Influence of seston quantity and quality on growth of tropical cladocerans.

The seston of the small, shallow, and tropical lake Monte Alegre was tested for quantity and quality for cladocerans by growth bioassays, which were carried out in spring (Daphnia gessneri and Moina micrura), summer (D. gessneri, M. micrura, Ceriodaphnia cornuta, and Simocephalus mixtus), and winter (D. gessneri and D. ambigua). Cohorts of newborns originating from ovigerous females collected in the lake or from laboratory cultures were submitted, at a room temperature of 23 degrees C to the following treatments: (1) the chlorophytes Ankistrodesmus falcatus and/or Scenedesmus spinosus; (2) lake seston; and (3) lake seston + chlorophytes. Growth rate, clutch size, and fecundity were evaluated. Seston alone was not the best food for promoting cladoceran growth. There were seasonal differences in food quantity and quality with spring and summer seston being better for growth than that of the winter. Adding chlorophytes to the seston increased clutch size and fecundity for most species in summer and winter, but not in spring. Energy limitation seems to be the most important factor influencing cladoceran growth in summer and especially in winter.     

Building multiple sequence alignments with a flavor of HSSP alignments

Homology-derived secondary structure of proteins (HSSP) is a well-known database of multiple sequence alignments (MSAs) which merges information of protein sequences and their three-dimensional structures. It is available for all proteins whose structure is deposited in the PDB. It is also used by STING and (Java)Protein Dossier to calculate and present relative entropy as a measure of the degree of conservation for each residue of proteins whose structure has been solved and deposited in the PDB. However, if the STING and (Java)Protein Dossier are to provide support for analysis of protein structures modeled in computers or being experimentally solved but not yet deposited in the PDB, then we need a new method for building alignments having a flavor of HSSP alignments (myMSAr). The present study describes a new method and its corresponding databank (SH2QS--database of sequences homologue to the query [structure-having] sequence). Our main interest in making myMSAr was to measure the degree of residue conservation for a given query sequence, regardless of whether it has a corresponding structure deposited in the PDB. In this study, we compare the measurement of residue conservation provided by corresponding alignments produced by HSSP and SH2QS. As a case study, we also present two biologically relevant examples, the first one highlighting the equivalence of analysis of the degree of residue conservation by using HSSP or SH2QS alignments, and the second one presenting the degree of residue conservation for a structure modeled in a computer, which , as a consequence, does not have an alignment reported by HSSP.     

Effects of essential fatty acids and N and P-limited algae on the growth rate of tropical cladocerans

SUMMARY 1. In this study, the effects of nutrient (N and P) deficiency and the importance of essential polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFA) [eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA) and docosahexaenoic acid (DHA)] to tropical cladocerans, growth and reproduction were determined in a growth bioassay.
2. The animals were fed N/P-sufficient, N-deficient and P-deficient algae, and also N and P-deficient algae supplemented with fish oil emulsions rich in EPA and DHA.
3. Cladocerans showed different responses to nutrient-deficient algae and also to supplements of fish oil emulsions. Moina micrura was most sensitive to P-deficient alga and, surprisingly, grew better and produced more eggs in N-deficient alga than in N/P sufficient alga. Ceriodaphnia cornuta was less sensitive, growing well in both N and P-deficient algae. This species, however, had a lower clutch size in N-deficient alga. On the other hand, Daphnia gessneri was the most sensitive to mineral limitation, showing decreased growth and clutch size in both nutrient-deficient algae.
4. The PUFA supplements to nutrient-deficient algae increased growth rates only for M. micrura and C. cornuta , suggesting that these fatty acids are important food requirements for these species.     

Influence of biochemical,mineral and morphological features of natural food on tropical cladocerans

Five laboratory experiments were performed to evaluate the effect of supplements of fatty acids and a green alga on the individual growth and reproduction of three species of tropical cladocerans Ceriodaphnia richardi, Daphnia ambigua, and D. gessneri feeding on natural seston from the Brazilian Lake Monte Alegre. Cohorts of newborns from cultivated females were submitted to one of the following treatments: (1) Natural seston, (2) Natural seston + microcapsules of EPA and DHA or linoleic and linolenic fatty acids, (3) Natural seston + oil-free microcapsules, and (4) Natural seston + green alga Scenedesmus spinosus (1 mg C l⁻¹). Particulate organic carbon, algal carbon, C:P ratios of seston and green alga, polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFA) content of seston and cladocerans, as well as phytoplankton composition, size, and shape were measured. The addition of fatty acids to seston did not significantly enhance growth and reproduction of the cladocerans, suggesting that sestonic PUFA content is sufficient for promoting cladoceran development, even in the cool–dry season when the fatty acids used in the experiments were 5–10 times lower in the seston than in the warm–wet season. Despite high C:P molar ratios in most experiments, there was only one indication of growth limitation by P. Reproduction was more affected than individual growth on some occasions by food quantity (energy) caused apparently by algal size, morphology, and digestion resistance. Energy availability, which is affected by algae morphological characteristics, seems to prevail over PUFA and P in controlling growth and reproduction of cladocerans in tropical Lake Monte Alegre.     

Influence of phytoplankton fractions on growth and reproduction of tropical cladocerans

The influence of two seston fractions, < 20 µm (nanoplankton) and 20 µm (microplankton), on growth and reproduction of cladoceran species with different sizes, from Lake Monte Alegre, was evaluated through individual growth and life table experiments. Size, shape and other features of the algae in the fractions were described. The procedure of filtering lake water through a 20 µm net for seston fractionation caused mutual contamination. The smallest cladoceran species, Ceriodaphnia cornuta Sars and Moina micrura Kurz, produced larger clutch sizes and exhibited higher intrinsic rates of population growth (r) in the nanoplankton, despite contamination of their food by inedible algae. The largest species, Simocephalus mixtus Sars, produced larger clutch sizes in the microplankton. There were no differences in juvenile biomass growth between treatments for M. micrura and Daphnia gessneri Herbst, but lower value of the exponential growth rate (g) in the microplankton was significant for M. micrura. Fecundity (eggs/total female) of M. micrura was significantly lower in the microplankton, while D. gessneri did not reproduce in this fraction, at the end of growth experiments. Spines, colonies, cenobium, filaments, hard cell wall, and gelatinous sheaths, represented constraints to cladoceran reproductive performance, besides algae size. Microplankton contamination by nanoplanktonic algae, in the experiments, probably minimized the negative effect of inedible algae. Nanoplankton was more suitable for the smallest species and microplankton for the largest one.     

Resource limitation and food quality for cladocerans in a tropical Brazilian lake

Food quality of the natural food (seston) from Lake Monte Alegre was evaluated throughout a series of life-table experiments with cladocerans from the same lake carried out in summer and autumn. Experiments were performed using cohorts of newborns originated from ovigerous females cultured for several generations in the lab or taken directly from the lake. For these tests of food limitation, juveniles of different species were submitted to one of the following treatments: (1) lake seston and (2) lake seston + green algae. The age at first reproduction, mean clutch size, total offspring and the intrinsic rate of natural increase (r) were estimated. Cladocerans responded to both seasonal changes in food resources and to additions of green algae. In summer, food levels were higher and cladocerans grew better than in autumn. The low fecundity and population growth rates of Daphnia gessneri, together with high C:P ratios (>500) in the seston in summer, suggested P limitation. The other cladocerans (Moina micrura, Ceriodaphnia cornuta and Simocephalus mixtus) were apparently less sensitive than D. gessneri to P-limitation in summer. However, energy limitation cannot be disregarded even in summer, although in a lower degree compared to autumn. In this season, the predominance of large diatoms and dinophyceans of low nutritional value and the low food concentration suggested both quantitative and qualitative food limitation. Phytoplankton composition, nutritional value and particle size appeared to be important factors in determining cladocerans reproduction rates with seston diets.     

Influence of phytoplankton fractions on growth and reproduction of tropical cladocerans

The influence of two seston fractions, < 20 μm (nanoplankton) and ≥ 20 μm (microplankton), on growth and reproduction of cladoceran species with different sizes, from Lake Monte Alegre, was evaluated through individual growth and life table experiments. Size, shape and other features of the algae in the fractions were described. The procedure of filtering lake water through a 20 μm net for seston fractionation caused mutual contamination. The smallest cladoceran species, Ceriodaphnia cornuta Sars and Moina micrura Kurz, produced larger clutch sizes and exhibited higher intrinsic rates of population growth (r) in the nanoplankton, despite contamination of their food by inedible algae. The largest species, Simocephalus mixtus Sars, produced larger clutch sizes in the microplankton. There were no differences in juvenile biomass growth between treatments for M. micrura and Daphnia gessneri Herbst, but lower value of the exponential growth rate (g) in the microplankton was significant for M. micrura. Fecundity (eggs/total female) of M. micrura was significantly lower in the microplankton, while D. gessneri did not reproduce in this fraction, at the end of growth experiments. Spines, colonies, cenobium, filaments, hard cell wall, and gelatinous sheaths, represented constraints to cladoceran reproductive performance, besides algae size. Microplankton contamination by nanoplanktonic algae, in the experiments, probably minimized the negative effect of inedible algae. Nanoplankton was more suitable for the smallest species and microplankton for the largest one.