Planaria 2021 Environmental Summary, Reptile & Aquatics, Stowers Institute for Medical Research v1

Author(s):  
Shane C. Miller ◽  
M. Shane Merryman ◽  
Diana P Baumann

Planaria are an emerging model organism, and we have maintained a colony of asexual and sexual worms at the Stowers Institute for Medical Research since 2010. Their small size allows us to maintain a large census across several systems requiring a small footprint. The planaria systems at the Stowers Institute allow for standardization of husbandry and environmental parameters. Acknowledging that husbandry conditions and environmental parameters can impact research results we provide information about the housing, nutrition, maintenance, and health for our Planaria colonies. This information will be applicable to any Planaria housed in the facility in 2021.

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Shane C. Miller ◽  
Diana P Baumann ◽  
M. Shane Merryman

The starlet sea anemone (Nematostella vectensis) is an emerging model organism, and we have maintained a colony at the Stowers Institute since 2007. Nematostella are known as a simple sea anemone, related to other cnidarians such as jellyfish and corals. Native to estuarine environments across the Atlantic coast of North America, from Novia Scotia to Florida, they encounter a variety of environmental conditions (e.g., temperature, salinity). Acknowledging that husbandry conditions and environmental parameters can impact research results we provide information about the housing, nutrition, maintenance, and health for our colony of Nematostella. This information will be applicable to any Nematostella housed in the facility in 2021.


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Diana P P Baumann ◽  
Richard Kupronis

Veiled Chameleons (Chamaeleo calyptratus) are an increasingly popular model organism, and we have maintained a colony at the Stowers Institute since 2010. Due to the poikilothermic nature of these animals, achieving the correct macro and microenvironments plays an important role in successful long term colony maintenance. Despite being bred in captivity for many generations, relatively little husbandry information has been published regarding housing in a research environment. Recognizing that husbandry conditions and environmental parameters can impact research results we provide information about the housing, husbandry, maintenance, nutrition, and health for our colony of Veiled Chameleons. This information will be applicable to any chameleon housed in the facility in 2021.


Micromachines ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 12 (5) ◽  
pp. 585
Author(s):  
Yunjia Li ◽  
Weitao Dou ◽  
Chenyuan Zhou ◽  
Xinyi Wang ◽  
Aijun Yang ◽  
...  

A miniaturized reliability test system for microdevices with controlled environmental parameters is presented. The system is capable of measuring key electrical parameters of the microdevices while controlling the environmental conditions around the microdevices. The test system is compact and thus can be integrated with standard test equipment for microdevices. By using a feed-forward decoupling algorithm, the presented test system is capable of generating a temperature range of 0–120 °C and a humidity range of 20–90% RH (0–55 °C), within a small footprint and weight. The accuracy for temperature and humidity control is ±0.1 °C and ±1% RH (30 °C), respectively. The functionality of the proposed test system is verified by integrating it with a piezo shaker to test the environmental reliability of an electromagnetic vibration energy harvester. The proposed system can be used as a proof-of-technology platform for characterizing the performance of microdevices with controlled environmental parameters.


2019 ◽  
Vol 28 (2) ◽  
pp. 21-26
Author(s):  
Ming Kai Tan ◽  
Hui Lee ◽  
Hugh Tiang Wah Tan

Distribution of consumers in a patch of vegetation can be predicted by resource availability and explained by the resource-concentration and optimal-foraging hypotheses. These hypotheses have not been explored for flower-visiting Orthoptera because they are deemed less economically or ecologically important. Some flower-visiting orthopterans can provide pollination services, which warrants more attention. We studied a Singaporean, floriphilic katydid, Phaneropterabrevis, to investigate the following questions: 1) how frequently does P.brevis visit flowers compared to other flower visitors and 2) what factors predict the abundance of P.brevis? We collected abundance data for P.brevis and other flower-visiting arthropods and quantified seven environmental parameters, including flower abundance and host-plant species richness. We found that P.brevis frequents flowers significantly more often than some common and expected flower visitors such as hoverflies. In line with the prediction of the resource-concentration hypothesis, the abundance of P.brevis was positively correlated with a higher flower abundance. Owing to the limited information on unexpected wild flower visitors and pollinators, especially from the understudied tropics of Southeast Asia, we propose that P.brevis can be a model organism for future studies to answer fundamental questions on flower visitation.


PeerJ ◽  
2017 ◽  
Vol 5 ◽  
pp. e3246 ◽  
Author(s):  
Cassandra L. Ettinger ◽  
Sofie E. Voerman ◽  
Jenna M. Lang ◽  
John J. Stachowicz ◽  
Jonathan A. Eisen

Background Zostera marina (also known as eelgrass) is a foundation species in coastal and marine ecosystems worldwide and is a model for studies of seagrasses (a paraphyletic group in the order Alismatales) that include all the known fully submerged marine angiosperms. In recent years, there has been a growing appreciation of the potential importance of the microbial communities (i.e., microbiomes) associated with various plant species. Here we report a study of variation in Z. marina microbiomes from a field site in Bodega Bay, CA. Methods We characterized and then compared the microbial communities of root, leaf and sediment samples (using 16S ribosomal RNA gene PCR and sequencing) and associated environmental parameters from the inside, edge and outside of a single subtidal Z. marina patch. Multiple comparative approaches were used to examine associations between microbiome features (e.g., diversity, taxonomic composition) and environmental parameters and to compare sample types and sites. Results Microbial communities differed significantly between sample types (root, leaf and sediment) and in sediments from different sites (inside, edge, outside). Carbon:Nitrogen ratio and eelgrass density were both significantly correlated to sediment community composition. Enrichment of certain taxonomic groups in each sample type was detected and analyzed in regard to possible functional implications (especially regarding sulfur metabolism). Discussion Our results are mostly consistent with prior work on seagrass associated microbiomes with a few differences and additional findings. From a functional point of view, the most significant finding is that many of the taxa that differ significantly between sample types and sites are closely related to ones commonly associated with various aspects of sulfur and nitrogen metabolism. Though not a traditional model organism, we believe that Z. marina can become a model for studies of marine plant-microbiome interactions.


Mediscope ◽  
2017 ◽  
Vol 4 (2) ◽  
pp. 1-4
Author(s):  
MS Laskar

An area of concern in scientific research including medical research is misconduct or dishonesty like fabrication, falsification, or plagiarism in proposing, performing, or reviewing research, or in reporting research results. This article focuses on the concepts of research misconduct with the objectives to discuss briefly on the extent of problem, various forms, possible reasons; methods of detection, and prevention. It is expected that this article will encourage the leaders of academic research groups to inform their students, future researchers and research associates about the ethical responsibilities of scientific research and publications, and to insure that, when they are given the responsibility for research and consequently submitting a paper, they are fully aware of the potential consequences to themselves and to their coauthors for violations of research ethical guidelines.Mediscope Vol. 4, No. 2: Jul 2017, Page 1-4


2004 ◽  
Vol 26 (5) ◽  
pp. 779
Author(s):  
Philip D Walson

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