Quantification of invertebrate predation and herbivory in food chains of low complexity

Zooplankton grazing impact on algae, heterotrophic flagellates and bacteria, as well as invertebrate predation on herbivorous zooplankton, were investigated in two sub-Antarctic lakes with extremely simple food chains. The two species of herbivorous zooplankton present in the lakes (the copepods boeckella michaelseni and Pseudoboeckella poppei) exerted substantial grazing pressure on algae. However, the dominant algal species exhibited properties that enabled them to avoid (large size or extruding spines, e.g. Staurastrum sp., Tribonema sp.) or compensate (recruitment from the sediment, Mallomonas sp.) grazing. There are only two potential invertebrate predators on the herbivorous copepods in the two lakes: the copepod Parabroteas sarsi and the diving beetle Lancetes claussi. Vertebrate predators are entirely abscent from sub-Antarctic lakes. Based on our experiments, we estimated that the predators would remove at most about 0.4% of the herbivorous copepods per day, whereas planktivorous fish, if present in the lakes, would have removed 5–17% of the zooplankton each day. Consequently, the invertebrate predators in these high-latitude lakes had only a marginal predation impact compared to the predation pressure on zooplankton in the presence of vertebrate predators in temperate lakes. The study of these simple systems with only two quantitatively functionally important trophic links, suggests that high grazing pressure foreces the algal community towards forms with grazer resistant adaptations such as large size, recruitment from another habitat, and grazer avoidance spines. We propose that due to such adaptations, predictions from food web theory are only partly corroborated, i.e. algal biomass actually increases with increasing productivity, although the grazer community is released from predation. In more species-rich and complex systems, e.g temperate lakes with three functionally important links, such adaptations are likely to be even more important, and, consequently, the observable effects of trophic interactions from top predators on lower trophic levels even more obscured.     

An ultrastructural comparison betweenSpermatozopsis andDunaliella (Chlorophyceae)

The ultrastructure of the type species of the genusDunaliella, D. salina, has been reinvestigated in an attempt to clarify the relationships betweenDunaliella andSpermatozopsis. Dunaliella salina differs in the following ultrastructural characters fromSpermatozopsis (as exemplified byS. similis Preisig etMelkonian): presence of a distinctive surface coat covering the plasmalemma; presence of a prominent pyrenoid (with pairs of thylakoids partially entering the pyrenoid matrix); dictyosomes parabasal; endoplasmic reticulum closely underlying the plasmalemma around most of the cell; contractile vacuoles absent; cell form ovoid to elongated and not spirally twisted; mitochondrial profiles near the flagellar apparatus. Differences in the ultrastructure of the flagellar apparatus: basal body angle more or less fixed; distal connecting fibre cross-striated; system II fibre (rhizoplast) present, associated with mitochondrial profile; system I fibre underlying two-stranded microtubular root; mating structure present. These ultrastructural differences justify distinction between the two taxa at generic level. The problematical status of freshwater species ofDunaliella is briefly discussed.     

Mixotrophic Protists In Marine and Freshwater Ecosystems

ABSTRACT Some protists from both marine and freshwater environments function at more than one trophic level by combining photosynthesis and panicle ingestion. Photosynthetic algae from several taxa (most commonly chrysomonads and dinoflagellates) have been reported to ingest living prey or nonliving particles, presumably obtaining part of their carbon and/or nutrients from phagocytosis. Conversely, some ciliates and sarcodines sequester chloroplasts after ingestion of algal prey. Plastid retention or "chloroplast symbiosis" by protists was first demonstrated < 20 years ago in a benthic foraminiferan. Although chloroplasts do not divide within these mixotrophic protists, they continue to function photosynthetically and may contribute to nutrition. Sarcodines and ciliates that harbor endosymbiotic algae could be considered mixotrophic but are not covered in detail here. the role of mixotrophy in the growth of protists and the impact of their grazing on prey populations have received increasing attention. Mixotrophic protists vary in their photosynthetic and ingestion capabilities, and thus, in the relative contribution of photosynthesis and phagotrophy to their nutrition. Abundant in both marine and freshwaters, they are potentially important predators of algae and bacteria in some systems. Mixotrophy may make a stronger link between the microbial and classic planktonic food webs by increasing trophic efficiency.     

Flagellar and cytoskeletal systems in amitochondrial flagellates: Archamoeba,Metamonada and Parabasala

Summary The hypothesis that protists without mitochondria, the so-called Archezoa of Cavalier-Smith, are primitive has received some support from rRNA sequence studies on Microsporidia and Diplomonadida. In spite of the lack of mitochondria the archezoan groups of protists show considerable differences in their organization: mastigont and cytoskeletal system, mitosis, Golgi apparatus, hydrogenosomes. This paper examines the characters of the flagellar apparatus and its associated cytoskeleton to obtain clues used for phylogenetic consideration on the three cited groups of flagellates. Archamoebae of the Pelobiontida order comprising families such as Pelomyxidae and Mastigamoebidae share common features: a rudimentary mastigont system composed of only one basal body giving rise to a poorly motile flagellum and a basal body associated microtubular cone capping the nucleus. No Golgi apparatus has been detected.Metamonada, comprising three orders: Retortamonadida, Diplomonadida, and Oxymonadida, have been tentatively assembled on the basis of the absence of mitochondria, Golgi apparatus, and basal body arrangement. They all have four basal bodies arranged in two pairs with always one recurrent flagellum generally included in a cytostomal depression. The recurrent basal body/flagellum is in relation to recurrent microtubular fibers. However, they display marked differences in their cytoskeletal system and fiber ultrastructure indicating a distant evolutionary relationship. The presence of a corset of microtubules in retortamonads and three microtubular fibers are distinguished in diplomonads, as well as a paracrystalline preaxostyle and axostyle in oxymonads are features that lend support to these groups being highly divergent.Parabasala, comprising the orders Trichomonadida and Hypermastigida, is a monophyletic group with a set of homologous features such as the presence of the same arrangement of four basic basal bodies, the parabasal apparatus (striated fibre supporting Golgi), the microtubular pelta-axostyle complex, the external mitotic apparatus (crypto-pleuro-mitosis), the hydrogenosomes. These three phyla appear distantly related, the Parabasala being a homogeneous group, perhaps also the Pelobiontida, while the Metamonada is heterogeneous and composed of three evolutionary lineages. Additional information such as rRNA and protein sequence data could contribute to a better understanding of the phylogenetic relationships among these groups.Abbreviations EM electron microscopy - MTOC microtubule organizing centre - PF parabasal fibre     

13C-NMR study of CO2-fixation during the heterotrophic growth in Chlorobium thiosulfatophilum

The functioning of the biosynthetic pathways of the amino acids alanine, glycine, aspartic acid, glutamic acid and tyrosine, and of nucleosides in the photosynthetic bacterium Chlorobium thiosulfatophilum during heterotrophic growth on ¹³CO₂ and unlabelled acetate was investigated using ¹³C-NMR as the method for determination of the labelling patterns of the separated substances. On the basis of the analysis of the multiplet structure of the spectra of the tightly-coupled systems, the conclusion was drawn that the Calvin cycle does not function in the experimental conditions used. The labelling pattern of the glutamic acid indicated that about 30% of the amino acid molecules were synthesized through the reactions of the reductive carboxylic acid cycle, the remaining 70% being derived from oxaloacetate and exogenous acetate through the reactions of the Krebs cycle. Labelling patterns of the nucleosides were in agreement with their known biosynthetic pathways.     

Ultrastructural Studies of Certain Aspects of the Development of Trypanosoma congolense in Glossina morsitans morsitans*

SYNOPSIS The course of Trypanosoma congolense infections in Glossina morsitans morsitans was followed by electron-microscopic examination of ultrathin sections of the guts and proboscises of infected flies. Guts dissected from flies 7 days after infection with culture procyclic forms of T. congolense had heavy trypanosome infections in the midgut involving both the endo- and ectoperitrophic spaces. Trypanosomes were also seen in the process of penetrating the fully formed peritrophic membrane in the central region of the midgut. By post infection day 21, trypanosomes had reached the proboscis of the fly and were found as clumps of epimastigote forms attached to the labrum by hemidesmosomes between their flagella and the chitinous lining of the food canal. Desmosome connections were observed between the flagella of adjacent epimastigotes. Flies examined at postinfection days 28 and 42 had, in addition to the attached forms in the labrum, free forms in the hypopharynx.     

Artificially Induced Symbiosis Between Marine Flagellates and Vertebrate Tissues in Culture*

SYNOPSIS. Algal symbiotes isolated from marine invertebrate hosts, and grown axenically in culture, have been successfully combined in artificial associations with chick fibroblasts and grunt (Haemulon sp.) fin explants. Growth (measured by cell numbers and chlorophyll a) is stimulated in both symbiotes and host cells. Studies of nitrogen uptake and exchange suggest that these artificial associations are similar to other, natural symbioses involving invertebrate hosts, e.g. the hermatypic corals.     

Enumeration of heterotrophs, fecal coliforms and Escherichia coli in water: comparison of 3M Petrifilm plates with standard plating procedures

A total of 177 naturally contaminated water samples were analyzed by membrane filtration according to the Standard Methods for the Examination of Water and Wastewater published by the American Public Health Association. Filters were incubated in parallel on mHPC-agar and 3M™ Petrifilm™ Aerobic Count Plates (Petrifilm™ AC plates) for heterotrophic counts. Fecal coliforms and Escherichia coli were enumerated on mFC-agar and 3M™ Petrifilm™ E. coli/Coliform Count Plates (Petrifilm™ EC plates). Typical colonies on each media type were confirmed following standard procedures. Heterotrophic counts were between 10³ and 10⁴ CFU/mL and the average log₁₀ counts obtained on Petrifilm™ AC plates were about two-fold lower than on mHPC-agar. Counts for fecal coliforms and E. coli were between 10² and 10³ CFU/mL. Average log₁₀ counts for confirmed fecal coliforms obtained on Petrifilm™ EC plates were slightly lower than on mFC agar with a correlation coefficient of 0.949. The average log₁₀ counts for confirmed E. coli on Petrifilm™ EC plates and on mFC agar were statistically not different (P=0.126) with a correlation coefficient of 0.879. Specificity of Petrifilm™ EC plates and mFC agar was evaluated by comparing typical colony counts with confirmed counts. On mFC agar, counts for typical colonies were by 2 log₁₀ CFU higher than the actual confirmed counts. In contrast, on Petrifilm™ EC plates typical colony counts were almost identical to confirmed colony counts for both fecal coliforms and E. coli. This comparison illustrates the high specificity of Petrifilm™ EC plates for enumeration of both fecal coliforms and E. coli in water.     

Identification of Heterotrophic Nanoflagellates by Restriction Fragment Length Polymorphism Analysis of Small Subunit Ribosomal DNA

Thirty clones derived from twenty isolates of heterotrophic nanoflagellates originating from a variety of marine and freshwater environments were examined by restriction fragment length polymorphism analysis of small subunit ribosomal RNA genes amplified by the polymerase chain reaction (riboprinting). The data were compared with light and electron microscopical identification of the isolates. On morphological criteria, sixteen of the thirty clones belonged to the genus Paraphysomonas De Saedeleer, seven to the genus Spumella Cienkowski, four to the genus Pteridomonas Penard and three to the genus Cafeteria Fenchel and Patterson. Among these taxa, eleven ribotypes were detected by analysis with the restriction enzymes Hinf I, Hae III, Sau3A I, and Msp I. Differentiation of nanoflagellate taxa by the riboprinting method supported taxonomic classification based on morphology at the generic and species level. The utility of the method for discriminating the 'naked' flagellates and for confirming the identity of polymorphic forms among species of Paraphysomonas is demonstrated.