Aquatic resource conservation - The first Yangtze finless porpoise successfully born in captivity

Background. As the sole freshwater subspecies of finless porpoise (Neophocaena phocaenoides), the Yangtze finless porpoise (N. p. asiaeorientalis) lives only in the middle and lower reaches of the Yangtze River and its appended Poyang and Dongting Lakes. As a result of human activity on the river, including over and illegal fishing, pollution, transportation and dam construction, the population of Yangtze finless porpoises has been steadily and rapidly decreasing during the past several decades, which leads the animal to be endangered. Methods. For saving this unique animal from extinction, three corresponding measures, in situ conservation, ex situ conservation, and intensifying breeding research in captivity, were proposed and have been implemented since the 1980s. Results. After successfully rearing the animals in captivity for almost nine years, the first Yangtze finless porpoise was successfully born in captivity on July 5, 2005. The calf is male, with a body length of 69 cm. This is the first freshwater cetacean ever born in captivity. Conclusion. The successful birth of this calf confirms that it is possible to breed the Yangtze finless porpoise in captivity. Furthermore, this will greatly benefit the conservation efforts, and also greatly bolster our on-going efforts to study the reproductive biology of these animals. Recommendation. More studies and efforts are expected to establish a sustainable, captive colony of the Yangtze finless porpoise, which will not only greatly expand our knowledge about the reproduction biology of this animal, but also help to redeem the wild population through a careful yearly 'soft releasing' process.

Relationships among the contents of total phenolics, soluble carbohydrate, and free amino acids of 15 aquatic macrophytes

In order to examine how carbon and nitrogen status of a macrophyte may affect its total phenolics (TP) production, the contents of free amino acids (FAA), soluble carbohydrate (SC) and TP were examined in leaves of seven submersed, four floating-leaved, and four emergent macrophytes. The floating-leaved and emergent macrophytes had much higher contents of SC and TP than the submersed macrophytes. The contents of FAA were not significantly different among the submersed, floating-leaved, and emergent macrophytes. Correlations among the contents of FAA, SC, and TP indicated that the production of TP was more dependent on the SC content than on the FAA content.

Culture of the terrestrial cyanobacterium, Nostoc flagelliforme (Cyanophyceae), under aquatic conditions

Both colonies and free-living cells of the terrestrial cyanobacterium, Nostoc flagelliforme (Berk. & Curtis) Bornet & Flahault, were cultured under aquatic conditions to develop the techniques for the cultivation and restoration of this endangered resource. The colonial filaments disintegrated with their sheaths ruptured in about 2 days without any desiccating treatments. Periodic desiccation played an important role in preventing the alga from decomposing, with greater delays to sheath rupture with a higher frequency of exposure to air. The bacterial numbers in the culture treated with seven periods of desiccation per day were about 50% less compared with the cultures without the desiccation treatment. When bacteria in the culture were controlled, the colonial filaments did not disintegrate and maintained the integrity of their sheath for about 20 days even without the desiccation treatments, indicating the importance of desiccation for N. flagelliforme to prevent them from being disintegrated by bacteria. On the other hand, when free-living cells obtained from crushed colonial filaments were cultured in liquid medium, they developed into single filaments with sheaths, within which multiple filaments were formed later on as a colony. Such colonial filaments were developed at 15, 25, and 30degreesC at either 20 or 60 mumol photons.m(-2).s(-1); colonies did not develop at 180 mumol photons.m(-2).s(-1), though this light level resulted in the most rapid growth of the cells. Conditions of 60 mumol photons.m(-2).s(-1) and 25degrees C appeared to result in the best colonial development and faster growth of the sheath-held colonies of N. flagelliforme when cultured indoor under aquatic conditions.

Trade-off between reciprocal mutualists: local resource availability-oriented interaction in fig/fig wasp mutualism

The mechanisms that prevent competition (conflict) between the recipient and co-operative actor in co-operative systems remain one of the greatest problems for evolutionary biology. Previous hypotheses suggest that self-restraint, dispersal or spatial con

In situ nutrient removal from aquaculture wastewater by aquatic vegetable Ipomoea aquatica on floating beds

Nutrient-rich effluents caused rising concern due to eutrophication of aquatic environment by utilization of a large amount of formula feed. Nutrient removal and water quality were investigated by planting aquatic vegetable on artificial beds in 36-m(2) concrete fishponds. After treatment of 120 days, 30.6% of total nitrogen (TN) and 18.2% of total phosphorus (TP) were removed from the total input nutrients by 6-m(2) aquatic vegetable Ipomoea aquatica. The concentrations of TN, TP, chemical oxygen demand (COD) and chlorophyll a in planted ponds were significantly lower than those in non-planted ponds (P<0.05). Transparency of water in planted ponds was much higher than that of control ponds. No significant differences in the concentration of total ammonia nitrogen (TAN), nitrate nitrogen (NO3-N) and nitrite nitrogen (NO2--N) were found between planted and non-planted ponds. These results suggested that planting aquatic vegetable with one-sixth covered area of the fishponds could efficiently remove nutrient and improve water quality.