Male-male competition selects for delayed sex change in the protandrous shrimp<Emphasis Type="Italic"> Pandalus latirostris</Emphasis>

In most protandrous species, male size advantage is generally regarded as unimportant in determining the timing of protandrous sex change. In pandalid shrimp, the size/age of male sex change often fluctuates among years and populations, but the adaptive significance of late reversing males (LRMs) is not well understood. This study experimentally examined the adaptive significance of LRMs in the protandrous pandalid shrimp Pandalus latirostris Rathbun. Field and laboratory studies were carried out in August–September of 1998–2002 on P. latirostris in Notoro Lagoon, Japan (44°03′N; 144°10′E). Mature females that had molted (i.e. mate receptive) were tethered in the field and their mating behavior with wild males was observed. Copulations occurred with a single male at a time, although other males could sequentially mate with a tethered female. Because tethered females rejected male approaches, males had difficulty transferring their spermatophores. In the laboratory, males copulated with non-tethered, recently molted females for only 15 min after molting. Recently molted females are wary of potential predators, since their soft exoskeleton makes them particularly vulnerable. Fast access by males enhanced fertilization success in this shrimp. The effect of male size on mating success in the laboratory was examined. Both small and large males successfully inseminated females in the absence of competitors. In experiments where large, medium, and small males competed for a female, however, larger males guarded females longer than smaller males, until the female molted and became receptive. Moreover, large males were more successful at copulating once molting occurred. These results imply that male-male competition drives delayed sex change in some situations.     

Kinetics of light-intensity adaptation in a marine planktonic diatom

The marine planktonic diatom Thalassiosira weisflogii was grown in turbidostat culture under both continuous and 12 hL: 12 hD illumination regimes in order to study the kinetics of adaptation to growth-irradiance levels. In both illumination regimes adaptation to a higher growth-irradiance level was accompanied by an increase in cell division rates and a decrease in chlorophyll a cell^-1. The rates of adaptation for both processes, derived from first order kinetic analysis, equaled each other in each experiment. The results suggest that during the transition from low-to-high growth-irradiance levels chlorophyll a is diluted by cell division and is not actively degraded. Introduction of a light/dark cycle lowered the rate of adaptation. In transitions from high-to-low growth-irradiance levels there was a sharp drop in growth rates and a slow increase in chlorophyll a cell^-1 under both continuous and intermittent illumination. In the 12 hL:12hD cycle there was a circadian rhythm in chlorophyll a cell^-1, where cellular chlorophyll contents increased during the light cycle and decreased during the dark cycle. This circadian rhythm was distinctly different from light intensity adaptation. For kinetic analysis of light intensity adaptation in a 12 hL: 12 hD cycle, the circadian periodicity was separated from the light intensity response by subjecting the data to a Kaiser window optimization digital filter. Kinetic parameters for light-intensity adaptation were resolved from the filtered data. The kinetics of lightintensity adaptation of marine phytoplankton are discussed in relation to their spatial variations and time scales of mixing.This research was performed at Brookhaven National Laboratory under the auspices of the United States Department of Energy under Contract No. DE-AC02-76 CH00016     

Isolation of a new toxin from the sponge Latrunculia magnifica in the Gulf of Aquaba (Red Sea)

The sponge Latrunculia magnifica was found to be toxic for fish. A toxin has been isolated from this sponge by organic extraction-column chromatography and thin-layer chromatography. Several chemical properties of the toxin were determined by spectroscopic analysis. Toxicity tests were performed on the fish Gambusia affinis. In vitro experiments showed the toxin to be a cholinesterase inhibitor.     

VB程序实现微量元素相关比值的计算

微量元素的相关比值在许多领域都有不同的作用,随着研究工作的日益精细,数据越来越多,使得不少学者要把大量时间花在数据的整理和计算上,既不利于准确的统计,又浪费了时间.在探讨、实现了地壳中微量元素的相关比值的VB程序,使得在运用这些比值时方便、准确、省时,为研究工作减少许多不必要的麻烦.     

酸雨对土壤营养元素迁移转化的影响

针对近年来北方一些城市大气污染严重并导致部分月份出现酸雨,及酸雨对主要营养元素产生影响的实际情况,通过模拟pH=5.6的酸雨的淋溶实验,对土壤营养元素迁移转化规律作了较深入的研究。结果表明,土壤中硝态氮质量分数随土壤深度的增加而呈下降的趋势;土壤中速效磷、速效钾对酸雨不敏感;拟合出在土壤表层(<5 cm)、10 cm、20 cm、30 cm的不同深度,硝态氮随时间变化的迁移规律方程。     

物种概念、形成方式及其划分标准的新进展

本文对物种概念、物种形成方式以及物种划分标准等进行了综合评述。     

Ultrastructural,biochemical, and immunological characterization of two populations of the mytilid mussel <Emphasis Type="Italic">Bathymodiolus</Emphasis><Emphasis Type="Italic">azoricus</Emphasis> from the Mid-Atlantic Ridge: evidence for a dual symbiosis

A recently described species of mytilid mussel, Bathymodiolus azoricus Von Cosel et al., 1999, was observed to be the dominant organism at the hydrothermal vents off the Azores, at both the Lucky Strike and Menez Gwen sites. Evidence suggests this species of Bathymodiolus represents yet another example of the intriguing dual symbiosis known in three other species of deep-sea mytilid mussels. Transmission electron micrographs (TEM) show the majority of gill bacteriocytes in mussels sampled from both populations to contain two distinct symbiont morphotypes. One morphotype is characterized by large size (mean diameter, 1.25 µm), coccoid shape, and stacked intracytoplasmic membranes that are consistent with the morphology of type I methanotrophs. The second morphotype is smaller (mean diameter, 0.35 µm) and was observed in coccoid or rod shapes. Immunoblots revealed the presence of ribulose 1,5-bisphosphate carboxylase/oxygenase (RubisCO) and methanol dehydrogenase (MeDH) in both populations of mussels. Activities of these enzymes, as well as sulfate adenylyl transferase (ATP sulfurylase) and adenylyl sulfate reductase (APS reductase), were detected in gill extracts. The activities measured for the two populations were highly variable, though the population sampled from Lucky Strike showed higher RubisCO activity. Stable carbon isotope values (Lucky Strike, '¹³C=-32.6ǂ.3‰; Menez Gwen, '¹³C=-22.8ǂ.4‰) are in the range of previously reported stable carbon isotope measurements for mytilid mussels hosting a dual symbiosis. Collectively, these results provide evidence for the activity of both sulfur-oxidizing and methane-oxidizing metabolic pathways in B. azoricus. Furthermore, evidence for a greater dependence on methanotrophy in the Menez Gwen mussel population is offered by analysis of cell counts from TEMs. Higher methanotroph numbers, and putatively activity, in this population of mussels are further supported by published geochemical data indicating higher methane concentrations in the vent fluids at Menez Gwen. This finding suggests that environmental conditions may regulate a balance between the physiological activities of different symbiont populations associated with these mussels. The existence of a dual symbiosis could thus confer greater environmental tolerance and increased niche space to the mytilid host in the stochastic hydrothermal vent habitat.     

Seasonal changes in the diving parameters of king penguins (Aptenodytes patagonicus)

Contrasting conditions at-sea are likely to affect the foraging behaviour of seabirds. However, the effect of season on the dive parameters of penguins is poorly known. We report here on an extensive study of the diving behaviour of king penguins (Aptenodytes patagonicus) over the bird's complete annual cycle at the Crozet Islands. Time-depth recorders were used to record dive duration, bottom duration, post-dive interval, ascent rate and descent rate in breeding adults during different seasons in 1995 and 1996. Seasons included summer (n=6, incubation; n=6, chick brooding), autumn and winter (n=5 and n=3, respectively, chick at the crèche stage), and spring (n=4, birds at the post-moult stage). In all seasons dive duration increased with dive depth, but, for a given depth, dives were longer in winter (6.8 min when averaged over the 100-210 m depth layer) than in spring (4.6 min) and summer (4.4 min). The time spent at the bottom of the dives, which probably represents a substantial part of the feeding time, was much longer in winter (2.5 min per dive for dives over the 100-210 m layer) than during other seasons (1.0-1.4 min), i.e. there was a 2.5-fold augmentation for similar diving depths. Ascent and descent rates increased with increasing dive depth, but no difference in the relationships between rates of ascent and descent and dive depth was found among seasons. Furthermore, for all dive depths, ascent and descent rates were independent of the bottom duration. In all seasons post-dive intervals increased with dive duration and with dive depth, but they were longer in spring (2.3 min for dives over the 100-210 m layer) and summer than in autumn and winter (1.6-1.8 min). The diving efficiency decreased with increasing dive depth and was higher in autumn and winter (0.22-0.29) than in summer and spring (0.15-0.18). The large increase in bottom and dive duration from spring to winter is in agreement with the seasonal drop in prey density, with penguins spending more time searching for prey. In contrast, the consistency of the vertical velocity during contrasting conditions at-sea suggests that the transit time to depth is an important component of the foraging behaviour (scanning of the water column) that is independent of the prey availability. The time budget of the penguins during diving in a fluctuating environment appears to vary primarily during the bottom phase of the dives, with bottom duration increasing with diminishing prey supplies, while post-dive intervals shorten in the same time.     

Gas-liquid chromatograms of sesquiterpenes as finger prints for soft-coral identification

A possible additional means for aiding in the identification of soft corals based on their sesquiterpene composition, as determined by gas-liquid chromatography (GLC), is discussed. The use of this method for several species of Sinularia and Sarcophyton is illustrated. Several sesquiterpenes were identified, some of them for the first time from marine origin. Preliminary tests indicate that the sesquiterpene composition in the tested soft corals remained quite constant during different seasons of the year. It is suggested that such finger prints are produced by the corals themselves and not by the zooxanthellae, and that they are species-specific.     

湖南木兰科植物资源的调查研究

本文分析了湖南木兰科分布的自然条件,结合其形态性状讨论了它们的分类学问题、地理分布特点、资源状况以及自然生长状况。文末提出了湖南省木兰科的保护植物名单。