Multiple origins of eusociality among sponge-dwelling shrimps (Synalpheus).

As the most extreme expression of apparent altruism in nature, eusociality has long posed a central paradox for behavioral and evolutionary ecology. Because eusociality has arisen rarely among animals, understanding the selective pressures important in early stages of its evolution remains elusive. Employing a historical approach to this problem, we used morphology and DNA sequences to reconstruct the phylogeny of 13 species of sponge-dwelling shrimps (Synalpheus) with colony organization ranging from asocial pair-bonding through eusociality. We then used phylogenetically independent contrasts to test whether sociality was associated with evidence of enhanced competitive ability, as suggested by hypotheses invoking an advantage of cooperation in crowded habitats. The molecular, morphological, and combined data each strongly supported three independent origins of monogynous, multigenerational (eusocial) colony organization within this genus. Phylogenetically independent contrasts confirmed that highly social taxa, with strong reproductive skew, have significantly higher relative abundance within the host sponge than do less social taxa, a result that was robust to uncertainty in tree topology and varying models of character change. A similar tendency for highly social species to share their sponge with fewer congener species was suggestive, but not significant. Because unoccupied habitat appears to be limiting for many sponge-dwelling shrimp species, these data are consistent with hypotheses that cooperative social groups enjoy a competitive advantage over less organized groups or individuals, where independent establishment is difficult, and that enemy pressure is of central importance in the evolution of animal sociality.

Prey nutritional quality and the effectiveness of chemical defenses against tropical reef fishes.

Many coral-reef seaweeds and sessile invertebrates produce both secondary chemicals and mineral or fibrous skeletal materials that can reduce their susceptibility to consumers. Although skeletal materials often have been assumed to function as physical defenses, their deterrent effectiveness may derive from their reduction of prey nutritional quality as well as from noxiousness of the skeletal material itself. To test the relative importance of prey nutritional quality and chemical defenses in susceptibility to predation, we offered reef fishes on Guam a choice of artificial foods varying in nutritional quality (4% versus 22% protein) and in secondary chemistry (spanning approximately natural concentration ranges). Field feeding assays were performed with pachydictyol A from the pantropical brown seaweed genus Dictyota, manoalide from the Micronesian sponge Luffariella variabilis, and a brominated diphenyl ether from the Micronesian sponge Dysidea sp. The results indicated that chemical defenses were less effective in high- than in low-quality foods. In paired assays with metabolite-free controls, all three compounds at natural concentrations significantly reduced feeding by reef fishes only in assays using low-quality food, and not in assays with high-quality food. When fishes were offered an array of artificial foods varying in both food quality and metabolite concentration, food quality significantly affected fish feeding in all three cases, while secondary chemistry was significant in only one. Thus differences in nutritional quality, within the natural range among reef organisms, can be comparable to or greater in importance than secondary chemistry in affecting feeding preferences of their consumers. Reduced nutritional quality may be an important selective advantage of producing indigestible structural materials, in addition to their roles as physical support and defense, in coral reef organisms.

Impact of polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) on the immune function of fish: age as a variable in determining adverse outcome.

Polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) are a major contaminant of global extent in water resources and aquatic biota. Due to its high lipid solubility, PCBs fail to be degraded and, therefore, continue to bioaccumulate throughout the environment and food chain. To determine the impact of PCBs on the immune system of aged and juvenile Japanese medaka (Oryzias latipes), fish were injected with the coplanar PCB congener 126 and examined after 3 and 14 days. PCB 126 produced oxidative stress in both age groups of fish 14 days post-injection; however, juvenile medaka appeared more susceptible than aged fish. Humoral immunity, as determined by antibody forming cell (AFC) numbers, was significantly depressed for up to 14 days post-injection in both age groups. These results demonstrate the sensitivity of the fish immune response for predicting PCB-induced immunotoxicity and identify age as a variable in determining adverse outcome.

Effects of periodic hypoxia on mortality, feeding and predation in an estuarine epifaunal community.

The York River Estuary, a tributary of the Chesapeake Bay, USA, experiences periodic low oxygen stress (hypoxia), yet epifaunal species form dense communities there. We studied hypoxia tolerance of common epifaunal species in the York River by exposing sessile and mobile epifauna to high and low oxygen concentrations in laboratory aquaria. Mortality in hypoxia varied among species, ranging from 0% to 100%, with trends of decreased tolerance by mobile species relative to sessile species. While most species tested experienced some mortality after being exposed to hypoxia (at 1 mg O(2)/l or 0.5 mg O(2)/l) for 5 days, many species had a median lethal time (LT(50)) in hypoxia greater than 1 week (3 of 6 species at 1 mg O(2)/l and 6 of 14 species at 0.5 mg O(2)/l), the maximum duration of typical hypoxic episodes in the York River, suggesting that hypoxia may cause little mortality for some species in this system. However, hypoxia had sub-lethal effects on behavior in all species tested. Epifaunal animals responded to hypoxia with behaviors that moved them higher in the water column or by entering resting states until hypoxia passed. Feeding and predation by a variety of taxa (the hydroid Obelia bicuspidata, the mud crab Neopanope sayi, juvenile blue crabs Callinectes sapidus, the flatworm Stylochus ellipticus, and the nudibranch Doridella leucolena) decreased during hypoxia, despite varying mortality responses to low oxygen stress, suggesting that short hypoxic episodes may create predation refuges for prey species. At least one highly tolerant species (O. bicuspidata) showed substantially decreased growth in hypoxia. Although relatively high tolerance of hypoxia by many estuarine epifaunal species limits serious disturbance during brief hypoxic episodes, hypoxia's greatest impact on York River epifaunal communities might be through its indirect effects on behavior and predation.

Enhanced wet air oxidation of sediment contaminated with PCBs.

Wet air oxidation (WAO) is investigated as a method of treating river sediments contaminated with polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs). Aqueous slurries containing 2.5% (w/w) sediment were oxidized with oxygen in a one liter, high-pressure, batch reactor at temperatures up to 250 degrees C. Concentrations of PCBs adsorbed on the sediment and reactor surfaces and dissolved in the water and gas phases after oxidation were determined by high-resolution gas chromatography. Results indicate that no significant wet oxidation of PCBs in sediment slurries occurs for temperatures at or below 250 degrees C. However, during reactor heat-up, significant degradation of PCBs occurred at high temperature regions near the reactor wall even when bulk fluid temperature was quite low. A variety of amendments were tested to determine their effect on PCB oxidation. These amendments included hydrogen peroxide, a readily degraded organic compound (phenol), and homogeneous copper catalyst. Only hydrogen peroxide addition resulted in a significant degradation of PCBs. The addition of phenol did not result in enhanced degradation of PCBs through kinetic coupling as has been observed for other recalcitrant organic compounds.

Effects of macroalgal species identity and richness on primary production in benthic marine communities.

Plant biodiversity can enhance primary production in terrestrial ecosystems, but biodiversity effects are largely unstudied in the ocean. We conducted a series of field and mesocosm experiments to measure the relative effects of macroalgal identity and richness on primary productivity (net photosynthetic rate) and biomass accumulation in hard substratum subtidal communities in North Carolina, USA. Algal identity consistently and strongly affected production; species richness effects, although often significent, were subtle. Partitioning of the net biodiversity effect indicated that complementarity effects were always positive and species were usually more productive in mixtures than in monoculture. Surprisingly, slow growing species performed relatively better in the most diverse treatments than the most productive species, thus selection effects were consistently negative. Our results suggest that several basic mechanisms underlying terrestrial plant biodiversity effects also operate in algal-based marine ecosystems, and thus may be general.

Amphipods on seaweeds: partners or pests?

Herbivorous marine amphipods have been implicated as important grazers on filamentous and ephemeral algae, and thus as beneficial to macrophytes in reducing overgrowth by epiphytic competitors. In North Carolina, USA, amphipods comprise 97% of all macroscopic animals inhabiting the abundant brown seaweed Sargassum filipendula, and peak in abundance between late winter and early summer. I used outdoor tank experiments to test the species-specific impact of common phytal amphipods on the growth of Sargassum and its epiphytes. The results show that seaweed-associated amphipods are a trophically diverse group that could either increase or decrease host fitness depending on their feeding preferences. The amphipods Ampithoe marcuzii, Caprella penantis, and Jassa falcata each significantly reduced growth of epiphytes on Sargassum plants relative to amphipod-free controls, while Ericthonius brasiliensis had no significant effect on Sargassum or its epiphytes. However, amphipod grazing was not necessarily beneficial to Sargassum. A. marcuzii consumed Sargassum in one outdoor tank experiment, reducing its mass by 11%, while Sargassum plants without amphipods grew by 81%. Epiphytes (mostly diatoms and the filamentous brown alga Ectocarpus siliculosus) and detritus remained abundant on these plants suggesting that A. marcuzii preferred the host to its epiphytes. Similarly, when given simultaneous access to Sargassum and to several common foliose and filamentous epiphytes in the lab, A. marcuzii ate Sargassum almost exclusively. The other three amphipods ate no macroalgae. In contrast to A. marcuzii, C. penantis consistently reduced epiphytes with no negative effect on Sargassum. Thus the species composition of the amphipod fauna can determine whether these animals increase or decrease seaweed fitness.

Age-related differences in the sensitivity of the fish immune response to a coplanar PCB.

Polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) are widespread environmental pollutants. Because of their persistence and bioaccumulation in aquatic organisms (among other factors), the biological impact of PCB exposure on resident fish populations is of particular concern. To assess the effect(s) of an environmentally relevant coplanar PCB congener on the fish immune response, juvenile and aged Japanese medaka (Oryzias latipes) were injected i.p. with either vehicle or PCB 126 (at 0.01 or 1.0 microg/g BW) and examined after 3 and 14 days. CYP1A protein levels, examined as an indicator of PCB exposure, were significantly increased (compared to controls) in all fish treated with the highest PCB dose. Kidney phagocyte superoxide (O2*-) production was examined to indicate effects upon innate immune function. After 14 days, unstimulated O2*- production by kidney phagocytes from juvenile and aged medaka treated with the highest PCB dose was significantly increased compared to controls. Stimulated O2*- production by aged PCB-treated fish was unaffected (compared to controls) at both post-exposure timepoints. However, phagocytes from PCB-treated juvenile medaka demonstrated reduced O2*- production at 3 days post-exposure and increased levels after 14 days (compared to controls). These results demonstrate the sensitivity of medaka phagocyte function for examining PCB-induced immunotoxicity.

Automated homogeneous immunoassay for gentamicin on the dimension clinical chemistry system.

BACKGROUND: Monitoring of the concentration of gentamicin in serum and plasma during therapy is widely recommended and practiced in hospitals. Our aim was to develop a homogeneous immunoassay based on particle-enhanced turbidimetric inhibition immunoassay technology to quantify gentamicin on the Dimension clinical chemistry system. METHODS: Assay performance was assessed on each of the Dimension models in a 15-instrument interlaboratory comparison study. A split-sample comparison (n = 1171) was also performed between the gentamicin methods on the Dimension system and the Abbott TDx analyzer, using multiple reagent and calibrator lots on multiple instruments. RESULTS: The Dimension method was linear to 25.1 micromol/L (12.0 microg/mL) with a detection limit of 0.63 micromol/L (0.3 microg/mL). Calibration was stable for 30 days. The within-run imprecision (CV) was <1.3%, and total imprecision ranged from 1.8% to 3.2% between 4.2 micromol/L (2.0 microg/mL) and 16.7 micromol/L (8.0 microg/mL) gentamicin. Linear regression analysis of the results on the Dimension method (DM) vs the Abbott TDx yielded the following equation: DM = 0.98TDx - 0.42; r = 0.987. Minimal interference was observed from structurally related compounds such as sagamicin, netilmicin, and sisomicin. CONCLUSION: The monoclonal antibody used in this method has similar reactivities toward the individual gentamicin subspecies C1, C1a, and C2, thus providing analytical recovery not significantly dependent on relative subspecies concentrations.