Ecophysiology of Marine Bivalves : Physiological Rate Processes in Dynamic Environments

• Main Author: Gray, Matthew W.
• Other Authors: Langdon, Christopher, Waldbusser, George, Rumrill, Steve, Dumbauld, Brett, Fisheries and Wildlife, Oregon State University. Graduate School
• Format: Doctoral or Postdoctoral Thesis
• Language: English; unknown
• Published: Oregon State University
• Subjects: Pacific oyster > Ecophysiology; Olympia oyster > Ecophysiology; California mussel > Ecophysiology; Crassostrea gigas; Pacific oyster
• Online Access: https://ir.library.oregonstate.edu/concern/graduate_thesis_or_dissertations/4q77fv426

Marine bivalves are globally recognized as ecologically and commercially valuable species and, for over a century, researchers have been studying their feeding, digestion and other related physiological processes. These studies have shown that marine bivalves have complex feeding and particle processing behaviors to maximize growth in dynamic environmental conditions. Additionally, these studies have provided insights into the ecological roles that these animals can play in coastal waters. Suspension-feeding bivalves are commonly regarded as providing key ecosystem services through their feeding activities that improve water quality and clarity. However, marine bivalves are currently under threat from a variety of anthropogenic effects and there is concern about their future health under these new stresses. Here I examined several unexplored aspects of adult and larval bivalve feeding physiology in an attempt to better understand environmental effects on their feeding activity and ecosystem services. In Chapter 2, my co-authors and I examined the ecological feeding physiology of native Olympia oysters Ostrea lurida by determining their feeding and particle processing behavior in response to the effects of temperature, salinity, and total particulate matter. We examined and compared these processes to those of the non-native yet dominant commercial oyster species, the Pacific oyster Crassostrea gigas. From these studies, we describe the first modern detailed feeding behavior of O. lurida. We found that, although markedly different in laboratory studies, in situ feeding rates were similar between these species seasonally. We concluded that bivalve filtration services are likely to be greater with the emergence of C. gigas as the now dominant species in many PNW estuaries and seasonally much greater than the services historically contributed by O. lurida. In Chapters 3, my co-authors and I examined the particle processing behavior of bivalve larvae. This study was novel in that it utilized methods of our own design ...