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Food selection and consumption by estuarine nematodes

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Summary

The feeding strategies and feeding techniques of 12 nematode species, isolated from the Ems-Dollard estuary, were investigated in agar cultures. In the consumption of bacteria, algae, diatoms, protozoa and small metazoa, two main strategies are distinghuished: the non-selective strategy, characteristic of species living on the surface of macrophytes, and the selective strategy, characteristic of sediment-inhabiting species. The selective strategists showed various ingestion techniques, depending on the size and armature of the buccal cavity; food items could be ingested whole, or pierced or cracked and the contents sucked out.

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Author notes

  1. K. Romeyn & L. A. Bouwman

    Present address: Laboratory for Microbiology, State University Groningen, Kerklaan 30, 9750 AA, Haren, The Netherlands

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    1. K. Romeyn
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    2. L. A. Bouwman
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    Additional information

    Publication No. A 73 of the project ‘Biological Research in the Ems-Dollard estuary’.

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    Romeyn, K., Bouwman, L.A. Food selection and consumption by estuarine nematodes. Hydrobiological Bulletin 17, 103–109 (1983). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02280819

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    • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02280819

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