Carbon isotope signatures reveal that diet is related to the relative sizes of the gills and palps in bivalves

In marine bivalves, the relative sizes of the gills and palps appear to be a useful functional trait that reflect feeding mode, i.e. suspension feeders have relatively larger gills than palps for pumping, whereas deposit feeders have relatively larger palps than gills for sorting. Also, within a spe...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Journal of Experimental Marine Biology and Ecology
Main Authors: Compton, Tanya J., Kentie, Rosemarie, Storey, Andrew W., Veltheim, Inka, Pearson, Grant B., Piersma, Theunis
Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
Language:English
Published: 2008
Subjects:
delta N-15
delta C-13
bivalve
gill
morphospace
palp
stable isotopes
trait
SUSPENSION-FEEDING BIVALVES
OYSTER CRASSOSTREA-GIGAS
MULTIPLE STABLE ISOTOPES
OLERON BAY FRANCE
MACOMA-BALTHICA L
MYTILUS-EDULIS-L
FOOD SOURCES
ORGANIC-MATTER
CREPIDULA-FORNICATA
PARTICLE SELECTION
Roebuck
Crassostrea gigas
Online Access:https://hdl.handle.net/11370/36645590-ebe6-48ef-aad5-34a557168f26
https://research.rug.nl/en/publications/36645590-ebe6-48ef-aad5-34a557168f26
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jembe.2008.03.011
https://pure.rug.nl/ws/files/10341566/2008JExpMarBiolEcolCompton.pdf
Description
Summary:In marine bivalves, the relative sizes of the gills and palps appear to be a useful functional trait that reflect feeding mode, i.e. suspension feeders have relatively larger gills than palps for pumping, whereas deposit feeders have relatively larger palps than gills for sorting. Also, within a species, the relative sizes of the gills and palps are related to changes in local food conditions. However, there is still no firm evidence showing that differences in the relative gill and palp sizes between species are related to diet selection. Based on the knowledge that carbon and nitrogen isotope signatures of an animals tissues reflect past diet, we compared the relative gill and palp sizes of bivalves from Roebuck Bay, northwestern Australia with their carbon and nitrogen isotope signatures. The carbon isotope signatures distinguished clear differences in diet between bivalves along a gradient from suspension to deposit feeding, and strikingly this pattern was closely followed by the relative sizes of the gills and palps of the bivalves. This study confirms that relative gill and palp sizes in bivalves are a functional trait that can be used to compare resource use between species. Furthermore, these data may suggest that morphospace occupation, as determined by relative gill and palp sizes of bivalves, could reflect a gradient of resource use between species. (c) 2008 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

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