Related Experiment Video
Updated: Jun 3, 2026

Design and Use of an Apparatus for Quantifying Bivalve Suspension Feeding at Sea
Published on: September 5, 2018
Seasonal nitrogen and phosphorus dynamics during benthic clam and suspended mussel cultivation
Daniele Nizzoli1, David Thomas Welsh, Pierluigi Viaroli
1Department of Environmental Sciences, Parma University, Parco Area delle Scienze 33/A, 43100 Parma, Italy. daniele.nizzoli@nemo.unipr.it
Abstract:
Effects of suspended mussel and infaunal clam cultivation on sediment characteristics, and benthic organic and inorganic nitrogen and phosphorus fluxes were compared in a shallow coastal lagoon. The two species had different impacts on sediment features, but both created "hotspots" of nutrient fluxes with annual N and P regeneration rates being 4.9 and 13.5 (mussel) and 4.5 and 14.9 (clams) fold greater than those of unfarmed control sediments. Mussel farming also caused considerable nutrient regeneration within the water column with the mussel ropes contributing ∼25% of total inorganic N and P production and at times dominating the sediments (e.g. 95% of SRP production in summer and 45% of DIN production in winter). Such nutrient regeneration rates seriously question the proposal that suspension-feeding bivalves act as a eutrophication buffer, especially during summer when nutrient regeneration rates are maximal, but other nutrient sources (freshwater run-off and unfarmed sediments) are at their lowest.
More Related Videos
07:53Bioindication Testing of Stream Environment Suitability for Young Freshwater Pearl Mussels Using In Situ Exposure Methods
Published on: September 5, 2018
07:59A Strain Gauge Monitor (SGM) for Continuous Valve Gape Measurements in Bivalve Molluscs in Response to Laboratory Induced Diel-cycling Hypoxia and pH
Published on: August 1, 2018
Related Concept Videos
Freshwater Microbial Ecology
Marine Microbial Ecology
Microbial Wastewater Treatment
Primary Production