Effects of a seasonal salinity change on periphyton biomass in a shallow tropical lagoon

In the Ebrié Lagoon (Cǒte d'Ivoire), growth of periphyton on bamboo stuck in the sediment is at the basis of the acadja, a low-cost system developed in order to enhance aquaculture of omnivorous fish like the tilapia Sarotherodon melanotheron. A survey based on hydrological, bacterial and algal data (including phytoplankton and periphyton) was conducted from November 1992 to June 1993 in an experimental structure. Climatic and hydrological seasonality was marked during the study. Succeeding to a rainy season, the oligohaline situation starting in November was characterized by low bacterial and chlorophyll biomass attached to the bamboo (respectively 1 and 18 mg m⁻²). The mesohaline situation observed from January featured a sharp increase in periphyton biomass, with a maximum in April (16 and 177 mg m⁻² for bacterial and algal biomass, respectively). The flood of the Agnéby river, induced in June by the local rains, originated again oligohaline conditions. The biomass decrease observed in May and June resulted from a shift towards low salinity (from 9.8 to 1.8 psu), a decrease in light availability (combined effects of a decreasing solar radiation during the rainy season and an increase of water turbidity due to the flood) and a lower phytoplankton biomass (therefore limiting the secondary epiphytism potentialities). In this shallow tropical environment characterized by high nutrient concentrations (due to local hydrology and organic nature of the substrate), the combination of seasonal variations of climatic (light availability), hydrological (salinity) and biological (abundance or lack of epiphytic algae) seems to control the periphyton biomass growing on bamboo. Therefore, marked seasonality in the production of resource available for the target fish would limit the interest of the acadja as an aquaculture system in brackish ecosystems.     

Effects of capacity on resource input and the aquatic metazoan community structure in phytotelmata

Aquatic metazoan communities in treeholes and bamboo stumps were studied on Tsushima Island, Japan, in March and June in relation to the habitat size and the resouce amount. The amount of leaf detritus increased with an increase in the capacity (volume) of the phytotelma. The input rate of leaves depended upon the opening area of the phytotelma. Twenty-one metazoan inhabitant taxa consisted of 17 dipteran saprophages, a helodid beetle larva, a nematoda, a naidid, and a predator,Toxorhynchites towadensis mosquito larva. Treeholes harbored 17 taxa and bamboo stumps 20; 16 taxa were common in both phytotelmata. The number of taxa and the biomass of metazoa per phytotelma was positively correlated with the capacity. The densities of dominant saprophages such as helodid, chironomid, andCulicoides larvae were positively correlated with the capacity of phytotelmata, and the variation in their abundance contributed much to the variation in the species composition in individual phytotelmata. With an increase in capacity, treeholes harbored more helodids andCulicoides, whereas bamboo stumps harbored more chironomids andDasyhelea. Thus, the amount of resource, species richness and biomass per phytotelma largely depended upon the capacity, and the difference in community structure between treeholes and bamboo stumps was attributable to the differential colonization patterns of different taxa.     

Cryptophiale sphaerospora sp. nov. occurring onJanetia synnematosa

Cryptophiale sphaerospora sp. nov. is described and illustrated based on a single collection attached to a synnematous fungus,Janetia synnematosa, from a dead bamboo culm. It differs from other species ofCryptophiala in having spherical to subspherical conidia and a cerebroid layer of phialides. The overall morohology of this species is smaller than that of previously described species.     

Arecophila bambusae sp. nov. andA. coronata comb. nov., from dead culms of bamboo

A new species ofArecophila and a species previously known asAmphisphaeria coronata are described and illustrated from dead culms of bamboo.Arecophila bambusae sp. nov. is distinct in the genus in having ellipsoidal ascospores with slightly round ends, and asci with a narrow subapical ring.Arecophila coronata comb. nov. has asci with a wedgeshaped apical ring and weakly striated ascospores enclosed in wide mucilaginous sheath.