Benthic suspension feeders: their paramount role in littoral marine food webs.

In recent years, particular attention has been paid to coupling and energy transfer between benthos and plankton. Because of their abundance, certain benthic suspension feeders have been shown to have a major impact in marine ecosystems. They capture large quantities of particles and might directly regulate primary production and indirectly regulate secondary production in littoral food chains. Suspension feeders develop dense, three-dimensional communities whose structural complexity depends on flow speed. It has been postulated that these communities can self-organize to enhance food capture and thus establish boundary systems capable of successfully exploiting a less structured system, namely, the plankton.