Interactions between Seagrass Complexity, Hydrodynamic Flow and Biomixing Alter Food Availability for Associated Filter-Feeding Organisms
Figure 8
Conceptual model showing the effects of filter feeders and shoot density on resource availability and concentration.
Higher shoot densities reduce resource availability (e.g. lower volumetric flow rate) but may increase resource concentration (e.g. deposition or settling). Higher density of filter feeders will reduce resource concentration (e.g. active filtration by organisms) but also may increase biomixing. Thus, the balance between availability and concentration of resources may promote changes at the community levels (e.g. migration of species depending on resources availability).