Kinds Of Substrata Research Articles

The spread of Caulerpa cylindracea in Calabria (Italy) and the effects of shipping activities

A survey to state the spread of Caulerpa cylindracea in the Calabrian Tyrrhenian coasts has been undertaken. The research aims to value the role of shipping activities in the ten-year's study from 1999 to 2009, as a vector in the spreading of the species. The outcome of this study has shown that, during the last ten years, the species has colonized most of the regional coastline, on all kinds of substrata, in areas closed to harbours and subjected to high rate of sedimentation. The main effects of Caulerpa cylindracea colonization have resulted in a gradual decrease of crustose species while the turf ones have increased their abundance, altering the native structure of the macroalgal assemblages. These results confirm the extremely invasive behaviour of this strain in the Calabrian Tyrrhenian coasts and, more generally, in the Mediterranean Sea.

Temporal variation of the free-living Isopoda (Crustacea: Peracarida) in two subtidal muddy bottoms of the Ría de Aldán (Galicia, NW Iberian Peninsula)

Temporal variation of the free-living Isopoda (Crustacea: Peracarida) in two subtidal muddy bottoms of the Ría de Aldán (Galicia, NW Iberian Peninsula)

Diversity of phototrophic components in biofilms from Piperno historical stoneworks

We investigated phototrophic microorganisms dwelling on stone walls made of Piperno, a volcanic rock frequently used as construction material in historical buildings in Naples, Italy. Biofilms from three historical buildings in the center of the city and from a natural Piperno quarry located in a suburban area were examined. Light and electron microscopy, and molecular biology techniques allowed the identification of 17 species belonging to Cyanobacteria, Rhodophyta, Bacillariophyta, and Chlorophyta. Cyanobacteria were the dominant components in all the biofilms. No significant differences in microbial composition were observed for biofilms collected in autumn and spring, with minor exceptions for the quarry samples, where environmental conditions were relatively more stable than in the city. Results are discussed in comparison with information on microbial communities dwelling on other kinds of substrata commonly used in historical buildings in the Neapolitan area.

Woodland Ponds as an Important Habitat of Hippeutis Complanatus (Linnaeus 1758) Occurrence - Effect of Environmental Factors and Habitat Preferences

AbstractSpyra A. Woodland ponds as an important habitat of Hippeutis complanatus (Linnaeus 1758) occurrence - effect of environmental factors and habitat preferences. Ekológia (Bratislava), Vol. 33, No. 2, p. 101-115, 2014.In industrial areas, woodland ponds are refuges of biological diversity. The impact of environmental factors such as the physico-chemical properties of water, organic matter content in bottom sediments and various types of substratum on the occurrence of Hippeutis complanatus were assessed. In Poland, it is considered to be a species with an established but unspecified risk, deserving the status of endangered species due to the decline of wetland environments. A Canonical Correspondence Analysis (CCA) revealed associations between the distribution patterns of freshwater snails species and the concentration of nitrates (NO3) and calcium (Ca) as well as pH and the organic matter content in the bottom sediments. Based on statistical relationships, results of study suggest that the kind of substratum (Typha latifolia remains, Phragmites australis remains, fallen leaves of waterside trees) has an impact on the occurrence of freshwater snails including Hippeutis complanatus for which the preferred substratum is the fallen leaves of waterside trees and sites with a high content of organic matter in bottom sediments. The study has shown that isolated water bodies located in forest complexes can be refuges for species that occur in small numbers in other types of aquatic environments.

Coprophilous myxomycetes: Recent advances and future research directions

Species of myxomycetes are adapted to different ecological niches and occupy different microhabitats. The majority of species have a wide ecological amplitude and may be found on various kinds of substrata. Some species have narrower ecological niches and are restricted to or mainly found on one special kind of substratum. Coprophilous species grow on dung or on a substratum in close contact with dung. The vast majority of records stem from moist chamber cultures on dung from herbivorous mammals, but several species have also been recorded on droppings from birds. A limited number of species can be regarded as truly coprophilous in that they have predominantly or in some cases only been recorded on dung. Some of these species are known from very few collections and their dependence on dung may therefore be difficult to judge. No correlation is absolute and species regarded as coprophilous may sometimes, although rarely, turn up on other types of substrata. Dung is rich in bacteria and nutrients and is a favourable substratum for myxomycetes. Many species normally inhabiting other habitats are occasionally found on dung, and up to now about 114 species have been reported from this kind of substratum, a number that will continue to grow. At least three species, Licea alexopouli, Kelleromyxa fimicola and Trichia brunnea, have thick-walled spores, a possible adaptation to passing through the intestinal tract of a herbivore before germination can take place.

International Settlements: Ishiguro, Shanghai, Humanitarianism

One of the most powerful complements to the globalization of literary studies has been a recent surge of attention to the relationship between literary and studies, humanitarianism, and human rights (Balfour and Cadava; Stanton, Humanities). These areas of research form a broad response to the post-Cold War collision of nationalism, international public opinion, and North/ South interests that has been exemplified by wars in the Balkans, Africa's Horn and Great Lakes regions, and the Middle East. An axiom of the conversation holds that Western public consciousness of global political is in many respects an effect of how mass media, especially television, serializes and frames individual images of rescue, combat, and endurance (Shaw 218-20). l The parameters of understanding and caring about what goes on in a war zone, famine zone, refugee camp, or besieged city are thus dependent on the mechanisms by which media, state and non-state actors, and individuals as well, shape crises into narratives (Ignatieff, Stories; Keenan, Publicity; Shaw; Slaughter, Enabling). Storytelling, in this malleable public sphere, is a form of work through which the visual and persuasive registers of humanitarian and human rights discourses might be said to converge with what Arjun Appadurai has described as the cultural dimensions of globalization. The flow of people and ideas across national and regional borders invariably changes the parameters of national identity and the state's obligation to its own members. Likewise, the representation of upheavals elsewhere as, variously, humanitarian crises, state-sponsored human rights abuses, wars, or agentless natural catastrophes, creates the conditions within which citizens gauge the impact of such situations on themselves, and imagine what an engagement would entail. At the same time, economic globalization normally serves as a kind of substratum upon which developed nations and their citizens balance narratives of strategy and interest against those of ethics and obligation (Koshy 10-18). Is the invisible labor of some far-away group of persons the same kind of problem as the endlessly re-broadcast suffering of a faraway individual? Do these two scenarios spring from a common condition? If so, what is to be done?

Les faunes de Scléractiniaires dans les faluns du Miocène moyen d'Atlantique-Est (bassins de la Loire et d'Aquitaine) : paléobiogéographie et évolution climatique

The Aquitaine and Loire basins show in the Middle Miocene numerous marine littoral deposits, often shelly or crag-type. Scleractinia are present, with a distribution and an abundance very variable according to the outcrops. A detailed study of all the available material, recently or historically cropped, allowed to draw up an accurate faunal inventory and to compare the distribution of taxa between the two basins. Out of 90 taxa in total, 62 are known in Aquitaine and 48 in Loire. In the Aquitaine Langhian, when is noted an obvious reduction of hermatypic taxa in comparison with the rich regional Burdigalian faunas, the association includes 44 species (25 reef-building ones). In the Serravallian, the reef-building taxa become significantly scarce and are residual (9 taxa out of 33 in Aquitaine, present in levels belonging to the lower sequence of the stage, and located in sheltered internal parts of the south-Aquitaine and central-Aquitaine gulfs). In the Loire basin, the corals are quite diversified in the Pontilevian facies (19 reef-building taxa out of 48), and much scarcer in the Lublean and Savignean facies. Globally, the Scleractinia are few abundant everywhere. If in the two basins hermatypic taxa persisted in the Langhian, indicating subreefal-type facies, varied factors have impeded permanently the settlement of reefs. In comparison with the Burdigalian, the thermic deterioration gradient, evidenced since the Chattian on the northeastern Atlantic frontage, had an important influence, and the Langhian waters were only subtropical. Other factors acted, at least locally, as the hydrodynamics, the bathymetry, the kind of substratum, the salinity pro parte. Moreover, a latitudinal gradient between the two basins is evidenced by the global species richness and by the ratio of hermatypicity, created here and defined as the fraction of hermatypic taxa reported to ahermatypic ones from a same basin. This ratio can be used at generic level or specific one as well. In the Serravallian, when the diversity was everywhere obviously lower, the influence of the climatic gradient went on, together with other unfavourable conditions (often abundant detritic supplies, high hydrodynamics, spatial biocompetition). Diverse biogeographic and paleogeographic data are also reported. A vast East-Atlantic coralline bioprovince, settled as early as the Chattian with a dispersion center located in Aquitaine, was still active in the Middle Miocene, when large transgressions favoured the faunal exchanges; its history was to be completed at the end of this period.

The interplay of substrate nature and biofilm formation in regulating Balanus amphitrite Darwin, 1854 larval settlement

The settlement of marine larvae is influenced by a wide range of physical and biological factors. It is still poorly known how the nature of substrate and the biofilm can interact in regulating settlement patterns of invertebrate larvae. Here we use laboratory experiments focused on settlement behaviour of the barnacle Balanus amphitrite. The aim of this work is to understand whether: (i) the nature of substratum can affect biofilm formation and its structure, (ii) the nature of substratum can affect B. amphitrite larval settlement, (iii) the age of the biofilms and the nature of substrate can interact in influencing larval settlement. Four kinds of substrata (marble, quartz, glass, and cembonit) were biofilmed under laboratory conditions for 5, 10 and 20 days at the temperature of 28 °C. Settlement response was investigated with 5-day-old cyprids. Biofilms were quantitatively and qualitatively analysed by scanning electron microscopy. The settlement of B. amphitrite larvae significantly differed among substrata; also, the patterns of development of biofilm assemblages changed with substrate. In addition, the larval attractiveness of different substrates tends to disappear with biofilm age.

Intercellular Adhesive Structures Between Stellate Cells – An Analysis in Cultured Human Hepatic Stellate Cells

To investigate whether or not hepatic stellate cells can form intercellular junctions with each other, we cultured human stellate cells (LI90) on different kinds of substrata. Intercellular junctions were detected between these cultured stellate cells by transmission electron microscopy (TEM). The molecular components of the intercellular adhesive structures were identified by immunofluorescence microscopy. Immunofluorescence for cadherin and catenins was detected at the adhesion sites between the cultured stellate cells. Thus, the intercellular junctions were indicated to be adherens junctions at the molecular level. The junctions developed in the cultured stellate cells irrespective of the type of substratum. These data suggest that the junctional formation between the stellate cells occurs in vivo as well as in vitro.

Species Composition of Macroinvertebrates in Medium-Sized Lithuanian Rivers

The article is devoted to the analysis of the taxonomic composition of macroinvertebrates in 17 medium-sized Lithuanian rivers with different kinds of substrata. One hundred and sixty taxa of invertebrates were identified in the course of the study. The obtained results proved that in the same river the number of taxa and Shannon-Weaver's index of diversity are substratum type dependent. The greatest number of taxa was established in the stone substratum while the smallest was recorded in the sand one. The richest biodiversity and the highest Shannon-Weaver.s index in the stone substratum were recorded in the Jiesia River. Rivers with increased organic contamination were dominated by Trichoptera of the genus Hydropsyche.

Distribution pattern of two fish species in a coastal stream in southeast Brazil.

Longitudinal distribution of Mimagoniates microlepis and Hoplias malabaricus was analyzed in a coastal stream system in Southeast Brazil. Six sites were sampled by electrofishing in seven months, from July 94 to July 95. Densities of M. microlepis, and H. malabaricus and its prey (Poecilia vivipara, Deuterodon sp. and Astyanax janeiroensis) were estimated by the Zippin method; environmental variables of: (i) kind of substratum; (ii) percentage of pools, runs, riffles, instream vegetation, and canopy were registered for each site in each sampling month. The relative importance of each biotic and abiotic variable was tested through simple correlation analyses. We verified that M. microlepis occurrence correlates with canopy; H. malabaricus is correlated with instream vegetation, pools, clay substratum, and P. vivipara densities; and P. vivipara correlates with pools and clay substratum. Our results suggest that environmental variables, and food and shelter availability are the main factors in determining M. microlepis and H. malabaricus distribution.

The influence of the epizoic hydroid Hydractinia angusta on the recruitment of the Antarctic scallop Adamussium colbecki

An experiment and field study were carried out in order to investigate the epibiotic relationship between the hydroid Hydractinia angusta Hartlaub, 1904 and its host, the Antarctic scallop Adamussium colbecki (Smith, 1902), as well as the effect of H. angusta on the recruitment of scallop larvae, since both use the shells of adult A. colbecki as substratum. Four kinds of substrata, with and without epibionts, were exposed to the natural environment at 33 m depth. After 1 year, the analysis of substrata showed that: (1) the hydroid makes use of two substrate colonization strategies, depending on the presence/absence of other epibionts; (2) the settlement of A. colbecki larvae is strongly affected by substrate characteristics and by the presence of the hydroid. Hydroid colonies limit scallop recruitment on the upper valve of adults, where spats usually live for at least 3–5 years attached by means of byssus threads. In this way, the hydroid can affect A. colbecki life history in two ways: by defending, as is usually believed, adults from predators, as well as by limiting the recruitment of its own host.

Investigation of the effect of substrata on the surface free energy components of silica gel determined by thin layer wicking method

The components of surface free energy of silica gel deposited on glass plates, aluminium or plastic sheets (commercial Merck's plates for TLC) were determined by applying two theoretical approaches: the Lifshitz-van der Waals acid-base approach (LWAB), the geometric mean of apolar and polar interactions approach (GM). The thin layer wicking method was applied. Besides, from the measured contact angles of probe liquid (diiodomethane, α-bromonaphthalene, water, formamide, glycerol and ethylene glycol) surface free energy components were calculated for the substrata on which the silica gel was deposited. In this case the equation of state (ES) was additional by applied. The study has shown that both the kind of substratum and that of the chambers used for measuring the penetration rate of the liquid do not influence the calculated values of the surface free energy components of silica gel. The components calculated from the two models of interfacial interactions: γLWs and γABs or γds and γps appeared to be practically the same if diiodomethane and α-bromonaphthalene were considered as weakly polar liquids, i.e. donor-acceptor interactions in the surface tension were taken into account. However, when γl+ and γl− of these liquids are neglected, considerable differences occur, particularly in the determined value of Lifshitz-van der Waals component. The values of the total surface free energy of substrata calculated by applying three thermodynamic approaches are very similar, but if diiodomethane and α-bromonaphthalene are considered as weakly polar liquids this similarity is more distinct.

Granule cell behavior on laminin in cerebellar microexplant cultures

In order to study roles of the extracellular matrix (ECM) in the cerebellar granule cell migration, cerebellar microexplants of neonatal to postnatal 11-day-old mice were cultured on 3 kinds of substrata, poly- l-lysine (PL), PL/fibronectin and PL/laminin. A prominent outgrowth of small granule cells, which did not uptake GABA, was observed only on the PL/laminin substratum. The granule cells showed the following sequence of events: (1) Many polygonal undifferentiated cells migrated out from the microexplants. These blast cells differentiated into small bipolar neurons with long fine neurites which extended radially from the explants. (2) These cells then changed their orientation perpendicular to their radial neurites, by protruding a short process from the cell body at right angles. (3) Finally, cell bodies of these granule cells adhered to each other to form cell aggregates. Quantitative labelings by bromodeoxyuridine revealed that there were less mitotic cells in explants from the later postnatal cerebella compared to the earlier postnatal ones. Anti-MAP2 immunoreactivity was localized in short perpendicular processes of the aggregated granule cells. Thus, this unique cell behavior exhibited on the PL/laminin substratum provides the first defined experimental system for studying the granule cell differentiation in vitro.

Evolution of Body Size in Mushroom Corals (Scleractinia: Fungiidae) and Its Ecomorphological Consequences

Most Fungiidae are free-living and therefore they are able to dwell on various kinds of substrata. A large size may facilitate mushroom corals to acquire food and light, but it may also hinder their capacity to move and reject sediments. A cladistic analysis of the Fungiidae suggests that phylogenetic increase in body size may have induced the development of secondary mouths in several independent species lineages. This may have helped the corals to overcome size constraints and grow even larger, especially on reef flats and slopes with relatively little sedimentation, but not necessarily on the soft substrata of reef bases where species with ancestral small forms are most abundant. Fragmentation by autotomy, which occurs most frequently in the latter species, helps corals to remain small. Attached mushroom coral species with one mouth are the smallest, whereas those with more mouths are among the largest. Polystomatous free-living species are relatively rare in deep reef zones. On shallow, hard substrata, the evolution of secondary mouths may primarily increase the feeding efficiency. On soft, relatively deep substrata, additional mouths may help to prevent smothering. In at least one polystomatous species, the onset of secondary mouths starts in an earlier ontogenetic stage than in its oligostomatous sister species with infrequent additional mouths, which is an example of predisplacement in peramorphic heterochrony.

The ecology of predacious fungi: I. Preliminary survey

An account is given of the occurrence of predacious fungi on various kinds of substrata from different parts of Britain, and the results of a number of collections are tabulated, to indicate what species have been found in the different types of material investigated. An analysis of 135 collections shows that they are particularly abundant among bryophytes. The distribution of thirty-four species of predacious fungi on different substrata is tabulated, and the use of quadrats in studying their distribution is described.

Societies and Academies

LONDON. Linnean Society, November 29.—Sir David Prain, president, in the chair.-Dr. H. Wager; (1) Intensity and direction of light as factors in phototropism. In this communication an account is given of experiments made to determine the influence of the intensity and the direction of light in effecting phototropic responses in foliage leaves. The distribution of the physico-chemical activities in the photo-sensitive tissues is dependent upon both intensity and direction of light, and since the direction of movement may be determined as the resultant of the varying physico-chemical activities in the whole of the sensitive region, it must be concluded that both intensity and direction of light are necessary factors in the photo-tropic response. (2) Spore-coloration in the Agari-cacese. The use of spore-coloration as a basis for the classification of the Agaricaceae is artificial and imperfect. There is no clear line of demarcation between the various colours, and the designation of the colours in the text-books is very indefinite and unsatisfactory. A beginning has, however, been made by members of the Mycological Committee of the Yorkshire Naturalists' Union to obtain more accurate records of spore-coloration in terms of a standard series of tints. It has been found and this may be a fact of some considerable physiological interest-that, with one or two doubtful exceptions, all the spore colours so far standardised, whether pink, rusty, or purple, fall within the region of the less refrangible half of the spectrum. Spectroscopic examination also shows this. It has been suggested by Buller that these colouring matters may serve a useful purpose by screening off certain of the sun's rays from the living protoplasm. Spore-coloration may, however, depend, partly at least, upon the kind of substratum on which the fungi grow.