The effect of salinity on the reproduction of coastal submerged macrophytes in experimental communities

The effects of salinity on the reproduction of coastal submerged macrophyte species were studied on samples of communities from six seasonal marshes in two outdoor experiments performed in autumn and in spring. The submerged macrophyte communities were submitted to five different salinity levels (0, 1, 2, 4 and 6 g/1 Cl^?1). In a companion paper (Grillas, van Wijck & Bonis 1993) three groups of species were distinguished on the basis of their biomass production over the salinity range 0 to 6 g/1 Cl^?1: (1) glycophytes (non-salt-tolerant species), (2) salt-tolerant species and (3) halo-phytes. This part of the study describes the impact of salinity on the reproduction of the individual species during the two experiments. The species differ in their capacity to reproduce in the autumn; only Zannichelliapedunculata and Tolypella hispánica were able to produce fruits in that season. For all species reproduction was greater in spring and strongly correlated with biomass, except for Chara canescens. Differences in reproductive effort over the salinity range amplified the halophytic nature of Ruppia marítima and Chara canescens and the intolerance of Callitriche truncata and Chara contraria. For the other species, reproductive effort did not differ significantly over the salinity range. Regarding the effect of salinity on biomass and reproductive effort of individual species, there were large differences in the total weight of propagules produced at the community level and in the relative contribution of individual species. The resulting quantitative changes in the species composition of the seed bank could affect the structure of the communities by their effects on the establishment and survival of species populations.     

The effect of salinity on the dominance-diversity relations of experimental coastal macrophyte communities

Salinity and water regime have previously been recognised as the main environmental factors controlling the abundance of coastal submerged macrophytes in temporarily-flooded marshes in the Camargue. The effects of these environmental variables, which are considered interrelated, are tested experimentally by subjecting experimental macrophyte communities from six temporarily flooded marshes to different levels of salinity (from 0 to 6 g/1 Cl^?). Communities subjected to high salinity levels (4 and 6 g/1 Cl~) showed a decrease in species richness and in biomass of all species involved. The species that most frequently dominate these communities, Chara áspera and Zannichellia pedunculata, are tolerant of salt and dominate over the entire salinity range. Three species groups can be distinguished based on the distribution of their biomass and centre of gravity of distribution over the salinity range: (1) non-salt-tolerant species, ‘glyco-phytes’, (2) moderately salt-tolerant species and (3) very tolerant species (‘halophytes’). A species ordination based on the experiments appeared to give results close to those previously obtained from field data.     

Polynuclear iron compounds in human transferrin preparations

During commonly used saturation procedures of transferrin with iron compounds, both as ferri and ferrous, polynuclear iron compounds are easily formed, even when nitrilotriacetate (NTA) is used as a strong iron ligand. The presence of these nonspecific bound irons is demonstrated with Mossbauer spectroscopy and with electronic optical spectroscopy. But no evidence, however, has been found of two different iron binding sites. Because dialysis is not able to remove all polynuclear iron, an easy method with gel filtration has been developed that does remove the polynuclear iron. Some notes are made about the often used method, in transferrin biochemistry, of saturation determination, i.e. the quotient of the absorbances of 470 and 280 nm.