环境因子对两种海洋双壳类幼体趋性行为中的调节作用

本文研究了温度、盐度和重金属等几种因子对缢蛏和长牡蛎幼体趋地性和趋光性行为的影响。结果表明:1)降低温度能增强缢蛏幼体的正趋地性,而长牡蛎幼体却由正趋地性转变为负趋地性,同时两种幼体的正趋光性受到抑制作用;升高温度对缢蛏幼体趋光性的影响不明显,但能加强牡蛎幼体的正趋光性。2)盐度提高时缢蛏幼体的正趋光性趋于增强,正趋地性趋于减弱。3)重金属Cu和Zn在各自的亚致死浓度下具有提高缢蛏幼体正趋地性和降低正趋光性的作用,而牡蛎幼体的正趋地性却趋于减弱,正趋光性趋于增强。本文据上述幼体的行为变化,还讨论了这几种因子对幼体垂直分布的调节作用。     

Do positive interactions between marine invaders increase likelihood of invasion into natural and artificial habitats?

Positive species interactions such as facilitation are important for enabling species to persist, especially in stressful conditions, and the nature and strength of facilitation varies along physical and biological gradients. Expansion of coastal infrastructure is creating hotspots of invasive species which can spillover into natural habitats, but the role of positive species interactions associated with biological invasions remains understudied. Theory suggests that stronger biotic pressure in natural habitats inhibits invasion success. In space-limited marine systems, sessile organisms can overcome this limiting resource by settling as an epibiont on a substrate organism – basibiont. Using a series of spatially extensive surveys, we explored the role of invasive and native basibionts in providing habitat for other invasive and native epibionts, and tested whether environmental context (i.e. if the receiving habitat was natural or artificial), altered ecological outcomes. Overall, provision of space by basibionts was more important for invasive epibionts than for native epibionts but was dependent on the environmental context. Invasive basibionts facilitated invasive epibionts in natural habitats, and appeared to be more important for native epibionts in artificial habitats respectively. Native basibionts facilitated invasive, but not native epibionts in both natural and artificial habitats. These results advance our understanding of facilitation and highlight the idiosyncratic nature of biofouling and epibiosis, and the potentially important influence of environmental context. The degree to which native habitat-forming species versus invasive habitat-forming species either do or do not facilitate other native or non-native species is a rich area for investigation. Experimental work is required to disentangle the processes underpinning these patterns.     

东太平洋赤道海域茎柔鱼的营养生态位和肠道微生物组成

掌握海洋生物的营养生态位特征及其应对环境变化的响应机制,对于评估渔业和气候变化对海洋生态系统功能的影响至关重要。茎柔鱼(Dosidicus gigas)是东太平洋重要的渔业经济物种,在生态系统中具有承上启下的重要生态作用。在气候变化的大背景下,掌握茎柔鱼应对气候变化的响应过程将有利于合理把控其资源状况。本研究采用稳定同位素和高通量技术手段,分别从宏观和微观角度量化比较分析了正常时期和厄尔尼诺时期赤道海域的茎柔鱼营养生态位、肠道长度及肠道微生物组成。结果表明: 不同气候时期茎柔鱼的δ¹³C值存在显著差异,说明食物来源具有差异性;其肠道微生物主要由放线菌门、拟杆菌门、蓝细菌门、厚壁菌门、变形菌门和软壁菌门组成,不同时期微生物群落组成无显著差异,但多样性和相对丰度差异显著。在厄尔尼诺时期,茎柔鱼个体具有较小的营养生态位、较长的肠道、更高的肠道微生物群落多样性及丰富度;肠道微生物的差异主要体现在厚壁菌门、拟杆菌门、螺旋体门、WPS-2和Kiritimatiellaeota,样本距离更为集中。这表明由厄尔尼诺事件导致的栖息地环境及食物变化可能限制茎柔鱼的活动,改变其肠道微生物的结构和功能,有利于其适应环境及食性的变化。     

Field Chronobiology of a Molluscan Bivalve: How the Moon and Sun Cycles Interact to Drive Oyster Activity Rhythms

The present study reports new insights into the complexity of environmental drivers in aquatic animals. The focus of this study was to determine the main forces that drive mollusc bivalve behavior in situ. To answer this question, the authors continuously studied the valve movements of permanently immersed oysters, Crassostrea gigas, during a 1-year-long in situ study. Valve behavior was monitored with a specially build valvometer, which allows continuously recording of up to 16 bivalves at high frequency (10?Hz). The results highlight a strong relationship between the rhythms of valve behavior and the complex association of the sun-earth-moon orbital positions. Permanently immersed C. gigas follows a robust and strong behavior primarily driven by the tidal cycle. The intensity of this tidal driving force is modulated by the neap-spring tides (i.e., synodic moon cycle), which themselves depend of the earth–moon distance (i.e., anomalistic moon cycle). Light is a significant driver of the oysters' biological rhythm, although its power is limited by the tides, which remain the predominant driver. More globally, depending where in the world the bivalves reside, the results suggest their biological rhythms should vary according to the relative importance of the solar cycle and different lunar cycles associated with tide generation. These results highlight the high plasticity of these oysters to adapt to their changing environment. (Author correspondence: d.tran@epoc.u-bordeaux1.fr)     

TLR4-dependent effects of ISAg treatment on conventional T cell polarization in vivo

We recently demonstrated that the polysaccharide component of the Korean medicinal herb Angelica gigas (immuno-stimulatory fraction of A. gigas; ISAg) induces anticancer effects in mice by activating natural killer (NK) and natural killer T (NKT) cells. However, it is unclear whether the use of ISAg in vivo can affect the differentiation of conventional T cells. Here, we investigated the effects of ISAg on the activation of conventional CD4⁺ and CD8⁺ T cells. We found that the administration of ISAg induced the polarization of CD4⁺ T cells toward the acquisition of the Th1 phenotype in vivo. Additionally, in mice treated with ISAg, CD8⁺ T cells produced more IFNγ than in control mice treated with PBS. Moreover, treatment with ISAg activated CD4⁺ and CD8⁺ T cells as well as NK and NKT cells, resulting in the secretion of Th1-type cytokines in a toll-like receptor 4 (TLR4)-dependent manner, implying that TLR4 is critical for an optimal Th1 response. Interestingly, ISAg treatment increased the number of Foxp3⁺ Treg cells, but not of Th2 cells, compared to control mice treated with PBS, indicating that ISAg possesses an immunomodulatory capacity that can control adaptive immune responses. Taken together, our results indicate that ISAg possesses a Th1-enhancing activity that could be used to treat Th2-mediated allergic immune diseases such as atopic dermatitis.     

Nematopsis gigas n. sp. (Apicomplexa), a parasite of Nerita ascencionis (Gastropoda, Neritidae) from Brazil

A new species of Nematopsis (Apicomplexa, Porosporidae) is described from the mantle tissues of the seawater gastropod, Nerita ascencionis (Neritidae), collected in the Atlantic North off the coast of "Fernando de Noronha" Island (3 degrees 47' 57' S, 32 degrees 25' 12' W) situated about 350 km from the northeast coast of Brazil. Numerous oocysts, each contained in a parasitophorous vacuole, were found in the cytoplasm of phagocytes in the mantle tissue of the host. The phagocytes were surrounded by a thin wall composed of lucent material. The phagocyte cytoplasm contained a nucleus surrounded by numerous vesicles and some dense masses. The oocysts were 21.9 +/- 0.5 microm long, and 11.5 +/- 0.6 microm wide. The oocyst wall was 0.18-0.25 microm thick, and the apical zone contained a micropyle, 1.0-1.2 microm in diameter, covered by a canopy-like operculum about 0.25 microm thick. Externally, the oocyst wall was surrounded by numerous anastomosing microfibrils attached to the wall and extending towards the periphery of the parasitophorous vacuole. Some microfibrils formed a dense complex network that surrounded the oocyst in the middle of the parasitophorous vacuole, which opened only at the apical zone near the external region of the opercular system. On the basis of the data obtained by light and transmission electron microscopy and host specificity, the gregarine Nematopsis gigas is distinguished from the nearest species as a new species. The taxonomic affinities and morphological comparisons with other similar species of the same genus are discussed.     

Characterization of microsatellite DNA markers in a critically endangered species,Mekong giant catfish,Pangasianodon gigas

Microsatellite DNA markers for a critically endangered Mekong giant catfish (Pangasianodon gigas Roberts and Vidthayanon, 1991) were developed from fin clips collected from captive fish using (GT)₁₅ probe. The number of alleles per locus ranged from two to four. The expected heterozygosities ranged from 0.13 to 0.68. Also, these primers were successfully amplified in four closely related species, Pangasius bocourti, Pangasius conchophilus, Pangasius larnaudii and Pangasius sanitwongsei with the number of alleles per locus ranged from 1 to 13, 1 to 16, 1 to 12 and 1 to 4, respectively. These markers should prove to be very useful for the evaluation of genetic diversity for this species and other related Pangasius species.     

Identification of bacterial diversity in the oyster Crassostrea gigas by fluorescent in situ hybridization and polymerase chain reaction

AIMS: To carry out a rapid and reliable identification of bacterial diversity in the oyster Crassostrea gigas from Todos Santos Bay, México, in the current study we applied the molecular techniques of fluorescent in situ hybridization (FISH) and polymerase chain reaction (PCR). In order to reach this goal, genus and group-specific oligonucleotides targeted to 16S rDNA/rRNA were used. METHODS AND RESULTS: Oysters were collected and different tissues were analysed by means of culture-independent methodologies. In the digestive glands and gonads gamma-Proteobacteria and Gram-positive bacteria with a low G+C content, were identified as metabolically active by FISH. In the oyster gills a higher active diversity was observed, including Gram-positive bacteria with a low and high G+C content, members of the Cytophaga/Flavobacterium cluster and gamma-Proteobacteria. Consistent with FISH analysis, the amplification of 16S rDNA genes fragments with genus and group-specific oligonucleotides confirmed the presence of the same groups, as well as members of the alpha- and beta-Proteobacterias, Pseudomonas spp. and Bacillus spp. CONCLUSIONS: The combination of accurate and very easy-to-apply molecular methods allowed us to carry out a rapid screening of high bacterial diversity in oysters. SIGNIFICANCE AND IMPACT OF THE STUDY: This work is the first report about bacterial diversity in oyster tissues analysed by FISH and PCR, without using culture-dependent methods and allowed us to determine the phylogenetic diversity of the bacterial communities present in oyster cultures, including bacteria with and without metabolic activity, as well as uncultivable cells, which are generally underestimated by traditional identification.     

Assessment and comparison of the Marennes-Oléron Bay (France) and Carlingford Lough (Ireland) carrying capacity with ecosystem models

Based on the individual growth, food limitation,population renewal through seeding, and individualmarketable size, a theoretical model of the culturedspecies population dynamics was used to assess thecarrying capacity of an ecosystem. It gave adome-shape curve relating the annual production andthe standing stock under the assumption of individual growth limited by the available food inan ecosystem. It also showed the influence ofmortality rate and marketable size on this curve andwas introduced as a means to explore the globalproperties resulting from the interactions betweenthe ecophysiology of the reared species and theenvironment at the ecosystem level. In a second step, an ecosystem model was built to assess the carryingcapacity of Marennes-Oléron bay, the mostimportant shellfish culture site in France, with astanding stock of Crassostrea gigas around 100000tonnes fresh weight (FW) and an annual production of30000 tonnes FW. The ecosystem model focused on theoyster growth rate and considered the interactionbetween food availability, residence time of thewater, oyster ecophysiology and number ofindividuals. It included a spatial discretization ofthe bay (box design) based on a hydrodynamic model,and the nitrogen or carbon cycling betweenphytoplankton, cultured oysters, and detritus. Fromsimulations of the oyster growth with differentseeding values, a curve relating the total annualproduction and the standing stock was obtained. Thiscurve exhibited a dome shape with a maximumproduction corresponding to an optimum standingstock. The model predicted a maximum annualproduction of 45000 tonnes FW for a standing stockaround 115000 tonnes FW. The prediction confirmedsome results obtained empirically in the case ofMarennes-Oléron bay and the results of thetheoretical model. Results were compared with thoseobtained in Carlingford Lough (Ireland) using asimilar ecosystem model. Carlingford Lough is asmall intertidal bay where the same species iscultured at a reduced scale, with current biomassless than 500 tonnes FW. The model showed that thestanding stock can be increased from 200 tonnes FWto approximately 1500 tonnes FW before any decreaseof the production. This revised version was published online in August 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.