The importance of long term endogenous rhythms in the maintenance of reproductive cycles of marine invertebrates: a reappraisal

1983 ◽  
Vol 6 (5-6) ◽  
pp. 339-347 ◽  
Author(s):  
P. J.W. Olive ◽  
P. R. Garwood
2021 ◽  
Vol 43 (3) ◽  
Author(s):  
Nick Hopwood ◽  
Staffan Müller-Wille ◽  
Janet Browne ◽  
Christiane Groeben ◽  
Shigehisa Kuriyama ◽  
...  

AbstractWe invite systematic consideration of the metaphors of cycles and circulation as a long-term theme in the history of the life and environmental sciences and medicine. Ubiquitous in ancient religious and philosophical traditions, especially in representing the seasons and the motions of celestial bodies, circles once symbolized perfection. Over the centuries cyclic images in western medicine, natural philosophy, natural history and eventually biology gained independence from cosmology and theology and came to depend less on strictly circular forms. As potent ‘canonical icons’, cycles also interacted with representations of linear and irreversible change, including arrows, arcs, scales, series and trees, as in theories of the Earth and of evolution. In modern times life cycles and reproductive cycles have often been held to characterize life, in some cases especially female life, while human efforts selectively to foster and disrupt these cycles have harnessed their productivity in medicine and agriculture. But strong cyclic metaphors have continued to link physiology and climatology, medicine and economics, and biology and manufacturing, notably through the relations between land, food and population. From the grand nineteenth-century transformations of matter to systems ecology, the circulation of molecules through organic and inorganic compartments has posed the problem of maintaining identity in the face of flux and highlights the seductive ability of cyclic schemes to imply closure where no original state was in fact restored. More concerted attention to cycles and circulation will enrich analyses of the power of metaphors to naturalize understandings of life and their shaping by practical interests and political imaginations.


2002 ◽  
Vol 8 ◽  
pp. 195-210 ◽  
Author(s):  
Tomasz K. Baumiller ◽  
Forest J. Gahn

The paleontological literature on marine invertebrates is rich in supposed examples of parasitism and our tabulation shows a nearly even distribution of reported cases through the post-Cambrian Phanerozoic. Slightly lower frequencies characterize the Triassic and Jurassic and higher frequencies the Cretaceous and Tertiary, and the pattern roughly mirrors Sepkoski's (1984) marine diversity curve. The total number of parasitic associations for any geologic period rarely exceeds a dozen, yet few of the reported examples provide explicit criteria distinguishing parasitism from predation, commensalism, or mutualism. We evaluated the published examples using the following criteria: (1) evidence of a long-term relationship between two organisms, (2) benefit of interaction to supposed parasite, and (3) detriment of interaction to the host We found that only in exceptional cases were these criteria fulfilled. One example that provides much information on parasitic interactions involves platyceratids and crinoids and we summarize the evidence for the parasitic interaction between these two groups of organisms.


2009 ◽  
Vol 21 (1) ◽  
pp. 180 ◽  
Author(s):  
C. Morrow ◽  
S. Kudeweh ◽  
M. Goold ◽  
S. Standley

In 1999, the New Zealand captive population of Southern white rhinoceros (Ceratotherium simum simum) was increased with the addition of six wild-caught founders. We report on the breeding success of two females (est. 5 to 6 years at import) and a female born in 2000 (conceived in the wild). Fecal samples were collected 1 to 3 times per week from females (n = 3) for several periods (5 to 24 months) between 2000 and 2008. Reproductive cycles and pregnancy were characterized using fecal progestogen concentrations, observations of courtship behaviour and parturition dates. The average length of the reproductive cycle was 31.6 ± 0.6 days (range 26–38 days, n = 34 cycles). Four pregnancies were confirmed in one female with a sex ratio of 1 female to 3 males (including 1 male loss at an estimated 5 months of gestation), known gestation lengths were 514 and 507 days. In the non-reproducing adult female, long cycles (67.2 ± 1.3 days, n = 5) were detected in addition to regular cycles (31.9 ± 0.9 days, n = 13) during the first 3 years in captivity, consistent with previous reports (Schwarzenberger F et al. 1998 An. Repro. Sci. 53, 173–190; Brown JL et al. 2001 Zoo Biol. 20, 463–486). The absence of breeding behavior and low progestogen concentrations for an extended 4-year period was cause for concern for the Australasian Species Management Programme managers (Hermes R et al. 2004 An. Repro. Sci. 82–83, 49–60; Hermes R et al. 2006 Theriogenology 65, 1492–1515). In 2007, the social structure of the Hamilton Zoo rhinoceros group was altered by exchanging the breeding male and two male offspring for a wild-caught male from Auckland Zoo. Within two months of arrival the long-term acyclic female had resumed cycling and had conceived six months after introduction of the new male. The young captive-born female continued to have regular length cycles and mating was observed with the new male. Recently, early embryonic loss was determined by ultrasound in the young female having a long 70 day cycle determined by fecal analysis. Fecal progestogen concentrations were useful for diagnosing pregnancy after 3 months gestation with concentrations four times higher than luteal phase concentrations by 9 to 12 weeks after mating (n = 3). Two females exhibited seasonal acyclic periods characterized by low progestogen concentrations corresponding to decreasing daylength (autumn and winter months). Fecal progestogen monitoring of reproductive status and pregnancy combined with behaviour observations has provided valuable information for breeding management decisions and planning for parturition in this population. The reversal of long-term acyclicity and a resulting pregnancy that represents two original founders is particularly significant for the genetic diversity of the Australasian population of white rhinoceros.


2012 ◽  
Vol 92 (4) ◽  
pp. 513-524 ◽  
Author(s):  
N. Quiniou ◽  
A. Quinsac ◽  
K. Crépon ◽  
J. Evrard ◽  
C. Peyronnet ◽  
...  

Quiniou, N., Quinsac, A., Crépon, K., Evrard, J., Peyronnet, C., Bourdillon, A., Royer, E. and Etienne, M. 2012. Effects of feeding 10% rapeseed meal (Brassica napus) during gestation and lactation over three reproductive cycles on the performance of hyperprolific sows and their litters. Can. J. Anim. Sci. 92: 513–524. Largely due to increased production of biodiesel, there is a greater availability of solvent-extracted rapeseed meal (RM) in France, making it competitive for feeding pigs. Nevertheless, the long-term effects of dietary glucosinolates (GSL) when feeding RM on sow reproductive and litter performance are a persistent concern to feed manufacturers. Four batches of 24 hyperprolific sows were fed to evaluate the effects of including 0 or 10% RM [14.5 µmol GLS g−1dry matter (DM) basis] in the gestation and lactation diets over three reproductive cycles. Intake of dietary GLS remained below 5 mmol d−1over the gestation period and averaged 8 mmol d−1over the lactation period, corresponding to less than 2 µmol GLS g−1DM basis. Lactation feed intake, sow body weight and backfat, and the length of the weaning-to-estrus interval were not different (P>0.05) between treatment groups. Sows fed diets with 10% or no RM farrowed 43.6 and 43.8 piglets over three reproductive cycles, respectively (P>0.05). Piglet weight at birth or weaning, survival and litter weight gain were not affected (P>0.05) by dietary RM inclusion. Similar (P>0.10) plasma thyroxin levels of sows and piglets indicated that thyroid function was not altered by RM inclusion. In conclusion, feeding gestation and lactation diets including 10% RM to hyper prolific sows over three parities was safe and did not affect sow longevity, reproductive or litter performance.


Author(s):  
P. J. W. Olive

Eulalia viridis (L.) is one of a group of polychaete species which are being used in an experimental analysis of the regulation of gametogenesis and reproduction. The back-ground to these studies and some of the preliminary results have been discussed recently by Olive (1980). Despite the abundant data demonstrating the frequent occurrence of well-defined reproductive cycles in marine invertebrates and observations on the correlations between reproductive events and environmental conditions, the mechanisms by which the reproductive cycles of individual species are controlled are very poorly understood. It has generally been accepted since the publication of the important paper of Orton (1920) that the temperature cycle in temperate and boreal regions plays an important role in determining the reproductive cycle, but the nature of the control mechanism is not, in general, understood and is likely to vary markedly between species. Environ-mental conditions such as relative daylength or biological factors such as the quantity and identity of the phytoplankton organisms (Himmelman, 1978, 1979) could also play important roles in regulating the sequence of cellular events which culminates in successful reproduction. These general problems have been discussed by Giese (1959) and more recently by Barnes (1975), Giese & Pearse (1975) and specifically in relation to Polychaeta by Clark (1979) and Olive (1980).


Reproduction ◽  
1989 ◽  
Vol 85 (2) ◽  
pp. 687-704 ◽  
Author(s):  
G. A. Lincoln ◽  
E. A. Libre ◽  
G. R. Merriam

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jennah E. Dharamshi ◽  
Natalia Gaarslev ◽  
Karin Steffen ◽  
Tom Martin ◽  
Detmer Sipkema ◽  
...  

Sponge microbiomes contribute to host health, nutrition, and defense through the production of secondary metabolites. Chlamydiae, a phylum of obligate intracellular bacteria ranging from animal pathogens to endosymbionts of microbial eukaryotes, are frequently found associated with sponges. However, sponge-associated chlamydial diversity has not yet been investigated at the genomic level and host-interactions remain thus far unexplored. Here, we sequenced the microbiomes of three sponge species and found high, though variable, Chlamydiae relative abundances of up to 21.2% of bacterial diversity. Using genome-resolved metagenomics 18 high-quality sponge-associated chlamydial genomes were reconstructed, covering four chlamydial families. Among these, Sorochlamydiaceae shares a common ancestor with Chlamydiaceae animal pathogens, suggesting long-term co-evolution with animals. Sponge-associated chlamydiae genomes mostly resembled environmental chlamydial endosymbionts, but not pathogens, and encoded genes for degrading diverse compounds associated with sponges, such as taurine. Unexpectedly, we identified widespread genetic potential for secondary metabolite biosynthesis across Chlamydiae, which may represent an explored reservoir of novel natural products. This finding suggests that chlamydiae may partake in defensive symbioses and that secondary metabolites play a wider role in mediating intracellular interactions. Furthermore, sponge-associated chlamydiae relatives were found in other marine invertebrates, pointing towards wider impacts of this phylum on marine ecosystems.


Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document