Characterization of a sex pheromone in a simultaneous hermaphroditic shrimp, Lysmata wurdemanni

Olfactory chemical cues have been described to play important roles in the control of mate recognition in many decapod crustaceans. However, we still know very little about the chemical characteristics of the cues that coordinate pre-copulative behaviour. In this study, we partially characterized a waterborne sex pheromone of a marine shrimp, Lysmata wurdemanni. Female moulting water was collected and ultrafiltered using 1,000 and 500-Da membranes, respectively, and analysed using HPLC with a Lichrosphere™ RP18 (C18) column. The sex pheromone is likely to be a molecule between 500 and 1,000 Da in size because behavioural bioassays showed that males responded to the supernatant of 500-Da and to the 1,000-Da filtrate, but did not respond to the supernatant of 1,000-Da or to the 500-Da filtrate. There was only one dominant peak (2.86 min) detectable in HPLC chromatograms of the supernatant of the 500-Da filtration. This peak showed a UV absorbance maximum at 274 nm, similar to the recently identified shore crab sex pheromone Uridine-di-phosphate (UDP). Behavioural bioassays confirmed that this peak is a bioactive component of a potential pheromone bouquet, but is different from UDP, which showed no bioactivity in Lysmata wurdemanni. Our results lay the foundation for future studies to purify and eventually identify this sex pheromone.     

Porites and the Phoenix effect: unprecedented recovery after a mass coral bleaching event at Rangiroa Atoll,French Polynesia

The 1997/1998 El Niño Southern Oscillation (ENSO) was the most severe coral bleaching event in recent history, resulting in the loss of 16 % of the world’s coral reefs. Mortality was particularly severe in French Polynesia, where unprecedented mortality of massive Porites was observed in lagoonal sites of Rangiroa Atoll. To assess the recovery of massive Porites 15 years later, we resurveyed the size structure and extent of partial mortality of massive Porites at Tivaru (Rangiroa). Surveys revealed an abundance of massive Porites colonies rising from the shallow lagoonal floor. Colony width averaged 2.65 m, reaching a maximum of 7.1 m (estimated age of ~391 ± 107 years old). The relative cover of recently dead skeleton within quadrats declined from 42.8 % in 1998 to zero in 2013, yet the relative cover of old dead skeleton increased only marginally from 22.1 % in 1998 to 26.1 % in 2013. At a colony level, the proportion of Porites dominated by living tissue increased from 34.9 % in 1998 to 73.9 % in 2013, indicating rapid recovery of recent dead skeleton to living tissue rather than transitioning to old dead skeleton. Such rapid post-bleaching recovery is unprecedented in massive Porites and resulted from remarkable self-regeneration termed the ‘Phoenix effect’, whereby remnant cryptic patches of tissue that survived the 1997/1998 ENSO event regenerated and rapidly overgrew adjacent dead skeleton. Contrary to our earlier predictions, not only are large massive Porites relatively resistant to stress, they appear to have a remarkable capacity for recovery even after severe partial mortality.     

Faecal pollution loads in the wastewater effluents and receiving water bodies: a potential threat to the health of Sedibeng and Soshanguve communities,South Africa

The discharge of untreated or inadequately treated effluents has been identified among the activities responsible for the spread of a wide range of potentially infectious agents. The aim of this study was to determine whether inadequate treatment of wastewater and the faecal pollution load of effluents and receiving water bodies in Sedibeng District and Soshanguve peri-urban area of the Tshwane Metropolitan Municipality could be a potential threat to the health of the surrounding communities. Variations in the counts of faecal indicator bacteria and pathogenic microorganisms and compliance of the effluents and receiving water bodies with South African and World Health Organization standards were assessed between August 2011 and May 2012 using culture-based methods and molecular techniques. The overall quality of effluents did not comply with the South African special standard of no risk for unrestricted irrigation (zero?Escherichia coli/100 ml). The quality of the receiving water bodies did not comply with South African regulatory limits set for domestic purposes (zero?E.?coli/100 ml, <30 faecal enterococci/100 ml and <1 somatic coliphages/100 ml), for full contact recreation (<20 somatic coliphages/100 ml) and aquaculture (<10?E.?coli/100 ml) and WHO standards for full and intermediate contact recreational use (<1?E.?coli/100 ml and <40 faecal enterococci/100 ml, respectively). The PCR results revealed the prevalence of pathogenic microorganisms; between 0 and 60 % of samples tested positive for Salmonella Typhimurium and Shigella dysenteriae, and between 20 and 60 % of samples tested positive for Vibrio cholerae. These findings demonstrated that potential health risks might be associated with the use of the target river waters for domestic, recreational and irrigation purposes. This study calls for a prompt intervention to improve wastewater management.