long-standing questions regarding the mechanism(s) by which bivalves and other suspension feeders accomplish particle selection. At the core of this research are two fundamental questions: 1) Is particle selection an active process, i.e., based on chemically mediated behavior, or a passive process, i.e., based on interactions between particles and mucus-coated feeding structures?; and 2) Do different groups of suspension-feeding molluscs, employ the same or different mechanisms for particle discrimination? Results from this research will provide a better understanding of feeding processes in different species of bivalves, the potential impact of bivalves on coastal environments, and how environmental perturbations (e.g., pollution) might affect particle feeding. Results will be relevant to ecosystem health and shellfish restoration. The study links government and university scientists, and enhances cross-fertilization of ideas and techniques. Broader impacts of the work will include training of graduate and undergraduate students who will be involved in various aspects of the research and will participate in scientific conferences. Results will be disseminated through scientific literature, conferences, and articles for non-specialists. Working with K-12 educators, the researchers will develop age-appropriate educational packets that will demonstrate fundamental biological principles of an ecologically and economically important group of marine animals in understandable, real-world terms.