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Ostroumov S. A. Some aspects of water filtering activity of filter-feeders. - Hydrobiologia 2005 (July), Volume 542, Number 1, p. 275-286 ISSN 0018-8158 (Print) 1573-5117 (Online) DOI 10.1007/s10750-004-1875-1; http://www.springerlink.com/content/u21p83p0423j8714/; ABSTRACT: On the basis of the previous publications, our new data and the existing scientific literature, we have formulated some fundamental principles that characterize the pivotal roles of the biodiversity of filter-feeders in ecosystems. Among those roles are: (1) the role of ecological repair of water quality, (2) the role of contributing to reliability and stability of the functioning of the ecosystem, (3) the role of contributing to creation of habitat heterogeneity, (4) the role of contributing to acceleration of migration of chemical elements. It is an important feature of the biomachinery of filter-feeders that it removes from water various particles of a very broad range of sizes. Another important principle is that the amount of the organic matter filtered out of water is larger than the amount assimilated so that a significant part of the removed material serves no useful function to the organism of the filter-feeder, but serves a beneficial function to some other species and to the ecosystem as a whole. The new experiments by the author additionally demonstrated a vulnerability of the filtration activity of filter feeders (e.g., bivalves and rotifers) to some pollutants and xenobiotics including synthetic surfactants (tetradecyltrymethylammonium bromide, and others), heavy metals and some others. The inhibition of the filtration activity of filter-feeders may lead to the situation previously described as that of an ecological bomb of the second type. The paper was cited by scientists working in Canada, Australia, Russia and other countries. The main conclusions were confirmed by the other publications of the same author, see the book ‘Biological Effects of Surfactants’ (CRC Press. Taylor & Francis. Boca Raton, London, New York. 2006. 279 p. ISBN 0-8493-2526-9) and sites: http://sites.google.com/site/9enecologica16p25theory/; http://sites.google.com/site/3surfactantsfiltrationmytilus/; http://scipeople.ru/uploads/materials/4389/_Hydrobiologia2006%20vol%20556%20No.1%20pages381-386.pdf; https://www.researchgate.net/file.FileLoader.html?key=60f338228d6f3c5114d223ab81e15d3b; https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Sergei_Ostroumov/blog/348_Useful_theory_of_natural_mechanisms_of_improving_water_quality; Key issues and Keywords: filter-feeders , suspension feeders, water purification , bivalves , pollution , filtering activity, pollutants, water quality, xenobiotics, ecosystem services, sustainability, man-made, anthropogenic impact, freshwater, marine ecosystems, aquatic organisms, biota, habitat, surfactants, rotifers, role of organisms in the biosphere, functioning of ecosystems, biomachinery, benthos