Adaptive advantages of patterns of growth and asexual reproduction of the sea anemone Metridium senile (L.) in intertidal and submerged populations

Individual size, rate of growth, and mode and frequency of asexual reproduction are life-history traits of primary importance for sea anemones. These traits determine sexual reproductive output, affect an individual's probability of survival, and are crucial in adapting an individual to its environmental surroundings. The sea anemone Metridium senile (L.) is highly variable in ecological distribution and life history, including rate of growth, individual size, and rate of asexual reproduction. Gonad size (measured as cross-sectional area of gonadal tissue) increases with body weight, so individuals should grow as large and as rapidly as possible to maximize individual sexual reproductive output. Cessation of growth and small body size in intertidal populations suggest that growth is constrained by genetic or environmental conditions. The growth of intertidal individuals transplanted to harbor-float panels demonstrated that growth limits are imposed by environmental factors, most probably limited food and feeding time and damage from wave exposure (which stimulates fragmentation). Individuals in harbor-float populations, which are continuously immersed, grow much larger, and large individuals comprise a greater proportion of the population than in the intertidal zone. The highest rate of fragmentation observed was on harbor-float panels. Patterns of growth and asexual reproduction provide adaptive advantages for M. senile. For harborfloat individuals, large individual size increases gamete production and may increase feeding efficiency. For intertidal individuals, asexual reproduction allows growth despite individual size constraints and rapid population growth, with specific advantages resulting from clone formation.     

强壮水螅的特征及其与寡水螅的种间差别问题

一种广泛分布于黑龙江省的大型具柄水螅被暂定为强壮水螅Hydra robusta(IT(?) 1947)。这一中国品系与IT(?)(1947)在日本报告的新种主要特征相同,包括具有精巢乳头。只是精巢乳头不稳定。在实验室条件下第一次有性生殖时每个雄体都发生精巢乳头,但第二次有性生殖时,同一群的后代可全部失去精巢乳头。这是介于强壮水螅与寡水螅Hydra oligactis Pallas(1766)之间的中间性状。从而导致作者做出结论,认为过去其他学者所主张的,以精巢乳头的有无做为鉴别特征来区分强壮水螅和寡水螅是不可靠的。因此,本文又检验了此种水螅的体细胞染色体,证明2n=30,其中第二对染色体上有明显近中位置的次缢痕,最小染色体的长度为最大染色体长度的二分之一以上。这些可做为此种水蝗的鉴别特征。对Niiyama(1944)和Datta(1970)在寡水螅上所做的染色体研究也做了比较及讨论。     

Variability of uterine cervical anatomy in the white-tailed gnu (Connochaetes gnou)

Examination of the reproductive anatomy of six female white-tailed gnu revealed duplex uterus with varying degrees of cervical division. The division ranged from 36 to 100% of the length of the cervix, with one animal exhibiting double external ossa. This variability in reproductive anatomy could be important in artificial insemination or embryo transfer procedures in this species.     

Dihydroquercetin accumulation in the medium of some wild carrot culture subclones

Approximately half of the subclones examined from one clone of the wild carrot cell culture WC63-1-9-1 accumulated dihydroquercetin in the culture medium. The amount of dihydroquercetin accumulated in the medium varied with the subclone used, the size of the inoculum, the medium used and the time of sampling.Dedicated to Dr. Friedrich Constabel on the occasion of his 60th birthday     

Functional bioassays utilizing zooplankton: a comparison

Functional zooplankton bioassays based on ingestion, reproduction and respiration are described, with methods for a new ingestion bioassay included. All bioassays are compared using three indices, including the variability of controls, the range of experimental responses, and a listing of contaminants causing inhibition/stimulation of response. The ingestion bioassay showed the greatest range of response, and was sensitive to pesticides, PCBs and heavy metals. It was also commonly characterized by a hormesis response. The reproduction bioassay showed the lowest variability, illustrated a reduced range of response, and was sensitive to nutrients and heavy metals. In one study, the respiration bioassay was sensitive only to PCBs.     

Histopathology and cell culture characteristics of liver cells from grc − and grc + rats given diethylnitrosamine

The histopathological response and cell culture characteristics of liver cells from the R16 (grc ^–) strain of rats, which carries an MHC-linked deletion, were examined one week after a single intraperitoneal injection of 200 mg/ kg body weight diethylnitrosamine (DEN) and were compared with the response of liver cells from wild type (grc+) rats. The DEN exposure induced hydropicl vacuolar changes in the parenchymal cells and a limited proliferation of oval cells in the periportal areas of the livers of both grc+ and grc rats. Primary culture of collagenase-digested livers consisted of parenchymal, bile ductular and oval-related cells as determined by cell-specific immunohistochemistry. Subpassaged cells from grc+ rats exhibited oval cell ultrastructural morphology, inducible histochemical staining for gammaglutamyl transpeptidase (GGT), and DEN-associated onset of anchorage-independent growth. Primary cultures of liver cells from R16 rats consistently failed to form cell strains upon subpassage.Abbreviations DEN diethylnitrosamine - grc growth and reproduction complex - GGT gamma-glutamyl transpeptidase - MHC major histocompatibility complex     

Regulation of brood size in a burying beetle,Nicrophorus tomentosus (Silphidae)

Regulation of brood size in a biparental burying beetle, Nicrophorus tomentosusWeber, was studied by providing pairs with one of two sizes of mouse carcasses in the laboratory. For a given carcass size, there was an inverse relationship between number and mass offspring in a brood. The requirement for regulation was that brood size was adjusted such that mean mass of individual larvae was constant for carcasses of different size. Brood size was regulated if parents were present but regulation did not occur if parents were removed prior to hatching of larvae. Pairs bred in quick succession on two carcasses raised fewer than the regulated number of young in the second reproductive attempt. Reasons for regulation of brood size in this genus are discussed.     

Growth and reproduction of the mosquitofish,Gambusia affinis,in relation to temperature and ration level: consequences for life history

The allocation of energy to growth and reproduction, in relation to temperature and food availability, was investigated in laboratory experiments with the mosquitofish,Gambusia affinis. At constant temperature of 20, 25 and 30°C and ad libitum feeding, specific growth rates increased with increasing temperature at 1.7, 3.1 and 3.4% dry mass day⁻¹, respectively. Growth rates in a cycling temperature regime (20–30°C, ) were faster than in a 25°C constant temperature. As temperature increased from 20 to 30°C, mean age at first reproduction decreased from 191 to 56 days and brood size and mass of offspring increased significantly. Interbrood interval was also temperature dependent; estimates at 25 and 30°C for females >1000 mg were 22.6 and 18.6 days, respectively. Interbrood interval could not be calculated at 20°C. Although fitness was highest at 30°C, females at 25°C invested a greater proportion of surplus energy (growth and reproduction) to reproduction (38%) than at 20 (17%) or 30°C (36%) during the 32-week study. Fish at cooler temperatures began reproduction at a smaller size. Where rations were controlled at low, medium, and ad libitum levels, somatic and gonadal growth increased with increasing temperatures and food availability. The proportion of energy invested in reproduction was highest at 25°C for each comparable ration level. Calculated energy budgets indicated that over the 10-week study, 17–22% of the food energy was invested in growth, 0–7% in reproduction, and 75–83% in respiration and excretory losses, depending on feeding and temperature conditions.     

The intrinsic rates of increase of insects of different sizes

ABSTRACT.

• 1 A negative relationship between intrinsic rate of increase, r, and body size has only clearly been shown using data for species drawn from a number of phyla and covering several orders of magnitude in size. Analyses for more closely related species are equivocal.
• 2 Data for ninety-one species of insects, from nine orders, were used to examine the correlation between intrinsic rate of increase and size.
• 3 Intrinsic rate of increase was negatively correlated with both length and weight across orders, but no relationship could be shown within orders.
• 4 Generation times were positively related to body size, but there was no relationship between net reproductive rate (R_Q) and size.
• 5 These results support the hypothesis that documented relationships between species size and colonization success in insects could be a consequence of the scaling of intrinsic rate of increase with size.

     

Purification and characterization of lymphocytic clonal growth factor (LCGF) derived from human-human hybridoma SH-76 cells

Human-human hybridoma SH-76 cells were found to produce a factor that supported the growth of lymphocytic cells at low densities. The factor was purified from serum-free conditioned medium of the hybridoma cells by a successive application of ammonium sulfate precipitation, DEAE-Toyopearl, TSK G3000 SW and DEAE-5PW column chromatograph. The purified factor was a 72K single protein. The factor showed marked growth stimulating effect on lymphocytic cell lines, but had no effect on the growth of human adhesive cancer cell lines. Thus, the factor is a lymphocytic clonal growth factor (LCGF), as found previously in human plasma (Miyata, 1988). The LCGF of SH-76 cells could be produced in growth factor-free RPMI medium and purified easily from the conditioned medium. The factor is inactivated by heating at over 80°C, but is much more stable than the LCGF in human plasma.