Sponges were present more than 600 million years ago and have ever since been important components in aquatic ecosystems. They are sessile and pump huge amounts of water through their bodies from which they filter out food particles. Most likely they share basic characteristics with more advanced filter-feeders that all possess protection and cleaning mechanisms to overcome particle-overloading.
The goal of the project is to understand the mechanisms ensuring maintenance of the sponge filter-pump by providing a basic understanding of the origin and purpose of contractile behaviour of sponges.
Understanding of the ecophysiology of sponges and comparison with other filter-feeders, such as the blue mussel that reduces its respiration rate to overcome starvation during winter months, may shed light on the evolutionary and ecological success of sponges - the world's simplest multicellular animals.
Provider: FNU
Total amount of grant: 2.567.761 DKK
Period: 1.6.18-31.5.20