Influence of food size and food quantity on the feeding of the mussel Dreissena polymorpha

Abstract

In common with many other suspension feeders, the freshwater mussel Dreissena polymorpha has a maximum filtration rate at low food concentrations and a maximum ingestion rate at high food concentrations. These high rates, which reflect the potential maximum food uptake of the animal, are called the filtration capacity and the ingestion capacity respectively. The ingestion capacity was attained without forming pseudofaeces with Chlamydomonas reinhardii as food. The incipient limiting level could be calculated as the quotient of these two values. A decrease of the filtration rate at high food concentrations was correlated with changes in pumping activity, which showed more frequent interruptions, or a lower level of water transport. Dreissena can filter out particles of diameter greater than 0.7 μm from the water. Retention reaches a plateau at about 5 μm particle diameter. Scanning electron micrographs of the arrangement of the cilia on the gill filaments are given.

Filtration Rates of the Zebra Mussel ( Dreissena polymorpha ) on Natural Seston from Saginaw Bay, Lake Huron

“…1995. A relationship between filtration rate and food concentration has often been demonstrated for Dreissena and many other filter-feeding bivalves, with filtration rates declining exponentially as a function of increasing food concentration when concentrations are above an incipient limiting concentration (Winter 1973, Foster Smith 1975, Walz 1978, Sprung and Rose 1988, Dorgelo and Smeenk 1988, Reeders and bij de Vaate 1990. When food concentrations are below this incipient level, filtration rates were reportedly independent of food concentrations.…”

“…For Dreissena, incipient levels derived under controlled conditions have varied widely. In laboratory experiments using unialgal cultures as a food source, Walz (1978) found that the incipient limiting concentration for Dreissena feeding on Nitzschia was 2.0 mg/L poe, while Sprung and Rose (1988) reported a limiting concentration of 16,000 cells/mL of Chlamydomonas, or about 2.7 mg/L poe (assuming 0.17 x 10-3 f.,lg poe per cell), and Dorgelo and Smeenk (1988) reported a limiting concentration at about 81,000 cells/mL of Chlamydomonas, or about 14 mg/L POc. Of the three measures of seston concentrations in our experiments, filtration rates were best described as a functional response to concentrations of poe (Table 3).…”

“…However, reported rates have varied considerably. Factors that can affect rates are food quantity and quality (Morton 1971, Sprung and Rose 1988, Dorgelo and Smeenk 1988, Walz 1978, Reeders and bij de Vaate 1990, temperature (Reeders and bij de Vaate 1990), and potential artifacts associated with the specific experimental design (Reeders et al. 1989).…”

Geographic spread of exotic species: Ecological lessons and opportunities from the invasion of the zebra mussel Dreissena polymorpha

“…The remainder is bound in mucus as pseudofeces which are expelled and deposited on the benthos. The great filtering capacity (Sprung & Rose, 1988), of large populations of zebra mussels thus gives the potential to affect planktonic communities (Padilla et aL, 1996a). Initial studies have documented marked increases in water clarity and decreases in phytoplankton (e.g.…”

Effects of temperature on the mussel pump

“…Much of this variation has been interpreted in terms of physiological regulation. Thus, when laboratory experiments have shown decreasing rates of water pumping with increasing concentrations of algae suspended in the water, this has been interpreted as regulation of filtration rates to maintain constant feeding rates (Winter 1973, Epifania & Ewart 1977, Palmer 1980, Gerdes 1983, Winter et al 1984, Sprung & Rose 1988. In addition, when laboratory experiments have shown low filtration rates at low temperatures, this has been interpreted as an energy-saving adjustment, serving to reduce high costs of filter feeding during winter when concentrations of food particles are low (Newel1 & Bayne 1980).…”