Morphology and SSU rDNA sequence analysis of two hypotrichous ciliates (Protozoa,Ciliophora, Hypotrichia) including the new species <Emphasis Type="Italic">Metaurostylopsis parastruederkypkeae</Emphasis> n. sp.

The morphology and phylogeny of two hypotrichous ciliates, Metaurostylopsis parastruederkypkeae n. sp. and Neourostylopsis flavicana (Wang et al., 2011) Chen et al., 2013 were investigated based on morphology, infraciliature and the small subunit (SSU) ribosomal RNA gene (rRNA) sequence. The new species, M. parastruederkypkeae n. sp. was identified according to its characteristics: body shape ellipsoidal, size about (165–200) × (45–60) μm in vivo, cell color reddish; two types of cortical granules including wheat grain-like and yellow-greenish larger ones along the marginal cirri rows and dorsal kineties and dot-like and reddish smaller ones, grouped around marginal cirri on ventral side and arranged in short lines on dorsal side; 26–41 adoral membranelles; three frontal and one parabuccal, five to seven frontoterminal, one buccal, and three to six transverse cirri; seven to thirteen midventral pairs; five to nine unpaired ventral cirri, five to seven left and three to five right marginal rows; and three complete dorsal kineties. Phylogenetic analysis based on SSU rDNA sequences showed that both Metaurostylopsis and Neourostylopsis are monophyletic. As the internal relationship between and within both genera are not clear, further studies on the species in these two genera are necessary. The key characteristics of all known twelve Metaurostylopsis-Apourostylopsis-Neourostylopsis species complex were updated.     

Reevaluation of cortical developmental patterns in Euplotes (s. l.), including a morphogenetic redescription of E. charon (Protozoa, Ciliophora, Euplotida)

We documented the pattern of cell development in Euplotes charon. The ontogenesis of this species was similar to many of its congeners, except for the formation of the caudal cirri. In E. Charon, a caudal cirrus is formed posterior to each of the rightmost two or three dorsal kinety anlage in the proter, and the second rightmost dorsal kinety in the opisthe. In addition, two caudal cirri are formed posterior to the rightmost dorsal kinety in the opisthe. This pattern of development represents a completely new type. Based on our evaluation, and in comparison with previous studies, we also conclude that the pattern of cell development is variable among species in the Euplotes genera. The variation is particularly evident during the formation of frontoventral and caudal cirri. Based on the segmentation pattern of frontal-midventral transverse cirral anlagen, cirri reduction, and migration of frontoventral cirri, we identified five types: the affinis-type, the eurystomus-type, the charon-type, the raikovi-type and orientalis-type. Euplotes (s. l.) can also be divided into three types based on the formation of caudal cirri: focardii-type, vannus-type and charon-type. Indeed, we conclude that the number (one or two) of marginal cirri should be given as much consideration as the genetic separation. Given this, we reassessed the validity of using genetic separation to classify the group. Generally, the morphogenetic data disagreed with the molecular data (SSrRNA gene sequences). Given these discrepancies, it is too early to draw conclusions on the systematic arrangement of this species-rich taxon.     

Taxonomic description of a new marine ciliate,Euplotes qingdaoensis n. sp. (Ciliophora: Euplotida)

The characteristics and infraciliature of a new euplotid ciliate,Euplotes qingdaoensis n.sp.,discovered from the coastal waters of Jiaozhou Bay,northern China,were studied using live observation and silver impregnation.The new marine species is characterized by a slightly fl attened body(90–110 μm×70–80 μm,in vivo),an adoral zone of 26–29 membranelles,10 strong frontoventral and fi ve transverse cirri,two caudal cirri,a single left marginal cirrus,seven dorsal kineties,a middle kinety with about 15 pairs of basal bodies,a silverline system of the double-eurystomus type,and a C-shaped macronucleus.     

Acute toxicities of potassium permanganate, formalin, and Lugol’s iodine solution to a marine ciliate, Pleuronema coronatum (ciliophora, scuticociliatida)

Acute toxicities of potassium permanganate, formalin, and Lugol’s iodine solution to a commonly occurred marine ciliate Pleuronema coronatum (Ciliophora, Scuticociliatida) were measured. Linear regression analysis of the results highlighted the close relationships between doses of the medicines and mortalities of the organisms, thus providing a capability to predict toxicity effects from the dose. Toxic effects of the medicines on the ciliates were described in the present paper, and the median lethal concentrations (LC₅₀ values) were given. Results of measurements indicated that 2 h-LC₅₀ and 12 h-LC₅₀ values of formalin on P. coronatum were 59.00×10⁻⁶ and 43.57×10⁻⁶, while those of Lugol’s solutions were 90.13 and 67.84×10⁻⁶ respectively. The tolerance of P. coronatum to formalin is apparently lower than that to Lugol’s iodine solution and potassium permanganate is a suitable medicine to kill ciliates in short time.     

Application of multivariate model based on three simulated sensors for water quality variables estimation in Shitoukoumen Reservoir,Jilin Province,China

This study applied a multivariate model based on three simulated sensors to estimating water quality variables in Shitoukoumen Reservoir, Changchun City, Jilin Province, China, including concentration of total suspended matter, concentration of chlorophyll-a and non-pigment matter absorption. Two field campaigns for spectra measurements with a total of 40 samples were carried out on June 13 and September 23, 2008. The in-situ spectra were recalculated to the spectral bands and sensitivities of the instruments applied in this paper, i.e. Landsat TM, Alos and P6, by using the average method. And the recalculated spectra were used for estimating water quality variables by the single model and multivariate model. The results show that the multivariate model is superior to the single model as the multivariate model takes the combined effects of water components into consideration and can estimate water quality variables simultaneously. According to R ² and RMSE, Alos is superior to other sensors for water quality variables estimation although the precision of non-pigment matter absorption inversion performed the second.     

Initiation of primary cell culture from amphioxus <Emphasis Type="Italic">Branchiostoma belcheri tsingtauense</Emphasis>

Amphioxus, a cephalochordate, is an important model fish for studies in evolution and comparative biology. A successful cell culture from amphioxus tissues in vitro would help understanding some basic issues. To determine the optimal culture conditions for proliferation of amphioxus cells, primary cultures were initiated from buccal cirri, tail, gill, gut and metapleural fold of amphioxus Branchiostoma belcheri tsingtauense. The media tested were L-15, F-12, M 199, MEM, DMEM, PRMI 1640 and LDF, each was supplemented with 20% fetal bovine serum. The optimal conditions include tail tissue cultured in L-15 or F-12 with supplement of 20% FBS and 1.5% NaCl at about 25°C. Supported by Doctoral Initial Fund of Ludong University (No.43304)     

洪涝灾情快速反应的星载SAR与TM数据的融合处理

本文以1998年鄱阳湖地区发生洪涝灾害为研究实例,应用灾中的Radarsat-SAR和灾前的TM数据,以不规则三角网(TIN)方法实现了高精度几何配准。然后,通过波段相关性和信息熵值分析,选取最佳波段。最后,对不同融合模型得出的图像进行对比,得出结论:以灾中的SAR和灾前TM的一个近红外(TM5或TM7)以及一个可见光波段(TM3最佳),分别赋RGB色合成的图像效果很好,既能识别区分洪涝淹没的绝产区、土壤滞水减产区和未受灾区,并且操作简便,能满足洪涝灾情快速反应要求。     

Spatiotemporal variation in community structure of marine benthic ciliates in the Yellow Sea during and after macroalgal and giant jellyfish blooms

The annual bloom of the green macroalgal Ulva prolifera from May through July since 2008 and another of giant jellyfish Nemopilema nomurai from June through September have been frequent events in the Yellow Sea. However, the patterns of benthic ciliate communities during and after the blooms are still not known. In combination with analyses of benthic environmental factors, we investigated the distribution and community composition of benthic ciliates in the Yellow Sea in July and November 2011. In July, ciliates had high standing crops and diversity in the northern Yellow Sea, and in the inshore area off the southern Shandong Peninsula, where large numbers of green macroalgae accumulated. In November, the abundance, biomass and diversity of ciliates were high in the sea areas off the Shandong Peninsula and Changjiang estuary, where a large quantity of jellyfish occurred in August. Neither the abundance nor the biomass had significant difference between seasons, or between different compartments of the Yellow Sea. The species number, and both Margalef and Shannon-Wiener indices of ciliates were all significantly higher in November than in July. In both seasons, prostomateans and karyorelicteans consistently constituted the first and second most important ciliate groups in biomass; and carnivorous ciliates constituted the primary feeding type in terms of biomass as well as species richness, followed by bacterivores, algivores and omnivores. Compared with that in June 2007 when no macroalgae occurred, the percentage of small-sized bacterivores (e.g. Metacystis spp., Euplotes spp. and scuticociliates) increased in July 2011. The proportion of carnivorous ciliates increased in November, and this increased dominance of carnivorous ciliates may be a response to the increase in predominance of heterotrophic nanoflagellates, which might in turn be ascribed to an effect of green macroalgal and giant jellyfish blooms in the Yellow Sea.     

Genetic diversity analysis with ISSR PCR on green algae <Emphasis Type="Italic">Chlorella vulgaris</Emphasis> and <Emphasis Type="Italic">Chlorella pyrenoidosa</Emphasis>

In the present study, genetic polymorphism and diversity in unicellular clones of Chlorella vulgaris Beijerinck and Chlorella pyrenoidosa Chick were studied with Inter Simple Sequence Repeats PCR （ISSR PCR）. Samples including four clones of C. vulgaris and three clones of C. pyrenoidosa were purified by single-clone-choice method. For four C. vulgaris unicellular clones, the total number of the bands scored for 18 primers was 298; and the number of the polymorphic bands was 118, of which 39.6% were polymorphic. The size of PCR products ranged from 200 to 2 500 bp. The total number of bands scored for 18 primers, the number of polymorphic bands and the percentage of three C. pyrenoidosa unicellular clones was 194.83 and 30.8%, respectively. POPGENE analysis show that the average Nei genetic diversity （h^＊） and Shannon index of diversity （I^＊） in the four C. vulgaris unicellular clones was 0.2181 and 0.3208, respectively, which is slightly higher than those of the three C. pyrenoidosa unicellular clones （0.190 3 and 0.274 8）, which agreed with the percentage of polymorphic bands in the mixed samples of the two species. The results suggest that ISSR is a useful method to Chlorella for intra-species genetic analysis.     

Studies on the cortical morphogenesis during cell division inHalteria grandinella (Muller, 1773) (Ciliophora,Oligotrichida)

Morphogenesis during cell division was investigated in oligotrichous ciliate,Halteria grandinella utilizing protargol impregnated specimens. The cortical morphogenetical pattern ofHalteria grandinella is generally similar to that given by Fauré-Fremiet. The proter inherits the parental adoral zone of membranelles (AZM) apparently unchanged; in the opisthe the oral primordium develops de novo from a single. AZM-anlage; somatic cirri for both the proter and opisthe are separately differentiated from 10 (seldom 9) cirral primordia that originate de novo from 10 latitudinal developmental analagen. The anlage of paroral membrane of opisthe forms just to the right of the posterior end of the oral primordium. Each streak of cirral primordia develops 4 groups of basal body pairs: both of the anterior two consist of only one pair of basal bodies, on the contrary, each of the last two groups has 2 basal body pairs. This project was supported by The National Natural Science Foundation of China     

Temporal population dynamics of dinoflagellate Prorocentrum minimum in a semi-enclosed mariculture pond and its relationship to environmental factors and protozoan grazers

The ecological processes and interrelationships between protists, either autotrophic or heterotrophic, and environmental factors in mariculture ponds are largely unknown. This study investigated the temporal dynamics of potentially harmful dinoflagellate, Prorocentrum minimum (Pavillard) Schiller, and its relationship to physico-chemical factors and protozoan grazers over a complete cycle in a semi-enclosed shrimp-farming pond near Qingdao, Northern China. P. minimum occurred frequently in low numbers from June to August, followed by a sharp increase from the middle of August, reaching a single maximum peak value of 2.2×10⁵ cells L⁻¹ in October. Temporal variation in abundance was positively correlated with dissolved nitrogen, but showed a significant inverse relationship to abundance of the dominant ciliates, Tintinnopsis lohmanni and Askenasia stellaris. The results provide statistical evidence that the number of P. minimum increased with increasing nitrogen, and the suppression or shortening of algal bloom may be associated with protozoan grazers, such as Tintinnopsis lohmanni, in mariculture ponds.     

A Method for Retrieving Water-leaving Radiance from Landsat TM Image in Taihu Lake, East China

The visible and infrared bands of Landsat Thematic Mapper (TM) can be used for inland water studies. A method of retrieving water-leaving radiance from TM image over Taihu Lake in Jiangsu Province of China was investigated in this article. To estimate water-leaving radiance, atmospheric correction was performed in three visible bands of 485nm, 560nm and 660nm. Rayleigh scattering was computed precisely, and the aerosol contribution was estimated by adopting the clear-water-pixels approach. The clear waters were identified by using the Landsat TM middle-infrared band (2.1μm), and the water-leaving radiance of clear water pixels in the green band was estimated by using field data. Aerosol scattering at green band was derived for six points, and interpolated to match the TM image. Assuming the atmospheric correction coefficient was 1.0, the aerosol scattering image at blue and red bands were derived. Based on a simplified atmospheric radiation transfer model, the water-leaving radiance for three visible bands was retrieved. The water-leaving radiance was normalized to make it comparable with that estimated from other remotely sensed data acquired at different times, and under different atmospheric conditions. Additionally, remotely sensed reflectance of water was computed. To evaluate the atmospheric correction method presented in this article, the correlation was analyzed between the corrected remotely sensed data and the measured water parameters based on the retrieval model. The results show that the atmospheric correction method based on the image itself is more effective for the retrieval of water parameters from Landsat TM data than 6S (Second Simulation of the Satellite Signal in the Solar Spectrum) code based on standard atmospheric and aerosol models.     

Composition and distribution of planktonic ciliates in the southern South China Sea during late summer: Comparison between surface and 75 m deep layer

Ciliates are very important components in most marine ecosystem.They are trophic link between the microbial food web and grazing food chain.In this study,ciliates were collected from 11 sites in the southern South China Sea(SCS) during August 25 to September 28,2011.Their composition and distribution at the surface and 75 m deep depth of the ocean were studied.A total of 30 species belonging to 22 genera were identified,and 22 species of 15 genera were Tintinnids.Eutintinnus fraknoii and E.stramentus were the most common species.The other dominants were strombidiids ciliates including Strombidium conicum and S.globosaneum,which were followed by the tide form,Mesodinium pulex.Ciliates abundance ranged from 46 ind L~(-1) to 368 ind L~(-1) in the open sites,46–368 ind L~(-1) at surface and 73–198 ind L~(-1) at 75 m deep layer.In the Yongshu reef,ciliates abundance ranged from 167 ind L~(-1) to 365 ind L~(-1) in the water column,similar to that in Sanya coral reef waters.Ciliates composition showed obvious difference between surface and 75 m deep layer at station S2(P 0.05),while no similar result was observed at other sites.At 75 m deep layer,salinity was negatively related to mixed layer depth(P 0.05),but positively to chlorophyll a concentration(P 0.05),indicating that the change of vertical mixing in water column influenced vertical distribution of ciliates in the southern SCS.     

The Western Boundary Current of the pacific and its role in the climate

On the basis of the CTD data gathered by the R/VScience I in each Oct. of 1986–1988 and the winter averaged temperature anomaly in southeast China, the interannual variability of the Western Boundary Current (WBC) is examined in terms of volume transport by inverse calculation and its role in the climate is studied by statistical method. The estimated transport is 50, 20, and 33×10⁶ m³/s for the Kuroshio and 24, 34, and 36×10⁶ m³/s for the Mindanao Current (MC) in October of 1986, 1987, and 1988, respectively. The WBC is the biggest channel in the ocean for transporting heat poleward and plays an extremely important role in establishing and maintaining the global heat balance. Results showed that meridional heat transport by the Kuroshio northeast of Luzon apparently dominates coldness or warmness in winter in southeast China. Two phenomena observed in the western Pacific but not in the western Atlantic are the warm pool and the equatorward flowing MC which, together with the North Equatorial Counter-current (NECC) may play an important role in preventing the warm water from extending to the north. So in order to understand the dynamics of the warm pool formation and evolution, the MC and NECC must be studied as well as the Equatorial Current. Contribution No. 1791 from the Institute of Oceanology, Academia Sinica.     

Estimating fraction of photosynthetically active radiation of corn with vegetation indices and neural network from hyperspectral data

The fraction of photosynthetically active radiation(FPAR) is a key variable in the assessment of vegetation productivity and land ecosystem carbon cycles.Based on ground-measured corn hyperspectral reflectance and FPAR data over Northeast China,the correlations between corn-canopy FPAR and hyperspectral reflectance were analyzed,and the FPAR estimation performances using vegetation index(VI) and neural network(NN) methods with different two-band-combination hyperspectral reflectance were investigated.The results indicated that the corncanopy FPAR retained almost a constant value in an entire day.The negative correlations between FPAR and visible and shortwave infrared reflectance(SWIR) bands are stronger than the positive correlations between FPAR and near-infrared band reflectance(NIR).For the six VIs,the normalized difference vegetation index(NDVI) and simple ratio(SR) performed best for estimating corn FPAR(the maximum R2 of 0.8849 and 0.8852,respectively).However,the NN method esti-mated results(the maximum R2 is 0.9417) were obviously better than all of the VIs.For NN method,the two-band combinations showing the best corn FPAR estimation performances were from the NIR and visible bands;for VIs,however,they were from the SWIR and NIR bands.As for both the methods,the SWIR band performed exceptionally well for corn FPAR estimation.This may be attributable to the fact that the reflectance of the SWIR band were strongly controlled by leaf water content,which is a key component of corn photosynthesis and greatly affects the absorption of photosynthetically active radiation(APAR),and makes further impact on corn-canopy FPAR.     

Notes on Two Marine Ciliates from the Yellow Sea,China： Placus salinus and Strombidium apolatum（Protozoa, Ciliophora）

The living morphology and infraciliature of two rare marine ciliates, Placus salinus Dietz, 1964 and Strombidium apolatum Wilbert and Song, 2005, collected from the coastal waters near Qingdao, China, were investigated by in vivo observation and protargol impregnation technique. The improved diagnosis for Placus salinus is as follows: medium-sized marine Placus, in vivo (50–60)μm×(30–40)μm; cell elliptical to barrel-shaped; 28–31 somatic kineties; single macronucleus usually ellipsoid and one micronucleus located in the indention of the macronucleus; one contractile vacuole posteriorly positioned. Strombidium apolatum is characterized by: marine strombidium (40–60)μm×(30–45)μmm in vivo, cordiform in shape with somewhat pointed posterior end and conspicuous apical protrusion; extrusomes prominent, about 15μm in length and evenly arranged along the circle kinety; about 16 collar and 5–6 buccal membranelles; one elongate macronucleus and one micronucleus; circle and ventral kineties consisting of about 53 and 45 dikinetids respectively.     

Molecular phylogeny of oligotrich genera Omegastrombidium and Novistrombidium (Protozoa, Ciliophora) for the systematical relationships within Family Strombidiidae

The phylogeny of the oligotrich ciliates is currently a hot debate despite the availability of both morphological and molecular data. In the present paper, further small subunit rRNA (SS rRNA) genes were analyzed from the Genera Omegastrombidium and Novistrombidium, as well as from Strombidium, and combined with three new SS rRNA sequences from Strombidium basimorphum, S. sulcatum population QD-1, and Novistrombidium testaceum population GD. The phylogenetic positions of these organisms were inferred using Bayesian inference, Maximum Likelihood, and Maximum Parsimony methods. The main results are: (1) the SS rRNA gene sequence analyses match the recent findings about the molecular evolution of oligotrichs, indicating that the family Strombidiidae is paraphyletic; (2) the Genus Omegastrombidium is separated from the Genus Strombidium, as shown in recent cladistic analyses; (3) morphospecies in Genus Novistrombidium, based on similarity of somatic ciliature, are separated from each other in all topological trees, indicating that this genus could be a paraphyletic group; (4) the molecular data indicate a possibility of paraphyly for the genus Strombidium; and (5) the similarities of the SS rRNA gene of specimens identified as S. sulcatum and S. inclinatum are 99.8%–100%. However, present knowledge on the oligotrichs sensu stricto is still insufficient and further studies based on both molecular and other technologies are required.     

Impact factors on distribution and characteristics of natural plant community in reclamation zones of Changjiang River estuary

To identify impact factors on the distribution and characters of natural plants community in reclamation area, with survey data from 67 plant quadrats in July 2009, soil properties data from 216 sampling points in April 2009, and TM (30 m) data in 2006, the composition and characteristics of natural plants community in different time of the Fengxian area in the Changjiang (Yangtze) River estuary were analyzed with two-way indicator species analysis (TWINSPAN), multivariate analysis of variance (MANOVA), detrended canonical correspondence analysis (DCCA) and canonical correspondence analysis (CCA). The results show that: 1) The plant communities in the reclaimed area are mainly mesophytes and helophytic-mesophytic transitional communities, showing a gradient distribution trend with the change in reclamation years. Species richness (MA), species diversity (H) and above-ground biomass also increase with the increase of reclamation years. Nevertheless, they appear to decline slightly in the middle and late reclamation period (> 30 years). 2) With the rise in land use levels, the changes in species richness and species diversity tend to increase at first and then decrease; species dominance (D), however, tends to decline; and above-ground biomass increases slightly. 3) The distribution of the plant community is mainly influenced by the following factors: land use levels (R = 0.55, p < 0.05), soil moisture (R = 0.53, p < 0.05), soil salinity (R = 0.43, p < 0.05) and reclamation time (R = 0.40, p < 0.05).