Communities of gastrointestinal helminths of fish in historically connected habitats: habitat fragmentation effect in a carnivorous catfish Pelteobagrus fulvidraco from seven lakes in flood plain of the Yangtze River, China

Background: Habitat fragmentation may result in the reduction of diversity of parasite communities by affecting population size and dispersal pattern of species. In the flood plain of the Yangtze River in China, many lakes, which were once connected with the river, have become isolated since the 1950s from the river by the construction of dams and sluices, with many larger lakes subdivided into smaller ones by road embankments. These artificial barriers have inevitably obstructed the migration of fish between the river and lakes and also among lakes. In this study, the gastrointestinal helminth communities were investigated in a carnivorous fish, the yellowhead catfish Pelteobagrus fulvidraco, from two connected and five isolated lakes in the flood plain in order to detect the effect of lake fragmentation on the parasite communities. Results: A total of 11 species of helminths were recorded in the stomach and intestine of P. fulvidraco from seven lakes, including two lakes connected with the Yangtze River, i.e. Poyang and Dongting lakes, and five isolated lakes, i.e. Honghu, Liangzi, Tangxun, Niushan and Baoan lakes. Mean helminth individuals and diversity of helminth communities in Honghu and Dongting lakes was lower than in the other five lakes. The nematode Procamallanus fulvidraconis was the dominant species of communities in all the seven lakes. No significant difference in the Shannon-Wiener index was detected between connected lakes (0.48) and isolated lakes (0.50). The similarity of helminth communities between Niushan and Baoan lakes was the highest (0.6708), and the lowest was between Tangxun and Dongting lakes (0.1807). The similarity was low between Dongting and the other lakes, and the similarity decreased with the geographic distance among these lakes. The helminth community in one connected lake, Poyang Lake was clustered with isolated lakes, but the community in Dongting Lake was separated in the tree. Conclusion: The similarity in the helminth communities of this fish in the flood-plain lakes may be attributed to the historical connection of these habitats and to the completion of the life-cycles of this fish as well as the helminth species within the investigated habitats. The diversity and the digenean majority in the helminth communities can be related to the diet of this fish, and to the lacustrine and macrophytic characters of the habitats. The lake isolation from the river had little detectable effect on the helminth communities of the catfish in flood-plain lakes of the Yangtze River. The low similarities in helminth communities between the Dongting Lake and others may just be a reflection of its unique water environment and anthropogenic alterations or fragmentation in this lake.

Monitoring bioaccumulation and toxic effects of hexachlorobenzene using the polyurethane foam unit method in the microbial communities of the Fuhe River, Wuhan

Hexachlorobenzene (HCB) is a chlorinated aromatic hydrocarbon that was widely used for seed dressing in prevention of fungal growth on crops, and also as a component of fireworks, ammunition, and synthetic rubbers. Because of its resistance to degradation and mobility, HCB is widely distributed throughout the environment and is accumulated through food chains in different ecosystems. In this study, a preliminary investigation was carried out on the bioaccumulation and the toxic effects of HCB in the microbial (protozoan in particular) communities in the Fuhe River, Wuhan, a water body receiving industrial wastewaters containing HCB and other pollutants, using the standardized polyurethane foam units (PFU) method. Field samples were taken from eight stations established along the Fuhe River in January and August 2006. The concentration ratios of HCB in microbial communities and in water were 9.66-18.64, and the microbial communities accumulated 13.29-56.88 mu g/L of HCB in January and 0.82-10.25 mu g/L HCB in August. Correlation analysis showed a negative correlation between the HCB contents in the microbial assemblage, and the number of species and the diversity index of the protozoan communities. This study demonstrated the applicability of the PFU method in monitoring the effects of HCB on the level of microbial communities.

Diversity of intestinal helminth communities of carp from six lakes in the flood plain of the Yangtze river, China

The infra- and component communities of intestinal helminths of carp Cyprinus carpio were investigated in six lakes in the flood plain of the lower and middle reaches of the Yangtze River, China. Eight species of helminth parasites were recorded. The intestinal helminth communities were species rich in Niushan and Tonghu lakes where the digenean Asymphylodora japonica was the dominant species, whereas in Qinggang and Yanglan lakes a species-poor helminth community had only one species, Khawia sinensis. The degree of similarity within localities was highest in Qinggang and Yanglan lakes, and was high between communities where K. sinensis was the dominant species. The rich composition of these helminth communities may be because China is the heartland for carp while the poor helminth composition of those in Qinggang and Yanglan lakes may reflect the poor fauna there. It is suggested that species compositions of intestinal helminth communities of carp may be diversified in lakes in the hood plain of the Yangtze River. (C) 1999 The Fisheries Society of the British Isles.

Stress within the postseizure time window inhibits seizure recurrence

Recurrence is a key characteristic in the development of epilepsy. It remains unclear whether seizure recurrence is sensitive to postseizure stress. Here, tonic-clonic seizures were induced with a convulsive dose of pentylenetetrazole (PTZ), and acute seizure recurrence was evoked with a subconvulsive dose of the drug. We found that stress inhibited seizure recurrence when applied 30 minutes or 2 hours, but not 4 hours, after the tonic-clonic seizure. The time-dependent anti-recurrence effect of stress was mimicked by the stress hormone corticosterone and blocked by co-administration of mineralocorticoid and glucocorticoid receptor antagonists. Furthermore, in a PTZ-induced epileptic kindling model, corticosterone administered 30 minutes after each seizure decreased the extent of seizures both during the kindling establishment and in the following challenge test. These results provide novel insights into both the mechanisms of and therapeutic strategies for epilepsy. (C) 2010 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

黄土高原子午岭林区6个典型群落优势种的热值和养分特征

能量流动、物质循环和信息传递共同构成了生态系统三大功能。能量是维持生态系统功能与过程的动力,Jordan(1971)认为能量比干物质更能反映出群落对自然资源(特别是太阳能)的利用情况。Long(1934)率先用热值来表示植物所含能量的多少,此后关于植物热值的研究工作逐渐展开。我国的植物热值研究始于20世纪80年代(杨福囤等,1983;祖元刚等,1986),主要集中在海南(林益明等,2000)、福建(林益明等,2004)、广东(任海等,1999)和浙江(郝朝运等,2006)等热带亚热带植物群落以及内蒙古羊草草原(鲍雅静等,2003),但有关黄土高原地区的植被热值研究尚未见报道。子午岭林区是黄土高原主要的天然次生林区,其植被主要是在弃耕地基础上逐渐恢复起来的(邹厚远等,2002)。由于自然因素与人为因素的影响,子午岭的植被在恢复时间上存在较大差异,形成了处于不同演替阶段的各种植被群落类型。本研究选取的6个代表性植被群落分别是沙棘(Hippophae rhamnoides)群落、山杨(Populus davidiana)群落、白桦(Betula platyphylla)群落、油松(Pinus tabulaeform...

铬污染土壤修复过程中土壤细菌群落多样性的RFLP分析

对污染土壤修复过程中土壤细菌群落多样性的变化进行研究。【方法】以淹水培养后的模拟铬污染土壤为供试材料,通过直接提取土壤中总细菌DNA,利用细菌专一引物克隆细菌16S rDNA片段,分别建立克隆文库。利用PCR-RFLP技术,分析比较了土壤淹水10 d(对照,S1)、添加Cr(Ⅵ)淹水10 d(S2)、添加Cr(Ⅵ)和Fe(OH)3淹水10 d(S3)及20 d(S4)4个处理中土壤细菌群落的变化。【结果】用专一引物克隆细菌16S rDNA片段,分别建立了克隆文库;用限制性内切酶RsaⅠ进行细菌16S rDNA PCR-RFLP分析,分别得到123,120,97和69个酶切类型,库容值分别为54.92%,55.43%,65.33%和76.60%;Shannon-Wiener指数、Gini指数、物种丰富度指数(dMa)和物种均匀度指数(Jgi)均表现为S1>S2>S3>S4,以上4个指数的变异系数分别为11.51%,1.84%,23.64%和1.55%;基于细菌多样性参数的聚类分析结果,将对照S1和添加Cr(Ⅵ)处理的S2归于一类,而2个添加Fe处理的土壤S3和S4聚为一类。【结论】经过10 d淹水处理,...

Soil microbial community analysis using terminal restriction fragment length polymorphisms

Terminal restriction fragment length polymorphism (T-RFLP) analysis is a polymerase chain reaction (PCR)-fingerprinting method that is commonly used for comparative microbial community analysis. The method can be used to analyze communities of bacteria, archaea, fungi, other phylogenetic groups or subgroups, as well as functional genes. The method is rapid, highly reproducible, and often yields a higher number of operational taxonomic units than other, commonly used PCR-fingerprinting methods. Sizing of terminal restriction fragments (T-RFs) can now be done using capillary sequencing technology allowing samples contained in 96- or 384-well plates to be sized in an overnight run. Many multivariate statistical approaches have been used to interpret and compare T-RFLP fingerprints derived from different communities. Detrended correspondence analysis and the additive main effects with multiplicative interaction model are particularly useful for revealing trends in T-RFLP data. Due to biases inherent in the method, linking the size of T-RFs derived from complex communities to existing sequence databases to infer their taxonomic position is not very robust. This approach has been used successfully, however, to identify and follow the dynamics of members within very simple or model communities. The T-RFLP approach has been used successfully to analyze the composition of microbial communities in soil, water, marine, and lacustrine sediments, biofilms, feces, in and on plant tissues, and in the digestive tracts of insects and mammals. The T-RFLP method is a user-friendly molecular approach to microbial community analysis that is adding significant information to studies of microbial populations in many environments.

宁夏黄土区不同植物群落土地利用方式对土壤质量的影响

本文研究了宁夏南部山区典型植物群落土地不同利用方式下土壤质量的变化。结果表明:(1)典型长芒草群落土地,开垦地比封禁地土壤有机质、全氮、全磷、速效氮、速效磷、速效钾养分含量明显降低,降低幅度分别为19.5%、20.1%、17.6%1、3.0%、77.8%和47.5%。脲酶活性为开垦地>封禁地,蔗糖酶则表现为封禁地>开垦地,中性磷酸酶差异不明显。(2)铁杆蒿群落土地三种利用方式下:放牧地土壤有机质、全氮、全磷、速效钾等养分含量较封禁地与开垦地有一定幅度的增加;放牧地的土壤脲酶、蔗糖酶和中性磷酸酶活性均高于封禁和开垦的同土层土壤,封禁地的脲酶和蔗糖酶次之,开垦地的脲酶和蔗糖酶活性最小,开垦地的中性磷酸酶活性高于封禁地。脲酶活性在土层之间变化较小,最高为放牧地表层177.6 mg/(kg.h),最低为开垦地表下层114.5 mg/(kg.h),蔗糖酶活性层次之间变化明显,其中放牧地表层为表下层的3倍左右。长芒草群落土壤表层各级微团聚体表现为封禁地远大于开垦地,铁杆蒿群落土地不同利用方式下各级微团聚体表现不同,结构系数表现为表层>表下层,保持率则为表层<表下层。结构系数与保持率均表现为封禁地>放牧地>开垦地。(3)在...