ABSTRACT
Dreissenid mussels link offshore planktonic and nearshore benthic communities by ltering suspended particles from the water column and depositing the material as mucus-bound feces and undigested pseudofeces (Karatayev et al. 1997, Gergs et al. 2009). This link has been referred to as the pelagic-to-benthic shunt because it reduces available planktonic resources and increases the organic content of sediments surrounding dreissenid mussel beds (Karatayev et al. 1997, Stewart et al. 1998a, Hecky et al. 2004). Mussel
feces and pseudofeces contain both live and dead phytoplankton, organic detritus, and inorganic particles (Roditi et al. 1997), which can be a source of nourishment to detritivores (Izvekova and Lvova-Katchanova 1972, Stewart et al. 1998a). Growth in gammarid amphipods and chironomid larvae, for example, readily occurs when dreissenid biodeposits are the food source (Izvekova and Lvova-Katchanova 1972, González and Burkart 2004), and both these taxa increase prolically with dreissenid colonization (Ricciardi et al. 1997, Ward and Ricciardi 2007).
