Production and energy budget in marine suspension feeding populations: Mytilus edulis, Cerastoderma edule, Mya arenaria and Amphiura filiformis

The pelagic primary production and the secondary production of four species of benthic suspension feeders were frequently measured over a period of approximately one year in four different habitats. Simplified energy budgets over one-year periods are presented including ingestion, absorption, faeces production, respiration and secondary production. The production of a Mytilus edulis culture exceeded primary production by about 6.25 times, whereas semi-exposed shallow-water populations of Cerastoderma edule and Mya arenaria had a production roughly equal to primary production. In an exposed area, the latter species had a secondary production: primary production ratio of 0.15:1, whereas for a deeper-living (40 m) Amphiura filiformis population this relation was 0.0034:1. M. edulis followed by C. edule and M. arenaria in the semi-exposed habitat had the comparatively lowest Respiration: Absorption ratios and the highest Production: Absorption ratios. This study emphasizes the ecological importance of horizontal advective processes for energy transfer from the pelagic to the benthic system.