The annual cycle of Synechococcus (cyanobacteria) in the northern Levantine Basin shelf waters (Eastern Mediterranean)

Abundance of picoplanktonic chroococcoid marine cyanobacteria Synechococcus was monitored weekly over the year 1998 in shallow coastal waters of the northern Levantine Basin. The ambient physical, chemical and biological variables (temperature, salinity, Secchi disk depth, total suspended sediment, nitrate, phosphate, Chl a and phytoplankton) were also measured. Synechococcus was found to be more abundant during summer and early autumn and less during winter and early spring. At the surface and 15 m depth, cell concentrations were in the range 6.4 × 10³–1.5 × 10⁵ and 3.2 × 10³–1.6 × 10⁵ cells·ml⁻¹, respectively. Based on the Pearson product–moment correlation analysis, a highly significant correlation between Synechococcus abundance and ambient temperature was observed (n = 40, r = 0.558, P < 0.01). As Synechococcus forms blooms that usually do not last more than a week, the short time‐scale survey achieved in this study was appropriate to reveal its abundance dynamics. Several factors such as rapid changes in nutrient concentration (especially nitrate), phytoplankton, light availability, temperature, salinity, freshwater input and vertical mixing played a relevant role on the abundance of Synechococcus over the year in the highly dynamic shallow coastal waters of the Levantine Basin.     

Species composition and distribution of marine nematode community in the North Taiwan Strait

I~IOW~ne nelnatode is a ban gIOup of benthic OrgAnsrns. Abbot 5 000 spotes Of free-livingnelnatedes have ben dedbo so far, and it has ho estimated that abbot 20 (XX) are as yetunknoWn. Chinese bothologist has Paid attention to marine nelnatodes in China seas in yare. The spatial distribution and shoes commotion of marine nelnatedes in the HUanghe EstUary, Qinhuangdao waters, QingdaO Bay and Xiamen ~ have ho reported (Zhang etal., 1990, 1991, 1993; ac and Li, 1998). ~ new shoes in the…     

舟山沿海单齿螺（Monodonta labio）种群的年龄结构,生物量与生长特征

本文报导了采自舟山沿海单齿螺种群的年龄结构、生物量与生长。自然种群的单齿螺年龄组成以１＾＋和２＾＋龄占优势，壳高、壳宽、壳口高、厣径、体重等生长参数的回归关系良好，单齿螺的生长完全可以用壳高来表示。单齿螺以第一、二年生长最快。采捕季节可定在四、五月间，采捕规格应在壳高１６ｍｍ以上。     

Geophysiology and Parahistology of the Interactions of Organisms with the Environment*

Abstract. Ecology and Global Ecology (GE) are terms by which the relations between the organism (or living matter as a whole) and the environment (or Earth as a whole) have been treated for almost a century. Geophysiology and Parahistology (PH) are terms slowly replacing older scientific thoughts jointly with an increasing number of modifications and alterations of the Darwinian Evolution (DE) concept. Somehow Geophysiology and Parahistology seem to describe evolution in a non-Darwinian domain. According to V.I. Vernadsky (1929,1930,1988) - the great Russian naturalist and biogeochemist - the biogeochemical processes on Earth are controlled by the force of living matter rather than by species associations developing in and with individual ecosystems as expressed by darwinian evolutionary terms. He also claimed that Goethe was incorrectly regarded as a predecessor of DE by some authors (including Darwin) and that “Natur” (nature) and “Lebendige Natur” (the totality of creatures) are two very different things for Goethe. Detailed analyses of microbial mat systems in the German Wadden Sea and in artificial hypersaline WInogradsky columns have shown that the totality of creatures and matter around them i.e., the “lebendige Natur”sensu Goethe or “living matter”sensu Vernadsky of such environments control to a considerable extent the structure, stability. and (geo-)morphology of sediments and thereby the geological structure of the living Earth. These structures do not follow the rules of sedimentation formulated by the laws of Stokes They represent growth structures (Aufwuchs), whose physics and dynamics are controlled by complex fractal systems. The factors controlling the ultimate shape and stabilisation potential of the eventually resulting rocks and fossils are comparable to tissue development in macroorganisms. Also, certain microbial associations in the sub-recent and in the fossil record may be compared to metazoan tissues. Chemical gradients in the sedimentary column, regulated by the interplay of living matter and sluggish (slow-reactive to non-reactive) compounds, combine to create a pattern of porosity and structure of the resulting deposits that clearly indicates microbial influences and especially those of extracellular polymeric substances on the morphology and texture. The combined effects of microbiota or living matter on the sedimentary record are described as parahistology of sediments in analogy of the histology of tissue on a geological scale. This conceptual living tissue made up of microbially generated rocks and ore deposits cycled through metabolic processes and forced into tissue-like structures by microbial biofilms and mats may extend down to the upper mantle of Earth and far up into the stratosphere when Earth is regarded as a living entity over geological periods. We may have to conceive Earth as a living specimen, which is breathing at a frequency of thousands of years instead of the normal physiological breathing rate of man or an insect. Macroorganisms in all terrestrial systems represent the transport and logistic media, which, however, utterly depend on myriads of intra-, inter-, and extracellular microbial symbiotic partners.     

Molecular identification of bloom-forming species Phaeocystis globosa (Pryninesiophyta) and its dispersal based on rDNA ITS sequence analysis

The colony-forming Phaeocystis species are causative agents of dense bloom occurrences in coastal waters worldwide. It is difficult to separate them because of the different morphologies associated with their colonial stages. In this study we applied molecular approaches to analyze the genetic variation of Phaeocystis globosa and Phaeocystis pouchetii from several geographic regions, and to assist in tracing the dispersal of bloom-forming Phaeocystis species in coastal waters of China. The sequences of the internal transcribed spacers (ITS1 and ITS2) of rDNA and the 5.8S ribosomal RNA gene of Phaeocystis strains were determined. Sequence comparison shows that P.globosa was the most divergent to P. pouchetii, exhibiting sequence divergence higher than 0.08. However, lower genetic divergences existed between strains of P.globosa. The sequence comparison of the Phaeocystis rDNA ITS clearly shows that the species isolated from the southeast coast of China is identified as P.globosa rather than P. cf. pouchetii or other species. Furthermore, the significance of rDNA variation in distinct global populations of P.globosa suggested it might have had sufficient time to accumulate detectable mutations at the rDNA locus, supporting the hypothesis of ancient dispersal of P.globosa to many areas, meaning that P.globosa blooms in the coastal waters of China are endemic rather than a newly introduced species or a foreign source. Finally, based on the high divergent region of rDNA ITS, a pair of species-specific primers for P.globosa were designed, they could be useful to detect the presence of this species in mixed plankton assemblages or flagellate stages that are recognized with diffculties by means of conventional microscopy.     

Population dynamics of Callichirus major (Say, 1818) (Crustacea, Thalassinidea) on a beach in northeastern Brazil

We describe the structure, reproductive cycle, fecundity, growth, and mortality of a harvested population of the ghost shrimp Callichirus major. Samples were collected at monthly intervals from September 1999 to October 2000 on an urban sandy beach (08°11′S 34°55′W) in northeastern Brazil. During this period the sex ratio did not differ significantly from 1:1 (0.98 M: 1 F). Minimum and maximum sizes of the Dorsal Oval were 2.59 and 12.19 mm for males and 4.46 and 12.62 mm for females, respectively. Ovigerous females were found throughout the period, except between August and September 2000. Maximum lifespan was estimated as 3.3 and 3.4 years for females and males, respectively. This northeastern population differed from others previously studied in southern and southeastern Brazil, in regard to sex ratio, maximum attained size, maturation size, period and duration of the reproductive cycle, and fecundity. We interpret these regional differences as evidence for over-fishing at the study site, and suggest that large-scale management plans for callianassid populations should use regional population parameters.     

Diet of albacore Thunnus alalunga from the waters of Mauritius (western Indian Ocean) inferred from stomach contents and fatty acid analysis

The diet of albacore Thunnus alalunga from their spawning ground in the waters of Mauritius was investigated. The stomach contents of 249 albacore individuals, caught by industrial longliners and artisanal fishers, was analysed, and the dominant prey taxa were selected for lipid and fatty acid (FA) analysis. The FA profiles of prey were compared with those of liver tissue of spawning-capable and post-spawning female albacore, using multivariate analysis. Whereas stomach content analysis identified cephalopods and crustaceans as the dominant prey items in number, FA-profile analysis identified crustaceans and fishes as the most-frequently consumed prey of post-spawning female albacore. In contrast, the FA profiles of spawning-capable albacore and those of prey showed very low similarity. Analysis of the prey suggests that although cephalopods, crustaceans and fishes could all provide albacore with the required lipids and FAs, cephalopod prey seem to be less desirable owing to their lower energy content (i.e. low in total lipid, triacylglycerol, 16:0, 18:0 and 18:1ω9). Instead, the most beneficial food appeared to be locally available fishes, which are more energy-rich and have a higher docosahexaenoic acid/ eicosapentaenoic acid ratio. These results provide new information on the trophic ecology of albacore, promote our understanding of the importance of prey type for successful reproduction of albacore, and highlight the advantages of FA profiling to study diet.