Cell membrane permeability coefficients determined by single-step osmotic shift are not applicable for optimization of multi-step addition of cryoprotective agents: As revealed by HepG2 cells

HepG2 cells have a number of research applications and cryopreservation of these cells would improve supply and thus facilitate the study. Development of effective cryopreservation protocols relies on knowledges of the fundamental mass transport characteristics of HepG2 cell membrane. Currently, the permeability parameters estimated from single-step addition are routinely used to predict the osmotic responses of the cells in multistep protocols, as well as used for prediction of optimal cooling rates. However, the reasonability of this approach has not been rigorously studied. Here we measured the hydraulic conductivity (L_p) and the permeability coefficient (P_s) of HepG2 cells in the absence/presence of dimethyl sulfoxide (Me₂SO) at various temperatures with single and multistep addition of Me₂SO. We found that the permeability yielded via one-step addition of the Me₂SO cannot exactly predict the volume change of the cells when the CPA was added in multiple steps.     

Ecological boundary detection using Carlin–Chib Bayesian model selection

Sharp ecological transitions in space (ecotones, edges, boundaries) often are where ecologically important events occur, such as elevated or reduced biodiversity or altered ecological functions (e.g. changes in productivity, pollination rates or parasitism loads, nesting success). While human observers often identify these transitions by using intuitive or gestalt assignments (e.g. the boundary between a remnant woodland patch and the surrounding farm paddock seems obvious), it is clearly desirable to make statistical assessments based on measurements. These assessments often are straightforward to make if the data are univariate, but identifying boundaries or transitions using compositional or multivariate data sets is more difficult. There is a need for an intermediate step in which pairwise similarities between points or temporal samples are computed. Here, I describe an approach that treats points along a transect as alternative hypotheses (models) about the location of the boundary. Carlin and Chib (1995) introduced a Bayesian technique for comparing non‐hierarchical models, which I adapted to compute the probabilities of each boundary location (i.e. a model) relative to the ensemble of models constituting the set of possible points of the boundary along the transect. Several artificial data sets and two field data sets (on vegetation and soils and on cave‐dwelling invertebrates and microclimates) are used to illustrate the approach. The method can be extended to cases in with several boundaries along a gradient, such as where there is an ecotone of non‐zero thickness.     

Differences in composition of small,motile invertebrate assemblages from seagrass and unvegetated habitats in a southern Australian estuary

Assemblages of small, motile invertebrates (epifauna) from eelgrass(Zostera muelleri) and unvegetated habitats in a shallow, marine-dominatedestuary were compared at five sampling periods over one year. Assemblagesbased on abundance and biomass of 21 taxa from the two habitats groupedseparately in multivariate analyses (MDS ordination), and these groupingswere shown to be significant using an analysis of similarities (ANOSIM)randomisation routine. Secondarily to habitat differences, weak influencesof water temperature and distance to open water, but not of salinity, weredetected at some periods. Abundance and biomass of key taxa and all speciescombined were higha in eelgrass than in unvegetated habitat. Cumaceans wereexceptional in being collected predominantly from unvegetated habitat. Totalepifaunal production and crustacean production estimated using twovariables, (1) the biomass of individuals of each size class, and (2) watertemperature, were also higher in eelgrass than in unvegetated habitat. Thehigher abundance in eelgrass of taxa such as amphipods, harpacticoidcopepods and polychaetes that are major components of the diets of smallfish is consistent with a model explaining higher fish numbers in eelgrassin terms of prey availability.     

巨桉连栽对土壤微生物生物量和数量的影响

为探讨巨桉连栽对土壤微生物生物量和数量的影响,采用时空互换法,研究了马尾松(Pinus massoniana)林和不同连栽代次的巨桉(Eucalyptus grandis)人工林的微生物生物量、数量与土壤理化性质的关系。结果表明,巨桉一代林的土壤微生物生物量碳、生物量氮和土壤真菌、细菌数量与马尾松林的差异不显著,放线菌数量则显著增加。随巨桉连栽代次增加,土壤微生物生物量碳、生物量氮和土壤细菌、放线菌、真菌数量均递减。回归分析表明,土壤全磷能独立解释微生物生物量氮、细菌和真菌数量71.7%、86.1%和63.0%的变异,与总孔隙度共同解释微生物生物量碳87.9%的变异,与全氮共同解释放线菌数量89.6%的变异。可见,土壤全磷较大程度解释了微生物的变化。