Phenotypic flexibility in respiratory traits is associated with improved aerial respiration in an amphibious fish out of water

This paper presents an Evolutionary Cellular Automaton (ECA) that simulates the evolutionary dynamics of biological interactions by manipulating strategies of dispersion and associations between digital organisms. The parameterization of the different types of interaction and distribution strategies using configuration files generates easily interpretable results. In that respect, ECA is an effective instrument for measuring the effects of relative adaptive advantages and a good resource for studying natural selection. Although ECA works effectively in obtaining the expected results from most well-known biological interactions, some unexpected effects were observed. For example, organisms uniformly distributed in fragmented habitats do not favor eusociality, and mutualism evolved from parasitism simply by varying phenotypic flexibility. Finally, we have verified that natural selection represents a cost for the emergence of sex by destabilizing the stable evolutionary strategy of the 1:1 sex ratio after generating randomly different distributions in each generation.

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The habits and structure of pseudapocryptes lanceolatus, a fish in the first stages of structural adaptation to aerial respiration

Proceedings of the Royal Society of London. Series B, Containing Papers of a Biological Character ◽

10.1098/rspb.1934.0050 ◽

1934 ◽

Vol 115 (795) ◽

pp. 422-430 ◽

Cited By ~ 19

Keyword(s):

Andaman Islands ◽

Structural Adaptation ◽

Indian Science ◽

Aerial Respiration ◽

Malay Archipelago ◽

The Family ◽

The Ganges

Two short accounts of the habits of pseudapocryptes lanceolatus were communicated by me to the Indian Science Congress and were published in the Proceedings of the Congress, Das (1930), Das (1932). There are 11 Indian genera of the family Gobiidæ which include 89 species. The genus Pseudapocryptes has been reported from the coasts of India, Burma, the Andaman Islands, and the Malay archipelago. The specimens of pseudapocryptes lanceolatus studied were obtained from the estuary of the Ganges, Chiefly from Port Canning and Diamond Harbour, not far from Calcutta. The fish is often brought to the Calcutta market and is especially abundant during the months of October and November.

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Exercise and forced submergence in the pond slider (Trachemys scripta) and softshell turtle (Apalone ferox): influence on bimodal gas exchange, diving behaviour and blood acid-base status

Journal of Experimental Biology ◽

10.1242/jeb.202.3.267 ◽

1999 ◽

Vol 202 (3) ◽

pp. 267-278 ◽

Cited By ~ 3

Author(s):

B. Bagatto ◽

R.P. Henry

Keyword(s):

Gas Exchange ◽

Metabolic Stress ◽

Respiratory Acidosis ◽

Diving Behaviour ◽

Trachemys Scripta ◽

Acid Base ◽

Aerial Respiration ◽

Acid Base Status ◽

Softshell Turtle ◽

Apalone Ferox

The dynamics of bimodal respiration, diving behaviour and blood acid-base status in the softshell turtle Trachemys scripta and the pond slider Apalone ferox were investigated at rest and under conditions of stress induced by exercise and forced submergence. During periods of forced submergence, only A. ferox doubled its aquatic gas exchange rate. Both A. ferox and T. scripta increased their aerial gas exchange profoundly following exercise and forced submergence, a pattern indicative of increased anaerobic respiration. Emersion duration increased significantly in A. ferox following forced submergence, and mean apnoeic time decreased significantly in A. ferox following exercise, indicating that a larger proportion of time at the surface was spent ventilating. Also, A. ferox maintained a one-breath breathing bout regardless of treatment. Submergence produced a respiratory acidosis in the plasma of approximately 0.2 pH units in magnitude in T. scripta and a mixed respiratory/metabolic acidosis of 0.4 pH units in A. ferox. Exercise induced an acidosis of 0.2 pH units of primarily metabolic origin in both species. Intra-erythrocyte pH was also reduced in both species in response to submergence and exercise. Both intracellular and extracellular acidoses were more severe and longer lasting in A. ferox after each treatment. Plasma [HCO3-] decreased by 25 % in both species following exercise, but only in A. ferox following submergence. Plasma lactate concentrations increased by equal amounts in each species following exercise; however, they returned to resting concentrations sooner in T. scripta than in A. ferox. A. ferox had significantly higher lactate levels than T. scripta following forced submergence as well as a slower recovery time. A. ferox, which is normally a good bimodal gas exchanger at rest, utilizes aerial respiration to a greater extent when under respiratory and/or metabolic stress. T. scripta, although almost entirely dependent on aerial respiration, is physiologically better able to deal with the respiratory and metabolic stresses associated with both forced submergence and exercise.

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