Role of isovaleroyl lipids in channeling of sound in the porpoise melon

Physical properties (e.g. specific gravity, adiabatic compressibility and sound velocity) of lipids isolated from tissues from contiguous areas of the fatty melon of an echo-locating porpoise (Delphinus delphis) were determined to elucidate relations between lipid composition and structure, and sound transmission in the head. Lipid content varied greatly within the melon (13.6–77.6% of the tissue weight) and triacylglycerols (80–100%) were the major lipid components. This lipid class was composed of diisovaleroylglycerides (triacylglycerols containing two isovaleroyl moieties and a long-chain acyl moiety), monoisovaleroyldiacylglycerols and triacylglycerols consisting of long-chain acids. The lipid-rich (>45%) areas in the melon contained a high proportion (>45% of total triacylglycerols) of diisovaleroylglycerides. There were gradations of sound velocities within the melon; the lowest sound velocities were associated with high concentrations of diisovaleroylglycerides (<1400 m/s) and the highest with high concentrations of long-chain triacylglycerols. Assuming an average sound frequency of 75 kHz, and considering dimensions of melon (path length and width of 12–14 cm and 5 cm, respectively), a forward radiating lobe of 15–25 degrees is produced. Thus, the deposition of lipids of different acoustic properties in a three-dimensional matrix within the porpoise melon results in a lens for the projection of sound into the marine environment.     

DEVELOPMENT, SEXUAL DIMORPHISM, and INDIVIDUAL VARIATION IN THE SKELETON OF THE FINLESS PORPOISE, NEOPHOCAENA PHOCAENOIDES, IN THE COASTAL WATERS OF WESTERN KYUSHU, JAPAN

Development, sexual dimorphism, and individual variation were examined in the skeleton of the finless porpoise in the coastal waters of western Kyushu, Japan. Skulls ceased growing by 4 yr. Postcranial skeletons ceased increasing in size at an age older than 11 yr. The finless porpoise was estimated to attain cranial maturity by 4 yr and physical maturity at 14–23 yr. Sexual dimorphism was not detectable in most of the cranial characters but was detected in more than half of the postcranial characters. Females tended to show larger values of postcranial characters. The shape of the pelvic bone was obviously different between males and females. Thus, a discriminant function was proposed to determine sex using measurements of this bone. Individual variation was greatest in the feeding apparatus such as length of the rostrum, and least in the braincase.     

AGE, GROWTH, AND REPRODUCTION OF THE FINLESS PORPOISE, NEOPHOCAENA PHOCAENOIDES, IN THE COASTAL WATERS OF WESTERN KYUSHU, JAPAN

Abstract: In the coastal waters of western Kyushu, Japan, a total of 97 incidentally taken or stranded finless porpoises, Neophocaena phocaenoides , was collected for studying age, growth and reproduction. An additional 17 specimens from the Inland Sea were used for a comparison of life history. Mean neonatal body length was 78.2 cm. Both males and females grew to around 140 cm by 5 yr of age. The maximum body lengths of males and females in western Kyushu were 174.5 cm and 165.0 cm, respectively, which were smaller than those recorded in other Japanese waters. Females probably attain sexual maturity at ages of 6–9 yr and at body lengths of 135–145 cm. Males probably mature sexually at ages of 4–6 yr, at body lengths of 135–140 cm and at weight of testis of 40–150 g. The lack of females aged 5–6 yr and males aged 4–5 yr precluded firm conclusions on ages at sexual maturity. Parturition in western Kyushu was estimated to be prolonged from autumn to spring, whereas in the Inland Sea and Pacific waters it was restricted from spring to summer with a peak in April. These geographical differences and available information on distribution implies that the finless porpoises in western Kyushu constitute a local population.     

PHD2基因在鲸类低氧信号通路中的功能

为研究鲸类低氧适应的分子机制,文章克隆了不同低氧耐受能力的3个鲸类物种,抹香鲸(Physeter macrocephalus)、白鲸(Delphinapterus leucas)和长江江豚(Neophocaena phocaenoids asiaeorientalis)的脯氨酸羟化酶2(PHD2)。通过对其序列进行分析,发现3个物种PHD2的氨基酸序列非常保守。通过对这3个物种的PHD2的功能进行探究发现:3个物种的PHD2在常氧情况下均可以降解3个物种的HIF-α(包括HIF-1α和HIF-2α)蛋白,而在低氧(O₂浓度小于2%)情况下,PHD2则无法明显降解HIF-α蛋白。在常氧下,鲸类的PHD2降解HIF-α是依赖于识别鲸类的HIF-1α上LTLLAP和LEMLAP,HIF-2α的LAQLAP和LETLAP氨基酸片段,推测PHD2是通过对HIF-α序列中的脯氨酸位点进行羟基化修饰后,被VHL-E3泛素连接酶复合体所识别,发生泛素化降解。而在低氧条件下,PHD2的活性受到抑制HIF-α不能被VHL-E3泛素连接酶复合体识别,发生降解。研究对3种不同低氧耐受能力...     

DIET OF HARBOR PORPOISES IN THE KATTEGAT AND SKAGERRAK SEAS: ACCOUNTING FOR INDIVIDUAL VARIATION AND SAMPLE SIZE

Stomach contents of 112 bycaught harbor porpoises ( Phocoena phocoena ) collected between 1989 and 1996 in the Kattegat and Skagerrak seas were analyzed to describe diet composition and estimate prey size, to examine sample size requirements, and to compare juvenile and adult diets. Although porpoises preyed on a variety of species, only a few contributed substantially to the diet. Atlantic herring ( Clupea harengus ) was the dominating prey species for both juveniles and adults. Our results, in combination with those from previous studies, suggest that where herring is a dominant food source, porpoises prey primarily on size classes containing mature or maturing individuals. Further, we also show that Atlantic hagfish ( Myxine glutinosa ) may be an important food resource, at least for adult porpoises. Examination of sample size requirement showed that, depending on the taxonomic level used to describe the diet, a minimum of 35–71 stomachs are needed to be confident that all common prey species will be found.     

Male mating success in an aquatically mating pinniped, the harbour seal (Phoca vitulina), assessed by microsatellite DNA markers

Similar to many other pinniped species, harbour seals ( Phoca vitulina ) mate exclusively at sea. Here we present the first attempt to measure male mating success in an aquatically mating pinniped. Male mating success was estimated by paternity analysis in two cohorts of pups born at Sable Island, Nova Scotia, Canada, using microsatellite DNA markers. The genotypes of 275 pups born in 1994 and 1995 were compared to those of 90 candidate males at six microsatellite loci using a likelihood approach to resolve paternity. Paternity could be assigned for two, 22, 40 and 85 pups at confidence levels of 95, 80, 65 and 50%, respectively. Most successful males were assigned the paternity of a single offspring, suggesting a low variance in male mating success relative to most pinniped species. The proportion of paternal half sibs within cohorts and between maternally related sibs estimated by maximum likelihood were not significantly different from zero. It is thus unlikely that most offspring were sired by a small number of highly successful unsampled males, and that female harbour seals do not usually exhibit fidelity to the same male in sequential breeding seasons. A low level of polygyny in Sable Island harbour seals is consistent with predictions based on their breeding ecology, as females are highly mobile and widely dispersed in the aquatic mating environment at Sable Island.     

长江江豚重要栖息地清节洲水域鱼类群落结构

长江清节洲水域是长江江豚的重要栖息地之一,为了解该水域鱼类群落结构特征,于2017年4月、7月、10月和2018年2月对该水域鱼类群落进行了季节性调查。调查共采集鱼类38种,隶属于5目8科29属,其中鲤科鱼类占优势,占总种类数的68.4%。相对重要性指数结果显示鱼类群落优势种为贝氏?（Hemiculter bleekeri）、似鳊（Pseudobrama simony）、银鲴（Xenocypris argentea）和刀鲚（Coilia nasus）。按生活习性划分,定居性鱼类占绝对优势,占总种数的78.9%;在空间上,中上、中下和底层鱼类分布较为均衡,占总种数的比例依次为36.8%,28.9%和34.2%;从食性上划分,杂食性和肉食性鱼类较多,分别占总种数的44.7%和39.5%。Shannon-Weiner指数、Simpson指数、Margalef指数和Pielou均匀度指数依次分别为0.820~1.711,0.601~0.981,1.640~3.423和0.249~0.592。单因素方差分析表明,除春夏季与秋冬季的Margalef指数存在显著性差异（P<0.05）,各指数在时间和空间均无显著性差异（P>0.05）。与历史资料相比,该区域鱼类群落呈现物种多样性降低和群落结构小型化的趋势。因此,建议加强该水域鱼类资源的监测和保护,以维护长江生态系统的稳定与江豚栖息地的适合度。     

舟山港表层沉积物中底栖有孔虫组合特征初步研究

作者对舟山港区43个表层沉积物样品进行定量分析,共鉴定出底栖有孔虫33属60种。研究海域各站位均发现浮游有孔虫壳体,个体细小、属种单一,未发现活体个体。研究海域底栖有孔虫组合以玻璃质壳为主,平均含量86.71%,有孔虫丰度均值为1 676枚/50克,总体有孔虫组合为Ammonia beccarii vars.-A.maruhasii-Epistominella naraensis。研究发现,表层沉积物中大个体有孔虫(Ammonia beccarii vars.等)与小个体有孔虫(Epistominella naraensis)分布与潮流搬运呈密切相关关系,提示可能存在不同的搬运机制。与前人研究相比,研究海域有孔虫组合呈现以下变化:(1)胶结质壳有孔虫含量增加,个别站位出现15.89%的高值;(2)出现耐污染属种;(3)环境敏感属种畸形比例增加。研究表明,沉积搬运作用和环境参数变化是影响研究区有孔虫组合的重要因素,为有孔虫作为环境指标的进一步研究提供了基础数据。     

Structural fiber reinforcement of keel blubber in harbor porpoise (Phocoena phocoena)

This study investigated the functional morphology of the blubber that forms the caudal keels of the harbor porpoise (Phocoena phocoena). Blubber is a pliant biocomposite formed by adipocytes and structural fibers composed of collagen and elastic fibers. Caudal keels are dorsally and ventrally placed triangular wedges of blubber that define the hydrodynamic profile of the porpoise tailstock. Mechanical tests on carcasses demonstrate that when keels are bent, they strain nonuniformly along their lengths, with highest strains just caudal to the dorsal fin and lowest at the insertion of the flukes. Therefore, caudal keels undergo nonuniform longitudinal deformation while maintaining a stable, triangular cross-sectional shape. Polarizing and transmitted light microscopy techniques were used to investigate blubber's 3D fiber architecture along the length of the dorsal keel. The triangular cross-sectional shape of the keel appears to be maintained by structural fibers oriented to act as tensile stays. The construction of the blubber composite is regionally specific :structural fiber densities and diameters are higher in the relatively stiff caudal region of the keel than in the more deformable cranial keel region. The orientations of structural fibers also change along the length of the keel. Cranially, no fibers are oriented along the long axis, whereas a novel population of longitudinally oriented fibers reinforces the keel at the insertion of the flukes. Thus, differences in the distribution and orientation of structural fibers contribute to the regionally specific mechanical properties of the dorsal keel.     

Long-term response of the biotic community to fluctuating water levels and changes in water quality in Cootes Paradise Marsh,a degraded coastal wetland of Lake Ontario

During the early 1900s, more than 90% of the surface area of Cootes Paradise Marsh was covered with emergent vegetation; currently, less than 15% of the surface is covered with aquatic vegetation and the remainder is wind-swept, turbid, open water. The loss of emergent cover is significantly correlated with mean annual water levels that increased more than 1.5 m over the past 60 years. Species diversity and the percent cover of the submerged macrophtye community also declined dramatically after the 1940s, coincident with decreased water clarity and increased nutrients from pollution by sewage and stormwater effluent. Phosphorus levels in the marsh dropped ten-fold after the sewage plant was upgraded to a tertiary-treatment facility in 1978; however, there was no measurable improvement in water clarity, in spite of a decrease in chlorophyll concentrations. Long-term changes in the composition of the planktonic, benthic and fish communities accompanied changes in water clarity, nutrient status and macrophyte cover. Phytoplankton changed from a community dominated by diverse taxa of green algae and diatoms during the 1940s, to a less diverse community dominated by a few taxa of green and blue-green algae in the 1970s, then to a much more diverse community recently, including many taxa of green algae, diatoms and chrysophytes; however, because water turbidity continues to be high, and algae tolerant of low light levels are now very abundant. Daphnia, which were prominent during the 1940s (especially in the vegetated sites) were replaced in the 1970s by smaller zooplankton such as the cladoceran, Bosmina, and several rotifer species including Brachionus, Asplanchna and Keratella. In the recent survey conducted in 1993 and 1994, small-bodied forms still dominate the turbid open-water areas, while medium-sized cladocerans such as Moina were common near macrophyte beds. Generally, total herbivorous zooplankton biomass tended to be highest next to Typha beds and declined with increasing distance from the plants. Conversely, biomass of edible algae at these sites increased with distance from the macrophytes. Species diversity of aquatic insects declined dramatically over the past 40 years, from 57 genera (23 families and 6 orders) in 1948, to 9 genera (6 families and 3 orders) in 1978, to only 5 genera (3 families and 2 orders) in 1995. The diverse benthic community present 5 decades ago has now been replaced by a community consisting primarily of chironomid larvae, oligochaetes and other worms associated with low-oxygen environments. These successional changes illustrate the impact of natural (fluctuating water levels) and anthropogenic (deterioration in water quality) stressors on the character of the biotic communities, and reveal the complex interactions among the various trophic levels and the abiotic environment as degradation and remediation proceeded.