Life Of Organism Research Articles

Exogenous Players in Mitochondria-Related CNS Disorders: Viral Pathogens and Unbalanced Microbiota in the Gut-Brain Axis.

Billions of years of co-evolution has made mitochondria central to the eukaryotic cell and organism life playing the role of cellular power plants, as indeed they are involved in most, if not all, important regulatory pathways. Neurological disorders depending on impaired mitochondrial function or homeostasis can be caused by the misregulation of "endogenous players", such as nuclear or cytoplasmic regulators, which have been treated elsewhere. In this review, we focus on how exogenous agents, i.e., viral pathogens, or unbalanced microbiota in the gut-brain axis can also endanger mitochondrial dynamics in the central nervous system (CNS). Neurotropic viruses such as Herpes, Rabies, West-Nile, and Polioviruses seem to hijack neuronal transport networks, commandeering the proteins that mitochondria typically use to move along neurites. However, several neurological complications are also associated to infections by pandemic viruses, such as Influenza A virus and SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus, representing a relevant risk associated to seasonal flu, coronavirus disease-19 (COVID-19) and "Long-COVID". Emerging evidence is depicting the gut microbiota as a source of signals, transmitted via sensory neurons innervating the gut, able to influence brain structure and function, including cognitive functions. Therefore, the direct connection between intestinal microbiota and mitochondrial functions might concur with the onset, progression, and severity of CNS diseases.

Combining Contamination Indices and Multivariate Statistical Analysis for Metal Pollution Evaluation during the Last Century in Lacustrine Sediments of Lacu Sărat Lake, Romania.

Integrated study of both water and sediment in lakes provides important information regarding the human impact on the environment. The current work is focused on the correlation between age, source, composition, and degree of human intervention over the last 178 years and health impact of sediments from Lacu Sărat Lake (Romania), one of the most important balneo-climateric resorts in the country. The novelty relies on the fact that this is the first time the temporal patterns of metal contamination and the human health effects associated with the metal exposure from sediment core samples have been assessed. The sediment contamination status was determined by evaluating several indices, such as the enrichment factor, geo-accumulation index, metal pollution index, and potential ecological risk index, etc. Results showed a significant accumulation of Cd, Cr, As and Ni and a major contribution of Pb, Zn, Cd, Hg, Cr as well as Cu to the potential acute toxicity. The sediment quality guidelines emphasized a risk concerning the life and proper development of benthic organisms in Lacu Sărat Lake. Moreover, the incidental ingestion lifetime carcinogenic risk values for As and Cr suggest a potential risk of developing cancer. A strong human impact was observed especially between 1950 and 1990, which can be attributed to the rapid economic growth and intensive industrial development strategies pursued by the communist political regime in Romania.

Vitamin B12 Ameliorates the Pathological Phenotypes of Multiple Parkinson's Disease Models by Alleviating Oxidative Stress.

Parkinson's disease (PD) is the second most common neurodegenerative disease characterized by progressive loss of dopaminergic neurons in the substantia nigra of the midbrain. The etiology of PD has yet to be elucidated, and the disease remains incurable. Increasing evidence suggests that oxidative stress is the key causative factor of PD. Due to their capacity to alleviate oxidative stress, antioxidants hold great potential for the treatment of PD. Vitamins are essential organic substances for maintaining the life of organisms. Vitamin deficiency is implicated in the pathogenesis of various diseases, such as PD. In the present study, we investigated whether administration of vitamin B12 (VB12) could ameliorate PD phenotypes in vitro and in vivo. Our results showed that VB12 significantly reduced the generation of reactive oxygen species (ROS) in the rotenone-induced SH-SY5Y cellular PD model. In a Parkin gene knockout C. elegans PD model, VB12 mitigated motor dysfunction. Moreover, in the 1-methyl-4-phenyl-1,2,3,6-tetrahydropyridine (MPTP)-induced mouse PD model, VB12 also displayed protective effects, including the rescue of mitochondrial function, dopaminergic neuron loss, and movement disorder. In summary, our results suggest that vitamin supplementation may be a novel method for the intervention of PD, which is safer and more feasible than chemical drug treatment.

Identify essential genes based on clustering based synthetic minority oversampling technique

Prediction of essential genes in a life organism is one of the central tasks in synthetic biology. Computational predictors are desired because experimental data is often unavailable. Recently, some sequence-based predictors have been constructed to identify essential genes. However, their predictive performance should be further improved. One key problem is how to effectively extract the sequence-based features, which are able to discriminate the essential genes. Another problem is the imbalanced training set. The amount of essential genes in human cell lines is lower than that of non-essential genes. Therefore, predictors trained with such imbalanced training set tend to identify an unseen sequence as a non-essential gene. Here, a new over-sampling strategy was proposed called Clustering based Synthetic Minority Oversampling Technique (CSMOTE) to overcome the imbalanced data issue. Combining CSMOTE with the Z curve, the global features, and Support Vector Machines, a new protocol called iEsGene-CSMOTE was proposed to identify essential genes. The rigorous jackknife cross validation results indicated that iEsGene-CSMOTE is better than the other competing methods. The proposed method outperformed λ-interval Z curve by 35.48% and 11.25% in terms of Sn and BACC, respectively.

ОЦЕНКА ФИЗИКО-ХИМИЧЕСКИХ СВОЙСТВ ГЛАВНЫХ РЕК ДЕЛЬТЫ МЕКОНГА И ИХ ЭКОЛОГИЧЕСКОЕ РАЙОНИРОВАНИЕ

The Mekong Delta is one of Asia's largest megadeltas. It is a region with unique biodiversity and the main food source for a large part of the population of Vietnam and Cambodia. The decrease in the biodiversity and resource capacity of the delta, associated with the growth of anthropogenic impact and other negative environmental factors, requires efforts to maintain its ecosystem in a state favorable for the life of aquatic organisms, for which the first step is to organize effective monitoring of aquatic communities. Its organization must consider the complex structure of the delta and related features of the physicochemical characteristics of the habitat. The mean and interval values of the parameters were as follows: transparency was 47.7±16.4 (10-100) cm; in the surface water layer, the temperature was 29.7±1.37 (26.0-33.3) °C, electrical conductivity was 5490.4±8392.5 (133-33623) µS/cm, total dissolved solids were 3556.2±5445.8 (86.5-21853), pH was 7.6±0.3 (6.9-8.4), and dissolved oxygen was 4.8±1.05 (3.0-8.9) mg/L; in the bottom water layer, the temperature was 29.6±1.43 (26.0-34.1) °C, electrical conductivity was 7671.4±11193.2 (125-37870) µS/cm, total dissolved solids were 4905.3±7199.8 (78.0-24615.5), pH was 7.6±0.3 (6.9-8.2), and dissolved oxygen was 4.6±1.00 (2.6-7.7) mg/L. The zoning of the delta, based on the knowledge of the environment, makes it possible to organize the monitoring process in the most rational way. Following the results of the analysis of physicochemical parameters, the boundaries of zones with different environmental conditions that affect the formation of fish communities have been determined. The main contributing factors are salinity (3 zones), oxygen regime (3 zones), and runoff distribution (4 zones). The interrelation between the delta zoning according to the hydrochemical regime and the structural features of the fish communities at the family level has been found, which further supports the idea that such zoning must be taken into consideration when organizing monitoring surveys.

Energy Metabolism of Crustaceans (Amphipoda) from the Northern Populations (White Sea Basin)

Cold waters and low productivity of the reservoir create energetically special conditions for the life of aquatic organisms, which are exacerbated by the current climate change. The temperature-dependent indicators of energy metabolism (active metabolic rate) have been studied for the representatives of different ecological– iogeographic groups of amphipods: arctic (Gammaracanthus loricatus), palearctic (Gammarus zaddachi), and holarctic (G.lacustris), from the coastal lake and the littoral of the White Sea basin. Interspecific differences in the standard energy metabolism rate and its 1.5–2.0-fold increase for predating amphipods are found.

Health effects of fifth-generation technologies

The advancement of telecommunication technology is vital for our wireless connectivity and networking across the world, but not at the expense of the lives of other organisms because their extinction follows us. This review article highlighted the various communication systems and technologies implemented and their implications. The relevant keywords used for this review, including fifth generation (5G), electromagnetic radiation (EMR), telephone tower, 5G impacts on lives, 5G impacts on human health, animals, and birds, were used for inclusive search on trustworthy citation databases listed in Scopus, PubMed, Web of Science, and Google Scholar from 1993 to 2022. The findings revealed that the radiations range between radio frequency and electromagnetic frequency is causing detrimental effects on different species including their fertility and fetus development. Experts reported that birds use the earth's EMR to navigate in their flight, but when they are exposed to weak or microwave radiation from the telecommunication towers, they deviate from their path, confused, and even die from telephone tower collisions. The new movement in protecting the bird population from EMR is creating an awareness of "air as a habitat" for birds, and research reports show that it is experimentally proven, that such radiations affect the birds' lives in many ways. Authors believe that these critical surveillance data would create awareness among the readers and researchers about the consequences to human health due to the extensive use of new generation telecommunication and networking technologies. The World Health Organization mentioned the harmful effects of EMR in their report. It shows that a diffuse collection of symptoms such as headaches, anxiety, suicide and depression, nausea, fatigue, and loss of libido may be caused due to low levels of exposure to EMR at home.

The elements of life: A biocentric tour of the periodic table.

Living systems are built from a small subset of the atomic elements, including the bulk macronutrients (C,H,N,O,P,S) and ions (Mg,K,Na,Ca) together with a small but variable set of trace elements (micronutrients). Here, we provide a global survey of how chemical elements contribute to life. We define five classes of elements: those that are (i) essential for all life, (ii) essential for many organisms in all three domains of life, (iii) essential or beneficial for many organisms in at least one domain, (iv) beneficial to at least some species, and (v) of no known beneficial use. The ability of cells to sustain life when individual elements are absent or limiting relies on complex physiological and evolutionary mechanisms (elemental economy). This survey of elemental use across the tree of life is encapsulated in a web-based, interactive periodic table that summarizes the roles chemical elements in biology and highlights corresponding mechanisms of elemental economy.

Structure, biomass, and secondary production of benthic macroinvertebrates in subtropical Andean rivers.

Secondary production is the formation of heterotrophic biomass across time, which integrates several important ecological processes that affect the life of organisms, populations, communities and ecosystems, but its study has poor developed in South America. The objectives of this work were to describe the diversity of benthic macroinvertebrate assemblages in terms of abundance and biomass, and to quantify their secondary production for the first time in Andean rivers. A quantitative sampling scheme was implemented, using a Surber sampler, in three forested streams. Physical-chemical variables, nutrients, organic matter and chlorophyll were measured also. The macroinvertebrates were separated and identified mostly at the species level. Each taxon was assigned to a functional feeding group. Secondary production was estimated for 38 taxa, mostly Diptera, Trichoptera, Coleoptera, and Ephemeroptera. The annual production varied from 3769 to 13916 mg dry mass m-2 y-1. Most abundant taxa were also those with higher production, dominated by Ephemeroptera (Baetidae), Trichoptera (Hydropsychidae) and Diptera (Chironomidae and Simuliidae). Density, biomass, and production of collectors and predators were much higher than the other feeding groups. We expect that our results will be useful to evaluate the effects on stream functioning produced by global warming and other anthropogenic disturbances in our region.

Modelling the effects of the pyrethroid insecticide cypermethrin on the life cycle of the soil dwelling annelid Enchytraeus crypticus, an original experimental design to calibrate a DEB-TKTD model

The Dynamic Energy Budget theory (DEB) enables ecotoxicologists to model the effects of chemical stressors on organism life cycles through the coupling of toxicokinetic-toxicodynamic (TK-TD) models. While good progress has been made in the application of DEB-TKTD models for aquatic organisms, applications for soil fauna are scarce, due to the lack of dedicated experimental designs suitable for collecting the required time series effect data. Enchytraeids (Annelida: Clitellata) are model organisms in soil ecology and ecotoxicology. They are recognised as indicators of biological activity in soil, and chemical stress in terrestrial ecosystems. Despite this, the application of DEB-TKTD models to investigate the impact of chemicals has not yet been tested on this family. Here we assessed the impact of the pyrethroid insecticide cypermethrin on the life cycle of Enchytraeus crypticus. We developed an original experimental design to collect the data required for the calibration of a DEB-TKTD model for this species. E. crypticus presented a slow initial growth phase that has been successfully simulated with the addition of a size-dependent food limitation for juveniles in the DEB model. The DEB-TKTD model simulations successfully agreed with the data for all endpoints and treatments over time. The highlighted physiological mode of action (pMoA) for cypermethrin was an increase of the growth energy cost. The threshold for effects on survival was estimated at 73.14 mg kg− 1, and the threshold for effects on energy budget (i.e., sublethal effects) at 19.21 mg kg− 1. This study demonstrates that DEB-TKTD models can be successfully applied to E. crypticus as a representative soil species, and may improve the ecological risk assessment for terrestrial ecosystems, and our mechanistic understanding of chemical effects on non-target species.

Changes of Organism Life Important System State by Long-COVID-19

Long-COVID-19 is a long disease, its duration can be more than four weeks. The analysis was made of epidemiology and of symptoms of Long-COVID-19. The pathogenesis of disease is discased, particularly the inflammation processes, immune system state (cytokine storm), hemostasis system (mechanism of the thrombosis development) and oxidative stress. The disturbances of the central nervous system, including the brain organic diseases and the cognitive functions disturbances, plays a great role by the Long-COVID-19. Besides the damages of heart-vessel system and of breath organs are described. The treatment and rehabilitation of the patients with Long-COVID-19 is not only medical, but also great social problem.

INTERFERENTI ENDOCRINI: VALUTAZIONE DEL RISCHIO DI EFFETTI SULLA RIPRODUZIONE E SVILUPPO EMBRIONALE

The definition of endocrine disruptor includes those compounds that cause adverse effects by a mechanism of action involving one, or rarely, more components of the complex of hormones that regulate the life of a higher organism. This classification differs from other toxicological classifications because it considers a mode of action rather than an effect. Like all quality classifications, and not based on quantitative data such as the dose-response relationship and the estimation of exposure, typical of risk assessment, it is not very useful for the management of substances so classified. In fact, decisions based on dichotomous classifications, interfering/non-interfering, can only be dichotomous, approved/non-approved use. Toxicity studies performed on the experimental animal identify the apical effects, including those that can result from a mechanism involving the hormonal system. On the basis of the dose response relationship for these effects, it is possible to identify the dose without effect (No Observable Adverse Effect Level, NOAEL, generally expressed in mg/kg body weight) and from this, dividing by appropriate factors, called safety or uncertainty factors, the exposure limit is defined (for example the Acceptable Daily Intake, ADI). If effects possibly related to endocrine disruption are observed, specific in vitro, in vivo or even computational studies may be conducted to understand the mechanism underlying the observed effect and, possibly, to a more accurate definition of the dose response relationship. Therefore, the simple classification as endocrine disruptor should not preclude the quantitative approach to risk assessment, and the classification should not be use alone to take risk management decisions.

Analysis of Potential Economic Value of Catfish Cultivation Waste as LOF in Benteng Somba Opu Village, Gowa Regency

The catfish wastewater is directly discharged into the environment, it will disrupt the lives of both humans and other organisms. This study aims to determine the amount of macronutrients nitrogen, phosphate, and potassium from catfish farming waste as liquid organic fertilizer (LOF) through the fermentation process at different times, and to determine the potential economic value, by determining the cost of production and selling price of waste products. Cultivation of catfish as LOF in Benteng Somba Opu Village, Barombong District, Gowa Regency. This research was carried out from February to April 2021. The potential economic value used a quantitative descriptive research method. The results of the study on catfish culture wastewater containing LOF also provide additional income for catfish cultivators. HPP based on research results is Rp. 19,000 /L. After calculating the cost of production, the potential profit for LOF from catfish farming waste in 1 liter is Rp. 3,400 /L, with a waste potential of 6,000 L / month, the economic potential value is Rp. 20.400.000,- with pool type permanent pool (L=3m, W =2 m, H=1,5m) and can still increase depending on the amount of catfish production in a month. RCR value of 1,24 that the LOF business is efficient and profitable to continue to operate. Although the potential is small, it is quite interesting for catfish cultivators to try.

The Physiological Costs of Reproduction in a Capital Breeding Fish.

AbstractReproduction represents the most energetically demanding period of life for many organisms. Capital breeders, such as anadromous sea trout (Salmo trutta), provide a particularly interesting group of organisms to study within the context of reproduction because they rely on energy stores accrued before breeding to reproduce and sustain all phenotypic and behavioral changes related to reproduction. Energy allocation into current reproduction therefore cannot be mitigated via food intake, resulting in an important life history trade-off. For this reason, exploring indexes related to energetics in salmonids can provide powerful insights into the physiological costs of reproduction. In this study, we sampled blood from and PIT tagged 232 fish captured in the wild before the spawning season. We recaptured and resampled 74 individuals (53 females and 21 males) at the end of the spawning season. Females were further divided into spawning phases (nonspawned, partially spawned, and spawned individuals), though males could not be classified as such. We compared nutritional correlates (triglycerides, cholesterol, calcium, inorganic phosphorus, and total protein), stress correlates (cortisol, sodium, potassium, chloride, and glucose), and indexes of tissue damage (aspartate aminotransferase) between initial capture and recapture as well as among spawning phases in females. We found that nutritional status decreased in all fish throughout the spawning season but that it was substantially lower in females that had spawned. We further found that spawning itself appears stressful, with elevated glucose in partially spawned females and elevated cortisol in male sea trout at recapture. Our findings thus support the idea that the cost of reproduction is energetically high and that incurred stress and a decrease in nutritional status are important physiological costs.

Species acclimatization pathways: Latitudinal shifts and timing adjustments to track ocean warming

Poleward distributional shifts and phenological adjustments are universal ecological responses to ocean warming. Though they are commonly addressed as independent processes, phenology usually depends on the latitudinal location where an organism lives. Such interaction can mask the actual impacts of warming and may even constrain the ability of a species to cope with ocean warming. We propose a framework to analyse alternative acclimatization pathways that accounts for pure distributional shifts, pure phenological adjustments, and mixed response. We tested this analysing drivers of observed changes in the spawning of horse mackerel (Trachurus trachurus) and Atlantic mackerel (Scomber scombrus) in northeast Atlantic in 1992–2019. Since species had contrasting population trajectories, data from the same survey is suitable to test whether shifts are driven by warming or density-dependence. Species showed contrasting responses to warming; horse mackerel spawned earlier (11.7 ± 1.5 days/°C of warming), whilst Atlantic mackerel shifted northward (367 ± 22 km/°C of warming). The narrower reproductive thermal niche of horse mackerel resulted in a tight coupling between latitude and timing of spawning that is consistent with geographical attachment, and an acclimatization constrained to an earlier phenology. The northward shift of Atlantic mackerel might be associated to its wider thermal reproductive niche, which enables prolonged migrations and almost synchronous spawning along the Atlantic margin. Results support our framework underpinning that acclimatization can combine or exclude timing and poleward shift, which could depend on species traits. These new insights are useful for fisheries management and to improve habitat projections under climate change.

FENVALERATE INDUCED CHANGES IN HISTOLOGICAL STRUCTURE OF KIDNEY OF FRESHWATER TELEOST FISH Barbus carnaticus

Fenvalerate (pyrethroud) is a pesticide widely used by farmers to increase crop yield but also has harmful effects on various aquatic organisms including fish. It produces limitations on the survival of fishes. In the present study, the freshwater teleost fish Barbus carnaticus was used as a specimen to observe the concentration-based effects of Fenvalerate on the histological structure of the kidney. Concentration mediated histopathological lesions were observed in the kidney of Barbus carnaticus exposed to LC50 concentrations of Fenvalerate 5.0913 ppm for 24 hours, 4.9686 ppm for 48 hours, 5.0282 ppm for 72 hours and 4.9087 ppm for 96 hours and 1/10th of the corresponding LC50 values were treated as sublethal concentration. Fish Barbus carnaticus exposed to sublethal concentration showed drastic changes. Conclusion drawn from the study is that the histological structure of kidney is highly damaged at LC50 concentration for 96 hours duration. The fish showed severe histological changes like necrosis, that is local death of the cells, swelling, hypertrophy of cells, as period of exposure goes on increasing. Damage of uriniferous tubules, inflammation, contraction, condensation in the cells also observed. Based on the outcome of the present study, it is therefore suggested that appropriate measures be taken for detoxification of water and minimize the use of pesticide to reduce the threat to life of aquatic organisms, including fish.

Freezing and desiccation tolerance in the Antarctic bangiophyte Pyropia endiviifolia (Rhodophyta): a chicken and egg problem?

ABSTRACT Antarctic macroalgal communities of the upper intertidal zone are particularly poor compared with other coastal regions. Exposure to desiccation and freezing combined with the abrasive effect of ice threatens the life of sessile organisms. One of the few species able to colonize this environment is the rhodophyte Pyropia endiviifolia. It belongs to the Bangiales, one of the oldest extant clades of photosynthetic eukaryotes, which has occurred for more than one billion years with basically the same morphological structure. Considering that the extent of Antarctic glaciation is a geologically recent event, we hypothesized that pre-adaptations to desiccation in bangiophytes may have contributed to the success of P. endiviifolia in Antarctica. To test this, we compared its photosynthetic performance and tolerance to desiccation and freezing with those from a related intertidal species, the temperate Atlantic species Porphyra linearis. As evidenced by gas exchange and chlorophyll fluorescence, P. endiviifolia is more adapted to high irradiances than P. linearis. The former species was also more desiccation-tolerant, and showed a higher glass transition temperature. Both species did not differ in chlorophyll content per dry weight, and tolerance to −20°C, even though the ice-nucleation temperature was much higher in P. endiviifolia. Membrane integrity may depend on fatty acid composition in P. endiviifolia, while on enhanced tocopherol in P. linearis. Overall, both species show different strategies to deal with freezing temperatures: supercooling in P. linearis vs. freezing-tolerance in P. endiviifolia. This matches with the probability of being subjected to sub-zero temperatures in their natural environments (lower in the case of P. linearis). Surprisingly, the higher risk of dehydration in the natural habitat of P. linearis is not matched by a higher desiccation tolerance. This observation does not support the initial hypothesis of the study but suggests the opposite: the acclimation to a cold environment results in higher desiccation tolerance. HIGHLIGHTS ● Porphyra linearis and Pyropia endiviifolia are remarkably tolerant to desiccation and freezing.● Antarctic P. endiviifolia is remarkably tolerant to desiccation and freezing.● Mechanisms of freezing tolerance could induce a higher tolerance to desiccation.

Ten (mostly) simple rules to future‐proof trait data in ecological and evolutionary sciences

Abstract Traits have become a crucial part of ecological and evolutionary sciences, helping researchers understand the function of an organism's morphology, physiology, growth and life history, with effects on fitness, behaviour, interactions with the environment and ecosystem processes. However, measuring, compiling and analysing trait data comes with data‐scientific challenges. We offer 10 (mostly) simple rules, with some detailed extensions, as a guide in making critical decisions that consider the entire life cycle of trait data. This article is particularly motivated by its last rule, that is, to propagate good practice. It has the intention of bringing awareness of how data on the traits of organisms can be collected and managed for reuse by the research community. Trait observations are relevant to a broad interdisciplinary community of field biologists, synthesis ecologists, evolutionary biologists, computer scientists and database managers. We hope these basic guidelines can be useful as a starter for active communication in disseminating such integrative knowledge and in how to make trait data future‐proof. We invite the scientific community to participate in this effort at http://opentraits.org/best‐practices.html.

PENANAMAN MANGROVE SEBAGAI UPAYA PELESTARIAN EKOSISITEM PESISIR DI GAMPONG LAMTUTUI, PEUKAN BADA, KABUPATEN ACEH BESAR PROVINSI ACEH

Mangroves are biological natural resources that have the potential to provide benefits for human life and aquatic biota organisms. Mangrove ecosystems have ecological and economic functions in coastal areas. The Gampong Lamtutui area has an important role because it is a provider of natural resources and environmental services with great potential in terms of ecology, economy and tourism. So far, the activities that occur in the mangrove ecosystem area in Lamtutui have an unfavorable impact on the mangrove vegetation in that location, due to the large number of uses of the mangrove area for vannamei shrimp pond areas, so that the structure of mangrove vegetation at various growth levels changes. The purpose of this service is to raise awareness and motivation for the coastal communities of Gampong Lamtutui to replant mangroves as a form of concern for the preservation of coastal ecosystems. This service activity is carried out for two days, from October 30, 2021 to October 31, 2021. The location of this service is in Gampong Lamtutui, Peukan Bada District, Aceh Besar Regency. The method of activity used in this activity is counseling and mentoring mangrove planting. The results of this service activity are the planting of 1,000 stems of Rhizophora sonneratia mangrove tree seeds in Gampong Lamtutui, as well as the establishment of cooperation with a group of local fishermen for monitoring the mangrove trees that have been planted.

Allometric Scaling of Anaerobic Capacity Estimated from a Unique Field-Based Data Set of Fish Swimming.

AbstractLocomotion is a defining characteristic that can dictate many aspects of an organism's life history in the pursuit of maximizing fitness, including escaping predators, capturing prey, and transitioning between habitats. Exhaustive exercise can have negative consequences for both short-term and long-term energetics and life history trade-offs, influencing fish survival and reproduction. Studies of swimming performance and exhaustive exercise in fish are often conducted on individual species, but few multispecies analyses exist and even fewer in field settings. In fish, swimming performance and exercise have historically been studied in the laboratory using swim tunnels, but an increasing body of work in recreational fisheries science provides a novel way to examine swimming capacity and exhaustion. Using fight time, the time it takes for a hooked fish to be landed on rod and reel fishing gear, as an opportunistic proxy for fish exhaustion, a multispecies meta-analysis of data from studies on recreational fisheries was conducted to elucidate the factors that most influence capacity for exhaustive exercise. Data from 39 species of freshwater and marine fish were aggregated, and negative binomial mixed effects models as well as phylogenetic least squares regression were used to identify the factors that most influenced exhaustive exercise in the field. Fish total length, aspect ratio of the caudal fin, and body form were significant factors in explaining the capacity for exhaustive exercise. Large migratory fish with high aspect ratios were able to fight, and therefore exercise, the longest. These results illustrate that body form and physiology are both deeply intertwined to inform function across fish species and point to angling fight time as a useful approximation of fish swimming capabilities that can be further developed for understanding the limits of fish exercise physiology.