Application of rotifer Brachionus plicatilis in detecting the toxicity of harmful algae

The toxicity of seven major HAB (harmful algal bloom) species/strains, Prorocentrum donghaiense, Phaeocystis globosa, Prorocentrum micans, Alexandrium tamarense (AT-6, non-PSP producer), Alexandrium lusitanicum, Alexandrum tamarense (ATHK) and Heterosigma akashiwo were studied against rotifer Brachionus plicatilis under laboratory conditions. The results show that P. donghaiense, P. globosa, P. micans, A. tamarense (AT-6), or A. lusitanicum could maintain the individual survival and reproduction, as well as the population increase of the rotifer, but the individual reproduction would decrease when exposed to these five algae at higher densities for nine days; H. akashiwo could decrease the individual survival and reproduction, as well as population increase of the rotifer, which is similar to that of the starvation group, indicating that starvation might be its one lethal factor except for the algal toxins; A. tamarense (ATHK) has strong lethal effect on the rotifer with 48h LC₅₀ at 800 cells/mL. The experiment on ingestion ability indicated by gut pigment change shows that P. donghaiense, P. globosa, P. micans, A. tamarense (AT-6) and A. lusitanicum can be taken by the rotifers as food, but A. tamarense (ATHK) or H. akashiwo can be ingested by the rotifers. The results indicate that all the indexes of individual survival and reproduction, population increase, gut pigment change of the rotifers are good and convenient to be used to reflect the toxicities of HAB species. Therefore, rotifer is suggested as one of the toxicity testing organisms in detecting the toxicity of harmful algae. Supported by the Knowledge Innovation Program of Chinese Academy of Sciences (No. KZCX2-YW-208), National Natural Science Foundation of China (No. 40821004, U0733006) and National Basic Research Program of China (973 Program, No. 2001CB409700)     

武汉东湖沉积物中轮虫休眠卵的分布

报道了１９９２年８月￣１９９３年７月间武汉东湖营养类型不同的３个湖区沉积物中轮虫休眠的卵数量和分布。不论湖区营养类型如何,沉积物中的休眠卵数量均呈“Ｖ”形垂直分布,表层高,底层低,由表向底数量逐渐递减。在３个湖区中,休眠卵的数量随水体营养水平的增高而增加。营养水平最高的Ⅰ站其休眠卵数量年平均为１．３２个／ｃｍ＾３,营养水平较低的Ⅱ、Ⅲ站分别为０．７４个／ｃｍ＾３、０．７１个／ｃｍ＾３。休眠卵的数量     

淮北采煤塌陷区小型湖泊轮虫群落结构的季节变化

2005年3月至2007年2月对淮北采煤塌陷区两个小型湖泊(南湖和乾隆湖)轮虫的群落结构进行了连续两年的调查.南湖共检测到轮虫9属14种,乾隆湖共计15属27种.乾隆湖轮虫年平均密度为1916 ind./L,约为南湖(198.4 ind./L)的近10倍.乾隆湖和南湖轮虫的最大密度分别为6915和1185 ind./L.在南湖和乾隆湖轮虫的季节动态中,冬、春季以前额犀轮虫为主,夏、秋季以多肢轮虫、异尾轮虫为主.在南湖,长肢多肢轮虫、暗小异尾轮虫和小链巨头轮虫分别占年平均密度的24.4％、24.0％和23.0％.在乾隆湖,暗小异尾轮虫、长肢多肢轮虫和裂痕龟纹轮虫分别占年平均密度的31.5％、27.2％和7.3％.南湖和乾隆湖轮虫的Shannon-Wiener指数范围分别为0～2.06和1.28 ～2.68,平均值分别为0.67和1.99.水温、营养盐和浮游植物生物量对淮北采煤塌陷区小型湖泊轮虫的群落结构具有重要影响.     

褶皱臂尾轮虫(Brachionus plicatilis)复合种休眠卵孵化的调控因子及其作用机制的研究

褶臂尾轮虫(Brachionus plicatilis O.F. Müller，以下简称Bp)和圆形臂尾轮虫(B.rotundiformis Tschugunoff，简称Br)(Segers，1995)是轮虫门(Rotifera)单卵巢纲(Monogononta)的两个海水种或半咸水种，过去曾分别被认为是褶皱臂尾轮虫的L型和S型品系，现统称为褶皱臂尾轮虫复合种(B.plicatilis complex)(Yufera，2001)。由于该种分布广，在世界范围内被广泛用作多种海水鱼的种苗培育的重要开口饵料，因而成为单卵巢纲中最具经济意义和极受各国研究者关注的种类。作为单卵巢纲轮虫的共同特征Bp和Br轮虫进行无性生殖(或孤雌生殖)兼有性生殖，两种生殖世代交替发生而完成其生活周期，休眠卵即是有性生殖的最终产物——卵膜加厚的受精卵(King et al，1977a，b；Snell，1987).在实际生产中，休眠卵是轮虫储存、运输和孵化应用的最理想形式；而在生物学意义上，它不仅是轮虫用以抵抗或度过不良环境期，并向新的生存空间散布或拓展的特殊生活阶段，而且可通过一定时间的休眠和一定条件下的孵化，决定着下一生活周期的起始，从而控制着轮虫生活周期的节奏。尤其是休眠卵经孵化而启动新一轮无性生殖世代，一方面承传和实现了前一世代的遗传特性和基因重组结果，另一方面也为轮虫的生殖表现和遗传特性得以在新环境下产生新的适应性变化提供了条件。鉴于上述重要的实际和理论意义，多年来对休眠卵的休眠与孵化的研究深受各国学者的重视。Gilbert(1974)、 Pourriot等(1983)已就国际上的有关研究进行了详细综述，最近席贻龙等(1999)结合国内的有关报道对该领域的进展亦作了进一步概括。这些论述均泛指单卵巢纲诸多种类的休眠与孵化问题，且多数结果来自淡水轮虫的研究。本文的讨论将主要针对海水或半咸水的褶皱臂尾轮虫复合种，就有关调控或影响其休眠卵孵化的各种内、外因子及其作用机理的研究概况作一综述。     

mtDNA COI基因在轮虫分子系统重建中的意义

为分析mtDNA COI基因在轮虫分子系统重建中的作用．扩增并测定了B．calyciflorus和B．quadridentatus mtDNA COI基因部分序列。通过对扩增序列和Genbank中其它轮虫序列进行比较分析．发现COI序列包含丰富的遗传信息。利用Kimura双参数法计算遗传距离，在属和物种水平上间存在不同程度的遗传分化。利用NJ和MP法构建基因树。各物种形成独立进化枝．在属、科水平上与传统分类结果基本一致．这说明COI在轮虫系统重建中具有重要意义。在种内不同的单元型之间存在着遗传差异，部分种类不同地理种群之间存在较大的遗传变异．因此在系统重建过程中要注意种内多态的影响。     

Effect of UV-B radiation on the feeding behavior of the rotifer Brachionus plicatilis

Effect of UV-B radiation on the feeding behaviour of marine zooplankton is important to assessing the health harm of marine ecosystem due to the gradually enhanced UV-B radiation in air. However, there are a few studies on this topic. The feeding behavior of the rotifer, Brachionus plicatilis, under the treatment of UV-B radiation on five species of microalgae, i.e., Chlorella sp., Tetraselmis chuii, Isochrysis galbana Park 8701, Chaetoceros muelleri Lermumerman, and Nitzschia clostertum, was studied. The results showed that the filtering and feeding rates of the rotifer decreased significantly with the dose increase of UV-B radiation when fed with five species of microalgae respectively (P<0.05) which indicates UV-B radiation inhibits the feeding activities of the rotifer on microalage. The mixed culture experiments shows the rotifer preferred to feed Chlorella sp., then C. muelleri,I. galbana, N. clostertum and T. chuii in turn if without UV-B radiation. Under the highest dose of UV-B radiation treatment (2.70 kJ/m2), the rotifer preferred to feed C. muelleri, then Chlorella sp., N. clostertum, I. galbana and T. chuii in turn. Chlorella sp., I. galbana and C. muelleri became the more favorite foods of the rotifer while T. chuii and N. clostertum became less favorite foods. The change of feeding rate and feeding selectivity of zooplankton driven by the enhanced UV-B radiation will lead to the change in the structure of phytoplankton community.     

锯缘青蟹幼体饵料蛋白质的营养价值评价

本文分析测定了锯缘青蟹幼体从刚孵化至大眼幼体各发育阶段及其饵料轮虫和卤虫无节幼体的氨基酸组成，并使用必需氨基酸指数(EAAI)来评价饵料蛋白质的质量.结果表明，青蟹各期幼体的氨基酸组成基本趋于一致，且与饵料转换不存在明显的相关性.对于各期幼体，饵料轮虫和卤虫无节幼体的必需氨基酸指数均大于90，可以认为，轮虫和卤虫无节幼体能够满足锯缘青蟹幼体对饵料中必需氨基酸的营养需求.     

Offspring of aged mothers of rotifer Brachionus calyciflorus shows lower sexual propensity than their elder siblings under crowded conditions

Maternal eff ects are one of the most interesting topics in evolutionary ecology as they can aff ect the rate of evolution and population dynamics by phenotypic manipulation of off spring related to fi tness. At present, studies examining the interaction between maternal environment eff ects and maternal age (birth order) eff ects are scarce. We designed an experiment to reveal whether environmentally induced maternal manipulation works equally on off spring across birth orders in rotifer Brachionus calycifl orus. In the experiment, newborn amictic mothers (F0) were cultured parallelly in low (LD) and high (HD) population density. Off spring (F1) of young (YF0) and old (OF0) mothers in both LD and HD groups were cultured under a crowded condition and the mixis ratios of both F1 and F2 were examined. Results show that F1 from HD-YF0 had a signifi cantly higher mixis ratio and those amictic ones produced daughters (F2 ) with higher mixis ratio in response to crowding than those from HD-OF0. In contrast, no such diff erences among F1 siblings were found in the LD-F0 group. Therefore, the eff ect of maternal age on the sexual propensity of the off spring can be aff ected independently by the maternal population density.     

Application of rotifer Brachionus plicatilis in detecting the toxicity of harmful algae

The toxicity of seven major HAB (harmful algal bloom) species/strains, Prorocentrum donghaiense, Phaeocystis globosa, Prorocentrum micans, Alexandrium tamarense (AT-6, non-PSP producer), Alexandrium lusitanicum, Alexandrum tamarense (ATHK) and Heterosigma akashiwo were studied against rotifer Brachionus plicatilis under laboratory conditions. The results show that P. donghaiense, P. globosa, P. micans, A. tamarense (AT-6), or A. lusitanicum could maintain the individual survival and reproduction, as well as the population increase of the rotifer, but the individual reproduction would decrease when exposed to these five algae at higher densities for nine days; H. akashiwo could decrease the individual survival and reproduction, as well as population increase of the rotifer, which is similar to that of the starvation group, indicating that starvation might be its one lethal factor except for the algal toxins; A. tamarense (ATHK) has strong lethal effect on the rotifer with 48h LC50 at 800 cells/mL. The experiment on ingestion ability indicated by gut pigment change shows that P.donghaiense, P. globosa, P. micans, A. tamarense (AT-6) and A. lusitanicum can be taken by the rotifers as food, but A. tamarense (ATHK) or H. akashiwo can be ingested by the rotifers. The results indicate that all the indexes of individual survival and reproduction, population increase, gut pigment change of the rotifers are good and convenient to be used to reflect the toxicities of HAB species. Therefore, rotifer is suggested as one of the toxicity testing organisms in detecting the toxicity of harmful algae.