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PubMed1998

Phylogenetic position of the Phacotaceae within the Chlamydophyceaeas revealed by analysis of 18S rDNA and rbcL sequences.

Four genera of the Phacotaceae (Phacotus, Pteromonas, Wislouchiella, Dysmorphococcus), a family of loricated green algal flagellates within the Volvocales, were investigated by means of transmission electron microscopy and analysis of the nuclear encoded small-subunit ribosomal RNA (18S rRNA) genes and the plastid-encoded rbcL genes. Additionally, the 18S rDNA of Haematococcus pluvialis and the rbcL sequences of Chlorogonium elongatum, C. euchlorum, Dunaliella parva, Chloromonas serbinowii, Chlamydomonas radiata, and C. tetragama were determined. Analysis of ultrastructural data justified the separation of the Phacotaceae into two groups. Phacotus, Pteromonas, and Wislouchiella generally shared the following characters: egg-shaped protoplasts, a single pyrenoid with planar thylakoid double-lamellae, three-layered lorica, flagellar channels as part of the central lorica layer, mitochondria located in the central cytoplasm, lorica development that occurs in mucilaginous zoosporangia that are to be lysed, and no acid-resistant cell walls. Dysmorphococcus was clearly different in each of the characters mentioned. Direct comparison of sequences of Phacotus lenticularis, Pteromonas sp., Pteromonas protracta, and Wislouchiella planctonica revealed DNA sequence homologies of >/=98. 0% within the 18S gene and 93.9% within the rbcL gene. D. globosus was quite different from these species, with a maximum of 92.9% homology in the 18S rRNA and </=86.6% in the rbcL gene. It showed major similarities to the 18S rDNA of Dunaliella salina, with 95.3%, and to the rbcL sequence of Chlamydomonas tetragama, with 90.3% sequence homology. Additionally, the Phacotaceae sensu stricto exclusively shared 10 (rbcL: 4) characters which were present neither in other Chlamydomonadales nor in Dysmorphococcus globosus. Different phylogenetic analysis methods confirmed the hypothesis that the Phacotaceae are polyphyletic. The Phacotaceae sensu stricto form a stable cluster with affinities to the Dunaliellaes and possibly Haematococcus pluvialis. Dysmorphococcus globosus represented an independent lineage that is possibly related to Chlamydomonas moewusii and C. tetragama.

Chlorophyta↗
PubMed1999

Intraspecies analysis: comparison of ITS sequence data and gene intron sequence data with breeding data for a worldwide collection of Gonium pectorale.

The morphologically uniform species Gonium pectorale is a colonial green flagellate of worldwide distribution. The affinities of 25 isolates from 18 sites on five continents were assessed by both DNA sequence comparisons and sexual compatibility. Complete sequences were obtained (i) for the internal transcribed spacer ITS-1 and ITS-2 regions of ribosomal DNA and (ii) for each of three single-copy spliceosomal introns, two in a small G protein and one in the actin gene. ITS sequences appeared to homogenize sufficiently rapidly to behave as a single copy gene. Intron sequence differences between isolates in this species reached nucleotide substitution saturation, while ITS sequences did not. Parsimony and evolutionary distance analysis of the two types of DNA data gave essentially the same tree conformation. By all these criteria, the group of G. pectorale isolates fell into two main clades, A and B. Clade A, with isolates from four continents, was comprised of four subclades of quite closely related isolates, plus one strain of ambiguous affinity. Clade B was comprised of two subclades represented by South African and South American isolates, respectively; thus, only subclades of clade B showed geographical localization. With respect to mating, all isolates except one homothallic strain and one apparently sterile strain fell into either one or the other of two mating types. Pairings in all possible combinations revealed that isolates from the same site formed abundant zygotes, which germinated to produce new, sexually active organisms. Zygotes were also formed in many pairings of other combinations, including crosses of clade A with clade B organisms, but none of the latter produced viable germlings. The ability to mate and produce viable progeny that were themselves capable of sexual reproduction was restricted to members of subclades established on the basis of DNA sequence similarities. Thus, the grades of difference in both nuclear intron sequences and rDNA ITS sequences paralleled those observed in the sexual analysis.

Actins↗
PubMed2000

Ice shelf microbial ecosystems in the high arctic and implications for life on snowball earth.

The Ward Hunt Ice Shelf (83 degrees N, 74 degrees W) is the largest remaining section of thick (> 10 m) land-fast sea ice along the northern coastline of Ellesmere Island, Canada. Extensive meltwater lakes and streams occur on the surface of the ice and are colonized by photosynthetic microbial mat communities. This High Arctic cryo-ecosystem is similar in several of its physical, biological and geochemical features to the McMurdo Ice Shelf in Antarctica. The ice-mats in both polar regions are dominated by filamentous cyanobacteria but also contain diatoms, chlorophytes, flagellates, ciliates, nematodes, tardigrades and rotifers. The luxuriant Ward Hunt consortia also contain high concentrations (10(7)-10(8) cm-2) of viruses and heterotrophic bacteria. During periods of extensive ice cover, such as glaciations during the Proterozoic, cryotolerant mats of the type now found in these polar ice shelf ecosystems would have provided refugia for the survival, growth and evolution of a variety of organisms, including multicellular eukaryotes.

Animals↗
PubMed2006

An examination of the diversity of a novel Campylobacter reservoir.

The diversity of eukaryotic populations, in particular protozoa, in the water supplies of intensively reared broilers has not been previously studied. This important food-rearing environment was screened for the molecular diversity of eukaryotes by the analysis of PCR-amplified 18S rRNA. DNA was extracted from filtered water samples that were collected from the poultry drinking water systems of five farms. The total genomic DNA was used to produce rRNA-PCR amplicons, which, with the application of TTGE, provided an overview of the eukaryotic population diversity. The rRNA-PCR amplicons were then used to generate 34 random clones that were subject to comparative sequence analysis. Twenty-five of the clones (73.5%) showed high similarity with yeasts and fungi (>92%) and 9 clones demonstrated similarity (>86%) with certain protozoan groups, including flagellates and alveolates. Further studies of the microbial diversity in the previously ignored niche of intensively reared poultry drinking water systems are required, along with subsequent in vitro co-culture assays of the detected protozoa and bacterial strains.

Animals↗
PubMed2000

Acetobacterium tundrae sp nov, a new psychrophilic acetogenic bacterium from tundra soil.

A new psychrophilic, anaerobic, acetogenic bacterium from the tundra wetland soil of Polar Ural is described. The organism fermented H2/CO2, formate, methanol, and several sugars to acetate as the sole end-product. The temperature range for growth was 1-30 degrees C with an optimum at 20 degrees C. The bacterium showed no growth at 32 degrees C. Cells were gram-positive, oval-shaped, flagellated rods 0.7-1.l x 1.1-4.0 microm in size when grown at 1-20 degrees C. At 25-30 degrees C, the cell size increased up to 2-3 x 10-15 microm due to a defect in cell division. The DNA G+C content of the organism was 39.2 mol%. Based upon 16S rDNA analysis and DNA-DNA reassociation studies, the organism was classified in the genus Acetobacterium as a new species, for which the name Acetobacterium tundrae sp. nov. is proposed. The type strain is Z-4493 (=DSM 9173T).

Acetates↗
PubMed1999

Expression of bvgAS of Bordetella pertussis represses flagellar biosynthesis of Escherichia coli.

BvgAS is a two-component system of Bordetella pertussis involved in the reciprocal regulation of the virulence genes and the flagellar biosynthesis. In this study, we found that expression of bvgAS in Escherichia coli also results in reduced motility. The repression was relieved by the addition of known chemical modulators of BvgAS such as MgSO4 and nicotinic acid, indicating that functional BvgAS proteins are required for the negative control of E. coli motility. In addition, BvgAS repressed the transcription of the flhDC master operon of E. coli, which consequently caused non-flagellation on the cell surface. However, expression of BvgAS had no effect on stress-resistant motile mutants of E. coli. These data suggest that E. coli may have BvgA-like protein(s) involved in the regulatory interactions between the stress response and the flagellar biosynthesis.

Bacterial Proteins↗
PubMedDate not supplied

Selective enrichment and characterization of Roseospirillum parvum, gen. nov. and sp. nov., a new purple nonsulfur bacterium with unusual light absorption properties.

A new type of phototrophic purple bacterium, strain 930I, was isolated from a microbial mat covering intertidal sandy sediments of Great Sippewissett Salt Marsh (Woods Hole, Mass., USA). The bacterium could only be enriched at a wavelength of 932 (+/- 10) nm. Cells were vibrioid- to spirilloid-shaped and motile by means of bipolar monotrichous flagellation. The intracytoplasmic membranes were of the lamellar type. Photosynthetic pigments comprised bacteriochlorophyll a and the carotenoids spirilloxanthin and lycopenal. The isolated strain exhibited an unusual, long-wavelength absorption maximum at 911 nm. Sulfide or thiosulfate served as electron donor for anoxygenic phototrophic growth. During growth on sulfide, elemental sulfur globules formed outside the cells. Elemental sulfur could not be further oxidized to sulfate. In the presence of sulfide plus bicarbonate, fructose, acetate, propionate, butyrate, valerate, 2-oxoglutarate, pyruvate, lactate, malate, succinate, fumarate, malonate, casamino acids, yeast extract, L(+)-alanine, and L(+)-glutamate were assimilated. Sulfide, thiosulfate, or elemental sulfur served as a reduced sulfur source for photosynthetic growth. Maximum growth rates were obtained at pH 7.9, 30 degrees C, 50 micromol quanta m-2 s-1 of daylight fluorescent tubes, and a salinity of 1-2% NaCl. The strain grew microaerophilically in the dark at a partial pressure of 1 kPa O2. The DNA base composition was 71.2 mol% G + C. Sequence comparison of 16S rRNA genes indicated that the isolate is a member of the alpha-Proteobacteria and is most closely related to Rhodobium orientis at a similarity level of 93.5%. Because of the large phylogenetic distance to known phototrophic species of the alpha-Proteobacteria and of its unique absorption spectrum, strain 930I is described as a new genus and species, Roseospirillum parvum gen. nov. and sp. nov.

Bacteria↗
PubMed1999

Thermococcus waiotapuensis sp. nov., an extremely thermophilic archaeon isolated from a freshwater hot spring.

An extremely thermophilic, sulfur-dependent archaeon, strain WT1, was isolated from a freshwater hot spring in the Lake Taupo area of North Island, New Zealand. The cells are flagellated, strictly anaerobic cocci that grow optimally at 85 degrees C and 5.4 g NaCl l(-1). The strain grows heterotrophically on complex proteinaceous substrates or on appropriate salts plus amino acid mixtures and is also able to utilize maltose, starch, and pyruvate. Elemental sulfur could be replaced by cystine or thioglycollate. The range of temperatures allowing growth is from 60 to 90 degrees C; the pH supporting growth ranges from 5 to 8 (optimum, pH 7). Strain WT1 grew in a defined medium containing amino acids as the sole carbon and energy sources. The required amino acids were: Arg, His, Ile, Leu, Phe, Ser, Thr, Trp, Tyr, and Val. Strain WT1 showed sensitivity to rifampicin. DNA G+C content was 50.4 mol%. Phylogenetic analysis of the sequence encoding the 16S rRNA gene indicated that this isolate is a member of the Thermococcales. DNA/DNA hybridization studies revealed no similarity to several species of Thermococcus and Pyrococcus, with the exception of Thermococcus zilligii. Based on the reported results, we propose strain WT1 as a new species to be named Thermococcus waiotapuensis sp. nov.

Bacterial Typing Techniques↗
PubMed1999

Differential enumeration and in situ localization of microorganisms in the hindgut of the lower termite mastotermes darwiniensis by hybridization with rRNA-targeted probes

We examined the abundance and spatial distribution of major phylogenetic groups of the domain Bacteria in hindguts of the Australian lower termite Mastotermes darwiniensis by using in situ hybridization with group-specific, fluorescently labeled, rRNA-targeted oligonucleotide probes. Between 32.0 +/- 7.2% and 52.3 +/- 8.2% of the DAPI-stained cells in different hindgut fractions were detected with probe EUB338, specific for members of the domain Bacteria. About 85% of the prokaryotic cells were associated with the flagellates of the thin-walled anterior region (P3a) and the thick wall of the posterior region (P3b/P4) of the hindgut, as shown by DAPI staining. At most, half of the EUB338-detected cells hybridized with one of the other probes that targeted a smaller assemblage within the bacterial domain. In most fractions, cells were found in varying numbers with probe ALF1b, which targeted members of the alpha-Proteobacteria, whereas substantial amounts of sulfate-reducing bacteria, gram-positive bacteria with a high DNA G+C content and members of the Cytophaga-Flavobacterium cluster of the Cytophaga-Flavobacterium-Bacteroides (CFB) phylum could be detected only in the wall fraction of P3b/P4. This clearly indicates that the hindgut microhabitats differ in the composition of their microbial community. In situ hybridization of cryosections through the hindgut showed only low numbers of bacteria attached to the P3a wall. In contrast, the wall of P3b was densely colonized by rod- and coccus-shaped bacteria, which could be assigned to the Cytophaga-Flavobacterium cluster of the CFB phylum and to the group of gram-positive bacteria with a high DNA G+C content, respectively. Oxygen concentration profiles determined with microelectrodes revealed steep oxygen gradients both in P3a and P3b. Oxygen was consumed within 100 &mgr;m below the gut surface, and anoxic conditions prevailed in the central portions of both gut regions, indicating that oxygen consumption in the hindgut does not depend on the presence of a biofilm on the hindgut wall.

Journal Article↗
PubMed1996

Different growth response of Euglena gracilis to Hg, Cd, Cr and Ni compounds.

The toxicity of inorganic mercury, nickel, chromium and cadmium on the unicellular photosynthetic flagellate Euglena gracilis, strain Z (E.g.) has been tested. Under the conditions used each metal impaired the growth rate of E.g., and had a very strong effect on cell motility. The degree of cytotoxicity and motility decreased from mercury iodide to cadmium chloride to cadmium nitrate to potassium dichromate to nickel sulfate. No mutagenic effects of the metals investigated have been observed. Adverse effects of metal compounds can be tested on the eukaryotic species of Euglena gracilis used as an intermediate model system between bacterial and animal model.

Journal Article↗
PubMed2003

Molecular phylogeny of centrohelid heliozoa, a novel lineage of bikont eukaryotes that arose by ciliary loss.

Recent molecular and cellular evidence indicates that eukaryotes comprise three major lineages: the probably ancestrally uniciliate protozoan phylum Amoebozoa; the ancestrally posteriorly uniciliate opisthokont clade (animals, Choanozoa, and fungi); and a very diverse ancestrally biciliate clade, the bikonts-plants, chromalveolates, and excavate and rhizarian Protozoa. As Heliozoa are the only eukaryote phylum not yet placed on molecular sequence trees, we have sequenced the 18S rRNA genes of three centrohelid heliozoa, Raphidiophrys ambigua, Heterophrys marina, and Chlamydaster sterni, to investigate their phylogenetic position. Phylogenetic analysis by distance and maximum likelihood methods allowing for intersite rate variation and invariable sites confirms that centrohelid heliozoa are a robust clade that does not fall within any other phyla. In particular, they are decisively very distant from the heterokont pedinellid chromists, at one time thought to be related to heliozoa, and lack the unique heterokont signature sequence. They also appear not to be specifically related to either Amoebozoa or Radiolaria, with which they have sometimes been classified, so it is desirable to retain Heliozoa as a separate protozoan phylum. Even though centrohelids have no cilia or centrioles, the centrohelid clade branches among the bikont eukaryotes, but there is no strong bootstrap support for any particular position. Distance trees usually place centrohelids as sisters to haptophytes, whereas parsimony puts them as sisters to red algae, but there is no reason to think that either position is correct; both have very low bootstrap support. Quartet puzzling places them with fairly low support as sisters to the apusozoan zooflagellate Ancyromonas. As Ancyromonas is the only other eukaryote that shares the character combination of flat plate-like mitochondrial cristae and kinetocyst-type extrusomes with centrohelids, this position is biologically plausible, but because of weak support and conflict between trees it might not be correct. Irrespective of their precise position, our trees (together with previous evidence that Chlamydaster sterni has the derived dihydrofolate reductase/thymidylate synthetase gene fusion unique to bikonts) indicate that centrohelid heliozoa are ancestrally derived from a bikont flagellate by the loss of cilia. The centroplast that nucleates their axonemal microtubules is therefore almost certainly homologous with the centrosome of ciliated eukaryotes and should simply be called a centrosome.

Animals↗
PubMed2003

Phylogeny of choanozoa, apusozoa, and other protozoa and early eukaryote megaevolution.

The primary diversification of eukaryotes involved protozoa, especially zooflagellates-flagellate protozoa without plastids. Understanding the origins of the higher eukaryotic kingdoms (two purely heterotrophic, Animalia and Fungi, and two primarily photosynthetic, Plantae and Chromista) depends on clarifying evolutionary relationships among the phyla of the ancestral kingdom Protozoa. We therefore sequenced 18S rRNA genes from 10 strains from the protozoan phyla Choanozoa and Apusozoa. Eukaryote diversity is encompassed by three early-radiating, arguably monophyletic groups: Amoebozoa, opisthokonts, and bikonts. Our taxon-rich rRNA phylogeny for eukaryotes allowing for intersite rate variation strongly supports the opisthokont clade (animals, Choanozoa, Fungi). It agrees with the view that Choanozoa are sisters of or ancestral to animals and reveals a novel nonflagellate choanozoan lineage, Ministeriida, sister either to choanoflagellates, traditionally considered animal ancestors, or to animals. Maximum likelihood trees suggest that within animals Placozoa are derived from medusozoan Cnidaria (we therefore place Placozoa as a class within subphylum Medusozoa of the Cnidaria) and hexactinellid sponges evolved from demosponges. The bikont and amoebozoan radiations are both very ill resolved. Bikonts comprise the kingdoms Plantae and Chromista and three major protozoan groups: alveolates, excavates, and Rhizaria. Our analysis weakly suggests that Apusozoa, represented by Ancyromonas and the apusomonads ( Apusomonas and the highly diverse and much more ancient genus Amastigomonas, from which it evolved), are not closely related to other Rhizaria and may be the most divergent bikont lineages. Although Ancyromonas and apusomonads appear deeply divergent in 18S rRNA trees, the trees neither refute nor support the monophyly of Apusozoa. The bikont phylum Cercozoa weakly but consistently appears as sister to Retaria (Foraminifera; Radiolaria), together forming a hitherto largely unrecognized major protozoan assemblage (core Rhizaria) in the eukaryote tree. Both 18S rRNA sequence trees and a rare deletion show that nonciliate haplosporidian and paramyxid parasites of shellfish (together comprising the Ascetosporea) are not two separate phyla, as often thought, but part of the Cercozoa, and may be related to the plant-parasitic plasmodiophorids and phagomyxids, which were originally the only parasites included in the Cercozoa. We discuss rRNA trees in relation to other evidence concerning the basal diversification and root of the eukaryotic tree and argue that bikonts and opisthokonts, at least, are holophyletic. Amoebozoa and bikonts may be sisters-jointly called anterokonts, as they ancestrally had an anterior cilium, not a posterior one like opisthokonts; this contrasting ciliary orientation may reflect a primary divergence in feeding mode of the first eukaryotes. Anterokonts also differ from opisthokonts in sterol biosynthesis (cycloartenol versus lanosterol pathway), major exoskeletal polymers (cellulose versus chitin), and mitochondrial cristae (ancestrally tubular not flat), possibly also primary divergences.

Amino Acid Motifs↗
PubMed2003

Phylogenetic analysis of eukaryotes using heat-shock protein Hsp90.

Most eukaryote molecular phylogenies have been based on small-subunit ribosomal RNA as its database includes the most species, but serious problems have been encountered that can make these trees misleading. More recent studies using concatenated protein sequences have increased the data per organism, reducing misleading signals from a single sequence, but taxon sampling is limited. To increase the database of protein-coding genes we sequenced the cytosolic form of heat-shock protein Hsp90 from a broad variety of previously unsampled eukaryote groups: protozoan flagellates (phyla Choanozoa, Apusozoa, Cercozoa) and all three groups of chromists (Cryptophyta, Heterokonta, Haptophyta). Gamma-corrected distance trees robustly show three groups: bacterial sequences are sister to all eukaryote sequences, which are cleanly subdivided into the cytosolic sequences and a clade comprising the chloroplast and endoplasmic reticulum (ER) Hsp90 sequences. The eukaryote cytosolic sequences comprise a robust opisthokont clade (animals/Choanozoa/fungi), a bikont clade, and an amoebozoan branch. However their topology is not robust. When the cytosolic sequences are rooted using only the ER/ chloroplast clade as outgroup the amoebozoan Dictyostelium is sister to the opisthokonts forming a unikont clade in the distance tree. Congruence of this tree with that for concatenated mitochondrial proteins suggests that the root of the eukaryote tree is between unikonts and bikonts. Gamma-corrected maximum likelihood analyses of cytosolic sequences alone (519 unambiguously aligned amino acid positions) show bikonts as a clade, as do least-squares distance trees, but with other distance methods and parsimony the sole amoebozoan species branches weakly within bikonts. Choanozoa are clearly sisters to animals. Some major bikont groups (e.g. green plants, alveolates, Euglenozoa) are consistently recovered, but others (e.g. discicristates, chromalveolates) appear only in some trees; the backbone of the bikont subtree is not resolved, the position of groups represented only by single sequences being particularly unclear. Although single-gene trees will probably never resolve these uncertainties, the congruence of Hsp90 trees with other data is greater than for most other molecules and further taxon sampling of this molecule is recommended.

Animals↗
PubMed2001

Evolutionary correlation between linker histones and microtubular structures.

Histones of the H1 group (linker histones) are abundant components of chromatin in eukaryotes, occurring on average at one molecule per nucleosome. The recent reports on the lack of a clear phenotypic effect of knock-out mutations as well as overexpression of histone H1 genes in different organisms have seriously undermined the long-held view that linker histones are essential for the basic functions of eukaryotic cells. In an attempt to resolve the paradox of an abundant conserved protein without a clear function, we re-examined the molecular and phylogenetic data on linker histones to see if they could reveal any correlation between the features of H1 and the functional or morphological characteristics of cells or organisms. Because of an earlier demonstration that in sea urchin the chromatin-type histone H1 is also found in the flagellar microtubules (Multigner et al. 1992), we focused on the correlation between the features of H1 and those of microtubular structures. A phylogenetic tree based on multiple alignment of over 100 available HI sequences suggests that the first divergence of the globular domain of H1 (GH1) resulted in branching into separate types characteristic for plants/Dictyostelium and for animals/ascomycetes, respectively. The GH1s of these two types differ by a short region (usually 5 amino acids) placed at a specific location within the C-terminal wing subdomain of GH1. Evolutionary analysis of the diversification of H1 mRNA into cell-cycle-dependent (polyA-) and independent (polyA+) forms showed a mosaic occurrence of these two forms in plants and animals, despite the fact that the H1 proteins of plants and animals belong to two well-distinguished groups. However, among organisms from both animal and plant kingdom, only those with H1 mRNA of a polyA- type have flagellated gametes. This correlation as well as the demonstration that in Volvox carteri the accumulation of polyA- mRNA of H1 occurs concurrently with the production of new flagella (Lindauer et al. 1993), suggests a direct link between polyA- phenotype of histone H1 mRNA and flagellogenesis.

Animals↗
PubMed2005

Effects of the herbicides Roundup and Avans on Euglena gracilis.

Glyphosate is the active ingredient in a range of widely used herbicides. The aim of this work is to evaluate the effects of two commercial herbicides, Roundup and Avans, on the motility, velocity, and gravitactic orientation of the aquatic flagellate Euglena gracilis. An early warning system, called ECOTOX, has been used for monitoring the different parameters of movement. The motility was not affected by Roundup and Avans after short period tests (0, 30, and 60 s). However, gravitactic orientation of the cells was affected at concentrations of 1.25 g l(-1) and above when treated with Avans, whereas treatments with Roundup showed no specific changes after short period tests. Velocity of the cells was affected by both herbicides, but the effects of Avans were shown to occur at lower concentrations in comparison to Roundup. Avans showed lower no observable effect concentration (NOEC) values in comparison to Roundup for the different parameters after short period tests. After long period (7 days) tests, NOEC values were similar except for the upward swimming, where Avans had a NOEC value of 100 microg l(-1) and Roundup 200 microg l(-1). The results demonstrate that Avans containing trimethylsulfonium salt of glyphosate is more toxic to E. gracilis than Roundup, which contained isopropylamine salt of glyphosate.

Animals↗
PubMed1997

Assessment of sediment toxicity using different trophic organisms.

The main aim of the present project is to study the feasibility of using different trophic organisms for evaluating the toxicity of dredged sediments arising in Hong Kong. A total of eight sediment samples (duplicate samples collected from four selected sites: Kowloon Bay, Tsing Yi,Chek Lap Kok, and Double Haven) of Hong Kong coastal waters were analyzed for the total concentrations of As, Cd, Cr, Cu, Hg, Ni, Pb, and Zn, total organic carbon, acid volatile sulfides, simultaneously extracted metals, redox potential, and 12 organic micropollutants. The sediment elutriates were also analysed for the various metal concentrations, as well as contents of ammonia-N, nitrate, total sulfide, sulfate, and total organic carbon. Elutriate Sediment Toxicity Tests (ESTT) were also conducted, using two microalgae (Skeletonema costatum, a diatom and Dunaliella tertiolecta, a flagellate), juvenile shrimp (Metapenaeus ensis) and juvenile fish (Trachinotus obtaus). Two commercially available tests using bacteria (Microtox Test and Toxi-Chromotest) also were employed to test both the solid phase and elutriates of the sediments. The results of Microtox test on the solid phase, and bioassay tests using diatom on the sediment elutriate, especially the former, were correlated significantly (p < 0.05) with a number of physico-chemical properties of sediments and elutriates. It is recommended that a combination of a liquid-phase bioassay using diatom and a solid-phase bioassay using Microtox test should be used for screening a large number of sediment samples. However, the presence of ammonia in the sediments containing a high content of organic matter seemed to interfere the detection of contamination impacts.

Animals↗
PubMed1997

Effects of pH and sulfate on insects and protozoans inhabiting treeholes.

We used laboratory microcosms designed to simulate treeholes to study the effect of changing levels of chemicals found in precipitation in central Pennsylvania (H+ and SO4=) on the treehole insects Aedes triseriatus (a mosquito), Helodes pulchella (a helodid beetle), and Culicoides guttipennis (a ceratopogonid midge), and treehole protozoans. Protozoans were tested in both the presence and absence of insects. We hypothesized that the individual insect species would have differential tolerances to abiotic stresses, and that effects of low pH on protozoans would be especially strong. Survival of helodids was higher than mosquitoes and midges. Emergence and survival of mosquitoes and midges were lower at low pH. Densities of ciliates increased the most at high pH in the absence of insects. Densities of flagellates increased the most at low pH in the absence of insects. The presence of helodids, mosquitoes, and protozoans was associated with higher final [SO4=], as was low pH. Mosquitoes at low pH caused the largest increases in cation concentrations, and protozoans at high pH caused the largest decreases in cation concentrations. It appears that the biota of treeholes are affected by ionic changes in simulated tree stemflow that can be caused by anthropogenic atmospheric deposition. The species studied here were sometimes differentially affected by the common pollutants, [H+] and [SO4=]. The resulting changes in these discrete treehole communities may allow them to be useful bioindicators of the status of forest ecosystems altered by changing atmospheric chemistry.

Animals↗
PubMed2001

Use of Metabolic Inhibitors to Characterize Ecological Interactions in an Estuarine Microbial Food Web.

Understanding microbial food web dynamics is complicated by the multitude of competitive or interdependent trophic interactions involved in material and energy flow. Metabolic inhibitors can be used to gain information on the relative importance of trophic pathways by uncoupling selected microbial components and examining the net effect on ecosystem structure and function. A eukaryotic growth inhibitor (cycloheximide), a prokaryotic growth inhibitor (antibiotic mixture), and an inhibitor of photosynthesis (DCMU) were used to examine the trophodynamics of microbial communities from the tidal creek in North Inlet, a salt marsh estuary near Georgetown, South Carolina. Natural microbial communities were collected in the spring, summer, and fall after colonization onto polyurethane foam substrates deployed in the tidal creek. Bacterial abundance and productivity, heterotrophic ciliate and flagellate abundance, and phototrophic productivity, biomass, and biovolume were measured at five time points after inhibitor additions. The trophic responses of the estuarine microbial food web to metabolic inhibitors varied with season. In the summer, a close interdependency among phototrophs, bacteria, and protozoa was indicated, and the important influence of microzooplanktonic nutrient recycling was evident (i.e., a positive feedback loop). In the fall, phototroph and bacteria interactions were competitive rather than interdependent, and grazer nutrient regeneration did not appear to be an important regulatory factor for bacterial or phototrophic activities. The results indicate a seasonal shift in microbial food web structure and function in North Inlet, from a summer community characterized by microbial loop dynamics to a more linear trophic system in the fall. This study stresses the important role of microbial loops in driving primary and secondary production in estuaries such as North Inlet that are tidally dominated by fluctuations in nutrient supply and a summer phytoplankton bloom.

Journal Article↗