Feeding strategies
From Foraminifera
| Foraminifera | HABITATS | Benthic foraminifera | Planktic foraminifera |
Foraminifera use a wide spectrum of feeding strategies:
- Herbivores: graze algae (Fig. 1); see Feeding on diatoms
- Passive suspension feeding: trap food particles from water by sieving through (reticulopodia), e.g., Cibicidoides wuellerstorfi (Fig. 2)
- Deposit feeding (very common in deep sea): ingest sediment, algal cells, bacteria, organic detritus (Fig. 3); deposit feeders can be either epibenthic or, actually mostly, endobenthic
- Carnivory (also multicellular organisms); sticky pseudopodia
- Parasitism (other forams, molluscs)
- Uptake of dissolved organic matter
- Endosymbiosis: algae, possibly bacteria; kleptochloroplasts
- Many are selective feeders, e.g., fresh phytoplankton, more degraded matter
FROM: URBINO SUMMER SCHOOL IN PALEOCLIMATOLOGY, 2005, DEEP-SEA BENTHIC FORAMINIFERA by
Ellen Thomas http://ethomas.web.wesleyan.edu/BFhandout.htm
