Tidal, daily, and lunar-day activity cycles in the marine polychaete Nereis virens.

The burrow emergence activity of the wild caught ragworm Nereis virens Sars associated with food prospecting was investigated under various photoperiodic (LD) and simulated tidal cycles (STC) using a laboratory based actograph. Just over half (57%) of the animals under LD with STC displayed significant tidal (approximately 12.4 h) and/or lunar-day (approximately 24.

Annotation of environmental OMICS data: application to the transcriptomics domain.

Researchers working on environmentally relevant organisms, populations, and communities are increasingly turning to the application of OMICS technologies to answer fundamental questions about the natural world, how it changes over time, and how it is influenced by anthropogenic factors. In doing so, the need to capture meta-data that accurately describes the biological "source" material used in such experiments is growing in importance. Here, we provide an overview of the formation of the "Env" community of environmental OMICS researchers and its efforts at considering the meta-data capture needs of those working in environmental OMICS.

Exposure to 2,4-decadienal negatively impacts upon marine invertebrate larval fitness.

Diatoms liberate volatile, biologically active unsaturated aldehydes following cell damage, which negatively impact upon invertebrate reproductive processes such as fertilization, embryogenesis and larval survival. 2,4-Decadienal is frequently identified among the aldehydes produced and is one of the more biologically active. The majority of studies which have examined the toxic effects of diatom aldehydes to invertebrate reproduction have scored egg production and/or hatching success as indicators of biological impacts.

Clock gene evolution and functional divergence.

In considering the impact of the earth's changing geophysical conditions during the history of life, it is surprising to learn that the earth's rotational period may have been as short as 4 h, as recently as 1900 million years ago (or 1.9 billion years ago). The implications of such figures for the origin and evolution of clocks are considerable, and the authors speculate on how this short rotational period might have influenced the development of the "protoclock" in early microorganisms, such as the Cyanobacteria, during the geological periodsin which they arose and flourished.

Interaction between photoperiod and an endogenous seasonal factor in influencing the diel locomotor activity of the benthic polychaete Nereis virens Sars.

The locomotor activity of Nereis virens Sars associated with food prospecting was investigated in response to photoperiod and season using an actograph. Experimental animals which had been reared under natural photoperiods were exposed to two constant photoperiodic treatments, LD 16:8 and LD 8:16, in both the autumn and winter and in the absence of tidal entrainment. Autocorrelation analysis of rhythmicity showed that during the autumn, animals under the LD 16:8 photoperiod displayed a strong nocturnal rhythm of activity, whereas animals under the LD 8:16 photoperiod showed only a weak nocturnal activity rhythm.

The use of a brine shrimp (Artemia salina) bioassay to assess the toxicity of diatom extracts and short chain aldehydes.

Water soluble algal extracts, the aldehydes 2E,4E-decadienal, decanal, undecanal and the fatty acid eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA) were assayed for toxicity to hatching success and larval mortality of the brine shrimp Artemia salina. Both crude cellular extracts of the diatoms Skeletonema costatum and Nitzschia commutata and the diatom-derived short chain aldehyde decadienal were found to inhibit hatching success of A. salina cysts in a dose-dependent manner.

Isotope trophic-step fractionation: a dynamic equilibrium model.

Trophic position is a fundamental feature of food-web structure, knowledge of which is being improved by stable isotope approaches which assume a constant enrichment in heavier isotopes in consumers relative to their diet. We argue that the typical enrichment reflects a dynamic equilibrium between fractionation vectors associated with assimilation and excretion. We develop a linear model to characterize the relationship between the equilibrium isotopic signature and the feeding rate influenced by isotopic discrimination during assimilation and excretion.

Inhibition of embryonic development and fertilization in broadcast spawning marine invertebrates by water soluble diatom extracts and the diatom toxin 2-trans,4-trans decadienal.

Water soluble diatom extracts and the diatom aldehyde 2-trans,4-trans decadienal were assayed on the gametes and embryos of the broadcast spawning polychaetes Arenicola marina and Nereis virens and the echinoderms Asterias rubens and Psammechinus miliaris. Both crude cellular extracts and purified aldehyde were found to inhibit fertilization, embryogenesis and hatching success in a dose dependent manner. Intact diatom cells had no discernable effect on fertilization or development.