Influence of phenol and temperature on the respiration of a freshwater Snail

Summary Temperature and phenol, independently and interactively, have a significant influence on oxidative metabolism in Helisoma. Increase of temperature in the absence of phenol causes a diminishing, nonlinear increase in oxygen uptake rate, whereas with phenol concentrations exceeding 2 mg/liter no such increases occur. Concentrations less than 2 mg/liter would undoubtedly also inhibit oxidative metabolism and further study is called for in order to define the exact interactive influence of this compound and temperature on oxygen uptake.Résumé Le métabolisme oxidatif de Helisoma est influencé de façon significative par la témperature et le phénol. Leur influence est indépendante et réciproque. En 1'absence du phénol, le taux de consommation d'oxygène subit des accroissements non proportionels et décroissants avec des augmentations de température. Des accroissements semblables ne sont pas observés en présence du phénol en concentrations supérieures à 2 mg/litre. Sans doute, des concentrations de phénol inférieures à 2 mg/litre devraient aussi inhiber le métabolisme oxidatif. D'autres études doivent être faites pour déeterminer l'influence exacte et réciproque du phénol et de la température sur la consommation d'oxygène.This work was supported by NSF training grant, GB 7467 awarded to Department of Zoology, Rutgers University.     

The O2-dependence of respiration and H2O2 production in the parasitic nematode Ascaridia galli.

1. Respiration in the parasitic nematode worm Ascaridia galli was inhibited at O2 concentrations in excess of 255 microM, and an apparent Km,O2 of 174 microM was determined. 2. Mitochondria-enriched fractions isolated from the tissues of A. galli have much lower apparent Km,O2 values (approx. 5 microM). They produce H2O2 in the energized state; higher rates of H2O2 production were observed in the presence of the uncoupler carbonyl cyanide m-chlorophenylhydrazone. 3. Antimycin A inhibited respiration in muscle tissue mitochondria by 10%, but had no effect on respiration in gut + reproductive tissue mitochondria; the major portion of respiration in both types of mitochondria could be attributed to an alternative electron-transport pathway. 4. o-Hydroxydiphenyl, an inhibitor of alternative electron-transport pathways, inhibits respiration by 98% and completely inhibits the production of H2O2 in gut-plus-reproductive-tissue mitochondria; respiration and H2O2 production in muscle tissue mitochondria were inhibited by 90 and 86% respectively. 5. Another inhibitor of alternative electron transport, salicylhydroxamic acid, had the same effect as o-hydroxydiphenyl on H2O2 production and respiration in gut-plus-reproductive-tissue mitochondria. However, its effect on muscle tissue mitochondria was complex; a low concentration (0.35 mM) stimulated H2O2 production, whereas 3 mM inhibited respiration by 87% and prevented H2O2 production completely. 6. The similarities between the apparent Km,O2 values for H2O2 production and respiration in muscle mitochondria and in gut-plus-reproductive-tissue mitochondria suggests that the site of H2O2 production on the alternative electron-transport chain is cytochrome 'o'. 7. These results are discussed in relation to potential O2 toxicity in A. galli.     

The effects of light and temperature on photosynthate partitioning in Antarctic freshwater phytoplankton

The effects of temperature and radiation flux on the partitioningof photosynthetically fixed carbon into four intracellulai metabolicpools was investigated for natural phytoplankton assemblagesfrom an Antarctic freshwater lake. At ambient temperature, proteinsynthesis was saturated at low photon flux densities (30–40µmol m^–2 s^–1) and above this flux fixed carbonwas increasingly stored as lipid and polysaccharide. Increasingtemperature raised both the saturated rate of protein synthesisand the photon flux at which saturation occurred. There wasa corresponding decline in the accumulation of reserve products,particularly at low radiation fluxes. The consequences of thispattern of uptake for the phytoplankton is discussed.     

The effects of elevated temperature and humidity on rectal temperature and respiration rate in the New Zealand white rabbit

In 2 replicated factorial experiments, 7-h climate chamber exposures were used to study the responses of adult NZW rabbits to a range of elevated temperatures and humidities. At 18 mm Hg water vapour pressure, 23.8° C was well tolerated, rectal temperature (RT) and respiration rate (RR) averaging 38.6±0.3° C and 82.9±15.5 breaths/min, respectively. Both parameters were elevated (P<0.001) at 32.2°, 37.8° and 43.3° C. RT and RR reached plateau levels of 39.5–40.1° C and 410–460/min at 32.2° C, which was tolerated for the full 7-h test period. Test temperatures of 37.8° and 43.3° C, on the other hand, could be tolerated for only 80 and 40 min respectively, before RT reached the safe upper limit of 41.7° C. Final RR values at 37.8° and 43.3° C were 701.6±42.7 and 812±55.1/min, respectively. In a 34.5° C atmosphere a humidity of 21 mm Hg water vapour pressure was classified as dry, and was tolerated for 323±123 min. RT and RR increased by 0.6° C and 316/min during the first 20 min of exposure (P<0.05). Thereafter both parameters increased progressively, but with no significant differences between successive recording periods, until RR reached 550.3±88.8/min at 41.7° C RT. Humidities of 25, 29 and 33 mm Hg water vapour pressure were, on the other hand, classified as wet and were tolerated for only 92±22, 81±16 and 119±50 min, respectively. RR at the times that RT reached 41.7° C at these 3 humidities was 732±26, 789±30 and 764±23/min, respectively. The results point to the likelihood that thermal stress will adversely affect the productivity and welfare of NZW rabbits in the tropics unless adequate housing environments are provided. Significant between-individual phenotypic differences in heat tolerance suggest the need for genetic studies of the possibility of selecting for improved heat tolerance.     

Interactive effects of temperature and habitat complexity on freshwater communities

Warming can lead to increased growth of plants or algae at the base of the food web, which may increase the overall complexity of habitat available for other organisms. Temperature and habitat complexity have both been shown to alter the structure and functioning of communities, but they may also have interactive effects, for example, if the shade provided by additional habitat negates the positive effect of temperature on understory plant or algal growth. This study explored the interactive effects of these two major environmental factors in a manipulative field experiment, by assessing changes in ecosystem functioning (primary production and decomposition) and community structure in the presence and absence of artificial plants along a natural stream temperature gradient of 5–18°C. There was no effect of temperature or habitat complexity on benthic primary production, but epiphytic production increased with temperature in the more complex habitat. Cellulose decomposition rate increased with temperature, but was unaffected by habitat complexity. Macroinvertebrate communities were less similar to each other as temperature increased, while habitat complexity only altered community composition in the coldest streams. There was also an overall increase in macroinvertebrate abundance, body mass, and biomass in the warmest streams, driven by increasing dominance of snails and blackfly larvae. Presence of habitat complexity, however, dampened the strength of this temperature effect on the abundance of macroinvertebrates in the benthos. The interactive effects that were observed suggest that habitat complexity can modify the effects of temperature on important ecosystem functions and community structure, which may alter energy flow through the food web. Given that warming is likely to increase habitat complexity, particularly at higher latitudes, more studies should investigate these two major environmental factors in combination to improve our ability to predict the impacts of future global change.     

Some effects of temperature on respiration in decapodan crustaceans

Temperature variation effects respiration rate, acid-base balance and transport of respiratory gases by the haemolymph in crustaceans. Their responses to hypoxia and salinity variation are temperature dependent, as in the threshold for the onset of facultative air-breathing.     

Oyxgen and temperature effects on soybean seed coat respiration rates

Soybean (Glycine max (L.) Merr) seed coat respiration rates in response to changing O₂ concentration and temperature were examined experimentally and with a mathematical analysis. The experimental observations showed seed coat respiration rates were sensitive to O₂ concentration below 0.25 micromole O₂ cm⁻³. There was a steady decline in respiration rates from the saturating O₂ concentration down to about 0 to 0.03 micromole O₂ per cubic centimeter. Seed coat respiration rates were found to change linearly with temperature between 8 and 28°C. The explanation for these results was sought by examining the diffusion of O₂ into the vascular bundles of the soybean seed coat. Differential equations describing O₂ uptake in two distinct zones of the vascular bundle were solved. The outer zone was assumed to be O₂ saturated and respiration proceeded at a constant rate per unit volume. The inner zone was assumed to have respiration rates which were linearly dependent on O₂ concentration. The solution of this mathematical model showed considerable similarity with the experimental results. Respiration rates were predicted to saturate at about 0.31 micromole O₂ per cubic centimeter and to decrease curvilinearly below that concentration. While the mathematical model predicted an exponential response in respiration rate to temperature, it was found that the exponential response is difficult to distinguish from a linear response in the temperature range studied experimentally. Consequently, both the experimental and theoretical studies showed the importance of O₂ diffusion into soybean seed coat vascular bundles as a potential restriction on respiration rates. In particular, it was suggested that increases in the total length of the vascular bundles in the soybean seed coat was the major option for increasing the total respiratory capability.     

Some aspects of respiration and respiration inhibitors in low temperature effects of the cotton plant

Respiration of leaf tissue from cotlon plants in the nine leaf stage was found to be severely reduced at temperatures below 15°C. In another study, young cotton plants were exposed to chilling temperature (2.8°C) for 72 hours and the ability of the plant tissues to recover respiration at normal temperatures (15 and 25°C) was examined at periodic intervals. Chilling exposures of 12 hours injured cotton tissues as indicated by increased respiratiou of leaves and roots at 25°C. Further chilling malerially reduced the capacity of the leaves to re-estahlish normal respiration rales at higher temperatures. Picolinic acid, Dexon and matonate were used to study the influence of respiratory inhibitors on the chill damage of the collon plants. The chemicals were applied six hours before cold exposure aud fhe growth and development of cold injured plants was studied to indicate the effectiveness of the treatments. Tissue weights at the final harvests indicated that picolinic acid and Dexon treated plants recovered better after cold injury than the untreated plauts. The results suggest thai 15°C may be a critical temperaliire for many physiological processes of the cotton plant because the supply of energy needed for plant reactionsis restricted due to inadequate respiration. They also indicate that the disturhances in respiration are among the early effects of chilling colton plants and may be the cause of delayed growth and development of cotton plants subjccled to non-lethal chilling exposures. It is concluded that chemicals like picolinie acid and Dexon may he effective through protection of specific systems rather than a general reduction of respiration.     

The infection of nymphal Baetisbicaudatus by the mermithid nematode Gasteromermis sp.

1. This study reports the infection in nymphs of a bivoltine mayfly host ( Baetis bicaudatus ) in a high-elevation watershed by the mermithid nematode Gasteromermis sp. Infection by Gasteromermis causes mortality in two ways. Fifty per cent of the infections do not successfully develop beyond the initial stage of penetration and result in the early death of both host and parasite.
2. Infected hosts that survive this initial stage are rendered completely sterile by the infection (reproductively dead). In addition to complete sterility, the emergence size of parasitized nymphs is reduced and development time lengthened compared with unparasitized nymphs.
3. Parasite infection levels are stable from year to year at one site, but with a higher incidence of infection in the mayfly summer generation. Size differences between the generations at the time of infection may account for their different susceptibilities.
4. Within a year infection levels vary seasonally and spatially from 1 to 71%. Seasonally, there is a condensation of parasitized hosts towards the end of development as unparasitized nymphs emerge earlier. Spatially, infection levels show a downstream decline that may result from upstream dispersal by infected hosts or differential parasite survivorship at different elevations.     

The effect of temperature on soil respiration

лсследедовались кривые респирации образцов разцов почвы и компоста при температурах от 8 до 48о С. В пределах 8-28х С повышение температуры проявляется только ускорением процессов, характеризуемых коз??ициентом Q₁₀ 1,6 2,0. Начиная с 38с С, проявляются аномалии: можно наблюдать частичное угнетение респирации, а кроме того максимумы, похожие не максимумы после прибавления субстрата. Зти максимумы обьясняют реактивной оксидацией в результате повышения температуры. Прибавление глюкозы к почве С еще ольше повышает зтот максимум. Вообще все аномалии у почвы С проявляются гораздо выразительнее.чем У компоста, который в течение созревания прошел стадией самосгревания.- Далее исследедовалась скорость респирации при переменах температуры во время опыта как в присутствии, так и в отсутсвии субстрата. На респирационной кривой можно после повышения ния температуры с 8 до 28о С наблюдать характерное переходное явление, которое в боих случаях, т. е. как для почры С, так и для компоста, отражается и на зндогенной респирации, и на респирационной кривй оксидации глюкозы (по отчислении зндогенной респирации).- В заключение высказыватмя нзгляд, что зто переходное явление предстанляет не аномалию, а общее явление, сопровождающее перемены температуры. Обсуждается его природа. лзучение влияния температуры на респирационные коивые, а в особенности изучение аномалтй и перходых явлений, может дать ценные ин?ормации об органическом вещестре почвы и о его минерализации.     

Potential effects of three antibiotics on community respiration and production measurements

The effects of three commonly available antibiotics (tetracycline hydrochloride, streptomycin and neomycin sulfate) on the micro-Winkler and D.O. probe oxygen techniques and on the pH method of CO₂ determination were investigated in the laboratory to assess potential effects on community metabolism measurements.All three antibiotics significantly altered O₂ and CO₂ concentrations through time. The results demonstrate that the use of the three antibiotics as bacterial respiratory inhibitors in community metabolism studies could cause significant overestimations of community respiration when measured as CO₂, and significant underestimation of primary productivity and overestimation of respiration when measured as O₂.     

Modelling temperature effects on growth–respiration relations of maize

The temperature dependence of plant growth rate is related to the temperature dependence of respiratory metabolism. To determine how the effects of temperature on respiration rate and efficiency are transmitted to growth, this study measured the dark metabolic heat rate ( q ) and CO₂ production rate ( R _CO2) in excised shoots of seedlings of 14 maize cultivars ( Zea mays L.) at several temperatures. The temperature coefficients of q and R _CO2 differ within a given cultivar and also differ among the cultivars. Both q and R _CO2 exhibit an isokinetic temperature of 20 ± 3 °C. The measured temperature dependences of q and R _CO2 were used to model the temperature dependences of both growth and substrate carbon conversion efficiency. This procedure may be useful in determining the suitability of cultivars for growth in a given climate and in understanding metabolic adaptation to climate.     

The embryonic cell lineage of the nematode Rhabditophanes sp

One of the unique features of the model organism Caenorhabditis elegans is its invariant development, where a stereotyped cell lineage generates a fixed number of cells with a fixed cell type. It remains unclear how embryonic development evolved within the nematodes to give rise to the complex, invariant cell lineage of C. elegans. Therefore, we determined the embryonic cell lineage of the nematode, Rhabditophanes sp. (family Alloionematidae) and made detailed cell-by-cell comparison with the known cell lineages of C. elegans, Pellioditis marina and Halicephalobus gingivalis. This gave us a unique data set of four embryonic cell lineages, which allowed a detailed comparison between these cell lineages at the level of each individual cell. This lineage comparison revealed a similar complex polyclonal fate distribution in all four nematode species (85% of the cells have the same fate). It is striking that there is a conservation of a 'C. elegans' like polyclonal cell lineage with strong left-right asymmetry. We propose that an early symmetry-breaking event in nematodes of clade IV-V is a major developmental constraint which shapes their asymmetric cell lineage.     

Growth and lipid accumulation properties of a freshwater microalga Scenedesmus sp. under different cultivation temperature

Microalgal lipid is a promising feedstock for biodiesel production. Effect of cultivation temperature on the growth and lipid accumulation properties of a freshwater microalga Scenedesmus sp. LX1 was studied. Scenedesmus sp. LX1 could grow in a wide range of temperature (10～30°C), and the growth activation energy was 49.3 kJ·mol(-1). The optimal temperature to produce microalgal biomass and lipid was 20°C, and after 15 days of batch cultivation the productivities of 313.3 g biomass·(g P)(-1), 112 g lipid (g P)(-1) and 14.7 g TAGs·(g P)(-1) were obtained. The content of polyunsaturated fatty acids decreased with the increase of cultivation temperature. The reactive oxygen species (ROS) levels at 10°C and 20°C were higher than that under higher temperature. For the first time the cultivation temperature, ROS level, specific growth rate and lipid content per microalgal biomass were correlated together.     

自由生活海洋线虫Chromadorina sp.的生活史研究

线虫种类繁多、分布广泛、数量极丰富,已鉴定的种类有2万多种,据估计其种类约在4万至1千万种之间。秀丽隐杆线虫（Caenorhabditis elegans）因易于培养、生活周期短、细胞结构简单等,被广泛地用作生物学和毒理学研究的模式生物。1990年,Williams等将C．elegans应用于水域、土壤环境的毒理学研究中,Tominaga等提出了以C．elegans为模式生物筛选苯酚类和合成激素毒性和激素活性大小的简便实验系统。[第一段]