Distribution and risk assessment of microplastics in water, sediment and brine shrimps in a remote salt lake on the Tibetan Plateau, China.

Microplastics (MPs) are pervasive environmental contaminants that have infiltrated even the most remote ecosystems. Despite their widespread distribution, the transfer patterns and impacts of MPs in remote lakes remain poorly understood. This study aimed to address the knowledge gap regarding the pathways and consequences of MP pollution in these isolated environments.

Darwin3: a large-scale neuromorphic chip with a novel ISA and on-chip learning.

Spiking neural networks (SNNs) are gaining increasing attention for their biological plausibility and potential for improved computational efficiency. To match the high spatial-temporal dynamics in SNNs, neuromorphic chips are highly desired to execute SNNs in hardware-based neuron and synapse circuits directly. This paper presents a large-scale neuromorphic chip named Darwin3 with a novel instruction set architecture, which comprises 10 primary instructions and a few extended instructions.

Ultrastructural diversity in the shell of Artemia resting eggs.

The shell of Artemia resting egg, which is a delicate multilayered envelope surrounding the inside diapause embryo, plays an important role in the survival strategy of Artemia. To date, the ultrastructure of resting eggshell has been studied for only handful populations, and knowledge about the diversity of shell structure is still limited. In this paper, resting eggs from 13 Artemia populations were studied by transmission electron microscopy.

Temporal genetic variation mediated by climate change-induced salinity decline, a study on Artemia (Crustacea: Anostraca) from Kyêbxang Co, a high altitude salt lake on the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau.

The Qinghai-Tibet Plateau is one of the areas the richest in salt lakes and Artemia sites. As a result of climate warming and wetting, the areas of salt lakes on the plateau have been increasing, and the salinities have decreased considerably since 1990s. However, the impact of salinity change on the genetic diversity of Artemia is still unknown.

Population genetics of Artemia urmiana species complex (Crustacea, Anostraca): A group with asymmetrical dispersal and gene flow mediated by migratory waterfowl.

Bird-mediated dispersal of resting eggs is the main mechanism for Artemia dispersal among catchments. The bisexual populations of Artemia urmiana species complex, which is here considered to be a collection of Artemia genetically close to the so-called "Western Asian Lineage", are mostly distributed in central and western Asia (i.e.

Combined effects of temperature, photoperiod, and salinity on reproduction of the brine shrimp (Crustacea: Anostraca).

Background: is a brine shrimp species distributed in hypersaline salt lakes in northern China and Siberia and a successful invasive species in some coastal salterns. Although it is a commercially harvested and cultured species, knowledge of its reproductive characteristics is limited, and existing studies are often contradictory. The combined effects of temperature, salinity, and photoperiod on reproduction characteristics are experimentally studied to better understand its reproductive features.

Phylogenetic Relationships and Taxonomic Position of the Ribbon Worms of the Genus (Nemertea, Palaeonemertea) with Descriptions of Two New Species.

The genus Gibson and Sundberg, 1999 was first described within the family Hubrechtiidae (class Pilidiophora) and subsequently transferred to the family Callineridae (class Palaeonemertea). Here we describe two new species, sp. nov.

Sources and transformations of nitrate in Qixiangcuo Lake and its inflow rivers in the northern Tibetan Plateau.

Human activities and climate change input more reactive nitrogen into alpine lakes. Alpine saline lakes are usually located in endorheic watersheds at high-altitude areas, with no other drainage methods than evaporation, and are prone to accumulate nutrients. Meanwhile, alpine saline lakes are usually oligotrophic and sensitive to reactive nitrogen inputs, and even modest reactive nitrogen inputs may have significant effects on them, such as eutrophication.

Distribution and potential sources of microplastics in sediments in remote lakes of Tibet, China.

The prevalence of microplastics in water bodies such as oceans and rivers has received considerable attention in recent years. The present study contributes to this research effort by assessing microplastics in 12 remote lakes on the Tibetan Plateau, China. Despite the limited extent of human activities, at least 17 items and up to 2644 items of microplastics were found per kg of dried sediments collected from the lakes in Tibet.

Expression of Genes during the Regeneration of (Nemertea, Pilidiophora, Heteronemertea).

The transposon silencer genes play important roles in germline determination and maintenance, gametogenesis, and stem-cell self-renewal, and the expression of certain genes is indispensable for regeneration. Knowledge about genes is needed for phylum Nemertea, which contains members (e.g.

An overview on the nomenclatural and phylogenetic problems of native Asian brine shrimps of the genus Leach, 1819 (Crustacea, Anostraca).

The genus Leach, 1819 is a cosmopolitan halophilic crustacean, consisting of bisexual species and obligate parthenogenetic populations. Asia is rich in biodiversity. More than 530 sites have been recorded from this area and more than 20 species/subspecies/variety names have been used for them.

The impact of one-decade ecological disturbance on genetic changes: a study on the brine shrimp from Urmia Lake, Iran.

Urmia Lake, the largest natural habitat of the brine shrimp , has progressively desiccated over the last two decades, resulting in a loss of 80% of its surface area and producing thousands of hectares of arid salty land. This ecological crisis has seriously affected the lake's native biodiversity. has lost more than 90% of its population during the decade from 1994 (rainy period) to 2004 (drought period) due to salinity increasing to saturation levels (∼300 g/l).

Morphological and molecular study on (Nemertea, Pilidiophora, Heteronemertea) from the Han River Estuary, South Korea, and its phylogenetic position within the family Lineidae.

Outbreaks of ribbon worms observed in 2013, 2015, and 2017-2019 in the Han River Estuary, South Korea, have caused damage to local glass-eel fisheries. The Han River ribbon worms have been identified as (Sun & Lu, 1998) based on not only morphological characteristics compared with the holotype and paratype specimens, but also DNA sequence comparison with topotypes freshly collected near the Yangtze River mouth, China. Using sequences of six gene markers (18S rRNA, 28S rRNA, histone H3, histone H4, 16S rRNA, and COI), the phylogenetic position of was inferred among other heteronemerteans based on their sequences obtained from public databases.

Octopicola huanghaiensis n. sp. (Copepoda: Cyclopoida: Octopicolidae), a new parasitic copepod of the octopuses Amphioctopus fangsiao (d'Orbigny) and Octopus minor (Sasaki) (Octopoda: Octopodidae) in the Yellow Sea.

A new species of parasitic copepod, Octopicola huanghaiensis n. sp., collected from the octopuses Amphioctopus fangsiao (d'Orbigny) and Octopus minor (Sasaki) (Octopoda: Octopodidae) in the Yellow Sea (off Qingdao, Shandong Province, China), is described.

Three new species of Marphysa Quatrefages, 1865 (Polychaeta: Eunicida: Eunicidae) from the south coast of China and redescription of Marphysa sinensis Monro, 1934.

Three new species of Marphysa Quatrefages, 1865 (Polychaeta: Eunicida: Eunicidae) are described from the south coast of China, M. tripectinata n. sp.

Morphological differentiation of seven parthenogenetic Artemia (Crustacea: Branchiopoda) populations from China, with special emphasis on ploidy degrees.

Parthenogenetic Artemia from seven Chinese locations with different elevations and various ploidies are characterized by phenotypic and morphometric analyses. Our findings show that the studied populations exhibit dissimilar patterns of ovisac. Four phenotypic patterns of furca are qualified and one of them is shared among di-, tetra- and pentaploid Artemia.

Species Diversity of Ramphogordius sanguineus/Lineus ruber-Like Nemerteans (Nemertea: Heteronemertea) and Geographic Distribution of R. sanguineus.

Heteronemerteans, such as Lineus ruber, L. viridis, Ramphogordius sanguineus, R. lacteus, Riseriellus occultus, and Micrura varicolor, share many similar external characters.

DNA Taxonomy of Paranemertes (Nemertea: Hoplonemertea) with Spirally Fluted Stylets.

Of the 14 nominal species that are now or have ever been assigned to the genus Paranemertes Coe, 1901 , four have been reported to have stylets with a spirally fluted or braided appearance. Although differentiation in color patterns has been documented among species/populations, these nemerteans share similar external characters. Using the sequence datasets of mitochondrial cytochrome c oxidase subunit I (COI), 16S rRNA, and nuclear 28S rRNA genes of specimens from 14 localities of Canada, USA, Russia, Japan, and China, we analyzed the genetic differentiation and reconstructed the phylogenetic trees for these nemerteans.

Mitochondrial genome of Micrura bella (Nemertea: Heteronemertea), the largest mitochondrial genome known to phylum Nemertea.

The complete mitochondrial genome (mitogenome) of Micrura bella was sequenced and analyzed. Being the largest mitogenome known to phylum Nemertea, the genome is 16 847 bp in length. It encodes 37 genes typical to metazoan mitogenomes and has the same gene arrangement with the other Heteronemertea mitogenomes sequenced to date.

Phycoerythrins in phycobilisomes from the marine red alga Polysiphonia urceolata.

Phycoerythrins (PE) in phycobilisomes from Polysiphonia urceolata were studied in this research. Dissociative products of phycobilisomes were analyzed by sucrose density gradient centrifugation and native-PAGE. At least three types of PEs were found in the dissociative products of phycobilisomes.

SEM study of diversity in the cyst surface topography of nine parthenogenetic Artemia (Crustacea: Anostraca) populations from China.

The cysts of nine Chinese populations of parthenogenetic Artemia were studied by scanning electron microscope. In the 270 cysts examined, 15 different morphological patterns were recognized with most of them not recorded in previous studies and the "tubercled shell surface" being the most common pattern. Results also displayed high intrapopulation variability, with the maximum of 11 patterns (in 30 cysts) recorded from the Barkol population.

The complete mitochondrial genome of Tetrastemma olgarum (Nemertea: Hoplonemertea).

The complete mitochondrial genome (mitogenome) of Tetrastemma olgarum is sequenced. It is 14,580 bp in length and contains 37 genes typical for metazoan mitogenomes. The gene order is identical to that of the previously published Hoplonemertea mitogenomes.

Complete mitochondrial genome sequences of two parasitic/commensal nemerteans, Gononemertes parasita and Nemertopsis tetraclitophila (Nemertea: Hoplonemertea).

Background: Most nemerteans (phylum Nemertea) are free-living, but about 50 species are known to be firmly associated with other marine invertebrates. For example, Gononemertes parasita is associated with ascidians, and Nemertopsis tetraclitophila with barnacles. There are 12 complete or near-complete mitochondrial genome (mitogenome) sequences of nemerteans available in GenBank, but no mitogenomes of none free-living nemerteans have been determined so far.

A description of the complete mitochondrial genomes of Amphiporus formidabilis, Prosadenoporus spectaculum and Nipponnemertes punctatula (Nemertea: Hoplonemertea: Monostilifera).

We sequenced the complete mitochondrial genomes (mitogenomes) of three Hoplonemertea species, Amphiporus formidabilis, Prosadenoporus spectaculum and Nipponnemertes punctatula, which are 14,616, 14,655 and 15,354 bp in length, respectively. Each of the three circular mitogenomes consists of 37 typical genes and some non-coding regions. The nucleotide composition of the coding strand is biased toward T, almost a half of total nucleotides in these mitogenomes.