scholarly journals Temporal variation in temperature determines disease spread and maintenance in Paramecium microcosm populations

2011 ◽  
Vol 278 (1723) ◽  
pp. 3412-3420 ◽  
Author(s):  
Alison B. Duncan ◽  
Simon Fellous ◽  
Oliver Kaltz

The environment is rarely constant and organisms are exposed to temporal and spatial variations that impact their life histories and inter-species interactions. It is important to understand how such variations affect epidemiological dynamics in host–parasite systems. We explored effects of temporal variation in temperature on experimental microcosm populations of the ciliate Paramecium caudatum and its bacterial parasite Holospora undulata . Infected and uninfected populations of two P. caudatum genotypes were created and four constant temperature treatments (26°C, 28°C, 30°C and 32°C) compared with four variable treatments with the same mean temperatures. Variable temperature treatments were achieved by alternating populations between permissive (23°C) and restrictive (35°C) conditions daily over 30 days. Variable conditions and high temperatures caused greater declines in Paramecium populations, greater fluctuations in population size and higher incidence of extinction. The additional effect of parasite infection was additive and enhanced the negative effects of the variable environment and higher temperatures by up to 50 per cent. The variable environment and high temperatures also caused a decrease in parasite prevalence (up to 40%) and an increase in extinction (absence of detection) (up to 30%). The host genotypes responded similarly to the different environmental stresses and their effect on parasite traits were generally in the same direction. This work provides, to our knowledge, the first experimental demonstration that epidemiological dynamics are influenced by environmental variation. We also emphasize the need to consider environmental variance, as well as means, when trying to understand, or predict population dynamics or range.

2019 ◽  
Vol 16 (22) ◽  
pp. 4393-4409
Author(s):  
Xinwei Wang ◽  
Feixue Fu ◽  
Pingping Qu ◽  
Joshua D. Kling ◽  
Haibo Jiang ◽  
...  

Abstract. Global warming will be combined with predicted increases in thermal variability in the future surface ocean, but how temperature dynamics will affect phytoplankton biology and biogeochemistry is largely unknown. Here, we examine the responses of the globally important marine coccolithophore Emiliania huxleyi to thermal variations at two frequencies (1 d and 2 d) at low (18.5 ∘C) and high (25.5 ∘C) mean temperatures. Elevated temperature and thermal variation decreased growth, calcification and physiological rates, both individually and interactively. The 1 d thermal variation frequencies were less inhibitory than 2 d variations under high temperatures, indicating that high-frequency thermal fluctuations may reduce heat-induced mortality and mitigate some impacts of extreme high-temperature events. Cellular elemental composition and calcification was significantly affected by both thermal variation treatments relative to each other and to the constant temperature controls. The negative effects of thermal variation on E. huxleyi growth rate and physiology are especially pronounced at high temperatures. These responses of the key marine calcifier E. huxleyi to warmer, more variable temperature regimes have potentially large implications for ocean productivity and marine biogeochemical cycles under a future changing climate.


2020 ◽  
Vol 655 ◽  
pp. 139-155
Author(s):  
DC Yates ◽  
SI Lonhart ◽  
SL Hamilton

Marine reserves are often designed to increase density, biomass, size structure, and biodiversity by prohibiting extractive activities. However, the recovery of predators following the establishment of marine reserves and the consequent cessation of fishing may have indirect negative effects on prey populations by increasing prey mortality. We coupled field surveys with empirical predation assays (i.e. tethering experiments) inside and outside of 3 no-take marine reserves in kelp forests along the central California coast to quantify the strength of interactions between predatory fishes and their crustacean prey. Results indicated elevated densities and biomass of invertebrate predators inside marine reserves compared to nearby fished sites, but no significant differences in prey densities. The increased abundance of predators inside marine reserves translated to a significant increase in mortality of 2 species of decapod crustaceans, the dock shrimp Pandalus danae and the cryptic kelp crab Pugettia richii, in tethering experiments. Shrimp mortality rates were 4.6 times greater, while crab mortality rates were 7 times greater inside reserves. For both prey species, the time to 50% mortality was negatively associated with the density and biomass of invertebrate predators (i.e. higher mortality rates where predators were more abundant). Video analyses indicated that macro-invertivore fishes arrived 2 times faster to tethering arrays at sites inside marine reserves and began attacking tethered prey more rapidly. The results indicate that marine reserves can have direct and indirect effects on predators and their prey, respectively, and highlight the importance of considering species interactions in making management decisions.


Holzforschung ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 0 (0) ◽  
Author(s):  
Kong Yue ◽  
Feng Wang ◽  
Weidong Lu ◽  
Zhongqiu Tang ◽  
Zhangjing Chen ◽  
...  

Abstract A model for engineered wood was developed that considers the parallel-to-grain tensile strength of finger-jointed lumber at high temperatures relevant to fire conditions. The finger-jointed lumber was composed of Douglas fir, larch, and poplar wood with phenol-resorcinol-formaldehyde (PRF) as an adhesive. The tensile properties of the finger-jointed lumber were evaluated at high temperatures under oxygen-free conditions, i.e. in a nitrogen atmosphere. A combination of chemical and thermal-physical property analysis of the PRF adhesive and microscopic observations on the glueline was used to discuss the reduction of tensile strength of the parallel-to-grain finger-jointed lumber at variable temperature. The results show that the tensile strength of the finger-jointed lumber decreased linearly with increasing temperature. The parallel-to-grain tensile strength of the PRF finger-jointed samples at 20 and 280 °C were 84 and 5% of the tensile strength of the solid wood at 20 °C, respectively. The thermal-physical properties and scanning electron microscopy analysis revealed that the pyrolysis intensity of the PRF adhesive was lower than that of the wood at 220 °C or higher.


Plants ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 9 (11) ◽  
pp. 1554
Author(s):  
Chao Liu ◽  
Zhao-Jun Bu ◽  
Azim Mallik ◽  
Yong-Da Chen ◽  
Xue-Feng Hu ◽  
...  

In a natural environment, plants usually interact with their neighbors predominantly through resource competition, allelopathy, and facilitation. The occurrence of the positive effect of allelopathy between peat mosses (Sphagnum L.) is rare, but it has been observed in a field experiment. It is unclear whether the stability of the water table level in peat induces positive vs. negative effects of allelopathy and how that is related to phenolic allelochemical production in Sphagnum. Based on field experiment data, we established a laboratory experiment with three neighborhood treatments to measure inter-specific interactions between Sphagnum angustifolium (Russ.) C. Jens and Sphagnum magellanicum Brid. We found that the two species were strongly suppressed by the allelopathic effects of each other. S. magellanicum allelopathically facilitated S. angustifolium in the field but inhibited it in the laboratory, and relative allelopathy intensity appeared to be positively related to the content of released phenolics. We conclude that the interaction type and intensity between plants are dependent on environmental conditions. The concentration of phenolics alone may not explain the type and relative intensity of allelopathy. Carefully designed combined field and laboratory experiments are necessary to reveal the mechanism of species interactions in natural communities.


Parasitology ◽  
2017 ◽  
Vol 145 (7) ◽  
pp. 961-970 ◽  
Author(s):  
Audrey Turcotte ◽  
Marc Bélisle ◽  
Fanie Pelletier ◽  
Dany Garant

AbstractThe prevalence of vector-borne parasites such as haemosporidian species is influenced by several environmental factors. While the negative effects of parasitism on hosts are well documented, these can also be amplified by interactions with environmental stressors, many of which are anthropogenic. Yet, we know little about the possible effects of anthropogenic perturbations on parasite prevalence. The goals of this study were to assess the prevalence and environmental determinants of haemosporidian parasites in a declining population of Tree swallows (Tachycineta bicolor) living in an agricultural landscape in southern Québec, Canada. Overall, a low prevalence and a moderate lineage diversity were identified in both adults and nestlings, confirming that transmission can occur during the breeding period. Anthropic areas, extensive cultures (hayfields and pastures) and forest cover within 500 km of nest boxes, as well as daily temperature fluctuations, were all related to infection by haemosporidian parasites. These findings suggest that anthropogenic alterations of landscape composition can modulate the prevalence of haemosporidian parasites in Tree swallows. Our results represent a baseline for future comparative studies assessing haemosporidian parasite prevalence in human-modified landscapes.


Parasitology ◽  
2007 ◽  
Vol 134 (10) ◽  
pp. 1363-1367 ◽  
Author(s):  
E. R. HAINE ◽  
S. MOTREUIL ◽  
T. RIGAUD

SUMMARYVertically transmitted parasites may have positive, neutral or negative effects on host fitness, and are also predicted to exhibit sex-specific virulence to increase the proportion or fitness of the transmitting sex. We investigated these predictions in a study on the survival and sex ratio of offspring of the amphipod Gammarus roeseli from females infected by the vertically transmitted microsporidia Nosema granulosis. We found, to our knowledge, the first evidence for a positive relationship between N. granulosis infection and host survival. Infection was associated with sex ratio distortion, not by male-killing, but probably by parasite-induced feminization of putative G. roeseli males. This microsporidia also feminizes another amphipod host, Gammarus duebeni, which is phylogenetically and biogeographically distant from G. roeseli. Our study suggests that the reproductive system of gammarids is easily exploited by these vertically-transmitted parasites, although the effects of infections on host fitness may depend on specific host-parasite species interactions.


Parasitology ◽  
2016 ◽  
Vol 143 (11) ◽  
pp. 1459-1468 ◽  
Author(s):  
JULIANA DE O. RODRIGUES ◽  
MARCELO G. LORENZO ◽  
OLINDO A. MARTINS-FILHO ◽  
SIMON L. ELLIOT ◽  
ALESSANDRA A. GUARNERI

SUMMARYTrypanosoma rangeli is a protozoan parasite, which does not cause disease in humans, although it can produce different levels of pathogenicity to triatomines, their invertebrate hosts. We tested whether infection imposed a temperature-dependent cost on triatomine fitness using T. rangeli with different life histories. Parasites cultured only in liver infusion tryptose medium (cultured) and parasites exposed to cyclical passages through mice and triatomines (passaged) were used. We held infected insects at four temperatures between 21 and 30 °C and measured T. rangeli growth in vitro at the same temperatures in parallel. Overall, T. rangeli infection induced negative effects on insect fitness. In the case of cultured infection, parasite effects were temperature-dependent. Intermoult period, mortality rates and ecdysis success were affected in those insects exposed to lower temperatures (21 and 24 °C). For passaged-infected insects, the effects were independent of temperature, intermoult period being prolonged in all infected groups. Trypanosoma rangeli seem to be less tolerant to higher temperatures since cultured-infected insects showed a reduction in the infection rates and passaged-infected insects decreased the salivary gland infection rates in those insects submitted to 30 °C. In vitro growth of T. rangeli was consistent with these results.


2015 ◽  
Vol 112 (46) ◽  
pp. 14156-14161 ◽  
Author(s):  
Seung Bin Baek ◽  
Dohyun Moon ◽  
Robert Graf ◽  
Woo Jong Cho ◽  
Sung Woo Park ◽  
...  

Crystallographic observation of adsorbed gas molecules is a highly difficult task due to their rapid motion. Here, we report the in situ single-crystal and synchrotron powder X-ray observations of reversible CO2 sorption processes in an apparently nonporous organic crystal under varying pressures at high temperatures. The host material is formed by hydrogen bond network between 1,3,5-tris-(4-carboxyphenyl)benzene (H3BTB) and N,N-dimethylformamide (DMF) and by π–π stacking between the H3BTB moieties. The material can be viewed as a well-ordered array of cages, which are tight packed with each other so that the cages are inaccessible from outside. Thus, the host is practically nonporous. Despite the absence of permanent pathways connecting the empty cages, they are permeable to CO2 at high temperatures due to thermally activated molecular gating, and the weakly confined CO2 molecules in the cages allow direct detection by in situ single-crystal X-ray diffraction at 323 K. Variable-temperature in situ synchrotron powder X-ray diffraction studies also show that the CO2 sorption is reversible and driven by temperature increase. Solid-state magic angle spinning NMR defines the interactions of CO2 with the organic framework and dynamic motion of CO2 in cages. The reversible sorption is attributed to the dynamic motion of the DMF molecules combined with the axial motions/angular fluctuations of CO2 (a series of transient opening/closing of compartments enabling CO2 molecule passage), as revealed from NMR and simulations. This temperature-driven transient molecular gating can store gaseous molecules in ordered arrays toward unique collective properties and release them for ready use.


2012 ◽  
Vol 279 (1741) ◽  
pp. 3161-3169 ◽  
Author(s):  
Marjolein E. Lof ◽  
Thomas E. Reed ◽  
John M. McNamara ◽  
Marcel E. Visser

Adaptation in dynamic environments depends on the grain, magnitude and predictability of ecological fluctuations experienced within and across generations. Phenotypic plasticity is a well-studied mechanism in this regard, yet the potentially complex effects of stochastic environmental variation on optimal mean trait values are often overlooked. Using an optimality model inspired by timing of reproduction in great tits, we show that temporal variation affects not only optimal reaction norm slope, but also elevation. With increased environmental variation and an asymmetric relationship between fitness and breeding date, optimal timing shifts away from the side of the fitness curve with the steepest decline. In a relatively constant environment, the timing of the birds is matched with the seasonal food peak, but they become adaptively mismatched in environments with temporal variation in temperature whenever the fitness curve is asymmetric. Various processes affecting the survival of offspring and parents influence this asymmetry, which collectively determine the ‘safest’ strategy, i.e. whether females should breed before, on, or after the food peak in a variable environment. As climate change might affect the (co)variance of environmental variables as well as their averages, risk aversion may influence how species should shift their seasonal timing in a warming world.


1985 ◽  
Vol 38 (2) ◽  
pp. 307 ◽  
Author(s):  
Y Lai ◽  
PJ Marriott ◽  
B Tan

A mixture of the syn and anti conformers of 9,10-bis(2,3- dimethylphenyl ) phenanthrene was prepared. The unexpectedly high energy barrier for the free rotation of the two aryl rings is described. Variable temperature 1H n.m.r . studies failed to provide thermodynamic data for the conformational inter-conversion due to limitations in practicably measurable temperature range. The energies of activation for both interconversion processes were, however, determined by gas chromatographic studies in the temperature range of 225-300°C.


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