This week's #NewBooks at the library: I contributed to the very successful Kickstarter campaign of the #GoodOmens #GraphicNovel and received my copy this week (@goodomens_hq). A gorgeous book with a lush slipcase, illustrated by @ColleenDoran. I also adopted a damaged copy The Biology and Ecology of Streams and Rivers from Oxford University Press, and bought a former library copy of a hardback of Dinosaurs: The Encyclopedia, Supplement 4 from McFarland.
#Books #Scicomm #Hydrology #FreshwaterBiology #Ecology #Fossils #Paleontology #Palaeontology #Dinosaurs #Bookstodon @bookstodon
Be amazed by the unlimited applications of plastic !
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Polyethylene microplastics affect :
✔- survival Rate
✔- food Intake
✔- oxidative stress
A big thankyou from our
freshwater snail "Indoplanorbis exustus"
https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s00128-023-03813-6
#microplastics #freshwaterbiology #polyethylene
Polyethylene Microplastics Affected Survival Rate, Food Intake and Altered Oxidative Stress Parameters in Freshwater Snail Indoplanorbis exustus - Bulletin of Environmental Contamination and Toxicology
Microplastics have a negative impact on aquatic ecosystems. Gastropod mollusks serve as bioindicators and are good model systems for ecotoxicological studies. To assess oxidative damage, we exposed the ram's horn snail, Indoplanorbis exustus, to various concentrations of low-density polyethylene microplastics (size range 8–100 µm). The main objectives were microplastics preparation, characterization, and examination of their effect on the essential organs of I. exustus. Scanning electron microscopy, fourier transform infrared spectroscopy and x-ray diffraction techniques confirmed the polymer type of laboratory prepared polyethylene microplastics. The LC50 value of microplastics for snails was calculated to be 872 mg/L after 96 h of exposure. We observed a significant elevation in superoxide dismutase, catalase and lipid peroxidation levels with increasing concentrations of microplastics. Microplastics exposure also affected protein content, total food intake and total weights. Moreover, snails failed to recover post-treatment. Snails collected from contaminated source of microplastics served as positive control for the study. Hence, we can conclude that microplastics cause overall impairment in the physiological parameters and show adverse effects on the freshwater snail, I. exustus.
Genetic structure and relatedness of brown trout (Salmo trutta) populations in the drainage basin of the Ölfusá river, South-Western Iceland - is now published!
Our article has been published today in @PeerJLife https://peerj.com/articles/15985 #Aquaculture,
#FisheriesandFishScience #Biodiversity #ConservationBiology #Genetics #FreshwaterBiology
#BrownTrout #PeerJ
Genetic structure and relatedness of brown trout (Salmo trutta) populations in the drainage basin of the Ölfusá river, South-Western Iceland
Background Lake Þingvallavatn in Iceland, a part of the river Ölfusá drainage basin, was presumably populated by brown trout soon after it formed at the end of the last Ice Age. The genetic relatedness of the brown trout in Þingvallavatn to other populations in the Ölfusá drainage basin is unknown. After the building of a dam at the outlet of the lake in 1959 brown trout catches declined, though numbers have now increased. The aim of this study was to assess effects of geographic isolation and potential downstream gene flow on the genetic structure and diversity in brown trout sampled in several locations in the western side of the watershed of River Ölfusá. We hypothesized that brown trout in Lake Þingvallavatn constituted several local spawning populations connected by occasional gene flow before the damming of the lake. We also estimated the effective population size (NE) of some of these populations and tested for signs of a recent population bottleneck in Lake Þingvallavatn. Methods We sampled brown trout inhabiting four lakes and 12 rivers within and near the watershed of River Ölfusá by means of electro- and net- fishing. After stringent data filtering, 2,597 polymorphic loci obtained from ddRADseq data from 317 individuals were ascertained as putative neutral markers. Results Overall, the genetic relatedness of brown trout in the Ölfusá watershed reflected the connectivity and topography of the waterways. Ancestry proportion analyses and a phylogenetic tree revealed seven distinct clusters, some of which corresponded to small populations with reduced genetic diversity. There was no evidence of downstream gene flow from Lake Þingvallavatn, although gene flow was observed from much smaller mountain populations. Most locations showed low NE values (i.e., ~14.6 on average) while the putative anadromous trout from River Sog and the spawning population from River Öxará, that flows into Lake Þingvallavatn, showed notably higher NE values (i.e., 71.2 and 56.5, respectively). No signals of recent population bottlenecks were detected in the brown trout of Lake Þingvallavatn. Discussion This is the first time that the genetic structure and diversity of brown trout in the watershed of River Ölfusá have been assessed. Our results point towards the presence of a metapopulation in the watershed of Lake Þingvallavatn, which has been influenced by restoration efforts and is now dominated by a genetic component originated in River Öxará. Many of the locations studied represent different populations. Those that are isolated in headwater streams and lakes are genetically distinct presenting low genetic diversity, yet they can be important in increasing the genetic variation in downstream populations. These populations should be considered for conservation and direct management.
Now published in
#FreshwaterBiology Comparative impacts of dam water level regimes on herbaceous plant growth strategies in cascade reservoirs and downstream reaches of a major river
#plants #freshwater #ecology #hydrologyhttps://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1111/fwb.14014?utm_sq=h0481pggc3
The Inquisitive Biologist
ely
charrvein
Zarah Pattison (she/her)