Fairy Shrimp Branchinecta Research Articles

Optimized DNA extraction methods for encysted embryos of the endangered fairy shrimp, Branchinecta sandiegonensis

The San Diego fairy shrimp Branchinecta sandiegonensis is a federally endangered species endemic to vernal pools in southern California, USA. Filling events in these habitats are highly variable, with some pools failing to hold water long enough for reproduction over many successive years. Studies of this species are thus hindered by the relatively rare appearance of aquatically active life history phases. Because diapausing cysts are abundant and present at all times, they provide an underutilized opportunity for both species identification and genetic studies. However, methods for extracting DNA from cysts are technically challenging because of their structure and size. Here we present a protocol for extracting DNA from B. sandiegonensis cysts in sufficient quantities for “DNA Barcoding”, microsatellite analysis and other genotyping and sequencing applications. The technique will aid in population genetic studies and species identification (since taxonomic keys only distinguish among adults), and will be applicable to other crustaceans with similar diapausing cysts.

Physiological constraints on the life cycle and distribution of the Antarctic fairy shrimp Branchinecta gaini

Maturation to adulthood and successful reproduction in the Antarctic fairy shrimp, Branchinectagaini, must be completed within a physiologically challenging temporal window of ca. 2.5 months in the southern Antarctic Peninsula. Although adults show considerable metabolic opportunism at positive temperatures, little is known of their tolerance of two physiological insults potentially typical to pool life in the maritime Antarctic: sub-zero temperatures and salinity. B. gaini are freeze-avoiding crustaceans with temperatures of crystallisation (Tcs) of −5°C. No antifreeze proteins were detected in the haemolymph. Adults osmoregulate in relation to temperature, but rapid mortality in saline solutions of even low concentration, indicate they cannot osmoregulate in relation to salinity. Survival of ice encasement at temperatures above their Tc was found to be pressure but not time dependent: at severe inoculative ice pressures, there was little immediate survival and none survived after 48 h below −2°C; at mild inoculative ice pressures, immediate survival was ca. 100% at −3°C, but <20% after 48 h. There was no significant difference in survival after 1 and 6 h encasement at −3°C. Observations of ventilation suggest that it is not low temperature per se, but ice that represents the primary cryo-stress, with ventilatory appendages physically handcuffed below the freezing point of pool water. Both sub-zero temperatures and salinity represent real physiological constraints on adult fairy shrimp.

Conservation issues of temporary wetland Branchiopoda (Anostraca, Notostraca: Crustacea) in a semiarid agricultural landscape: What spatial scales are relevant?

Ecologists increasingly recognise the importance of spatial scale for conservation. This study focuses on threatened temporary wetland crustaceans, the fairy shrimp Branchinecta orientalis Sars (Anostraca) and the tadpole shrimp Triops cancriformis Bosc (Notostraca). Using redundancy analyses with a canonical variance partitioning approach, we studied how local habitat conditions and landscape features influence their densities at 4 spatial scales (100m buffer strip around ponds, 1km, 5km and 10km catchment scales). Branchinecta densities were negatively related with local conditions (trophic status) at all scales. Landscape effects (catchment:wetland size ratio) were only significant at the 10km scale. However, trophic state conditions were influenced by local contamination rather than landscape conditions. Local degradation tended to be more pronounced in wetlands situated in catchments with a higher cover of natural vegetation compared to those in agricultural catchments. Triops was less influenced by local effects at all scales. The importance of landscape effects increased with landscape scale but effects were only significant at the 10km scale, and were negatively explained by irrigated croplands. The importance of broad landscape scales and the difficulty to restore locally degraded sites challenges management. Because rationalisation of large-scale agricultural practises can conflict with socioeconomic demands, a first step to the conservation of actual Branchiopoda populations in this remnant wetland complex could benefit from the creation of vegetated buffer strips around the wetlands and/or hedgerows around agricultural fields to counteract atmosphere-mediated flux of particles and solutes from croplands to wetlands at broad landscape scales.

Life cycle of Boeckella poppei Mrazek and Branchinecta gaini Daday (King George Island, South Shetlands)

In Lake Wujka, a shallow, polymictic Antarctic lake situated at 15 m from the seashore, several yearly cohorts occur of the copepod Boeckella poppei and one of the fairy shrimp Branchinecta gaini. There is circumstantial evidence that the two species compete for food, and perhaps adult fairy shrimp feed on the nauplii of the copepod. Both species are positively influenced by a measure of salinity. However, when autumn storms massively sweep seawater into the lake, all fairy shrimp are wiped out; no hatching occurs until next spring. In B. poppei, some nauplii and copepodites survive or hatch after the salt flows out of the lake. This is an advantage to the copepod that may balance its coexistence with the shrimp. Its cycle is, however, aborted by the freezing of the lake. In contrast to many other Antarctic lakes, the life cycle of the crustaceans is therefore controlled by salinity rather than freezing.

Susceptibility of Ephemeral Pool Hexarthra to Predation by the Fairy Shrimp Branchinecta mackini: can Predation Drive Local Extinction?

Susceptibility of Ephemeral Pool Hexarthra to Predation by the Fairy Shrimp Branchinecta mackini: can Predation Drive Local Extinction?

Prospects for surviving climate change in Antarctic aquatic species

Maritime Antarctic freshwater habitats are amongst the fastest changing environments on Earth. Temperatures have risen around 1°C and ice cover has dramatically decreased in 15 years. Few animal species inhabit these sites, but the fairy shrimp Branchinecta gaini typifies those that do. This species survives up to 25°C daily temperature fluctuations in summer and passes winter as eggs at temperatures down to -25°C. Its annual temperature envelope is, therefore around 50°C. This is typical of Antarctic terrestrial species, which exhibit great physiological flexibility in coping with temperature fluctuations. The rapidly changing conditions in the Maritime Antarctic are enhancing fitness in these species by increasing the time available for feeding, growth and reproduction, as well as increasing productivity in lakes. The future problem these animals face is via displacement by alien species from lower latitudes. Such invasions are now well documented from sub-Antarctic sites.In contrast the marine Antarctic environment has very stable temperatures. However, seasonality is intense with very short summers and long winter periods of low to no algal productivity. Marine animals grow slowly, have long generation times, low metabolic rates and low levels of activity. They also die at temperatures between +5°C and +10°C. Failure of oxygen supply mechanisms and loss of aerobic scope defines upper temperature limits. As temperature rises, their ability to perform work declines rapidly before lethal limits are reached, such that 50% of populations of clams and limpets cannot perform essential activities at 2–3°C, and all scallops are incapable of swimming at 2°C. Currently there is little evidence of temperature change in Antarctic marine sites. Models predict average global sea temperatures will rise by around 2°C by 2100. Such a rise would take many Antarctic marine animals beyond their survival limits. Animals have 3 mechanisms for coping with change: they can 1) use physiological flexibility, 2) evolve new adaptations, 3) migrate to better sites. Antarctic marine species have poor physiological scopes, long generation times and live on a continent whose coastline covers fewer degrees of latitude than all others. On all 3 counts Antarctic marine species have poorer prospects than most large faunal groups elsewhere.

Physiological flexibility: the key to success and survival for Antarctic fairy shrimps in highly fluctuating extreme environments

Summary1. The anostracan fairy shrimp Branchinecta gaini inhabits one of the most hostile environments on earth, living in pools and lakes in Antarctica. Between January 2002 and January 2003 temperatures in two pools where B. gaini are extremely abundant on Adelaide Island ranged from −18.6 to −15.7 °C in winter, to 19.4 to 17.1 °C in summer, whilst air temperatures ranged from −34 to 6.3 °C.2. Branchinecta gaini survives winter as cysts, but endures large summer temperature fluctuations as adults. Cysts froze between −24.4 and −25.7 °C. In experiments adults survived 0–10 °C with no mortality for 1 week, 25 °C for nearly 48 h with 50% mortality, and at 32 °C complete mortality occurred in &lt;1 h.3. Oxygen consumption (&amp;#x004d;̇O2) in B. gaini approximately doubled for every 10 °C temperature rise (Q10 = 2.04) up to 20 °C where it reached a peak. Females had, on average 19% higher &amp;#x004d;̇O2 than males. Females also had greater metabolic scopes, (maximum–minimum &amp;#x004d;̇O2 across temperatures was ×3.6 for females, ×3.1 for males).4. Ventilation frequency increased linearly with temperature, and did not decline at 25 °C, indicating animals were ‘trying’ progressively harder to supply oxygen to tissues, and oxygen deficiency was the probable cause of death. Females had a higher ventilation frequency than males (8.6–17.1% higher) and they also exhibited greater scope to raise ventilation frequency (×2.4 for females versus ×1.5 for males).5. Great metabolic flexibility allows B. gaini to exploit extreme, highly fluctuating environments, and larger ventilatory and respiratory scopes allow females to survive higher temperatures than males. Because of this flexibility their prospects for coping with physical environmental change are high.

Dispersal of the fairy shrimp Branchinecta coloradensis (Anostraca): Effects of hydroperiod and salamanders

The absence of fairy shrimp (Anostraca) from permanent ponds and lakes is hypothesized to be the result of vertebrate predation. However, hatching cues for anostracan diapausing eggs include factors associated with the filling of temporary pond basins, and desiccation often increases the fraction of eggs that hatch. Thus, it is possible that in some species, eggs dispersed to permanent habitats never hatch, and vertebrate predation is not the proximate factor limiting distributions. We experimentally transplanted live egg‐bearing females of the fairy shrimp Branchinecta coloradensis into permanent and temporary ponds in small chambers and allowed the chambers to overwinter in situ. There was no discernible effect of pond drying on hatching success (mean success = 50.9%). We also determined whether metamorphic salamanders (Ambystoma tigrinum nebulosum) could disperse viable fairy shrimp eggs by feeding on B. coloradensis in one pond and defecating in another. Hatching success for a salamander “ingested” treatment was estimated as 0.9%. Results of a third experimental treatment suggested that the eggs being carried by females were not fully mature, so that ingestion resistance might vary throughout the reproductive period of B. coloradensis. By combining these results with data on salamander movement and diet, we estimated salamander‐mediated dispersal rates for fairy shrimp eggs. Metamorphic A. tigrinum nebulosum sp. are likely to be dispersing thousands of B. coloradensis eggs among ponds annually. Because our results demonstrate that dispersal between ponds can occur in large numbers, they support the prevailing hypothesis that vertebrate predators limited to permanent ponds are the proximate mechanism preventing the invasion of fairy shrimp.

Genetic population structure of the fairy shrimp Branchinecta coloradensis (Anostraca) in the Rocky Mountains of Colorado

Dispersal rates for freshwater invertebrates are often inferred from population genetic data. Although genetic approaches can indicate the amount of isolation in natural populations, departures from an equilibrium between drift and gene flow often lead to biased gene flow estimates. I investigated the genetic population structure of the pond-dwelling fairy shrimp Branchinecta coloradensis in the Rocky Mountains of Colorado, U.S.A., using allozymes. Glaciation in this area and the availability of direct dispersal estimates from previous work permit inferences regarding the relative impacts of history and contemporary gene flow on population structure. Hierarchical F statistics were used to quantify differentiation within and between valleys (thetaSV and thetaVT, respectively). Between valleys separated by 5-10 km, a high degree of differentiation (thetaVT = 0.77) corresponds to biologically reasonable gene flow estimates of 0.07 individuals per generation, although it is possible that this value represents founder effects and nonequilibrium conditions. On a local scale (&lt;=110 m), populations are genetically similar (thetaSV = 0.13) and gene flow is estimated to be 1.7 individuals exchanged between ponds each generation. This is very close to an ecological estimate of dispersal for B. coloradensis via salamanders. Gene flow estimates from previous studies on other Anostraca are also similar on comparable geographic scales. Thus, population structure in B. coloradensis appears to be at or near equilibrium on a local scale, and possibly on a regional scale as well.

Growth and foraging consequences of facultative paedomorphosis in the tiger salamander,Ambystoma tigrinum nebulosum

Facultative paedomorphosis in salamanders occurs when larvae respond to varying environmental conditions by either metamorphosing into terrestrial metamorphic adults or retaining their larval morphology to become sexually mature paedomorphic adults. Several hypotheses have been proposed for the evolutionary maintenance of this environmentally induced dimorphism, but few data are available to assess them adequately. We studied a montane population of the tiger salamander,Ambystoma tigrinum nebulosum, and measured the adult growth rate and body condition across three growing seasons to assess the relative costs and benefits of each morph. Metamorphic adults grew more than paedomorphic adults in terms of snout—vent length across years and in weight within years. Dietary analyses and foraging experiments revealed some of the proximate factors that may underlie these differential growth patterns. Across all prey, metamorphs had significantly higher biomass and calories per stomach sample than paedomorphs. Metamorphic diets primarily consisted of the fairy shrimpBranchinecta coloradensis, whereas paedomorphic diets contained a variety of benthic and terrestrial invertebrates. Foraging experiments revealed that both morphs are more successful at capturing fairy shrimp relative to other prey types and both show high electivity toward this prey. However, fairy shrimp occurred only in non-permanent ponds and thus are inaccessible to paedomorphs, which can survive only in permanent ponds. Paedomorphs also experience higher levels of intraspecific competition with large larvae in permanent ponds than metamorphs do in non-permanent ponds. Thus, metamorphs obtain a growth advantage over paedomorphs by foraging in non-permanent ponds that contain fairy shrimp and have reduced intraspecific competition. These results suggest that paedomorphs should have decreased fitness relative to metamorphs, primarily because metamorphs can move into the best habitats for growth. The net fitness effect of morph-specific differences in dispersal depend on whether there are trade-offs with other life history traits. Nonetheless, because the relative benefit of metamorph dispersal will change with environmental conditions in permanent ponds and the surrounding habitat, the relative fitness payoff to each morph should track changes in the environment. Thus, facultative paedomorphosis may be maintained in part by variable, environmentally-specific fitness payoffs to each morph.

PERSISTENCE OF BRANCHINECTA PALUDOSA (ANOSTRACA) IN SOUTHERN WYOMING, WITH NOTES ON ZOOGEOGRAPHY

ABSTRACT The fairy shrimp Branchinecta paludosa is a persistent resident of aestival ponds at high elevation in the Medicine Bow Mountains of southern Wyoming. These populations are far removed from the Arctic tundra habitat that typifies the distribution of the species, and appear to represent the southern margin of the range in North America. All of the records for the northern United States and southern Canada appear to lie along the Central Flyway that is a major migration route for waterfowl and shorebirds that nest in the Arctic. Passive dispersal probably provides for frequent colonization of marginal habitats and gene flow to established populations.

The influence of flatworm predation on zooplankton inhabiting small ponds

Experiments were performed in 1977 to determine which large zooplankton in a series of high altitude ponds can be consumed by the predatory flatworm Mesostoma ehrenbergii. This predator consumes Daphnia at a high rate and the fairy shrimp Branchinecta at a low rate, but does not consume Diaptomus. Experiments were performed in 1978 and 1979 to determined the rate of predation on Daphnia in 30 liter tubs and to determine if predation rate is correlated with surface to volume ratio of experimental containers. There is a clear correlation between surface to volume ratio and predation rate. Determinations of Mesostoma and Daphnia densities were made in a series of eight high altitude ponds, and pond surface to volume ratios were determined. Examination of these parameters lends credence to the argument that Mesostoma predation affects Daphnia dynamics in some circumstances. The results suggest that benthic invertebrate predators may affect zooplankton dynamics, especially in shallow ponds.

THE OSMOTIC ADAPTATION OF THE FAIRY SHRIMP BRANCHINECTA CAMPESTRIS LYNCH TO SALINE ASTATIC WATERS1

The fairy shrimp Branchinecta campestris was found in association with Artemia salina (L.) in four saline astatic lakes in Okanogan County, Washington, and in British Columbia. In all four lakes sulfate was the predominant ion making up in milliequivalence 48% of the total ions. The predominant cations sodium and magnesium occurred in varying proportions. The osmotic concentration of Penley Lake from hatching to death of the adult population of B. campestris increased progressively from 36 to 660 mOsm/liter. At concentrations of 286 mOsm/liter and less, B. campestris regulates hyperosmotically. However, from 451 to 660 mOsm/liter B. campestris is poikiloosmotic and not a hypoosmotic regulator like A. salina. Therefore, its ability to live in saline astatic waters can be partly attributed to tolerance of a high hemolymph concentration.Coexistence between A. salina and B. campestris is brief. B. campestris is restricted to the early phase of the saline astatic lake, characterized by low but increasing salinity and temperature, whereas A. salina appears a month later and is restricted to the high salinity‐temperature phase of the lake. Factors responsible for temporal separation of these two species appear to be differences in osmoregulation and in factors regulating development and hatching.