Needle microepiphytes in a Douglas fir canopy: biomass and distribution patterns

1979 ◽  
Vol 57 (9) ◽  
pp. 1000-1007 ◽  
Author(s):  
George C. Carroll

Distribution patterns and total cell-volume estimates for needle microepiphytes are presented for three strata in the canopy of a single old-growth Douglas fir tree. Microbial cell volume was estimated by photographing transverse sections of needles, tracing microbial profiles on Mylar film, cutting out the tracings, and determining the pooled trace weights from various zones of each needle section. Microbial cells are concentrated in the midrib groove and over the stomatal zones of individual needles. Microbial cell volume on the upper needle surfaces increases during the 1st year and declines in subsequent years. Cell volumes on the lower needle surfaces increase from the 1st to the 3rd year and decrease from the 3rd to the 4th year. An increase in microbial cell volume occurs on both upper and lower surfaces from year 7 to year 8. Total microbial cell volume in relation to available needle surface area is greatest in the lower canopy and decreases with increasing height in the canopy. The total volume of microbial cells on needles was estimated to be 1093 cm3 for the entire tree.

1980 ◽  
Vol 58 (6) ◽  
pp. 624-630 ◽  
Author(s):  
George C. Carroll ◽  
Lawrence H. Pike ◽  
John R. Perkins ◽  
Martha Sherwood

Total cell volume estimates and species composition for twig microepiphytes are presented for four species of coniferous trees common in the Pacific Northwest. Fungal cell volumes per square centimetre were much greater on Pseudotsuga menziesii than on the other conifers sampled; population densities of algal cells were similar on all hosts. On P. menziesii, microbial populations build up as the twigs age, with total cell volumes at a maximum on 6- and 7-year-old twigs; thereafter total cell volumes decline as twig surface areas decline, although population densities remain high. When fungal cell volumes are expanded to tree and stand levels, estimates of 372 cm3/tree and 15 kg/ha are generated. These values are significant in comparison with estimated standing crops of epiphytic fungi on needles (30 kg/ha) and suggest that twig microepiphytes must be considered in any investigation on the role of epiphytes in nutrient cycling in coniferous forests.


1948 ◽  
Vol 32 (1) ◽  
pp. 43-51 ◽  
Author(s):  
Herbert Shapiro

1. Resting and activated eggs of the sea urchin Arbacia punctulata were swollen in hypotonic sea water (60, 70, 80, and 90 per cent), and allowed to attain equilibrium volumes (Figs. 1 and 2). 2. Both fertilized and unfertilized eggs obey the Boyle-van't-Hoff law, but the value for b, the "osmotically inactive fraction" or non-swellable volume, was different for the two, averaging in the cases studied 7.3 per cent for unfertilized and 27.4 per cent for fertilized. 3. On activation, the eggs of the sea urchin undergo a definite increase in total cell volume, of approximately 2.7 per cent. 4. Some evidence is adduced for the possibility that the alteration in cell volume and in o.i.f. may depend upon the species in question. 5. A parallelism between change in b and alteration of respiratory metabolism in Arbacia, Chaetopterus, and Arbacia fragments is pointed out. This requires further investigation in other species to establish generality. 6. Equations for the calculation of the point at which osmotic pressures and cell volumes are identical for unfertilized and fertilized eggs are included. 7. A mechanical analogue of the phenomena is introduced (Fig. 3).


1977 ◽  
Vol 7 (4) ◽  
pp. 680-699 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lawrence H. Pike ◽  
Robert A. Rydell ◽  
William C. Denison

Methods have been developed to yield total tree estimates of biomass for various components of a tree (trunk, axes, twigs, and needles) and its community of epiphytes (microorganisms, lichens, and bryophytes). Trees were sampled with the help of climbing techniques modified from mountain climbing. Two stages of sampling were involved. First, all units of the population were described so that their weights could be predicted. Second, several units were chosen with probability of selection dependent upon predicted weight and sampled in detail. Biomass estimates from the sampled units were expanded to tree totals with information gathered during the first sampling stage. Internal structure of the crown (tree components and epiphytes) is illustrated by maps of trunk and branch systems and by diagrams of horizontal and vertical distributions. This internal structure was also derived from the first sampling stage.These methods have been applied to nine old-growth Douglas fir trees (Pseudotsugamenziesii (Mirb.) Franco). Data from a single 400-year-old tree (1.46 m dbh, 77 m in height) in the H. J. Andrews Experimental Forest in the western Cascade Mountains of Oregon are presented. Biomass and surface area estimates are as follows: trunk, 26 870 kg, 223 m2; axes (>4 cm), 1530 kg, 81 m2; living twigs (<4 cm), 480 kg, 373 m2; dead twigs, 78 kg, 104 m2; needles, 198 kg, 2860 m2; lichens, 13.1 kg; and bryophytes, 4.7 kg. Total cell volume of microepiphytes on twigs was estimated to have been 300 cm3 and total cover by microepiphytes on needles was estimated to have been 191 m2.


1991 ◽  
Vol 115 (4) ◽  
pp. 941-948 ◽  
Author(s):  
J A Swanson ◽  
M Lee ◽  
P E Knapp

Although it has long been appreciated that larger eukaryotic cells have larger nuclei, little is known about how this size relationship is maintained. Here we describe a method for measuring the aqueous volume ratio of nucleus to cytoplasm, two compartments which are interconnected via the pores in the nuclear envelope. We then use that method to identify proportional cellular dimensions in variously treated cells and in different cell types. Cells were scrape loaded with a mixture of fluorescent dextrans: Texas red dextran, average mol wt = 10,000 (TRDx10), and fluorescein isothiocyanate dextran, average mol wt = 70,000 (FDx70). After introduction into the cytoplasmic space, the TRDx10 distributed into both the nucleus and cytoplasm, whereas the FDx70 was restricted to cytoplasm, due to size exclusion by the nuclear pores. The aqueous nucleocytoplasmic volume ratio (RN/C) was determined by measuring, from fluorescence images of spread cells, total cellular fluorescence of each of the two probes and the fluorescence ratio of those probes in the cytoplasm. RN/C was unaffected by the measurement procedure or by varying temperatures between 23 degrees and 37 degrees C. Loading excess unlabeled dextrans had little effect on RN/C, with the single exception that high concentrations of large dextrans could lower RN/C in endothelial cells. Expanding intracellular membranous compartments of macrophages by phagocytosis of latex beads decreased RN/C. Expanding the same compartment by pinocytosis of sucrose, which nearly doubled total cell volume, had little effect on RN/C, indicating that nuclear volume was more closely linked to the cytoplasmic volume, exclusive of vesicular organelles, than to total cell volume. RN/C was the same in mononucleate and binucleate endothelial cells. Finally, measurements of RN/C in murine bone marrow-derived macrophages, bovine aortic endothelial cells, Swiss 3T3 fibroblasts, PtK2 cells, and CV-1 cells revealed that nuclear volume scaled allometrically with cell volume. The allometric relationship indicated that cell volume was proportional to nuclear surface area.


1922 ◽  
Vol 36 (5) ◽  
pp. 481-500 ◽  
Author(s):  
G. O. Broun

The following changes have been demonstrated to take place in the blood of dogs during exercise. 1. An increase in the per cent of cells and hemoglobin in the blood of the jugular vein occurs early in the course of exercise. It probably results from a redistribution of red corpuscles, with an increase in their proportion in the peripheral blood. 2. As exercise is continued, there is a definite increase in plasma volume. 3. A coincident decrease both in the total cell volume and the pigment volume during prolonged exercise suggests that blood destruction then occurs.


Development ◽  
1978 ◽  
Vol 46 (1) ◽  
pp. 171-185
Author(s):  
Marina Dan-Sohkawa ◽  
Noriyuki Satoh

Not only a whole denuded egg, but also blastomeres isolated from 2-, 4- and 8-cell starfish embryos developed into morphologically normal, but dwarf bipinnariae, the sizes of which were roughly proportionate to that of the respective original blastomeres. Some of the blastomeres isolated from the 16-cell stage were also capable of developing into the larval stage. All isolated blastomeres divided in good synchrony with the control embryos. Blastulae of all groups gastrulated within quite a short range of time, around 14·5 h after insemination at 20±1 °C, although one-third of the 1/8-blastuIa missed this chance but gastrulated by 19·5 h. The number of constituent cells of the 1/8-gastrula was counted to be about 560, which corresponds roughly to one-half that of the 1/4-, one-fourth of the 1/2- and one-eighth of the 1/1-gastrula. This ratio also fitted roughly for the total cell volume. The results are compared with those of other invertebrate species, as well as of some vertebrates, and are discussed in connexion not only with the concepts of ‘regulative’ and ‘mosaic’ eggs, but also with a criterion that does not fit into either of these; the developmental system of the mammals.


1980 ◽  
Vol 43 (1) ◽  
pp. 137-166
Author(s):  
M. Pellegrini

Ultrastructural changes of chloroplasts and mitochondria have been observed in synchronously growing cells of Euglena gracilis Z, under photoautotrophic conditions. Application of the serial section technique allows estimation of the number and volume of these organelles. Several 3-dimensional reconstructions reveal their shape and distribution throughout the cell cycle. In young cells 10 separate diskoid or branched chloroplasts are found. They show the typical lamellar structure of euglenoid chloroplasts. During the growth phase (light period), they enlarge and their volume doubles. Some of them branch out, so that 20 lobes are formed. Thylakoids grow longer without change in number. The pyrenoid persists only during the first half of this period. During the cell division phase (dark period), branched chloroplasts divide along 2 planes which are perpendicular to each other and perpendicular to the thylakoid plane. All thylakoids are cut and their number does not change in the daughter chloroplasts. The plastidome volume constitutes 15–18% of the total cell volume over the entire life cycle. One of the most significant observations in this report is the presence of a single permanent mitochondrial reticulum during the whole cell cycle. This giant mitochondrion consists of an extremely branched network with delicate threads (0.4-0.6 micrometer thick) surrounding the chloroplasts, nucleus and reservoir. It extends throughout the cell. During the growth phase, it becomes gradually longer and doubles in volume. The degree of branching increases but the thickness of the threads remains constant. During the division phase, the mitochondrial elements appear more restricted (0.4 micrometer thick) and the reticulum becomes progressively partitioned into 2 daughter networks. At any time of the cell cycle, the chondriome volume is about 6% of the total cell volume. These results are discussed in comparison with numerous relevant papers on light and electron microscopy of animal and plant cells. They suggest that the descriptions of several authors on the plastidial cycle and the mitochondrial cycle in Euglena, both said to be characterized by alternate reticulate and fragmentary states, arise in part from questionable interpretation of random sections. It is evident that the form and distribution of organelles can be determined more precisely by serial sectioning.


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