In this study, a new species
was collected from submerged decaying wood in Erhai Lake, Yunnan Province, China.
is characterised by acrogenous, solitary, oval, dictyospores (most are transverse ...septum, occasionally vertical septum, in immaturity the septum is clear, but when mature, the conidia becomes darker so the septum is not clear), smooth-walled conidia. The immature conidia are usually hyaline to olivaceous and mature conidia are usually darkened to black, sometimes with one pale basal cell. Phylogenetic analyses of combined ITS and LSU sequence data showed that the new collection is distinct from other
species. Description and illustration are provided as well.
Freshwater ecosystems are amongst the most threatened habitats on Earth; nevertheless, they support about 9.5% of the known global biodiversity while covering less than 1% of the globe's surface. A ...number of anthropogenic pressures are impacting species diversity in inland waters and, amongst them, the spread of invasive alien species is considered one of the main drivers of biodiversity loss and homogenisation in freshwater habitats.Crayfish species are widely distributed freshwater invaders and, while alien species introductions occur mostly accidentally, alien crayfish are often released deliberately into new areas for commercial purposes. After their initial introduction, crayfish species can rapidly establish and reach high-density populations as a result of their adaptive functional traits, such as their generalist diet.The Louisiana crayfish
(Girard, 1852) is globally considered one of the worst invaders and its impact on recipient freshwater communities can vary from predation and competition with native species, to modification of food webs and habitat structure and introduction of pathogens. Native to the south United States and north Mexico,
has been introduced in Europe, Asia and Africa, determining negative ecological and economic impacts in the majority of invaded habitats where it became dominant within the receiving benthic food webs. Due to its flexible feeding strategy,
exerts adverse effects at different trophic levels, ultimately affecting the structure and dynamics of invaded food webs. It is, therefore, paramount to evaluate the ecological consequences of
invasion and to quantify its impact in a spatially explicit context.
In the past decades, the analysis of stable isotopes of carbon, nitrogen and other elements has become a popular methodology in food web ecology. Notably, stable isotope analysis has emerged as a primary tool for addressing applied issues in biodiversity conservation and management, such as the assessment of the trophic ecology of non-indigenous species in invaded habitats. Here, we built two geo-referenced datasets, resolved respectively at the population and individual scale, by collating information on δ
C and δ
N values of
within invaded inland waters. The population-scale dataset consists of 160 carbon and nitrogen isotopic values of the Louisiana crayfish and its potential prey, including living and non-living primary producers and benthic invertebrates. The dataset resolved at individual scale consists of 1,168 isotopic records of
. The isotopic values included within the two datasets were gathered from 10 countries located in Europe, Asia, Africa and North America, for a total of 41 studies published between 2005 and 2021. To the best of the authors' knowledge, this effort represents the first attempt to collate in standardised datasets the sparse isotopic information of
available in literature. The datasets lend themselves to being used for providing a spatially explicit resolution of the trophic ecology of
and to address a variety of ecological questions concerning its ecological impact on recipient aquatic food webs.
Their story began 500 million years ago, but we only started to get to know them in 1746, when Linné described the first ostracod species. Vividly portraying the freshwater ostracods, this ...comprehensive reference work gathers the knowledge gained during some 250 years, but which to date has remained scattered throughout the literature. It starts with an introduction to the class Ostracoda with a special focus on freshwater ostracods and highlights practical methods in their study. The systematic part includes an introduction to all families; identification keys for all subfamilies, genera and species; diagnoses for each subfamily and genus; and lists of synonyms and distribution of species. The text is richly illustrated with distribution maps, line drawings of key generic characteristics, and numerous SEM photographs. Serving as an excellent starting point for all further research on freshwater ostracods, it can be widely used not only by ostracodologists, but also by crustaceologists, evolutionists and ecologists.
Travertine Pentecost, Allan
2005, 2005-12-18
eBook
This is the first book to be entirely devoted to travertine, a material in use for over 4000 years. The single-author work reviews all aspects of travertine origins, formation, composition, flora and ...fauna, occurrence and utilisation. The book has been designed as a reference work to travertine and includes allied continental carbonates such as lake marls, calcretes and beachrocks. Travertine, some forms of which are often known as 'tufa', is of particular significance as a source of environmental information (fossils and isotope geochemistry) often permitting reconstruction of past environments. Reviews of dating techniques, classification and geomorphology are included and the author has attempted to provide as far as possible an unbiased but critical appraisal of current models of travertine formation. Travertine is currently in great demand as a building and ornamental stone. It has also been exploited in unusual ways, such as 'petrifying springs' and some unusual and little known artistic techniques are described and illustrated. Scaling of pipes and boilers is often the result of processes allied to travertine formation. The phenomenon is described together with methods of scale elimination and compared with natural processes where travertine formation is inhibited. The importance of travertines as sites of special scientific interest, with their rich and often unique floras and faunas is emphasised together with examples of their biodiversity, and their unusual and often fragile biota. Conservation issues are discussed, together with the description of travertine fossils and occurrences throughout the geological record. The book should not be viewed simply as a work of scholarship, but as a reference source for travertine covering a wide range of disciplines.
This book brings together the highly scattered and diverse global literature on pure and applied aspects of temporary waters and their biotas, it examines their roles in both natural and human ...environments, and seeks common evolutionary themes. It will be of particular interest to aquatic ecologists, invertebrate and vertebrate biologists, environmental biologists, wetland conservationists, those charged with controlling water-associated diseases, educators, andnatural historians.
Aquatic ecosystems are rich in biodiversity and home to a diverse array of species and habitats, providing a wide variety of benefits to human beings. Many of these valuable ecosystems are at risk of ...being irreversibly damaged by human activities and pressures, including pollution, contamination, invasive species, overfishing and climate change. Such pressures threaten the sustainability of these ecosystems, their provision of ecosystem services and ultimately human well-being. Ecosystem-based management (EBM) is now widely considered the most promising paradigm for balancing sustainable development and biodiversity protection, and various international strategies and conventions have championed the EBM cause and the inclusion of ecosystem services in decision-making. This open access book introduces the essential concepts and principles required to implement ecosystem-based management, detailing tools and techniques, and describing the application of these concepts and tools to a broad range of aquatic ecosystems, from the shores of Lough Erne in Northern Ireland to the estuaries of the US Pacific Northwest and the tropical Mekong Delta.
Employing history of science methods, including analyses of the scientific literature, archival documents, and interviews with scientists, this paper presents a history of lampreys in neurobiology ...from the 1830s to the present. We emphasize the lamprey's roles in helping to elucidate spinal cord regeneration mechanisms. Two attributes have long perpetuated studies of lampreys in neurobiology. First, they possess large neurons, including multiple classes of stereotypically located, 'identified' giant neurons in the brain, which project their large axons into the spinal cord. These giant neurons and their axonal fibers have facilitated electrophysiological recordings and imaging across biological scales, ranging from molecular to circuit-level analyses of nervous system structures and functions and including their roles in behavioral output. Second, lampreys have long been considered amongst the most basal extant vertebrates on the planet, so they have facilitated comparative studies pointing to conserved and derived characteristics of vertebrate nervous systems. These features attracted neurologists and zoologists to studies of lampreys between the 1830s and 1930s. But, the same two attributes also facilitated the rise of the lamprey in neural regeneration research after 1959, when biologists first wrote about the spontaneous, robust regeneration of some identified CNS axons in larvae after spinal cord injuries, coupled with recovery of normal swimming. Not only did large neurons promote fresh insights in the field, enabling studies incorporating multiple scales with existing and new technologies. But investigators also were able to attach a broad scope of relevance to their studies, interpreting them as suggesting conserved features of successful, and sometimes even unsuccessful, CNS regeneration. Lamprey research demonstrated that functional recovery takes place without the reformation of the original neuronal connections, for instance, by way of imperfect axonal regrowth and compensatory plasticity. Moreover, research performed in the lamprey model revealed that factors intrinsic to neurons are integral in promoting or hindering regeneration. As this work has helped illuminate why basal vertebrates accomplish CNS regeneration so well, whereas mammals do it so poorly, this history presents a case study in how biological and medical value have been, and could continue to be, gleaned from a non-traditional model organism for which molecular tools have been developed only relatively recently.
The author presents a functional overview of mangrove forest ecosystems: how they live and grow at the edge of tropical seas, how they play a critical role along the world's tropical coasts, and what ...their future might be in a world affected by climate change.
PDF
