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J R Soc Interface
2022 Jan 01;19186:20210741. doi: 10.1098/rsif.2021.0741.
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Suspension feeders: diversity, principles of particle separation and biomimetic potential.
Hamann L
,
Blanke A
.
Abstract
Suspension feeders (SFs) evolved a high diversity of mechanisms, sometimes with remarkably convergent morphologies, to retain plankton, detritus and man-made particles with particle sizes ranging from less than 1 µm to several centimetres. Based on an extensive literature review, also including the physical and technical principles of solid-liquid separation, we developed a set of 18 ecological and technical parameters to review 35 taxa of suspension-feeding Metazoa covering the diversity of morphological and functional principles. This includes passive SFs, such as gorgonians or crinoids that use the ambient flow to encounter particles, and sponges, bivalves or baleen whales, which actively create a feeding current. Separation media can be flat or funnel-shaped, built externally such as the filter houses in larvaceans, or internally, like the pleated gills in bivalves. Most SFs feed in the intermediate flow region of Reynolds number 1-50 and have cleaning mechanisms that allow for continuous feeding. Comparison of structure-function patterns in SFs to current filtration technologies highlights potential solutions to common technical design challenges, such as mucus nets which increase particle adhesion in ascidians, vanes which reduce pressure losses in whale sharks and changing mesh sizes in the flamingo beak which allow quick adaptation to particle sizes.
Figure 1. . Overview of the selected SFs within the Metazoa with a focus on functional aspects. Each selected organism or organism group represents one SFM. Coloured squares indicate characteristics of biological parameters for each group: habitat (marine, freshwater, terrestrial), aquatic life (pelagic, benthic), foraging type (active, passive) and motility (motile, sessile). Numbering of each SF is consistent with table 1. A short description of each SFMs is in electronic supplementary material, table S2. For individual references, see electronic supplementary material, table S4.
Figure 2. . Size of the SFs (except Dendropoma maximum) and particle size of seston. Each box indicates the range of organism size and food particle size. For individual references, see electronic supplementary material, table S4. The colours are only used for visual reasons. Examples of seston particles are listed under the x-axis and compared to typical particle sizes found in waste water treatment and microplastics. For individual references of particle sizes, see electronic supplementary material, table S7.
Figure 3. . Steps of a generalized suspension-feeding mechanism, from the first particle encounter to ingestion (inspired by Waggett [84]). Particles (brown) encounter the separation medium (yellow) in direction of flow (blue arrows). According to hydrosol filtration theory, particles encounter the separation medium based on at least one of five mechanisms: (i) direct interception, (ii) inertial impaction, (iii) gravitational deposition, (iv) diffusion or motile-particle deposition and (v) electrostatic attraction [72,85]. After contact, particles can be captured through sieving or adhesion, e.g. through mucus (green). Particles can escape from the separation medium at each step or be actively rejected by some SFs during cleaning and before ingestion. Ingestion is the point of entry of particles into the oesophagus.
Figure 4. . (a) Geometry of the separation medium (yellow) can be (i) flat and open, (ii) flat and enclosed, (iii) funnel-shaped and open or (iv) funnel-shaped and enclosed. Walls (grey) show if the separation medium is open or enclosed. Direction of flow is indicated by blue arrows. (b) Design of separation media to create surfaces, meshes and pores: (i) flat, (ii) first level of branching, (iii) second level of branching, (iv) third level of branching, (v) net structure and (vi) higher branching and porous media.
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