Gametogenic cycles and reproduction in the beadlet sea anemone Actinia equina (Cnidaria: Anthozoa)

Sexual Actinia equina have been maintained in the laboratory. Monthly biopsies show that these animals have annual gametogenic cycles. Regular samples from several natural populations suggest that animals in the wild show similar gametogenic periodicity. In the laboratory, males release sperm, but females brood young, at least for a few weeks. Members of these broods are released sporadically, usually after a water change. Males and non-sexual adults kept in isolation for over a year release a few juveniles during and at the end of that time. These young are likely to be asexually reproduced. There appears to be geographical variation of anemone size and in the frequency of sexual individuals in populations round the British Coast, so that modes of reproduction may vary.     

The Mode of Transmission of the Acephaline Gregarine Parasites of Earthworms

SYNOPSIS. Speculations regarding the mode of transmission of monocystid parasites of earthworms over a period of more than 100 years have never been tested experimentally under controlled conditions. In order to do so a stock of infectionfree Eisenia foetida (Sav.) was raised from cocoons and experimental infections were induced in this host using sporocysts of the gregarine parasites Apolocystis elongata Phillips & Mackinnon 1946, and Nematocystis elmassiani (Hesse, 1909). Experimental infections were obtained by feeding to uninfected worms sporocysts obtained directly from infected host worms. This proved that the intervention of a vector is not a necessary condition of infection. Infections could not be induced by injecting sporocysts through the body wall into the body cavity. Infections are thus probably acquired in nature by the ingestion of sporocysts. Sporocysts do not leave the body of the host by being passed from coelom to lumen of the gut, nor do they pass directly to the exterior through apertures of the body wall. There was no evidence of parasitic autotomy. It is therefore concluded that death and decay of the host is the normal method of dissemination of sporocysts. Sporocysts were not infective after drying in air for three weeks. Other sporocysts lost potency after storage in moist conditions for several months. Infections involving the organisms specified were sporadic and unpredictable; modifying factors, such as variations in host susceptibility and latency in infection, appeared to be operating.     

Biotic attrition from tropical forests correcting for truncated temperature niches

Species migration in response to warming temperatures is expected to lead to ‘biotic attrition,’ or loss of local diversity, in areas where the number of species emigrating or going locally extinct exceeds the number immigrating. Biotic attrition is predicted be especially severe in the low‐lying hot tropics since elevated temperatures may surpass the observed tolerances of most extant species. It is possible, however, that the estimated temperature niches of many species are inaccurate and truncated with respect to their true tolerances due to the absence of hotter areas under current global climate. If so, these species will be capable of persisting in some areas where future temperatures exceed current temperatures, reducing rates of biotic attrition. Here, we use natural history collections data to estimate the realized thermal niches of > 2000 plant species from the tropical forests of South America. In accord with the truncation hypothesis, we find that the thermal niches of species from hot lowland areas are several degrees narrower than the thermal niches of species from cooler areas. We estimate rates of biotic attrition for South American tropical forests due to temperature increases ranging from 1 to 5 °C, and under two niche assumptions. The first is that the observed thermal niches truly reflect the plant's tolerances and that the reduction in niche breadth is due to increased specialization. The second is that lowland species have the same mean thermal niche breadth as nonlowland and nonequatorial species. The differences between these two models are dramatic. For example, using observed thermal niches we predict an almost complete loss of plant diversity in most South American tropical forests due to a 5 °C temperature increase, but correcting for possible niche truncation we estimate that most forests will retain > 50–70% of their current species richness. The different predictions highlight the importance of using fundamental vs. realized niches in predicting the responses of species to global climate change.     

Differential expression level of cytokeratin 8 in cells of the bovine nucleus pulposus complicates the search for specific intervertebral disc cell markers

Introduction  

Development of cell therapies for repairing the intervertebral disc is limited by the lack of a source of healthy human disc cells. Stem cells, particularly mesenchymal stem cells, are seen as a potential source but differentiation strategies are limited by the lack of specific markers that can distinguish disc cells from articular chondrocytes.