Question: Why do mussels matter? Are they part of a cycle?

Nicolas Biber answered on 15 Jun 2011:

All animals … all living beings are part of a cycle, the food web. No animal can live without feeding on another living being. Mussels are animals and incidentally they are also a prey to certain animals. Therefore they are important in the food web. I study mussels because they are also very convenient. They stay in the same place, and we already know a great deal about them, and we can use this information to decide how we do further research on them.
On a greater scale I have to say that all living beings matter, otherwise they wouldn’t be there. If you take any of them away, something would be missing in the environment, and the environment would destabilize. All living beings are there because they serve the purpose of keeping the environment in balance. I can tell you more about that if you wish. Just ask me specific questions 🙂