Induction of triploidy in large yellow crocker Pseudosciaena crocea (Richardson, 1846): effects of pressure shocks and growth performance in the first rearing year

The precociously sexual maturation in large yellow crocker Pseudosciaena crocea has become a serious problem. In an attempt to solve this problem, the production of sterile triploids could be an effective strategy. In this study, triploid P. crocea was obtained by subjecting fertilized eggs to pressure shock. Flow-cytometry analysis was used to assess ploidy level. In terms of triploid rate and hatching rate, the optimal conditions of pressure shock for triploidy induction in P. crocea were 7500 psi for 3 min shock at 3 min after fertilization at 20 degrees C. With the application of these parameters, 100% triploid fish were produced. During the first rearing year, triploid P. crocea had a similar growth performance compared with its diploid counterpart before the age of 8 months and showed a significant advantage at the age of 10 and 12 months in body weight and body length (P < 0.05). At the age of 12 months, the carcass weight of triploids was markedly higher than that of diploid control, and gonadal somatic index was significantly lower than that of their diploid control. During the first rearing year, survival in triploid group was 76.44%, inferior to its diploid control (83.21%).

Breaking seasonal limitation: year-round sporogenesis in the brown alga Laminaria saccharina by blocking the transport of putative sporulation inhibitors

Year-round induction of sporogenesis of Laminaria saccharina was performed by mechanically blocking the transport of the putative sporulation inhibitors produced by the blade meristem and culturing the plants in constant short days. Sporogenesis was successfully induced by removal of the blade meristem, either by cultivating distal blade fragments or by performing a transverse cut in the frond. The earliest sorus formation after artificial induction was 10 days. The age of the sporophytes used for induction was 6-11 months or 2 years in tank-grown or field-collected sporophytes, respectively. Zoospores were successfully released in all cases. Thus, by year-round artificial induction of sporogenesis, (1) sporeling production of L. saccharina and thereafter sporophyte cultivation could be achieved without seasonal limitation, and (2) the life cycle of L. saccharina (from spore to spore) could be completed within 8 months under controlled conditions. (C) 2004 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Tank cultivation of the red alga Palmaria palmata: Year-round induction of tetrasporangia, tetraspore release in darkness and mass cultivation of vegetative thalli

Field-collected tetrasporophytes of Palmaria palmata were tumbled in 300-L outdoor tanks from January to August at ambient daylength or in a constant short-day (SD) regime (8 h light per day), both at 10 or 15 degrees C. Tetrasporangia were massively induced after 2.5 months under SD conditions at 10 degrees C and completely lacking at 15 degrees C, both under SD or ambient daylength conditions, with a few tetrasporangia present at 10 degrees C and ambient daylength. Elongation rates of tagged tetrasporophytic thalli peaked from March to April in all four conditions, when the biomass densities in the outdoor tanks were close to 2.5 kg fresh weight m(-2). Under all four conditions, juvenile proliferations started to appear in June from the margins of the old fronds, and attained approximately 1 cm in length by the end of July. Approximately 80% of the tetraspores were released during the first three dark phases in a light/dark regime, and the remaining 20% during the light phases. A minimum of 10 min darkness was observed to trigger spore release. White light inhibited tetraspore release, while a similar number of spores were released in continuous red light or in the light/dark regime, although with no significant differences of spore release during subjective days and nights. Sporelings were successfully derived from the released tetraspores for mass propagation of the male gametophyte in 2000-L outdoor tanks in a greenhouse. Mass production of male gametophytic sporelings of P. palmata was completed two times by SD induction of tetrasporangia at 10 degrees C, release of spores in darkness and culturing the sporelings until they were ready to be propagated vegetatively in greenhouse tanks. One experiment lasted from January to October 2001, with spore release in June, and the second from September to April 2003, with spore release in January. These results may support the development of sustainable, year-round Palmaria farming. (c) 2005 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Recent 2000-year geological records of mud in the inner shelf of the East China Sea and their climatic implications

AXIS(14)C dating and grain-size analysis for Core DD2, located at the north of the Yangtze River-derived mud off the Zhejiang-Fujian coasts in the inner shelf of the East China Sea, provide us a high-resolution grain-size distribution curve varying with depth and time. Data in the upper mud layer of Core DD2 indicate that there are at least 9 abrupt grain-size increasing in recent 2000 years, with each corresponding very well with the low-temperature events in Chinese history, which might result from the periodical strengthening of the East Asian Winter Monsoon (EAWM), including the first-revealed maximum temperature lowering event at around 990 a BP. At the same time, the finer grain size section in Core DD2 agrees well with the Sui-Tang Warming Period (600-1000 a AD) defined previously by Zhu Kezhen, during which the climate had a warm, cold and warm fluctuation, with a dominated cooling period of 750-850 a AD. The Little Ice Age (LIA) can also be identified in the core. It starts around 1450 a AD and was followed by a subsequent cooling events at 1510, 1670 and 1840 a AD. Timing of these cold events revealed here still needs to be further verified owing to some current uncertainty of dating we used in this study.

CO2H2O and energy exchange of an Inner Mongolia steppe ecosystem during a dry and wet year

We used an eddy covariance technique to measure evapotranspiration and carbon flux over two very different growing seasons for a typical steppe on the Inner Mongolia Plateau, China. The rainfall during the 2004 growing season (344.7 mm) was close to the annual average (350.43 mm). In contrast, precipitation during the 2005 growing season was significantly lower than average (only 126 mm). The wet 2004 growing season had a higher peak evapotranspiration (4 mm day(-1)) than did the dry 2005 growing season (3.3 mm day(-1)). In 2004, latent heat flux was mainly a consumption resource for net radiation, accounting for similar to 46% of net radiation. However, sensible heat flux dominated the energy budget over the whole growing season in 2005, accounting for 60% of net radiation. The evaporative rate (LE/R-n) dropped by a factor of four from the non-soil stress to soil water limiting conditions. Maximum half-hourly CO2 uptake was -0.68 mg m(-2) s(-1) and maximum ecosystem exchange was 4.3 g CO2 m(-2) day(-1) in 2004. The 2005 drought growing stage had a maximum CO2 exchange value of only -0.22 mg m(-2) s(-1) and a continuous positive integrated-daily CO2 flux over the entire growing season, i.e. the ecosystem became a net carbon source. Soil respiration was temperature dependent when the soil was under non-limiting soil moisture conditions, but this response declined with soil water stress. Water availability and a high vapor pressure deficit severely limited carbon fixing of this ecosystem; thus, during the growing season, the capacity to fix CO2 was closely related to both timing and frequency of rainfall events. (c) 2007 Published by Elsevier Masson SAS.