The percentage of filter-feeder species in benthic ostracod assemblages shows evident changes during the Late Devonian Frasnian-Famennian (F-F) transition with two sharp rises in the event stratal interval based on materials collected from the Yangdi section, South China. Neither anoxia nor oligotrophy, eustasy should have been the only primary cause of filter-feeders signal in the F-F event. The sea level fall and rise would create deteriorative environmental conditions such as lower oxygenation and less nutrients, which altogether reduced the diversity and abundance of the benthic ostracods in the F-F transition. The percentage of filter-feeders showed a decrease during the regression, and vice-versa. Therefore, the filter-feeders may be potentially an indicator of sea level changes in the F-F event. (C) 2019 Elsevier Ireland Ltd Elsevier B.V. and Nanjing Institute of Geology and Palaeontology, CAS. Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.