Contributions to the productivity of the littoral region of pools and ponds

Summary During a quantitative study of the littoral zooplankton of a backwater, temperature as well as some chemical conditions have been measured at monthly intervals throughout two years. All three stations with different types of vegetation showed during the daytime steadily higher temperatures near the surface than did the openwater station. pH, oxygen and alkalinity showed a clear dependence on the photosynthetic and respiratory activity of plants. At the station with a concentration of leaves of Nuphar, Hydrocharis, Myriophyllum, and Ceratophyllum near the surface, a remarkable vertical stratification of temperature and chemical factors were observed.Crustacea exceeded numerically the Rotatoria, the mean ratios for the warm seasons ranging from 1.9 to 4.8 : 1, at stations with emergent vegetation, and from 5.0 to 13.0, at stations with submerged vegetation. A spring (May) maximum of the littoral species, mainly Chydorus, was followed by an increase of tycholimnetic Cladocera during June–September; this was followed by a fall maximum of littoral Cyclopidae. In the case of the lower spring maximum of littoral species in 1954, a more abundant development of pelagic Rotatoria and of Ceriodaphnia was observed. The littoral and tycholimnetic or pelagic species seem to substitute for one another. Two types of life-cycles may be distinguished: The littoral species have mostly a well defined spring maximum and a less defined fall maximum, the tycholimnetic species, a summer maximum. At the station with submerged vegetation, Crustacea as well as Rotatoria were more concentrated near the surface than below it, the concentrations observed being five-fold for Crustacea, and two-fold for Rotatoria. Two phases may be distinguished, the pelagic, lasting from November until June, and the littoral, lasting from late June until October.The Labíko backwater had nearly ten times the concentration of littoral zooplankton, as the tarns observed by Smyly; this may be attributed to the generally greater productivity and denser vegetation of the former. The standing crop of the littoral zooplankton, expressed in organic nitrogen, reached 1 to 1.5 mg/l and 2 to 5 mg/dm². In comparison with the free-water region, the littoral zooplankton of the backwater was more concentrated per unit of volume, but had a lower standing crop per unit of surface area.

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Zusammenfassung Das litorale Zooplankton des Altwassers Labíko wurde in monatlichen Abständen studiert und Temperaturmessungen und chemische Analysen ausgeführt. Alle drei untersuchten Stationen mit verschiedener Vegetation zeigten während des Tages eine erhöhte Temperatur in Vergleich mit der pelagialen Region. pH, Sauerstoff and SBV zeigten eine deutliche Abhängigkeit von der photosynthetischen und respiratorischen Aktivität der Pflanzen. Auf der Station mit der Oberflächenanhäufung der Blätter von Nuphar, Hydrocharis, Myriophyllum und Ceratophyllum erschien eine markante vertikale Stratifikation der Temperatur und der chemischen Faktoren.Crustaceen überschritten die Rotatorien im numerischen Durchschnittsverhältnis (für die warmen Perioden) 1.9 bis 4.8 mal auf den Stationen mit der emergenten Vegetation and 5.0 bis 13.0 mal auf den Stationen mit submerser Vegetation. Einem Frühlingsmaximum der Litoralformen (hauptsächlich Chydorus) folgte eine erhöhte Zahl der tycholimnetischen Cladoceren im Juni–September nach. Dieses wurde durch das Herbstmaximum der litoralen Cyclopidae ausgelöst. In dem Falle eines niedrigen Frühlingsmaximum der Litoralformen im Jahre 1954 fand ein Aufsteig der pelagialen Rotatorien and Ceriodaphnien statt, was eine Substitution der litoralen and tycholimnetischen oder pelagialen Formen andeutet. Man kann zwei Typen von Lebenszyklen unterscheiden: Litorale Arten haben meistens ein gut ausgeprägtes Frühjahrsmaximum und ein weniger deutliches Herbstmaximum, während die tycholimnetischen Arten ein Sommermaximum aufweisen. Auf der Station mit submerser Vegetation sind Crustaceen sowie Rotatorien in der Oberflächenschicht viel mehr konzentriert als unter derselben (fünfmal, bezw. zweimal im Durchschnitt). Hier kann mit zwei Phasen gerechnet werden, einer pelagialen zwischen November und Anfang Juni and einer litoralen zwischen Ende Juni and Oktober.Das Altwasser Labíko hat ungefähr zehnmal höhere Konzentrationen des litoralen Zooplanktons als die von Smyly beobachteten Teiche, was der allgemein höheren Produktion und dichteren Vegetation des Altwassers zugerechnet werden kann. Die im Stickstoff ausgedrückte Biomasse des litoralen Zooplanktons erreicht 1.0–1.5 mg/l und 2–5 mg/dm₂. Im Vergleich zu der Freiwasserregion, ist das litorale Zooplankton des Altwassers mehr konzentriert, hat aber eine niedrigere Biomasse per Flächeneinheit.

     

Influence of Phospholipids on Growth, Sporulation and Virulence of the Endoparasitic Fungi Drechmeria coniospora, Verticillium balanoides and Harposporium anguillulae in Liquid Culture

Verticillium balanoides mycelial growth was stimulated on solid corn meal agar (1.7 %) and in liquid corn meal broth (0.2 %) upon the addition of phospholipids at various concentrations. Sporulation differed with phospholipid products and was highest in pure corn meal. Drechmeria coniospora mycelial growth increased upon addition of phospholipids at all concentrations in solid or liquid culture. Sporulation increased at high concentration (1000 ppm) and decreased at low concentration (100 ppm) of phospholipids in the medium. For both fungi, infectivity of conidia produced in liquid culture decreased when compared to conidia from parasitized nematodes. Addition of phospholipids partly restored this effect. Harposporium anguillulae mycelial growth and sporulation was not affected by addition of phospholipids to solid or liquid corn meal medium.     

Nonlinearity in normal human EEG: cycles,temporal asymmetry,nonstationarity and randomness,not chaos

Two-hour vigilance and sleep electroencephalogram (EEG) recordings from five healthy volunteers were analyzed using a method for identifying nonlinearity and chaos which combines the redundancy–linear redundancy approach with the surrogate data technique. A nonlinear component in the EEG was detected, however, inconsistent with the hypothesis of low-dimensional chaos. A possibility that a temporally asymmetric process may underlie or influence the EEG dynamics was indicated. A process that merges nonstationary nonlinear deterministic oscillations with randomness is proposed for an explanation of observed properties of the analyzed EEG signals. Taking these results into consideration, the use of dimensional and related chaos-based algorithms in quantitative EEG analysis is critically discussed. Received: 25 September 1994 / Accepted in revised form: 10 July 1996     

Organization of telomeric and subtelomeric chromatin in the higher plant Nicotiana tabacum

We have examined the structure and chromatin organization of telomeres in Nicotiana tabacum. In tobacco the blocks of simple telomeric repeats (TTTAGGG)_n are many times larger than in other plants, e.g., Arabidopsis thatiana or tomato. They are resolved as multiple fragments 60–160 kb in size (in most cases 90–130 kb) on pulsed-field gel electrophoresis (PFGE) of restriction endonuclease-digested DNA. The major subtelomeric repeat of the HRS60 family forms large homogeneous blocks of a basic 180 by motif having comparable lengths. Micrococcal nuclease (MNase) cleaves tobacco telomeric chromatin into subunits with a short repeat length of 157±5 bp; the subtelomeric heterochromatin characterized by tandemly repeated sequences of the HRS60 family is cut by MNase with a 180 by periodicity. The monomeric and dimeric particles of telomeric and subtelomeric chromatin differ in sensitivity to MNase treatment: the telomeric particles are readily digested, producing ladders with a periodicity of 7 bp, while the subtelomeric particles appear to be rather resistant to intranucleosomal cleavage. The results presented show apparent similarities in the organization of telomeric chromatin in higher plants and mammals.     

High fidelity extrachromosomal recombination and gene targeting in plants

The precision of extrachromosomal homologous recombination and gene targeting in plant cells was investigated. Recombination was directed to introns of selectable marker genes where potential changes could persist without affecting the function and therefore the selectability of the genes. Approximately 9 kb of crossover regions was rescued and sequenced. Changes were detected at a frequency below one point mutation per 1000 bp, indicating that extrachromosomal recombination and gene targeting both appear to occur with high fidelity.     

Long-term follow-up of patients with myocarditis and idiopathic dilated cardiomyopathy after immunomodulatory therapy

Abstract The randomized clinical trial with interferon-α (IFN) or thymic hormones versus conventional therapy was conducted in patients with myocarditis and idiopathic dilated cardiomyopathy (IDC). We enrolled 180 patients to receive IFN (3–5 million units per day) for 3 months, thymomodulin (10 mg three times per week) for 2 months, or conventional therapy alone. Patients were followed-up for 7 years after the end of treatment. Left ventricular function, exercise tolerance and survival rate were significantly better at long-term follow-up in patients treated with IFN or thymomodulin, than in conventionally treated patients. These results implicate that immune modulating therapy might represent important contribution in the treatment of myocarditis and IDC.     

Microbial production and purification of arachidonic acid

Summary Mortierella alpina S-17 cultivated in shaker flasks in the semisynthetic liquid medium with 3% glucose at 28 °C for 14 days accumulated 2.1 g/l of intracellular lipid rich in arachidonic acid (ARA). The content of ARA was 50 % of the total fatty acids. The simple method for high pure methyl arachidonate preparation was developed.     

Vegetation change in acidic dry grasslands in Moravia (Czech Republic) over three decades: Slow decrease in habitat quality after grazing cessation

Aims

Shallow soils on acidic bedrock in dry areas of Central Europe support dry grasslands and heathlands that were formerly used as extensive pastures. These habitats are of high conservation value, but their abandonment in the 20th century triggered slow natural succession that poses a threat to specialized plant species. We asked how this vegetation and its plant diversity have changed over the past three decades and whether protected areas have positively affected habitat quality.

Location

Southwestern and central Moravia, Czech Republic.

Methods

In 2018–2019, we resurveyed 94 vegetation plots first sampled in 1986–1991 at 47 acidic dry grassland and heathland sites. We compared the number of all vascular plant species, Red List species and alien species per plot using parametric and non-parametric tests, life-form spectra using the chi-square test, species composition using detrended correspondence analysis, and indicator values using a permutation test. We also compared these changes between sites within and outside protected areas.

Results

Vegetation changes over the past three decades have been relatively small. However, we detected a decrease in total species richness, the number of Red List species and the number of characteristic species of dry grasslands. Neophytes were infrequent, while archaeophytes increased slightly. The competitive tall grass Arrhenatherum elatius, annual species and young woody plants increased in abundance or newly established at many sites. Indicator values did not change except for a slight increase in nutrient values. These negative trends occurred both within and outside protected areas but were more pronounced outside.

Conclusions

Formerly grazed acidic dry grasslands and heathlands in Moravia are slowly losing habitat specialists, including threatened plant species, and are increasingly dominated by Arrhenatherum elatius. Conservation management, especially cutting in protected areas, slows down the negative trends of decline in plant diversity and habitat quality but is insufficient to halt these processes completely.