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Physiological measurements on estuarine bivalve molluscs in the field
Bayne, B.L.; Widdows, J.; Newell, R.I.E. (1977). Physiological measurements on estuarine bivalve molluscs in the field, in: Keegan, B.F. et al. (Ed.) Biology of Benthic Organisms: 11th European Symposium on Marine Biology, Galway, October 1976. pp. 57-68
In: Keegan, B.F.; Ceidigh, P.O.; Boaden, P.J.S. (Ed.) (1977). Biology of Benthic Organisms: 11th European Symposium on Marine Biology, Galway, October 1976. European Marine Biology Symposia, 11. Pergamon Press: Oxford. ISBN 0-08-021378-2. XXXIII, 630 pp., more
In: European Marine Biology Symposia., more

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Document type: Conference paper

Keywords
    Biology > Physiology > Animal physiology
    Fauna > Aquatic organisms > Aquatic animals > Shellfish
    Food consumption
    Oxygen consumption
    Cerastoderma edule (Linnaeus, 1758) [WoRMS]; Mytilus edulis Linnaeus, 1758 [WoRMS]
    Marine/Coastal

Authors  Top 
  • Bayne, B.L.
  • Widdows, J., more
  • Newell, R.I.E.

Abstract
    Techniques for measuring the rates of feeding and of oxygen consumption by bivalve molluscs have been tested and applied under various conditions in the field, including working from a research vessel and from a small mobile laboratory on the shore. The animals are held in flowing water pumped from their natural environment, and conditions of temperature, salinity and ration are kept at ambient values. Rates of feeding are determined either by particle counts (by Coulter Counter) on water samples taken before and after the water has passed over the animal, or by passing the water through a fluorimeter for the continuous estimation of living particulate plant material. Rates of oxygen consumption are determined by recording the decline in oxygen tension in respirometer vessels which are isolated for brief periods of time from the flowing seawater. These techniques are described in more detail, and their uses in the field illustrated with data on two aspects of the environmental physiology of bivalves. 1) Rates of oxygen consumption by the mussel, Mytilus edulis over two annual cycles, to illustrate seasonal changes in metabolic rate under ambient conditions. 2) Feeding rates by Mytilus and by the cockle, Cardium edule, at various concentrations of suspended particulate matter, including a discussion of particle-size selection.

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