Comparative studies on physiological responses to phosphorus in two phenotypes of bloom-forming Microcystis

Toxic Microcystis blooms frequently occur in eutrophic water bodies and exist in the form of colonial and unicellular cells. In order to understand the mechanism of Microcystis dominance in freshwater bodies, the physiological and biochemical responses of unicellular ( 4 strains) and colonial ( 4 strains) Microcystis strains to phosphorus ( P) were comparatively studied. The two phenotype strains exhibit physiological differences mainly in terms of their response to low P concentrations. The growth of four unicellular and one small colonial Microcystis strain was significantly inhibited at a P concentration of 0.2 mg l - 1; however, that of the large colonial Microcystis strains was not inhibited. The results of phosphate uptake experiments conducted using P- starved cells indicated that the colonial strains had a higher affinity for low levels of P. The unicellular strains consumed more P than the colonial strains. Alkaline phosphatase activity in the unicellular strains was significantly induced by low P concentrations. Under P- limited conditions, the oxygen evolution rate, Fv/ Fm, and ETRmax were lower in unicellular strains than in colonial strains. These findings may shed light on the mechanism by which colonial Microcystis strains have an advantage with regard to dominance and persistence in fluctuating P conditions.

Tissue distributions and seasonal dynamics of the hepatotoxic microcystins-LR and -RR in two freshwater shrimps, Palaemon modestus and Macrobrachium nipponensis, from a large shallow, eutrophic lake of the subtropical China

So far no information is available on microcystin (MC) contents in shrimps, prawns or crayfish from natural freshwaters. Tissue distributions and seasonal dynamics of the hepatotoxic MC-LR and -RR in two freshwater shrimps, Palaemon modestus and Macrobrachium nipponensis were studied monthly (during June-November, 2003) in a Chinese lake containing toxic cyanobacterial blooms. The shrimps P. modestus and M. nipponensis accumulated high MCs not only in the hepatopancreas (mean 4.29 and 0.53 mu g g(-1) DW, respectively) but also in the gonad (mean 1.17 and 0.48 mu g g-1 DW, respectively), and the crayfish Procambarus clarkii accumulated as much as 0.93 mu g g(-1) DW in the gonad. This indicates that gonads of these invertebrates are the second important target organ of MCs. P. modestus apparently accumulated more MCs in their organs than M. nipponensis, which might be a reflection of their difference in trophic niche. Eggs of the shrimps accumulated 8.4% (M. nipponensis, 0.27 mu g g(-1) DW) and 29.0% (P. modestus, 2.34 mu g g(-1) DW) of total toxin burden, indicating that MCs had been transferred into offspring from their adults. Among the shrimp muscle samples analyzed, 31% were above the provisional WHO TDI level, suggesting the risk of consuming shrimps in Lake Chaohu. (c) 2005 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Measurement of estrogen activity in two Chinese lakes

Estrogenic activities of samples from two Chinese lakes, Ya-Er Lake and Donghu Lake, were measured by in vitro recombinant yeast assay and found in both lakes polluted with industrial and domestic wastewater. In methanol extracts of lake water samples the estrogen-like activity was higher than in toluene extracts. These results have been inverted for solid samples. Furthermore, the EC50 value of the water samples was close to the original concentration in the lake.

Growth and feed utilization in two strains of gibel carp, Carassius auratus gibelio: paternal effects in a gynogenetic fish

Gibel carp (Carassius auratus gibelio Bloch) is a natural gynogenetic fish which requires sperm of the same or related species to activate egg development. The eggs of one gibel carp were divided into two batches. One batch was 'fertilized' with sperm from gibel carp (strain DD), and the other 'fertilized' with sperm from red common carp (Cyprinus carpio red variety) (strain DR). The juveniles were transferred to the laboratory 36 days post-hatch. Triplicate groups of each strain were fed a formulated diet at either 3% or satiation ration for 8 weeks. At both the restricted and satiation rations, specific growth rate was significantly higher in strain DR than in strain DD. At the 3% ration, there was no significant difference in feeding rate or feed conversion efficiency between the two strains. At the satiation ration, strain DR had a significantly lower feeding rate but higher feed conversion efficiency than strain DD. At the satiation ration, strain DR had a significantly lower intake protein, but higher recovered protein than strain DD. There was no significant difference in faecal protein loss between the two strains. At the 3% ration, strain had no significant effects on intake protein, faecal protein or recovered protein. Neither faecal energy loss nor recovered energy was affected by strain or ration. At both the 3% and satiation ration, final body contents of dry matter and lipid were significantly lower in strain DR than strain DD, while there was no significant difference in protein and energy content between the two strains at either ration level. The results suggested that gibel carp 'fertilized' with sperm of common carp grew faster than those 'fertilized' with sperm of gibel carp through increased feed conversion efficiency and protein retention.

Small fish communities in two regions of the Liangzi Lake, China, with or without submersed macrophytes

Small fish communities were compared between the vegetated and vegetation-free regions of the Liangzi Lake, a shallow lake along the middle reach of the Yangtze River, China. Fish were sampled using 10 x 10 m(2) block nets and poisoning. Three samples were taken from either the near shore area or lake centre of each region. A total of 19 fish species were collected; all species occurred in the vegetated region but only 12 occurred in the vegetation-free region. The dominant small fish were Carassius auratus auratus in the vegetated region and Ctenogobius giurinus in the vegetation-free region. Diversity, density and biomass of small fishes were significantly higher in the vegetated region than in the vegetation-free region in both near shore and lake centre areas. In the vegetated region, density and biomass of small fishes was significantly higher, while species diversity significantly lower in the near shore area than in the lake centre. In the vegetation-free region, density of small fishes was significantly higher in the near shore area than in the lake centre area, but species diversity or biomass was unaffected by location.

RAPD and AFLP techniques for the analysis of genetic relationships in two genera of Decapoda

RAPD was used fur analysing three (sub-)species of mitten crabs (Eriocheir sinensis, E. japonicus, and E. japonicus hepuensis) and three populations of E. sinensis. The results show that their relationships on DNA level are similar to the classical taxonomic hypotheses (Dai, 1991). No diagnostic RAPD marker could be found, but there were statistically significant genetic differences among these taxa (P < 0.001) or populations (P < 0.001). That is, the intraspecific similarities were larger than the interspecific similarities; the intrasubspecific similarities were larger than the intraspecific similarities; and the intrapopulational similarities were larger than the interpopulational similarities. In AFLP analysis, no significant genetic difference has been found between E. sinensis and E. japonicus, but AFLP markers among four species of Macrobrachium (M. rosenbergii. M. nipponense, M. hainanense, and M. asperulum) were found. The DNA similarities among these four species of Macrobrachium are in accordance with morphological similarities.

A comparative study of benthic nematodes in two Chinese lakes with contrasting sources of primary production

Ecological studies on benthic nematodes were conducted in two small, shallow lakes in the middle Yangtze basin, China; Lake Houhu, where the main source of primary production is phytoplankton and Lake Biandantang where it is predominantly macrophytic in origin. Monthly sampling was carried out from April 1996 to March 1997. A total of 36 species of nematodes was found in Lake Houhu and 51 species in Lake Biandantang. The dominant trophic groups of nematodes were algophages in Lake Houhu and bacteriophages associated with omniphages and phytophages in Lake Biandantang. Community analyses based on K-dominance curves, Shannon-Wiener and Simpson diversity indices, demonstrate that the benthic nematodes are more diverse in Lake Biandantang than in Lake Houhu. The results suggest that the abundance of submerged vegetation is essential for maintenance of habitat heterogeneity and biodiversity of nematodes in shallow lakes.

Design of novel polarization beam splitter in two-dimensional photonic crystal

We present the design and the simulation of an ultracompact high efficiency polarization beam splitter (PBS) based on the properties of the light waves propagating in straight waveguide and composite structure photonic crystal. The splitting properties of the PBS are numerically simulated and analyzed by using the plane wave expansion (PWE) method and finite difference time domain (FDTD) method. The PBS consists of three parts, namely, input waveguide, beam structure and output waveguide. It is shown that a high efficiency and a large separating angle for TE mode and TM mode can be achieved. Owing to these excellent features, including small size and high rate, the PBS makes a promising candidate in the future photonic integrated circuits.

High efficiency operation of butt joint line-defect-waveguide microlaser in two-dimensional photonic crystal slab

Butt joint line-defect-waveguide microlasers are demonstrated on photonic crystal slabs with airholes in a triangular lattice. Such microlaser is designed to increase the output power from the waveguide edge directly. The output power is remarkably enhanced to 214 times higher by introducing chirped structure in the output waveguide. The lasing mode operates in the linear dispersion region of the output waveguide so that the absorption loss due to the band-edge effect is reduced. The laser resonance is illustrated theoretically using the finite difference time domain method. A practical high power efficiency of 20% is obtained in this microlaser. (C) 2008 American Institute of Physics.

Anisotropic spin transport in two-terminal mesoscopic rings: Rashba and Dresselhaus spin-orbit interactions

We theoretically investigate the spin transport in two-terminal mesoscopic rings in the presence of both the Rashba spin-orbit interaction (RSOI) and the Dresselhaus spin-orbit interaction (DSOI). We find that the interplay between the RSOI and DSOI breaks the original cylindric symmetry of the mesoscopic rings and consequently leads to the anisotropic spin transport, i.e., the conductance is sensitive to the positions of the incoming and outgoing leads. The anisotropic spin transport can survive even in the presence of disorder caused by impurity elastic scattering in a realistic system.

Lifetime distribution of spontaneous emission from line antennas in two-dimensional quasi-periodic photonic crystals

We investigate the lifetime distribution functions of spontaneous emission from line antennas embedded in finite-size two-dimensional 12-fold quasi-periodic photonic crystals. Our calculations indicate that two-dimensional quasi-periodic crystals lead to the coexistence of both accelerated and inhibited decay processes. The decay behaviors of line antennas are drastically changed as the locations of the antennas are varied from the center to the edge in quasi-periodic photonic crystals and the location of transition frequency is varied.

Neutron irradiation effect in two-dimensional electron gas of AlGaN/GaN heterostructures

AlGaN/GaN heterostructures have been irradiated by neutrons with different influences and characterized by means of temperature-dependent Hall measurements and Micro-Raman scattering techniques. It is found that the carrier mobility of two-dimensional electron gas (2DEG) is very sensitive to neutrons. At a low influence of 6.13 x 10(15) cm(-2), the carrier mobility drops sharply, while the sheet carrier density remains the same as that of an unirradiated sample. Moreover, even for a fluence of up to 3.66 x 10(16) cm(-2), the sheet carrier density shows only a slight drop. We attribute the degradation of the figure-of-merit (product of n(s) x mu) of 2DEG to the defects induced by neutron irradiation. Raman measurements show that neutron irradiation does not yield obvious change to the strain state of AlGaN/GaN heterostructures, which proves that degradation of sheet carrier density has no relation to strain relaxation in the present study. The increase of the product of n(s) x mu of 2DEG during rapid thermal annealing processes at relatively high temperature has been attributed to the activation of Ge-Ga transmuted from Ga and the recovery of displaced defects.

Tuning of plasmon propagation in two-dimensional electrons

It is shown theoretically that the propagation of plasmons can be tuned by an external electric field via spin-orbit interactions in a two-dimensional electron gas formed in a semiconductor heterostructure. This may provide a manageable way of transmitting quantum information in a quantum device. A possible plasmon field effect transistor is proposed.

Thermal entanglement in two qutrits system

The thermal entanglement in a two-qutrit system with two spins coupled by exchange interaction is investigated in terms of the measure of entanglement called "negativity". It is found that the thermal entanglement is present and evolvements symmetrically between both ferromagnetic and antiferromagnetic exchange couplings with the temperature. Moreover the critical temperature at which the negativity vanishes increases with the exchange coupling constant J. From the temperature and magnetic field dependences we demonstrate that the temperature and the magnetic field can affect the feature of the thermal entanglement significantly.