The Hudson-Raritan Estuary as a crossroads for distribution of blue (Callinectes sapidus), lady (Ovalipes ocellatus), and Atlantic rock (Cancer irroratus) crabs

Blue (Callinectes sapidus)(Portunidae),lady (Ovalipes ocellatus)(Portunidae), and Atlantic rock (Cancer irroratus) (Cancridae) crabs inhabit estuaries on the northeast United States coast for parts or all of their life cycles. Their distributions overlap or cross during certain seasons. During a 1991–1994 monthly otter trawl survey in the Hudson-Raritan Estuary between New York and New Jersey, blue and lady crabs were collected in warmer months and Atlantic rock crabs in colder months. Sex ratios, male:female, of mature crabs were 1:2.0 for blue crabs, 1:3.1 for lady crabs, and 21.4:1 for Atlantic rock crabs. Crabs, 1286 in total, were subsampled for dietary analysis, and the dominant prey taxa for all crabs, by volume of foregut contents, were mollusks and crustaceans. The proportion of amphipods and shrimp in diets decreased as crab size increased. Trophic niche breadth was widest for blue crabs, narrower for lady crabs, and narrowest for Atlantic rock crabs. Trophic overlap was lowest between lady crabs and Atlantic rock crabs, mainly because of frequent consumption of the dwarf surfclam (Mulinia lateralis) by the former and the blue mussel (Mytilus edulis) by the latter. The result of cluster analysis showed that size class and location of capture of predators in the estuary were more influential on diet than the species or sex of the predators.

Larvae of Dactylopsaron dimorphicum (Perciformes: Percophidae) from oceanic islands in the southeast Pacific

Percophids are a family of small marine benthic fishes common over soft bottoms from inshore to the outer slopes in tropical to temperate regions of the Atlantic and in the Indo-West and southeast Pacific (Reader and Neira, 1998; Okiyama, 2000). Five species belonging to four genera have been recorded around the Salas y Gómez Ridge in the southeast Pacific, all of which are endemic to the area except for Chrionema chryseres, a species which also occurs off the Hawaiian Islands and Japan (Parin, 1985, 1990; Parin et al., 1997). Of these five species, larval stages have been described only for Osopsaron karlik and Chrionema pallidum (Belyanina 1989, 1990).

盐角草（Salicornia europaea L.）体外再生体系及floral-dip转化系统的初步研究

盐角草（Salicornia europaea L.）属藜科盐角草属（Salicornia），是迄今已报道过的最为耐盐的真盐生植物之一。跟与其同属的海蓬子（Salicornia bigelovvi Torr.）相比, 它的分布更为广泛。它的种子含油丰富，因此具有发展为油料作物的潜力。此外，它也可以作为蔬菜和饲料。盐角草的组织培养工作为未来的转化研究和胁迫相关基因功能分析提供了有力的工具。本工作中，通过器官发生途径，建立了盐角草的体外再生体系。以完整的成熟种子为起始培养材料，在添TDZ 0.1 mg/L与NAA 1 mg/L的MS培养基上，暗培养三周后在下胚轴处形成愈伤组织，形成愈伤的平均频率为99％。愈伤组织在含TDZ 0.1 mg/L与NAA 1 mg/L的培养基上培养3－4周后分化出芽，分化频率约26.7%。采用2,4-D短时处理法结合添加NaCl，经过6－8周的培养获得了丛生芽，提高了再生频率。分化芽3周后转入含IBA 0.5 mg/L、KN 0.1 mg/L与0.05％活性炭的1/2 MS培养基，3周后生根形成完整植株。同时，本研究也进行了从直接不定芽途径建立盐角草再生体系的试验，但未获成功。 此外，本工作借鉴拟南芥的floral-dip转化法，对建立盐角草floral-dip转化系统进行了尝试。