Feeding chronology,daily ration,and the effects of temperature upon gastric evacuation in the pipefish,Syngnathus fuscus

Synopsis Feeding chronology, daily ration, and the effects of temperature upon gastric evacuation were examined in the pipefish,Syngnathus fuscus, from field and laboratory data.S. fuscus displayed a pattern of diurnal feeding, characteristic of syngnathids. Daily ration calculations yielded estimates of 4.0 and 4.4% body weight per day, which are comparable to estimates for other teleosts. Evacuation rate was found to be temperature dependent. with more rapid evacuation with increasing temperature. In addition, evacuation rate was found to be positively correlated with gut content. Slowing of evacuation rate with decreasing gut content may allow for increased assimilation efficiency during periods of low food availability. Daily ration, although controlled by the temperature dependence of evacuation rate, may also be controlled by prey abundance; fish maximize food intake during periods of high prey availability, and maximize upon assimilation during periods of low prey availability.Contribution number 1035 of the Virginia Institute of Marine Science of the College of William and Mary.     

应用群分析研究薯蓣的分类

本文是应用群分析研究薯蓣属根状茎组中国分类群分类的一次尝试。分类特征取用了形态学、细胞学、花粉形态和生物化学等多方面的性状进行综合分析;方法和手段上使用了距离系数、相关系数等各种群分析运算方法,并且以综合系数进行评价。不仅取得了与传统分类基本一致的分类结果,为该组植物的系统分类提供富有启发性的参考,同时也为高等植物数量分类研究找到一种最优分类方法一相关系数UPGMA法。     

Feeding induced by opiates injected into the paraventricular hypothalamus

Injection of morphine or d-ala-2-met-5-enkephalinamide (DALA) into the paraventricular nucleus of the hypothalamus (PVN) produced a dose dependent increase in feeding in rats. DALA increased feeding within 45 minutes; morphine within 90 minutes. Naloxone injected into the PVN diminished the effect. DALA increased water intake only when food was available, suggesting the primary effect was on feeding. In summary, an enkephalin analogue induced feeding, and an opiate receptor blocker attenuated it; therefore the PVN may contain opiate receptors that facilitate feeding.     

Feeding habits and food resources of filter-feeding Trichoptera in a regulated mountain stream

A year-round study was conducted to examine feeding habits and food resources of the filter-feeding Trichoptera Arctopsyche grandis and Brachycentrus occidentalis along a regulated mountain stream gradient. There was a well defined longitudinal species replacement with A. grandis reaching maximum densities 2.3 kilometers below the impoundment, and concomitant with its decline downstream was an increase in B. occidentalis. At all sampling sites the < 75 µm organic seston fraction usually consisted primarily of diatoms (>70%, by areal estimate on microscope slides), whereas the 75–250 µm and > 250 µm seston fractions were predominantly composed of detritus (> 80 %). B. occidentalis larvae consumed primarily detritus and diatoms (> 70 % of the diet), while A. grandis ingested a variety of materials with animals, detritus and/or filamentous algae often constituting > 80% of the diet. Animal material was over-represented in the diets of both species when compared with amounts in the seston. Feeding habits provided partial explanations for the distinct longitudinal distribution patterns of filter-feeding Trichoptera observed in the regulated river.     

Reductive cleavage and regeneration of the disulfide bonds inStreptomyces subtilisin inhibitor (SSI) as studied by the carbonyl13C NMR resonances of cysteinyl residues

Summary Four enhanced carbonyl carbon resonances were observed whenStreptomyces subtilisin inhibitor (SSI) was labeled by incorporating specifically labeled [1-¹³C]Cys. The¹³C signals were assigned by the¹⁵N,¹³C double-labeling method along with site-specific mutagenesis. Changes in the spectrum of the labeled protein ([C]SSI) were induced by reducing the disulfide bonds with various amounts of dithiothreitol (DTT). The results indicate that, in the absence of denaturant, the Cys⁷¹-Cys¹⁰¹ disulfide bond of each SSI subunit can be reduced selectively. This disulfide bond, which is in the vicinity of the reactive site scissile bond Met⁷³-Val⁷⁴, is more accessible to solvent than the other disulfide bond. Cys³⁵-Cys⁵⁰, which is embedded in the interior of SSI. This half-reduced SSI had 65% of the inhibitory activity of native SSI and maintained a conformation similar to that of the fully oxidized SSI. Reoxidation of the half reduced-folded SSI by air regenerates fully active SSI which is indistinguishable with intact SSI by NMR. In the presence of 3 M guanidine hydrochloride (GuHCl), however, both disulfide bonds of each SSI subunit were readily reduced by DTT. The fully reduced-unfolded SSI spontaneously refolded into a native-like structure (fully reduced-folded state), as evidenced by the Cys carbonyl carbon chemical shifts, upon removing GuHCl and DTT from the reaction mixture. The time course of disulfide bond regeneration from this state by air oxidation was monitored by following the NMR spectral changes and the results indicated that the disulfide bond between Cys⁷¹ and Cys¹⁰¹ regenerates at a much faster rate than that between Cys³⁵ and Cys⁵⁰.Nomenclature of the various states of SSI that are observed in the present study Fully oxidized-folded native or intact (without GuHCl or DTT) - half reduced-folded (Cys⁷¹-Cys¹⁰¹ reduced; DTT without GuHCl) - inversely half reduced-folded (Cys³⁵-Cys⁵⁰ reduced; a reoxidation intermediate from fully reduced-folded state) - fully reduced-unfolded (reduced by DTT in the presence of GuHCl) - fully reduced-folded (an intermediate state obtained by removing DTT and GuHCl from the fully reduced-unfolded SSI reaction mixture)     

Germination and early establishment of lower salt-marsh species in grazed and mown salt marsh

Abstract. Lower salt-marsh species occur more in the grazed than in the mown sites of a salt marsh in Schiermonnikoog in the Netherlands. This was demonstrated by a sowing experiment which determined which characteristic of the stand structure, height of the canopy or percentage of bare soil, is responsible for this difference. The total number of seedlings which emerged was negatively related to the height of the canopy and positively to the percentage of bare soil. The survival of seedlings of Suaeda maritima and Plantago maritima could be explained by the height of the canopy and for the latter species also by the percentage of bare soil. The survival of Aster tripolium and Plantago maritima was higher in grazed than in mown sites. Since the amount of bare soil was higher than seemed necessary for germination and survival, it was concluded that the taller canopy was responsible for the absence of lower salt-marsh species in the mown sites.     

Effect of crab effluent and scent of damaged conspecifics on feeding,growth, and shell morphology of the Atlantic dogwhelk Nucella lapillus (L.)

Juvenile Nucella lapillus of two different shell phenotypes, exposed shore and protected shore, were maintained in running seawater under each of three experimental conditions for 94 d: a) laboratory control, b) exposed to the effluent of crabs (Cancer pagurus) fed frozen fish (fish-crab), and c) exposed to the effluent of crabs fed live conspecific snails (snail-crab). Rates of barnacle consumption and rates of body weight change varied significantly between phenotypes and among experimental conditions. Individuals from the protected-shore consumed consistently fewer barnacles and grew consistently less than those from the exposed shore. Body weight increases in the fish-crab treatments were from 25 to 50% less than those in the controls and body weights in the snail-crab treatment either did not change or actually decreased. The perceived risk of predation thus appears to have a dramatic effect on the rates of feeding and growth of N. lapillus.At the end of the experiment, size-adjusted final shell weights for both phenotypes were consistently higher than controls (no crab) in both the fish-crab and snail-crab treatments. In addition, apertural tooth height, thickness of the lip, and retractability (i.e. the extent to which a snail could withdraw into its shell), with few exceptions all varied in an adaptive manner in response to the various risk treatments. Similar changes in the shell form of starved snails exposed to the same stimuli suggest very strongly that the morphological responses of both phenotypes were not just due to differences in rates of growth. These differences, at least in part, represented a direct cueing of the shell form of Nucella lapillus to differences in the perceived risk of predation. Somewhat surprisingly, the extent of phenotypic plasticity appeared to differ between the populations examined. Both field and laboratory evidence suggest that the exposed-shore population was much more labile morphologically than the protected-shore population.In many instances, particularly among starved snails, the development of antipredatory shell traits was greater in the fish-crab treatment than in the snail-crab treatment. Because the scent of crabs was present in both treatments, these results suggest a) that, at the frequency/concentration used in the experiments, the scent of damaged conspecifics may have been a supernormal stimulus and b) that the morphological response in these treatments might have been greater if the stimulus had been provided at a lower level.     

Eating, drinking and temperature responses to intracerebroventricular cholecystokinin in the chick

The central effect of cholecystokinin-octapeptide (CCK), SQ 19,844 or sincalide, on the intake of food and water and on colonic temperature (Tc) was investigated using the broiler cockerel. Four-week old chicks were maintained in a thermoneutral environment of 23-24 degrees C. After food was removed for a 24 hr interval, CCK was infused in a volume of 10.0 microliters into the lateral cerebral ventricle (ICV) in doses ranging from 10-150 ng. Although lower doses of CCK had no effect on food intake, 100 or 150 ng of CCK significantly reduced consumption of food in a dose-dependent manner; water drinking was significantly decreased by 100 ng of CCK. In addition, CCK at doses of 100 and 150 ng prevented the slow rise in Tc observed following infusions of control CSF. This latter effect appeared to be a result of feeding activity associated with caloric intake and the heat increment in the control birds rather than a specific thermoregulatory effect. Overall, our results suggest that CCK may comprise a part of the central mechanism underlying the neural control of short term satiety in an avian species similar to that proposed for the mammal.     

Brugia pahangi: Feeding and nutrient uptake in vitro and in vivo

Incubation in vitro of adult Brugia pahangi in an apparatus which permitted the separate exposure of the anterior, middle, or posterior region of the worms to medium-containing radioactively labeled d-glucose, l-leucine, and adenosine has provided evidence that these materials are taken up in physiologically significant amounts by a transcuticular route. No evidence for an oral ingestion of materials has been obtained from worms in vitro, but in vivo an oral uptake of Trypan blue has been demonstrated. The ultrastructure and cytochemical staining reactions for nonspecific esterase, acid phosphatase (EC-3.1.3.2), and leucine naphthylamidase of the gut and body wall are described.