Predatory suspension feeders: An unusual feeding mode switch in Olivella columellaris (Caenogastropoda: Olividae) and its possible ecological effects

Abstract

In analyses of trophic networks, the complexities of animal communities often have to be reduced by grouping species that share similar features. Which group-defining features are most meaningful in a given context is a notoriously problematic ques- tion ( Simberloff& Dayan, 1991 ; Wilson, 1999 ; Blondel, 2003 ; Blaum et al. , 2011 ), even in seemingly simple cases such as the categorization of marine benthos according to feeding modes ( Cadée, 1984 ).