Comparative ecophysiology of active zoobenthic filter feeding, essence of current knowledge

The present contribution gives an overview of current knowledge of a compre hensive and steadily growing research field. The first section deals with w ater pumping and particle retention mechanisms in ciliary and muscular filt er feeders. The second section examines the biological filter pumps in orde r to assess adaptation to the environment. Filter-feeding benthic invertebr ates have evolved filter pumps to solve common basic problems. This has led to a large degree of similarity between otherwise distant standing species , which makes comparative studies interesting and important. The present re view of zoobenthic filter feeding aims at accentuating such recognition. (C ) 2000 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.